Punk Becomes Poet

Joanne Latham makes a BIG impact in the world of "reader's letters" digest publications, particularly for "Response," a periodical featuring b/w photographs and illustrations throughout rainbow pages (many pages a different color).

As fresh a face as Joanne's, who is now teaching yoga in India (as was as recently as mid 2000s), was just what the men's magazine market needed very late 1970s, thus changing the attitude of the industry forever. The look of a woman when she's pissed-off has a certain appeal to those looking for it, and pair that with a bust rivaling those on ancient Chinese fertility stones and the result is a powerful statement of womanhood, to start. 

It seems Joanne was pissed from the beginning, as an erratic full-figured punk model who probably irked the rest of them not getting near the airtime as she, never really taking a strong advocative stance on what she did as a model. Her attitude towards nude and semi-nude modeling was apparent from the start, but was blatant to her hungry, drooling fans only four years into her career as a cover and poster girl. By 1983, editors were featuring layouts of the English gal, arguably the most prolific after June Wilkinson, admitting that she'd already reached the peak of her career. Obviously her golden era was early in the 1980s, as evidenced by the digests represented here, but her impact is one that can no longer be held, lasting throughout anything that came in her wake. 

Each of her appearances have the heir of irony, begging the viewer to wonder on what side of the bed she awoke the day of the shoot. Some of her sessions bespeak a downright angry bitch. Some of her sessions bespeak only the sweetest of girls-next-door eager to show you her recently discovered feminine form. Joanne is the brightest aura and the darkest enigma of eroticism in print. In and out of the biz as quickly as any, she began a website devoted to her modeling career, but it isn't currently maintained, and took her love of spiritual oneness to a level paramount to her previous endeavors, becoming a Buddhist and traveling to the countries of origin, a poet of spiritual transformation. After this, or maybe because of this, she lost much of the weight so admired in the pages of Penthouse, Response, Mayfair, Partner, Game, and the like, and we can only presume the same weight came away from that rivaling rack.

    


What the shit are you doing now, Joanne? Do you teach the ways of Buddha, the ways of ancient yogi to eager respondents, in lands so far from your uprising? Only those closest know the difficulties of your plight in the often thankless land of nude posing, but those of us who take in your sight with something more than basic ball-grabbing, Cro-Magnon impulse hurt in our hearts for your justification.



If she ever poses again for any reason other than travelogue candids, I hope to be the man with the camera. She will be snapped with admiration. She will be photo'd in pure easiness and will not be misused. Posing anyway she wishes, no spreading, no arching of the back (save that of the Down Dog or the panca of Namaskara A/B), no delicious presentation of her tan ass (an uncommon pose for Joanne), no colliding of 40+ tits, just the angelic English visage of a woman so pissed she laughs and we finally get Joanne to smile with life's happiness that SHE birthed, her own happiness.

A stunning woman ready to punch someone. 

All images presented created solely by the author of this blog, not copied from other sources.

Not so Psychedelic Fur...

Even the most successful people have their good days and their bad days, and this rings especially true in the world of adult entertainment, be it in the toned, wiry dancers at a strip club, the exaggerated figures of the porn industry, or simply a pinup-turned-pornstar with a knack for "showing off."

Julia Parton was Joyce Patrick and somewhere in between was Nina Alexander (did photog Ed Alexander have interest in Julia beyond their photo sessions?), and her career is textbook, or so it would seem, rise-and-fall. But in light of her prolific output, and once prolific perkiness, does the climb to prime and descent to "Consenting Adults" even matter? She burst like the young cherry she was onto the men's magazine scene in the early 1980s, and held a high position in the list of models who found it easy to appear younger, sometimes significantly younger, than their true age. Unfortunately, and even though she was posing topless and bottomless from the start, her short transformation from covergirl to pornstar was not exactly beneficial. Her measurements were 38-24-36, but this is suspected to have been early in her career, probably when making a frequent appearance in Parliament magazines, and even in German publications devoted to large bosoms.
 

