As there is a major book coming out on pioneer photographer and pin up Bunny Yeager, what better time to revisit both the multi-talented woman who broke ground, and my tribute to the artist which ran HERE a few years ago. Plus, it provides an opportunity to show what appears to be a previously undocumented feature on Ms. Yeager which ran in the super sleazy "Men's pictorial" pulp back in 1956. The issue provides Bunny her own photo inset on the cover...although "ARE YOU AFRAID OF SEX?" has a far bigger font I fear.
There is a four page spread inside, one which has her carrying the camera, and a brief paragraph which notes her skill. There is no mention of Bettie Page, the model she helped discover and make famous.
The new book is titled Bunny Yeager's Darkroom: Pin-up Photography's Golden Era from Rizolli and shown HERE. The author wrote me asking if I had any photos (likely after seeing the post and tribute above) and I am looking forward to seeing the book!
"Men's pictorial" was a curious publication. The original title was, get this, "Fifteen Western Tales" (!) It grew out of one of those creepy cheap pulps with gun-totin' desparados! It is hilarious! After years of rough and tough cowboys painted by well-known artists, they dropped the "oaters" and switched to cruddy "adventure" stories and cheesecake the year before this issue. Apparently legs like Bunny's sold more than horses. By the time this issue was produced, the magazine had run 15 years, but the times change. Consequently, the issue is full of bogus "voodoo" stories as an excuse to show topless natives, a man having his hand sliced off for a crime in an unnamed Arab country, and sideshow performer from Japan who allows a living snake to crawl through her nasal passages. What happened to Dusty, Sheriff Joe and the tale of Deputy Tom's missing horse?
