Robert Harrison's publications started in 1939 picking up where the great American pulps (Stolen Sweets, Spicy Stories, Gay Paree, etc.) left off with their seductive pin-up covers, many created by the legendary Enoch Boles. Harrison started with Beauty Parade (the first cover featuring a "cave woman" by Earl Moran) and followed suit with Wink, Titter, Eyeful, Flirt and finally Whisper which lead to his biggest commercial success, Confidential magazine, the "hush, hush" inspiration for the film noir Hollywood story, L.A.Confidential.
The magazines were filled with leggy models, glamour girls, strippers and starlettes posed in lingerie, stockings, garters and high heels, bathing suits and strip-tease costumes. The emphasis was on their legs, garters, stockings and foot wear; there was NO nudity. The covers were primarily pin-up illustrations painted "three-up" (three times the size of the actual magazine) with Peter Driben being the major contributor of cover artwork. Over the years I have bought and sold a few original Driben pin-ups. His ability to capture the charm, figure and seductive essence of a woman with a brush and oil paint is evident in the cover artwrok he created for Harrison's publications.
Here, from my archives, in no particular order, is a homage to one of the great American pin-up artists of the 1940s and '50s. Featuring cover artwork from Wink, Titter, Flirt, Eyeful, Whisper and Beauty Parade by Peter Driben as well as samples of the photographic layouts.
Betty Page
Two pages from two different issues featuring John Willie's
DIARY OF A FRENCH MAID
John Willie illustrations for the SWEET GWENDOLINE serial
John Willie illustrations for the SWEET GWENDOLINE serial
John Willie illustrations for the SWEET GWENDOLINE serial
John Willie spot illustrations
John Willie illustrations for the DIARY OF A FRENCH MAID serial
Betty Page
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Bah—bah-boom
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