My dictionary defines "bizarre" as "strikingly unconventional in style or appearance" so I assume the publishers were referring to the color scheme. Certainly vibrant. Circa 1955 pamphlet of exotic models.
I love collectors who specialize, and I like those who share even more! The redoubtable "Quinn" has posted a staggering collection of beautiful, ragged, authentic Tijuana bibles on his site, each scanned in full, so you can read them, but I suggest you print them out and bring some to Gramps on your next visit! They are spicy hot...The few I've had over the years provided plenty of diversion, and as they are the forerunner of the sleazy illustration of the 50s and 60s, most appropriate to show a few here. The site is loaded with trivia, rare examples, values and more. Thank you Quinn!The Tijuana Bible History Series by Jim Linderman Runs once a week or so...make sure to bookmark to enjoy future (and past) posts. Some groundbreaking original research, government documents and rare examples. Dull Tool Dim Bulb / Vintage Sleaze Book Catalog
Selection of Quinn's 8-pagers, circa 1920-1940.
Illustration from "The Big Girl" in Man in Command Number 1 (circa 1960) Amateur, self-printed publication Collection Victor Minx
Finally the last of the "fun fetish four" who drew covers for Eddie Miskin's mob-run paperback house in the 1960's. For my brief articles on Gene Bilbrew, Bill Alexander and Eric Stanton, click on the "vintage sleaze" descriptor below. ALL MY ESSAYS ON VINTAGE SLEAZE ILLUSTRATORS ARE NOW COLLECTED ON VINTAGE SLEAZE.
Bill Ward is probably the most recognizable of the group, and I doubt there is a man over 40 in the United States who hasn't seen his work dozens of times. Ward ruled the girlie magazines of the 1950's and 1960's, producing literally thousands of drawings, one estimate places the number at TEN thousand. Double that figure for the number of breasts he drew. As boy, Ward enrolled in the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, I am sure they are quite proud of that today. What set him apart from the other sleazy artists titillating returning WW2 vets as they relaxed in their suburban dens was his use of the conte crayon. It highlighted his black and white illustrations with great effect. He was paid less than ten dollars each for the most part, and because he was prolific, his original drawings are easily found today. A 350 page compilation with over 600 examples of his work was published by redoubtable Taschen. Like all the Satellite artists, he worked for many publishers and freelanced, but the covers he did for these paperbacks are not only among his best work, they have vivid color which brings them to life. If you study early American folk art, both paintings and carvings, you'll see that the feet are often too small...it lends a charming, naive quality. In Ward's case, all it does is produce a tottering, somewhat gargantuan icon which lives in the minds of every randy man. They might LOOK sexist, absurd and grotesque to you females out there, but if you enlarge an image and place that Barbie doll you grew up with over it, the silhouettes are remarkably similar. I guess you could say Ward did for the top what R. Crumb did for the bottom.
This concludes my minor contribution to vintage sleaze paperback culture. For those of you who would like to obtain your own examples, the Satellite house had five imprints under their sleaze umbrella. From 1963 to 1969 they published several hundred titles with the following imprints: After Hours, First Niter, Nitey Nite, Unique Books and Wee Hours. For the most part, there is little reason to READ them, although numerous well-known struggling authors paid their NYC rent churning them out with fake names. Bilbrew also drew a dozen or more covers for the imprint Satan.
See Also Vintage Sleaze the Daily Blog of Art HERE
Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books HERE
