Eight Day Halloween Advent Calendar - Final Day!

For the final entry in our eight day Halloween advent calendar, I've found a painting that is a little bit racy - but a mile away from the usual witch on a broomstick pin-ups.  I wish that I could be sure of the identity of  the artist who painted this particular illustration, but I haven't been able to track down an artist name, nor the year in which it was painted.

It's a pretty intricate image, complete with the removable witch mask, lacy undergarments, crow, and haunting license. Judging from the style of this witch's flaming red hair I would imagine this painting is from somewhere in the mid-sixties.  This would also help explain the move from the leg shot to a cleavage baring pose.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Eight Day Halloween Advent Calendar - Two More Days...

Tomorrow is the big day...

In the meantime, we're sticking with the witch theme by offering up what is easily the most common Halloween pin-up pose - a bewitching bombshell astride her broomstick.  The lady in question is a familiar face round here, one of my personal faves- Miss Ava Gardner.

This picture demonstrates an interesting bit creative posing, as Miss. Gardner is clearly sitting on some sort of platform that has a broomstick attached to it.  The moon and cat look to be decals stuck to the wall behind Ava.  It's sort of sloppy and ingenious all at the same time.  What I really enjoy is the beaded tassels on the dress.  There's nothing like a chic witch.

Eight Day Halloween Advent Calendar - Three More Days...

Only three more days left, and today I have a retro advertisement from the mid-sixties, for Hidden Magic Hairspray.

It looks like the folks at the Hidden Magic company decided to go very literal equating their product with witchcraft.  However, the inclusion of a women in a pointy witch hat, covering the very hair that we are to assume she used Hidden Magic on seems pretty counter-intuitive if you're trying to sell hairspray.  I'm not a fan of the cape that she's wearing either since it pretty much blends into the background and makes it very difficult to figure out what she's doing.  From that darling at the end of her sentence it would seem that the Hidden Magic witch talks like Zsa Zsa Gabor.

But at least there's the handy three paned demo of the hidden magic's powers on the bottom of the page to show us the way.  You too can make your bangs look like a croissant.

Old Hollywood Glamour Photography For the Layperson

Jean Harlow 

If you haven't noticed by now, I am passionate about classic Hollywood.  That passion spills over into photography.  Since I was young I have been fascinated by the photos taken of the stars of yesteryear... something about that potent mix of silver halide, period attire, and superstar charisma.  Of course, there is also the artful hand of the studio photographer pulling the strings.

Hollywood glamour photography is as old as Hollywood itself: a tool for studios to promote their galaxy of stars.  If a studio had a new talent that they wanted to promote to movie goers, studio heads would order several sessions with their hired photographers and distribute the results to various fan magazines.  When a film was in production, actors and actresses would be subjected to several wardrobe and hair tests, the results were documented by a studio photographer. And once stars had reached a certain level of fame, countless fan letters would come flowing in, and studio ordained head shots were the reward for a fan's devotion(this was elevated to another level once World War II broke out and studio pinup photos became the rage).  In all cases, it was necessary that the photography captured that illusion of otherworldly beauty and glamour that surrounded movie stars.  

Between 1910 and 1950, the art of Hollywood glamour photography evolved from flat, uninspired photos of silent film stars to gorgeous works of art truly immortalizing their subjects as the larger than life personalities that the studios wanted them to be.  This type of photography can be divided up into two different categories: gallery portraits (which were taken within a Hollywood studio's on site photography studio) and candid portraits (which were taken on location either outdoors or possibly in a star's own home).  Within both of these categories there were several sub-categories, including the standard head-shot, the duo (or couples) portrait, the costume portrait, and the pinup.  Some of the most celebrated studio photographers of the era include Clarence Sinclair Bull, George Hurrell, and Ernest A. Bachrach.  Unfortunately for these talented men, their names were never mentioned and their contributions to creating the illusion of otherworldly stars went largely unheralded.

Theda Bara, circa. 1916

Elizabeth Taylor, circa 1958

Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in a Duo Shot

Audrey Hepburn models Givenchy in a costume shot

Eight Day Halloween Advent Calendar - Four More Days...

Only four days left in our Halloween advent calendar, and today I've posted another pin-up photo.  This one featuring sometime uncredited actress and model, Lillian Wells.  I would write more, but there is literally nothing on the internet about Wells but this picture and a very brief imdb.com profile. 

Halloween themed pin-ups are a dime a dozen, and about 85% feature a beautiful women dressed as a witch.  I chose this one, because it bucks the trend, and shows some really interesting expressionistic lighting.  I dig the cat silhouette, but what's really neat is that tiny grinning pumpkin to the left of Wells.  She really nails the coy pin-up expression.