Even as a consenting adult, the mystery of her gaze remained. Her body morphed into a thin frame from a cherubic powder-puff, and to some of her fans the change was apparent, however unsettling. What the shit happened to Julia Parton? Once a top-rated model of the adult industry, with particular attention paid by fetishes like large busts or youthful looks. Julia made it more than fashionable to sport a serious garden, remaining honest in an era where Less Was More, and her infamous muff in pictures may have helped in her early days to avoid any legal situations. When she got into hardcore porn, she quickly adapted many of the practices of the 1980s and early 1990s pornstars, including looks more of a disheveled nature than before, maybe even drugs, and an ever-fluctuating body weight (which seems to happen even more these days....not much has changed). Julia was not a crazy recluse though, and managed to be social despite working incessantly and publishing (early years of) High Society magazine, perhaps the first of the forward-looking adult magazines of it's time.

Any observer of the once-rounded and full-figured Kentucky sweetheart will notice a pureness that waned with blatant speed and recourse. Motivation that arose in eagerness and, honestly, in earnestness, fell by pink satin like a still-burning cigarette. Parton is still one of the all-time greats, successful as both model and mogul, just as hard-working despite a clear distinction of oncoming maturity in a business where youth is the driven snow, and always pretty in pink.

From top to bottom:
a. Star Distributors paperback, 1988. Is Julia, with lolly, showing off or being a brat? Both, purposefully. Likely an image from her early days as a pinup used for the cover, to present a younger allure.
b. "Consenting Adults," by Tanya Springs, Beeline paperback, 1992. Was cocaine still around?
c. "Pretty in Pink," calendar top circa 1985-1989. Endless curves and instant appeal.

BUF O.G.

 

A) Mr. [Magazine] - v15n7, May, 1971. Frankie does a body good! Layout, with a great centerfold.
B) Gent - v10n2, Apr., 1969. Frankie cover-plus, including amazing centerfold. Also, Ann Austin. 

C) Gem - v10n5, Jan., 1968. Frankie cover-plus, Gem-of-the-Month centerfold.
D) layout from previous

E) Folies de Paris et de Hollywood - n435, c. 1967. Frankie cover. >>>

Frankie Hires is the perfect love-in participant and one you could tell a naughty joke while you smoke a joint on the wrought iron in Greenwich Village, or Los Angeles (she found work on both coasts, even across the pond). Early photo sessions of the bubbly girl-next-door seem to have made a statement overseas (Folies de Paris et de Hollywood), even top billing as a cover-girl. By 1968 she is in US newsstands, in New York (Gem), and a year later (Gent) she's a painter living in Massachusetts Hill and just as...bountifully. One of a handful of models who kept a single moniker over a career, Frankie would bring the boys to the yard as late as 1971 (Mr.), milking the cash cow of the smut-farming industry. Frankie Hires (sometimes Hines) burned into and out of her audience like a cattle brand, spun the Stones' "Their Satanic Majesties Request," and knew exactly how to wear hand-knit clothing. Frankie was the BUF O.G., striking visually with a gust of pride. Her image is lasting and to this day is a part of our consumer culture, sharing layout space with Bettie Page (oddly) and Roberta Pedon (less odd) in the ambitious contemporary comic, "Betty Page in Danger" (No. 8, 2013, Shh! Productions).

Well I realize that I've been hypnotized...

 

A                                       |                        B                         |         C

 

D                                        |                           E                     |          F 

 
 

G  |  H  |  I

  |   J   |

A) "Bed Me!" - Bee-Line Book 302S, 1968

B) Follies - v13n4, November, 1969

C) Layout from previous, as "Jana Keene"

D) Jaguar - v3n8, September, 1968

E) Leg Language - [v1]n3, Summer, 1971

F) Layout from previous, as "Gypsy Sheila"

G) Mr. [Magazine] - v15n6, April, 1971

H) Layout from previous, as "Dianna Curtis"

I) Rapture - v11n2, Dec-Feb, 1973-1974

J) reprint photo, but similar to "Bed Me!" so maybe the original session was c. 1968?

