Pinup girls
Pinup girls are iconic representations of femininity that gained prominence during World War II, primarily characterized by illustrations and photographs of women in playful, often scantily clad poses. The term "pinup girl" first appeared in a 1941 edition of Life magazine, referring to actress Dorothy Lamour as a favored figure among U.S. Army personnel. Artists like Alberto Vargas and Gil Elvgren contributed to the genre, creating both illustrated artworks and cheesecake photography that were popular among soldiers and civilians alike. Notable film stars, including Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth, were frequently featured in promotional photos that became emblematic of the era, with Grable’s image becoming particularly famous.
During the war, these images served not only as entertainment but also as a morale booster for servicemen, evoking longing for home and the lives they were fighting to protect. Moreover, the representation of African American pinup girls in the black press highlighted both the cultural diversity of the time and the broader social issues of racism, positioning these images as part of a larger narrative against fascism. The cultural impact of pinup girls extended into Hollywood films and music, further embedding them in American pop culture. Ultimately, pinup girls represented a complex interplay of nostalgia, idealized femininity, and wartime sentimentality, reflecting the aspirations and experiences of both men and women during a turbulent period in history.
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Pinup girls
Photographed or illustrated icons of American female beauty popular during World War II, especially among servicemen
Ubiquitous throughout the 1940’s, pinup girl images circulated as Esquire gatefolds, graced Life covers, and appeared in Army publications like Yank. Servicemen plastered pinups on their barracks walls and re-created them as bomber nose art. Calendars, playing cards, matchbook covers, and mutoscope cards (small, collectable cards sold in arcade vending machines) featured pinup girls. These images of American female pulchritude encouraged heterosexual fantasy in the sex-segregated military and represented the “girls next door” that servicemen left home to defend.
The phrase “pinup girl” first appeared in the July 7, 1941, edition of Life magazine; the article used the expression to describe actorDorothy Lamour, hailing her as the U.S. Army’s preferred pinup girl. The pinup genre includes both illustrations of scantily clad women, evoking a playful story often accompanied by a cheeky one-liner, and cheesecake photography meant for fixing to a wall. Esquire illustrator Alberto Vargas (known for his Varga Girls), Brown & Bigelow’s calendar artist Gil Elvgren, as well as female artists Zoë Mozert, Joyce Ballantyne, and Pearl Frush, among others, created pinup illustrations for the American public and the fighting men overseas.
In addition to these artist-rendered beauties, pinup photography of female film stars proliferated throughout the war. Hollywood disseminated promotional photographs of popular actors, such as Veronica Lake, Lana Turner, and Esther Williams, for pinning up. Commissioned by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1941, photographer Frank Powolny’s iconic image of Betty Grable wearing a one-piece white bathing suit and high heels, looking over her shoulder, is perhaps the most iconic pinup of the era. Several periodicals, both civilian and military, published cheesecake photos regularly. Life magazine featured photographs of favorite wartime pinups, including Bob Landry’s famous image of Rita Hayworth posing on a bed, wearing a revealing black-and-white nightgown, which appeared in the magazine’s August, 1941, issue. This image of Hayworth, second in popularity among white servicemen to Powolny’s image of Grable, adorned an atomic bomb dropped on Bikini Atoll in 1946. Yank, an official War Department publication by and for servicemen, included a weekly “Yank Pin-Up Girl.” At the same time, images of African American pinup girls—such as Lena Horne, Katherine Dunham, and Hilda Simms—popular among black servicemen, appeared in the black press as part of its campaign against fascism abroad and racism at home.
Impact
The popularity of pinup girls inspired Hollywood films, such as the Grable vehicle Pin Up Girl (1944), and songs, such as “Peggy, the Pin Up Girl,” performed by Glenn Miller and the Army Air Force Band. Women with sweethearts in the service created cheesecake photography featuring themselves as pinup girls, striking poses reminiscent of popular wartime pinup art, and sent them to their loved ones overseas. Servicemen, dreaming of life following the war, looked to images of pinup girls—Hollywood stars, illustrated fantasies, and home-front loves—to remember their motivations for fighting; pinup girls reminded G.I.’s of the women, and the way of life, they sought to protect.
Bibliography
Buszek, Maria Elena. Pin-up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2006.
Martignette, Charles G., and Louis K. Meisel. The Great American Pin-Up. New York: Taschen, 1996.
Westbrook, Robert. Why We Fought: Forging American Obligations in World War II. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2004.