Happy Valentine's Day. Thanks for the candy!

Enoch Bolles would like to alert you that January 11 is Cigarettes are Hazardous to your Health Day

Has any other pinup artist embraced the cigarette as much as Bolles?  He used it as a prop in his second magazine cover, published by Judge way back in 1914, over than a decade before any cigarette company dared show a woman smoking in a magazine ad.  Bolles himself didn't smoke but he did advertising art for cigar and cigarette companies and was so particular about how his girls wielded their smokes that he once had is son-in-law sit for him so he could get it just right for a Film Fun cover.  George Petty made a lot more money than Bolles putting his girls in cigarette ads but you'll never find a single one of them taking a puff, Petty didn't think it was lady-like.  What a hypocrite! 

 

Happy New Year!!

Our fun loving covergirl is the actress, Sally O'Neil. She'd been in the movies since the mid 20's but at the time this cover appeared in 1930 her film career was nearing its end. Apparently, Sally had a strong Jersey twang that didn't suit her well with the advent of the talkies. The pronouncement that the cover was "specially posed" was a fabrication, as was a painfully contrived interview with her printed in this issue. There was little chance a famous star, or even a Hollywood hopeful, would tromp up two stories to Bolles' studio located in the midst of the magazine publishing district in New York.  Bolles instead relied on stock studio photos to complete this cover as well as others that the editors of Film Fun had been occasionally experimenting with since 1928 (However, Enoch's daughter once told me that Lupe Velez actually did sit for her cover, which makes sense as it is far and away the best of the series).  

 

Bolles could do fine likenesses and completed three standard portrait covers for a couple other movies magazines but they were time consuming, and there were plenty of other illustrators who did nothing but specialize in portrait covers for the likes of Photoplay and its competitors.  And frankly, Bolles' portrait covers don't have that spark his original creations do. I think the editors of Film Fun came to realize this as well and soon after this cover, ended the experiment. Thankfully!

A reminder from Enoch Bolles that December 26th is Boxing Day

Saving Beauty

This image popped out of my mental archives the instant I eyed a New York Times article about a group of women training to become life guards at Manhattan beach, circa 1940.  Apparently it came to light when someone saw the newsreel the Prelinger archives and reposted it on Youtube.   As you can see, our Bolles girl is ready for some diversion, if not getting her hair wet.  I think you'll agree that this cover is a great composition, and I've long wondered why Bolles knocked himself out on it.  The editors at Judge were notorious for stiffing their writers and artists on payday, and the its publisher, Leslie-Judge had only recently come out of bankruptcy (and this not the first time).   Bolles hadn't done a cover for Judge in over two years.  He didn't need the work or the hassle.  There was plenty enough to keep him busy with Film Fun, along with other magazine covers and advertising work.  The likely explanation for his effort became apparent a couple years back when a scan of a Trade magazine appeared on the terrific site Magazinart, managed by Michael Ward.  It may well be a rare example of Bolles repurposing an advertising assignment, a strategy other illustrators had perfected years before. This cover would be Bolles' last for Judge, and it appeared at the very time that Theodor Geisel  was just hired on staff.  Poor Dr. Suess, the finances deteriorated at Judge had deteriorated to the point to which the newly married Suess (he moved up his wedding date after getting hired) not only got his salary chopped, but soon was paid with vouchers which he could remit for services and products for the few companies that were foolish enough to advertise in Judge (Geisel was happy about the free hotel rooms).  Bolles was not only done with Judge but he soon stopped doing work for Snappy Stories.  In an act of desperation, Leslie-Judge had sold off the rights of Film Fun, the only title that consistently made them money, to Delacorte press.  They made a fortune off it.

 

And of course Bolles would stay on with the magazine until it folded 15 years later.  He clearly was pleased with the cover, enough so that he revived it it a decade later for the smoosh pulp, Gay Parisienne.  He left the color scheme unchanged, if not the swim suit.  It was one among a number of other compositions that Bolles recycled and updated, the connections a private visual joke. going unnoticed. and until today I don't think the connection between the covers had ever been made. Thanks to my Bolles pal, Beau for sharing this previously unknown cover.  Be sure to check out his fabulous site on pulps and historical magazines at: Darwination.  

Don't forget to vote!

On Tap: National Beer Drinking Day

Our man Bolles pulls a pint for us to celebrate this effervescent occasion.  The subject matter was as far removed from his speciality as could be, but he still really nailed it. It should be no surprise that at the same time he painted this cover in 1922 he was busy working as a food product illustrator for one of the largest advertising companies in the U.S.  Bolles himself was only a modest imbiber who never would be found in any of the gin mills his fellow "picture-makers" frequented such as the Kit Kat club.  His grandson once told me he went rediscovered a taste for beer late in his late 80s!  A decade later this cover reappeared, the editors of Judge had another artist duplicate this image (or try to) and they were equally lazy to the point of recycling the exact same copy line.  Bolles was long gone from Judge by then, but he was prideful enough about his work that if he happened to have passed it on the newsstands he wouldn't have been any too pleased.