Perhaps Elmer Batters' most dynamic model (after Caruska), Diane Curtis was undeniable for a few years, attaining high-allure status as both session model and cover girl. Sullivan overlooks the bouffant babe in his "Glamour Girls" encyclopedia, but through not fault of his own. She is not well documented in the first place: rarely appearing with the same name throughout her career, few current websites with information beyond a black-and-white photograph (guilty, guilty), and her professional career as a nude model seems to have lasted maybe 6 years (tops). This was typical haven chosen figure modeling for a career. However long the magic lasted, Diane's appearances are unforgettable, oozing charm and grace inside a healthy skin, purposeful tanlines, and an upstairs to lounge around in. She MAY have become a teacher once she left the photog scene, but dont waste your time hunting. Diane was adaptable and cute if anything, and the type of hardworking, cooperative model that photographers so often waste away looking for. 

Best seen: Diane as captured by Elmer Batters in color in "Leg Language," as a desert gypsy in heels, hose, and garters. She also did an interesting color layout in "Mr." with an unstoppable centerfold.

Happy Easter

Sometimes things turn up when you least expect them to, and in this case it was a 4 x 6 inch black-and-white photograph found on eBay that triggered the notion that I had forgotten to call my girlfriend. That photograph that turned up on eBay is here too, a reprint. The woman looks oddly like Margaret Nolan aka Vicky Kennedy, but it could easily be someone else. Still, fun fact.

On-Call Wife
Andrew Shaw
Nightstand Books NB1835, 1965.

4 x 6" photo reprint of image
likely  for use in illustrating
 "On-Call Wife" by Andrew Shaw

Lawrence Block, that perennial name in modern literature, who seems to pump a book out every so often (more than not), wrote his share of sleaze and it's been confirmed he wrote as "Andrew Shaw" on occasion. Witness "On-Call Wife" by Shaw (this being one of the unconfirmed Block-Shaw titles, artist unknown): what looks like a kinky tryst into wife-swapping, and "buttocks" is about the risque-est term in the tome. Can you believe they actually banned this stuff?

*images scanned from items in the author's collection

Shirley Houser and the After-Hours Shakedown

Just a hint at the methods used by paperback and magazine artists of the 1950s and 1960s. This is but one example, and more will follow as they are found. It's no surprise that many pinup/glamour models were in-demand for artists of the era (if they make a hit in a photo, then they should in a painting, right?), with babes like Diane Webber, Betty Brosmer, and the unknown but prolific Barbara Nichols, all lending their dimensions for adoption by the painter's palette. Here, Shirley Houser makes her mark. Houser was by no means a popular model, but clearly had the right stuff for the job. The art on the paperback looks like it could be the work of Chiriaka, but it's an often imitated style, so an exact detail is fraught with possible inaccuracy, but I'll stab. Photos of Houser were taken by Bernard (presumed "Bernard of Hollywood") for VUE. *Pickup a copy of the VUE - you'll be surprised by Candy Barr.

Shakedown Strip - Louis Malley
Avon Books T-394, c. 1958

Vue: America's Photo Digest - v11n5, Sept. 1958
Shirley Houser (front cover model)
- likeness used for cover of "Shakedown Strip"
by Louis Malley (Avon Books T-394)

Images generated by the author, using items from the author's personal library.

