Monday, May 18, 2009

Jeanne Carmen

Jeanna Carmen




Born Lavern Carmen
Birth Date Aug 4th 1930
Birth Place Paragould Arkansas
Height 5' 6"
Hair Brown (Mink White)
Eyes Green
Measurements 38-26-36
First Cover 1952 Esquire Girl ?
First Film Appearance 1954 Striporama













Born Lavern Carmen on August 4th 1930, in the town of Paragould Arkansas. Jeanne Carmen lived and breathed the life that you could only be dreamed up in a Hollywood screenplay. A story with gangsters, movie stars, trick shot golfers, and Elvis! Paging through this script you will find tales of titillation and trauma, horror and hilarity.



Yeah ... she walked it and talked it. That's Jeanne Carmen in a nutshell Brash and Brazen. I feel honored to have met her and her son Brandon who shared much with me. These tales and images of Jeanne helped get my site off the ground many years ago.thank you, Ric

See more at ClubPinup.com

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Irish McCalla


Name: Irish McCalla
Born: December 25, 1928
Died: Feb 02, 2002
Place of Birth: Pawnee City, Nebraska
Height: 5 feet 9 1/2 inches
Eyes: Blue / Green
Hair: Blonde
Measurements: 39-24-38








Queen of Night and Day
(Sheena Queen of the Jungle, Queen of Night and Day, Queen of Pin-up)
There were two defining moments that lead Irish McCalla's cult following. First being the first great pin-up queen of post war magazines and one of the three or four definitive cheesecake models of the 50's. Second was her transformation into television's Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Sorta the 50's version of Tarzan meets Xena.


Irish was born on Christmas day in Pawnee City, Nebraska (population:2000), the daughter of a meat inspector and one of five sisters and three brothers. She was a bit of a tomboy growing up, playing softball and basket ball, and at one point an assistant lifeguard. While in high school, she briefly studied at a local art institute.
Her first debut to the public came in August 1950 on the cover of Night and Day magazine. Two month's later she launched Night and Day's new magazine Eve using her as the central image. Over 200 pictures of her were to grace the pages of these magazines.

One of the highlights of her career when she was asked by the great pin-up artist Alberto Vargas to pose for one of his calendars. His images of Irish were used in True and Cavalier magazines, and also used on a deck of playing cards. Vargas was the only artist that she posed for nude, he even helped her with own artwork.





Irish's biggest moment came when she was asked to stand in for Anita Eckberg for the lead in Sheena queen of the Jungle It didn't take long for people to wonder "Anita who?" The first episode, "Forbidden Cargo" was broad cast on September 16th, 1956; the last "Touch of Death" was seen on March 17th, 1957. The show lasted only for 26 episodes.


After television there was the films, the most noted of them would be, the cult classic She Demons The best of her films would have to be Five Gates to Hell where she plays a nun (no leopard skins involved, damn) Sadly though Irish had already been typecast as Sheena,and she would go on to make only about 6 films.


With Hollywood behind her, Irish plunged full time into the painting se had loved when she was younger. She now has created over 1,000 paintings, and had 8 collector plates and numerous limited edition lithographs to her credit. Irish's paintings have graced the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry, and has sold originals for prices up to $12,000. Most are priced around $1,500 to $6,000 (for folks like us, grin) She also runs her own company McCalla Enterprises, Inc.
Her work is on view at the Los Angeles Museum of Arts and Sciences, and the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.