I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the extraordinary ladies who gave generously of their time (and in most cases offering photos from their personal collections) to make their chapters in Bombshells come alive: Yvette Vickers, Joy Harmon, Dixie Evans, Sheree North, and especially the wondrous and enchanting Cynthia Myers. Dixie Evans provided delightful photos of Jennie Lee and Virginia Bell in addition to the pictures for her own chapter. Additional photos for the Virginia Bell chapter appear courtesy of Vienna, Virginia, collector James F. Carlin. All-time great glamour photographer Bunny Yeager supplied all of the photos for the chapter on Maria Stinger, as well as the photo of Maria that appears on the cover. Thanks to glamour immortal June Wilkinson for writing the foreward. And I am indebted to Mr. Hugh M. Hefner for kindly granting permission for the use of three classic Playboy photos of Cynthia Myers. Additionally, I am grateful to British collector Neil Kendall for his contributions regarding Sabrina and Dixie Evans.
St. Martins editor Jim Fitzgerald was indispensable to the successful completion of this book. I must also acknowledge the invaluable efforts of my agent, Stan Corwin.
For anyone interested in classic glamour and pinups, I write and edit a quarterly magazine, Glamour Girls: Then and Now , in partnership with Bunny Yeager. Each issue includes photo-packed, in-depth interviews and features on some of the most exciting women from the 1950s to today. In January 1998 we also published a special full-length digest book, Glamour Girls of the Century , with biographical entries on the top one thousand beauties and bombshells of the twentieth century, with more than two hundred photos. For more information, write to: Bombshells, P.O. Box 34501, Washington, DC 20043.
by June Wilkinson
During my four decades in show business, from my early days appearing in Playboy and other magazines through my roles in movies, TV, and stage productions, its been my experience that journalists seem to find it very difficult to write intelligently about women who are considered sex symbols . For some reason, the fact that a woman is considered attractive and sexy leads most writers to dismiss all of her other qualities. The usual result is a story that is inaccurate, trashy, and insulting.
Steve Sullivan is a very different kind of writer. In his book Va Va Voom! (in which I was proud to have been included), he demonstrated that it is possible to write lively, entertaining accounts of some of the most sensual ladies of the modern era while also being respectful and truthful. Youll find the same qualities here in Bombshells . There are ten fabulous ladies in these pages, including friends of mine such as Cynthia Myers, Sabrina, and Joi Lansing. Steves chapters and of course the wonderful photos help readers understand why these women have been considered sexy and fun, but they also show that they had much more to offer than just sex appeal. In my book, thats a winning combination!
AS burlesque enjoyed the final years of its golden age during the 1950s, the top-level strippers who made the era memorable could be divided into two categories: those who reserved their artistry for the swankiest nightclubs, and those who plied their trade on the circuit . Virginia Bell rivaled by few other strippers in her popular following was equaled by none in her dedication to the network of burly theaters that would soon become a relic of history.
Born in Montrose, California, Virginia was of Serbo-Croatian heritage; her father was said to have been a rancher. According to one Bell researcher, Virginia graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1949, and was dating a well-known football star at the time. She graduated from junior college around 1951, and launched her modeling career after some candid beach snapshots of her formidable figure inspired the keen-eyed lensman to prod her in the direction of a professional photographer.
This quickly led her to a female theatrical agent who proclaimed, When I first saw Virginias picture, I didnt believe it I thought the pictures were faked. But when she came in and showed me what she had, I knew Id stumbled onto something special. Mansfields are big, [Meg] Myless are bigger, but Virginias are the all-time most!
Atop a five-foot-two, 120-pound frame, Virginias breasts were indeed an imposing sight, and were to become her trademark. The exact dimensions of her most prized assets varied with the source. When she began modeling, her bust measurement was quoted as forty-two inches; later this number was regularly inflated to forty-eight. But unquestionably Virginia Bells bust which earned her such nicknames as Little Miss Pleasure Chest was among the most celebrated of her time. One magazine proclaimed that her breasts were more than enough to make Lili St. Cyr, Candy Barr and Tempest Storm look like something out of Louisa May Alcotts Little Women.
Little miss Pleasure Chest
It was on the burlesque stage that Virginia first came into the public eye in the mid-1950s. She reportedly made her burlesque debut on the stage of Clevelands famed Roxy Theater. A headliner from the start, she was billed as Virginia (Ding Dong) Bell, 48-24-36, and earned $1,500 per week.
By 1957, the fledgling exotics epic figure was becoming a frequent sight in girlie magazines, and remained so for the next several years. Her first magazine cover was the September 1956 Night & Day . Immediately, the magazine was flooded with letters demanding more Bell. N & D , along with other magazines, regularly ran ads for sexy photo sets of Virginia, with such text as: Inch for Inch, the Biggest, Bounciest Pin-Up Girl of Them All Must be SEEN to be BELIEVED. Never before a woman like this!
While she appeared in many different magazines, Virginia became closely associated with Fling , which in later years would repeatedly cite her as the definitive Flinggirl who set the standard to which all others would have to aspire. Arv Miller, the magazines founding publisher and editor, recalls that Fling s future was still in doubt when Virginia made her debut in issue 10 (1958). Virginia really put me on my feet, he declares. When her appearances in issues 10 and 16 sent newsstand sales soaring, Miller decided to devote the publication to the biggest and best bosoms in the land.
