VASTA: Paris-Hollywood Magazine: Early Years 1950s

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Paris-Hollywood Magazine: Early Years 1950s

Esther Williams cover, circa late 1940s

One of the most important men's magazine of the 1950s and 1960s was Paris-Hollywood, later to be known as Folies de Paris et de Hollywood. An oversized publication from Paris, where each week its readers were treated to a seductive selection of busty, voluptuous models, all beautifully printed in gravure. Conceptually this was nothing new. However, the French photographers working for the magazine and the photographs imported from the U.K. had a certain je ne sais quoi, that in retrospect, appears to be the brilliant selection of exceptional models and the weekly "special" features.

Betty Grabel cover, circa late 1940s

In the earliest days of the magazine, the main feature was the American movie stars on the covers + composite layouts featuring them inside: Jane Russell, Betty Grabel, Virginia Mayo, Yvonne De Carlo, et al. When the mandate of the magazine's title wore thin, the movie stars slowly disappeared, replaced by increasing seductive models, wearing less and less! The magazine's editors subsequently created numerous other very popular features over the years including: sequential strip-tease series, 3-D photo layouts (with glasses in each magazine), gate-fold pin-up illustrations by Brenot and the marvelous pin-up deshabillable (undressable pin-up) with glassine overlay: dressed/undressed pin-up.

French photographers included Roland Carre, Serge Jacques and Andre Belorgey. The U.K. photos were from two of the best: Harrison Marks and Russell Gay from whom many of the photographs of most well endowed, busty babes originated. Although the magazine started in the 1940s, I am concentrating on the 1950s and 1960s and will post it in two parts.

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