Article "Proto-Porn from the 1950s" by Jim Linderman

NOTE: The following is an article I wrote which was just published at Sugarcut Magazine. Sugarcut is THE premier erotic art and photography site, and I thought some of the camera and visual arts folks who follow Dull Tool Dim Bulb might enjoy seeing it without clicking onto a NSFW site! If you DO want to see the original article on Sugarcut, you can find it, and it has 25 illustrations in a slide show.

Proto-Porn from the 1950S

By Jim Linderman

6 March 2012

Shown is a wide-angle lens full of vintage camera club pinup digests from the early 1950s. Long ignored progenitors of pinup pulchitrude! It was illegal to sell nude photographs in the Eisenhower days, but some enterprising and greedy shutterbug gahoots found a way around the law, frequently in cahoots with the guys downtown, if you know what I mean.

“Figure Study” publications for the artist and photographer!

These obscure digests were all purportedly aimed at the burgeoning nude photography hobbyist, or at least they claimed to be. They were available under the counter or through the mail, at least until Uncle Sam got wise. The models, some famous (Blaze Starr, Judy O’Neal, Bettie Page and many more) were pulled from burlesque routes and strip clubs…others were amateurs who replied to ads. There are no less than five devoted to Ms. Page alone from various publishers. All are hard to find today. Each is now over 50 years old… and since they were published in small editions by phony companies, then carried by trunk and hand to the shop, few survive today. Many have no return address or date. Shop owners priced them at what they thought the risk was worth.

The models in these “proto-porn” periodicals never had pudenda or pubes. The photographs were black and white, and each digest-sized booklet ran from 20 to 50 pages. The colorful covers belie the blurry pages inside. The men behind the camera were seldom identified, but with care and a loupe, one can often identify the photographer’s swinging pads from the wall decorations and curtain designs.

Who was responsible for these stroke books masquerading as figure studies for photographers? At least one series was produced by a later prominent publisher of fetish pinup periodicals. Others came from a husband and wife team living in Midtown Manhattan a few doors down from Bettie Page, and a big load from a mysterious photographer with a Florida address…a sunny address he began using after apparently thinking the city up north was “too hot” and left Brooklyn behind. Nearly all were published in series, but a complete set is unheard of.

The books are today relics of days gone by. Despite history books which credit Hugh Hefner with starting the modern revolution in nude photography, not to mention sexual mores, it was a dozen independent small presses with moxie (and buxie) with a few mob-connections who got the balls rolling.

Jim Linderman is an author, collector and editor of the daily blog VINTAGE SLEAZE. This group of original “Figure Study” digests come from the author’s collection and date circa 1950 – 1955. Vintage Sleaze the daily blog is HERE.

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I've Been Working on the Railroad (In China with Warren) Folk Art Railroad Men

Another pair of honest. hard working guys (see post of yesterday) but today our worker class members are tin articulated railroad men. Bonus below is Warren Buffet singing the song to the Chinese.

Tin articulated toy, circa 1900? Collection Jim Linderman

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Looks like Warren is getting better along with the rest of the world than some Republicans I know. Railroads are good here too...one can move tons freight with a few gallons of gas and without the diesel pollution. Warren seems to have the right idea.

Derogatory for Mechanic, Wearing the Evidence of their Labors on their Clothes Grease Monkeys, Greasy Big Petroleum and JOBS

A pair of grease monkeys. By the way, I might have thought of a way to help with the unemployment situation. Require all gas stations to have one or two guys there to pump your gas. There are some 150,000 gas stations in the United States, putting two guys on the pumps would eliminate a week's worth of unemployment claims, and give that many folks a feeling of self-worth. Don't make the independent owner pay their salary or their benefits, they are being bled by the big guys just like you and I.

Instead, make the record earning petroleum companies who blacken our waters and settle claims out of court rather than going to trial and risk exposing their shoddy practices, their disregard for the environment and their unmitigated greed pay their salaries. 300,000 new jobs, many of which could be returning vets, and I figure British Petroleum owes us.

Each time a guy fills the tank, he could lean in and remind you not to text while driving, ask how your family is and suggest you might need some air in the tires.

By the way? Those prices at the pump? They did it the last time it looked like a Democrat was going to win the presidency too, and it didn't work then.

Derogatory for mechanic and wearing the evidence of their labors on their clothes...and working hard to provide for their family with dignity, self-worth, honesty and pride.

Original Snapshot circa 1950? Collection Jim Linderman

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Hex CRAZY Zook's Distlefinks and Barbeque Signs of Plywood

Distlefinks and such threaten to bury a likely commissioned BBQ Pig at the Jacob Zook Hex sign factory and house of crafts in Paradise, PA. I believe I remember seeing that very pig sign rotting away behind a restaurant which served breakfast in a skillet 20 miles past the Delaware Gap! I had just filled up and didn't have the gumption go back in to ask if I could have it, nor the energy to steal it. It COULD have been a "later edition" as it looks like Zook could crank them out.

YES Zook is still in business and has a most handsome site HERE

Zook's hexes have "traveled to the fifty states and many foreign lands" according to the reverse.

Jacob Zook House of Crafts Postcard photograph by Jim E. Hess, no date. Collection Jim Linderman.