Miss Angelo's Nose

Whether compact hourglass dimensions, a formidable bust that, when bereft of silky support, appears to the viewer as two powerful beacons, hypnotic and only the prominence that supports the whole idea, an exact nose perfectly perky, or the brief and handcrafted lower limbs, Michelle Angelo is pleasant to admire from thousands of miles and several decades away. She took to nude figure modeling and eventually topless dancing supposedly to support a man through higher education...I admire that. Michelle made a handful of nude film appearances, some not always tame or innocent, and appeared in the raw in several hundred magazines (French Follies, Tip Top, Kingsize International, and more), on the covers of a few published novels (like Henry Sackerman's "The Crowded Bed"), and in countless photographs and their negatives...I admire that, too. Her ample breasts with built-in mocha lattes to quench our ocular thirst, and 40-25-35 measurements encapsulating a rather fit body, kept her cover-girl status in full effect for guess how long....only 2 years...abrupt, but admirable.

It's assumed that she modeled as a professional from 1966 to 1968, a period when it seems she painted the newsstand scene as her personal Sistine Chapel, but her likeness can be seen in published form as late as 1976 (on the cover of the Greenleaf book, "Ann's Boy Hunger," by Brian Laver). Miss Angelo was an immediate hit amongst breast men, and her openness to boy/girl, girl/girl photo shoots afforded her the chance to dominate other niche markets, like the leg-centric scene and the 'X'-rated film.

For years Michelle Angelo was disappeared from the world as what she flew into it, maybe raising a family, keeping a warm home, whatever, but she returned sometime in the 1990s to reconnect with fans (and there are plenty) but after some digging, I found that my only digging of the sweet munchkin was of her magazine appearances, briefly in slightly BDSM movies, and her various and sporadic book covers. If she has an official website, it's now extinct or incredibly difficult to find. No bother: her chapter in the biography of human sexuality is one of few pages, but of the purest and strongest impact.

Items pictured are owned exclusively by the author, being:
French Follies - v4n2, May-July 1967. Features 6pp and color cf of Michelle.
Ann's Boy Hunger - Brian Laver, Companion Book #4048, Mar 1967. Front cover solo, on lovely floral bedspread, mochas whipped.
The Passion Pit - Mel Howard, Brandon House #1135, 1967. Front cover with mysterious dude.
Dr. Make Love - Danny Land, Brandon House #1145, 1968. Front cover with a "Mad"man.
Tip Top - v6n4, May-July 1967. Front and rear covers and 6pp, from same shoot as Brandon House Books #1135 and #1145. Sweet, dig the garters.
The Crowded Bed - Henry Sackerman, Sherbourne Press, 1967. Front panel of the dust jacket, with two dudes.

The Great Wall of Revelle

She began her career posing for nude figure classes in 1954, won local beauty pageants, and two years later skyrocketed to cover girl. Male-targeted magazines, fetish magazines, even international publications (like the bawdy Continental [Magazine of the World] from Canada), would all bare her rosy, Disney-island looks and propel her status to "most wanted," with endless comparisons to France's Brigitte Bardot.

For three years her popularity soared, until 1959 (according to some sources), when her parents persuade her to leave the business of glamor modeling. The impact of her powerful bust and hazy, Tierney-esque gaze was instant and forever.

From the mid 1960s to the late 1970s, and the advent of bewitching models like Joanne Latham, the slick magazine market steamed along. Rosina rose from a hip-pocket beauty in magazines like The Fabulous Rosina (1957, full-color and an unspeakable fold-out centerfold), to queen of the newsstands in just a short time. But in light of her dusky appearance she was continuously exploited as a French woman, and maybe her parents at home in Warwickshire wanted their daughter to be seen as a daughter from Warwickshire.

Magazines represented all feature Rosina Revelle, all under legal ownership of the author (images generated by): 

Champagne - v1n2, 1961. With photos reproduced from The Fabulous Rosina (1957), including a beautiful centerfold from the same session(s), and stunning lingerie poses. 

Continental [Magazine of the World] - v3, 1959. A Canadian imprint, with Rosina on front and back covers, the interior is bawdy classic lit and jokes with cartoons. 

The Fabulous Rosina - circa 1957. One-shot series, all Rosina, and likely one of her first big appearances. Photos were later used in Champagne (1961), but with a centerfold all its own.