The Fun History of the Pinup Girl!

0:07 Welcome to Strange History, where we talk about the weird, the wonderful, and sometimes sexy strange history that has shaped who we are today. They say, well behaved women rarely make history, and this is very true for our topic today, which is pinup girls. The popular belief is that the first pinup girl appeared around the time of World War Two. The truth is the rise of the pin up precedes World War One. An unlikely invention called the bicycle can be credited with the birth of the pin up. Yes, the bicycle.

0:38 Women were only too happy to embrace the invention, and this caused widespread popularity of bicycles in the nineteenth century. For a woman, the bicycle offered a sense of mobility and freedom never available before. Women's freedom on two wheels was no easy ride, however, from the beginning, there was much resistance from doctors, ministers, and more to a woman riding a bicycle. Doctors said riding this new contraption would damage a woman's delicate reproductive organs, while ministers alluded to the evils of sexual self stimulation while riding a bicycle.

1:12 All while US ladies were probably thinking, Wow, I don't have to carry the groceries while walking in those uncomfortable shoes. Or it's going to take me five minutes to get to Martha's house instead of an hour where I would have had to stop and talk to every neighbor along the way. Now I can just sail on buy on my two wheel wonder machine. The brave woman who would have none of this nonsense also faced other higher hurdles. During the nineteenth century, it was frowned upon to show too much skin or show off their curves.

1:42 Outside of the bedroom, women were expected to wear floor length dresses for the sake of modesty. Riding a bicycle changed all of that. With the excuse of riding a bike, ladies started to wear functional and form fitting pants. Yes, ladies, you can credit the bicycle for those pantaloons you wear today. Now that the shapes and curves previously hidden under flowing dresses began to emerge, the shapely feminine form became an everyday appearance, tolerated by everyone, and no doubt, in many cases, appreciated by most members of the public.

2:15 They were featured in advertisements for bicycles and their newly found freedom knickers, and the start of the pin up girl bloomed. A famous artist, Gibson based his illustrations on American girls he came across in his travels. His Gibson Girl illustrations would appear in every issue of Life magazine for more than twenty years. As printing technology advanced, more magazines came into circulation. To build circulation, these new publications also featured images of unattainable, idealized American beauties.

2:46 After the success of the Gibson Girl, many other magazines followed Life's lead. Howard Chandler Christie crafted the Christie Girl for the Century magazine in eighteen ninety five, and Harrison Fisher's Fisher Girl covered Puck Magazine and Comopolitan from nineteen twelve to nineteen thirty two. All the women were similarly beautiful and aloof Around nineteen oh three, the use of calendars started to gain popularity. Along with the days and months of the year, images of the pinup girl began to adore in some of these calendars.

3:17 Pinup girl calendars ensured sellouts. Thus was born the calendar girl, which is considered the mother of the pinup girl. What would become the familiar pinup began to take shape in nineteen seventeen. A division of pictorial Publicity had been created by the US government during World War One. The job of the division was to create propaganda that would further the war effort. Realizing that sex cells, the US government started to use pinup girls on recruitment posters when men started returning home from the war.

3:50 The women of the Roaring twenties were not willing to surrender the freedom they had acquired while their husbands were away fighting in Europe. The overall atmosphere of liberation actually increasingly revealing clothing mirrored in the ever opening society. During World War Two, pin up illustrations were used in the recruitment posters to gather troops to fight overseas, and calendars to promote the purchase of war bonds. The golden age of pin ups had arrived. The American Military commission pin up artists to raise soldiers morale with exotic, erotic images.

4:24 Soldiers during World War Two were exposed to pin up art daily. This sexy, saucy artwork decorated their barracks. In the walls of ships and submarines. Pinups were painted on fighter planes and bombers and taped inside soldiers helmets. The lovely ladies depicted in this artwork were a constant reminder of what soldiers, sailors, and aviators were fighting for and waiting for them upon their return home. A few months before Pearl Harbor was attacked, Life magazine ran a black and white photograph of an up and coming movie actress named Rita Hayworth.

4:57 The redhead beauty was kneeling on a bed made up was set sheets. Her silky nightgown is white with black lace trimmings and a low cut top. Four months after Hayward's photo was published, America went to war and soldiers took the silk and lace picture along to remind them of home. Eventually, the picture became one of the most famous and most frequently reproduced American pinup images ever after the war ended. In nineteen forty five. The most famous pinup was Betty Page. She is credited as the first pin up to successfully transition from illustration to photography.

