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A Mutoscope is a machine that appeared in penny arcades. The device was basically an elaborate "flip book." These cards were fastened to a large rotating wheel. Herman Casler patented the device with the name Mutoscope by Casler on November 21st 1894. Expanding on the flick-book principle, the Mutoscope contained a sequence of photographs, which were arranged around the perimeter of a drum. A simple turn of a handle flipped the cards rapidly, giving the impression of movement. The Mutoscope was, like the Kinetoscope, a Peepshow device and included a viewing aperture which customers peered into to watch the action. Typically, the devices were loaded with risqué strip shows or teases. Unlike the Kinetoscope, the Mutoscope didn't rely on any special illumination or an electric motor and gave viewers much greater control over the viewing. For example they could control the speed at which the action took place or turning the handle in the reverse direction produced backward motion. Casler had perfected a camera for the Mutoscope to produce films and was in operation by early June of 1895 with some of the first films, it is believed, taken by Dickson. The camera was named the Biograph. In November 1895 the Mutoscope was adapted with a mirror device, the result was projected motion pictures from a Mutoscope. It wasn't long before Casler and his partners perfected a through-the-film projector, which took the name Biograph. The partnership of Dickson, Marvin, Casler and Elias Koopman led to the formation of the American Mutoscope Company on December 27th 1895.
A "pin-up" image is one that shows a full-length view of its subject and characteristically has an element of a theme or some kind of story. The woman in a pin-up is usually dressed in a form-revealing outfit, either one that may be worn in public, such as a bathing suit, sunsuit, or skimpy dress, or one that is more provocative and intimate, such as lingerie. Sometimes, a pin-up may be shown as a nude, but this is more the exception than the rule. A "glamour art" image may be either a full-length view or a presentation of only the head and shoulders of the subject. The "glamour" woman is generally attired in an evening gown, fancy dress, or some other attire that is less revealing than a pin-up. "Pretty girl" art is a term used to refer to painting of a glamour art nature that was done by mainstream illustrators. It found its audience among popular magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and Cosmopolitan and in the world of advertising. Charles Martignette, 'The Great American Pin-Up' A pin-up is a sexually evocative image, reproduced in multiple copies, in which either the expression or the attitude of the subject invites the viewer to participate vicariously in or fantasize about a personal involvement with the subject.
The classic pin-up genre - cheesecake - fulfills our definition perfectly. Cheesecake (Which Webster defines as "photography displaying especially female comeliness and shapeliness") is said to have gotten its name when, in September 1915, a newspaper photographer, George Miller, noticed a visiting Russian diva, Elvira Amazar, just as she was debarking her ship in New York. Miller asked the opera singer to hike up her skirt a little for the sake of the picture. Later, the photographer's editor, something of a gourmet, is supposed to have exclaimed, "Why, this is better than cheesecake!" Mark Gabor, 'The Pin-Up: A Modest History' The pin-up gained popularity during WWII when pics of Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth accompanied GI's who were shipped overseas. The photos were a reminder of what they were fighting for. Comic books also played a part in keeping troops entertained. Certain publishers like Fiction House, specialized in pin-up style artwork in all their titles. Wings Comics, Rangers Comics and Fight Comics all had more leg art than battle art. Then, too, certain genre such as jungle stories where females wore minimal clothing, lent itself to the leg art mold. Of these, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle got top billing diring the 1940's. Sheena starred in Fiction House's Jumbo Comics which also featured the zany exploits of a beautiful red head, Ginger McGuire, who's feature was named Sky Girl. In every episode would-be fly gal Ginger took to the air as did her skirt... revealing as much of her long-legged lovliness as superb "good girl" artist Matt Baker could get away with! Bob Lubbers drew Senorita Rio for Fiction House, the sexy American spy who operated in Central and South America. After the war, girly strips continued in comics and added attention to swelling bust lines as well as wind raised skirts. The top producer of busty babe comics was Fox Features whose headline (or should we say "headlight") features Phantom Lady and Rullah, Jungle Godess, out did even Fiction House. Again Matt Baker, who drew the most beautiful women in comics, was brought in to draw Phantom Lady. The Rulah artist remains unidentified but his style was close to Baker's. Matt pulled double duty by also drawing Tiger Girl and Camilla at Fiction House. At Quality Comics, Bill Ward's outrageous girly strip, Torchy, added a new element--- lingerie! In every story, the incredibly busty and long legged Torchy Todd managed to get her clothes ripped off to finish the adventure in her underwear! Quality had a few other female features like Choo Choo, Daffy, Candy but none could hold a candle to Torchy!
Bad Girl Art is pretty self explanitory - They're girls and they're bad, Get it? Anyhow, in the interest of further defining this as it relates to sexually explicit comic book characters: The Bad Girl Art (BGA) Index v0.2: This is an attempt to quantify the degree of offense given by "Bad Girl Art" as presented to general audiences in solicitation material, such as Diamond's Previews magazine. Any depiction of the female form in a solicitation is fair game for assigning a BGA Index, but the threshhold that must be passed in order to be truly considered BGA has not yet been determined, although 5 seems like a lower bound. Every depiction starts at 0 points, then adds points based on the Format, Pose, Body Type, Clothes Type and Clothes Coverage of the female shown. FORMAT: Style of ad
BODY: The physical attributes of the female
CLOTHES TYPE: What the female is wearing
CLOTHES COVERAGE: How well the clothing covers the "naughty bits" of the female. This is clothing coverage only, and doesn't count strategic limb placement or black bars. It's the thought that counts. The following are cumulative (i.e. if less than 1/4 of the breast is covered, then points are given for 1/4 and 1/2).
Any suggestions (other than "Get a life!") appreciated. This file and updates of it will be posted each month along with a listing of outstanding cases of BGA in Previews. Courtesy Dave Van Domelen Femme Fatale: See Photo Page |
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