Surprisingly (or maybe not so, given equal sleaze-merchant Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News) Alex Hillman was apparently a right-winger, and even distributed a goofy conservative rag called "The Freeman" for a while. Of course, the magazine imagined commies, supported drunken-creep Senator McCarthy, big oil and discussed the negro "problem" and such. I have never seen an issue of the Freeman but I think it might still even be published. Gee…haven't we come a long way?
However, Alex Hillman's greatest contribution to American culture was certainly the giant Jayne Mansfield Pin Up above! Just like Murdoch, he didn't mind selling a few big knockers along with his unfortunate, ill-conceived political views!
The photograph was taken by master photographer Ormond Gigli, who also took one of the most beautiful fashion photographs ever, the famous "Girls in the Window" you may have seen. He was a magnificent photographer. How his photo of Jayne ended up as a precursor to the blow-up doll is unknown to me. Apparently, the original poster is fairly hard to find, as the majority of them promptly went up on the back of a closet door with scotch tape.
Books and ebooks for the IPAD ($5.99) by Jim Linderman are available at Blurb HERE