5:30 Before Betty Page, all pinup art was in the form of illustrations based on unknown women. Page was different. She was seen as a living, breathing pin up. She had a unique personality and style, as well as looks. Page's popularity escalated quickly. Her images appeared in countless publications and calendars across the land. To this day, Betty Page is considered the most photographed and collected pinup girl in history. With the launch of Playboy magazine in nineteen fifty three, Hugh Hefner, the father of the Girly magazine, successfully molded his own publication around the image of the pinup girl.

6:06 Knowing the future was in photography and not illustrated pinups, he pushed the limits of acceptable nudity and morality further and further in the growing medium. As retro design, art and products became interesting inspiration for legions of people. Today, the pinups popularity is on the rise again. Although her origins date back to the nineteenth century, it appears the pinup is here to stay. The pin up model of today comes in all shapes and sizes and ethnic backgrounds. She will carry her proud tradition of liberation and beauty far into the future.

6:42 This leads us to women of color in the pin up lime light. Even though a lot of photos of pinup girls are white, that does not mean that women of color were not getting in on the action. As well. In the nineteen twenties, some of the most famous African American pin up models were also burlesque performers, like Josephine Baker and Lottie Graves. These women became symbols of the jazz age in both France and the United States, and they are still idolized for their beauty and grace to this day. In nineteen fifty one, the African American magazine Jet began to print photos of women posing in bathing suits as their beauty of the week.

7:15 They were not afraid to publicize articles discussing how difficult it was for women of color to make in Hollywood. One performer named Sagi Jackson danced in a movie called Jiving It and Bebop in nineteen forty seven, so she moved to South America and had an explosive popular music career. In nineteen sixty five, Jennifer Jackson became the first black woman to win Miss America. She also had a music career, But even then these examples were far and few between. The other less talked about pinup girl was, as I like to say, fluffy, plus size or bold and beautiful.

7:48 We have Hilda. Hilda was a full figured pinup girl created by artist Dwayne Bryer's in nineteen fifties, Hilda's image was used in Klin and other advertising, a tradition that was carried on from the pinup girls of World War Two. The New Calendar pin up girls were often drawn from life, but Briars only occasionally used a model for Hilda. The plump and red haired Hilda was not expected to be a success, but customers clamored for her cellulate and all Hilda is often depicted wearing mate chip clothing and doing things like fishing, using an old wood stove or going to the swimming hole.

8:27 She's even seen wearing a flower sack bikini, which begs the question of whether her character was supposed to be a poor girl from the country or she just couldn't find any clothes to fit, which is another theme of Briars. Hilda's clothes that barely covered her. Like many other pin up artists at the time, husky clothing would often have been homemade and not as readily available in the shops. Hilda's image was first introduced in nineteen fifty five, when Briars pitched the character to the promotional materials company Brown and Bigelowe.

8:56 They were hesitant to deviate from the hour glass Monroe type pin ups, but the paintings were so successful they were in print for a whopping thirty six years. According to Briars, Hilda's image just didn't grace calendars, but also playing cards, tumblers, ashtrays and more. Hilda fulfilled and niche market at the time for men who enjoyed the images of hardy women. But Hilda wasn't fully appreciated until after Briar's death in two and twelve. Today there's even a Facebook page devoted to her likeness.

9:26 Many folks today believe the idea that a plus sized image of beauty could have been admirable in an era of waste Cincher's diet pills and fit and flare dresses, but Briars and others have speculated that a rounder image of femininity would never go out of style.

9:43 Over the years, Hilda has been called pleasingly plump, chubby, vivacious, and buxom, among other things. But it's not just her shape and size that is unusual for pin up girls. Hilda also had a huge personality. Hilda plays guitar, she knows how to surf, she paints, she does DIY projects, she reads, she rides a bike, She has backaches and bad days, and generally amuses herself to no end. While many applaud her stature, it's the narrative of her character that really stands out. She's not just a pin up, She's the kind of girl a fellow might want to marry.

10:16 Hilda may get into some silly situations, but she seems neither unintelligent nor sly, and however you see her, there's no doubt that she remains a singular figure in the world of pinup art to this very day. This concludes our sexiest episode of Strange History as of yet, and I hope you enjoyed listening as much as I did making this one. This episode was produced by Dead to Me Productions and I your fluffy host Amy Domestico put a pin in this one and made it happen. If you have an idea for an episode, please email me at Strange History pod at gmail dot com.

10:48 I will make it happen. Thank you Spreaker for being the best dawn podcasting platform around. Peace out y