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Hagenbeck Wallace At The Circus in Black and White #31 The World's Lowest Type Human

Caption on reverse "September 2, 1938 L.A Calif. Afternoon crowd now leaving the circus. Sideshow Band was playing in the midway."

Look close and you will see one of the acts was "The World's Lowest Type Human" and I hate to speculate on that one. Suzie born with the Skin of an Elephant.

If the date on the reverse of this photo is correct, you are seeing the sun go down in the afternoon and the lights go out in the evening. Hagenbeck-Wallace ceased operation the same year.

For those of you animal rights folks out there, in 1913 the circus lost 8 elephants, 21 lions and 8 performing horses in a flood in 1913. That pales in comparison to the train wreck they had five years later, in which an engineer further down the track fell asleep at the throttle and crashed his train into the rear of the Hagenbeck's. Kerosene lamps on the circus train spread fire immediately to the wooden cars, and 86 circus members died, another 127 were injured.

AT THE CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE is a occasional feature on Dull Tool Dim Bulb. This is number 31 in the series.

Original Snapshot 1938 Collection Jim Linderman

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Rock City? I thought you said TRAVELocity Snapshot Collection Jim Linderman

Visit the Gnome? First Travelocity booking? No, ROCK CITY!

Certainly makes me want to hike the trail. Rock City, or "SEE ROCK CITY" as any traveler as old as me will tell you, is an extensive tourist attraction anchored by Lover's Leap, a place you can see 7 states while you ponder jumping. At one time, according to Wiki, there were 900 barn roofs in 19 states painted with their slogan. This little shack may have been a part of the famous Rock City Corn Maze, or maybe not.

As for the gnome, the goofy wife of creator (Rock City creator that is, not THE Creator...who put the rock there) Garnet Carter was probably responsible, as she had a thing for European folklore and she likely made her husband Garnet spend a fortune on such things.

Rock City is also credited as creating the first miniature golf course, an accomplishment which darn well automatically puts the place on my first choice for historic site. (I'm not kidding. I LOVE putt-putt golf!)

Rock City is also home of the famous "Fat Man Squeeze" which I am SURE traps far more people now than when the place opened in 1932.

Rock City has a website HERE with the appropriate address seerockcity.com

Original snapshot "Rock City" circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

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How-dy Bub Racist Lapel Pin Carnival and Sideshow Premium

A MILLION LAUGHS! It's New, It's Different, It's Terrific and It's Racist.

Ad for Carnival and Sideshow premium, 1950 Harris Novelty company

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Scarecrow Snapshot

I'd like to have met this fellow.
See his brother at rest HERE.

Anonymous Snapshot circa 1940 Scarecrow Collection Jim Linderman
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American Library Association Newsletter Mentions Dull Tool Dim Bulb

American Library Association Newsletter mentions Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Mining the margins of pop culture
Every morning Jim Linderman gets up in his home in Grand Haven, Michigan, grabs a cup of coffee, and sits down at his computer to blog. A former librarian and archivist, Linderman collects, researches, and writes about the marginal, the forgotten, and the not quite seemly in American folk art and popular culture. In his three blogs—Dull Tool Dim Bulb, Old Time Religion, and Vintage Sleaze—Linderman also discloses an underground history of American popular culture, one oddball tale at a time....
New York Times, Feb. 9

(American Library Association e- Newsletter February 15, 2012.

THANK YOU TO STEPHANIE ZIMBLE FOR POINTING OUT THE STORY!

African-American Yard Art "Does Nothing" Press Photo Collection Jim Linderman

African-American Yard Art "Does Nothing" while being great.


Irving Keene construction, December 1956 Original photograph by Robert H. Burgess Press Photo Collection of Jim Linderman

Carnival Cut-out Standee AKA Faces in Holes People Posing in Plywood

Carnival Cutout Standee. Three lovely woman on a "girls day" at the carnival! (Does this suit make me look hippy?)

Who doesn't have a photo in the basement or the attic of the kids in fake stockades at some western tourist trap? They are back, if they ever left, that is. Here is a company which will make them, disco-style.

Original carnival cutout snapshot circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman



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Buckshot Flat Confidence Duck Decoy Folk Art

Handmade duck decoy with a pair of buckshot eyes.

Handmade flat duck decoy Michigan Circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman

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Indecipherable Sign Says ? No Trespassing Homemade Sign Free Styling Picking Handmade Folk Art Signs

The best "no trespassing" signs are the ones you have to trespass to read. You can click to enlarge this one, but it won't help any. Usually, the worse the sign looks, the most you want to follow the directions. I once had a shotgun pulled on me near a no trespassing sign. I had stopped not to read it, but to steal what I thought was portions of a LONG abandoned whirligig nearby. I was wrong, but learned having a gun drawn on you isn't really so bad. I was worried more about buckshot in the rental car than I was for my life.

I saw those nice boys on American Pickers buy a factory made porcelain no trespassing sign this week. Two comments. Boys? That weren't no good no trespassing sign, and you don't even KNOW "Free Styling"

Original Snapshot, circa? Collection Jim Linderman

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What Makes a Washer Woman Work on Wash Day? Whirligig with No Wind Works Revealed

A pair of snapshots reveal the workings of an articulated sign. Both women here are among the most commonly seen whirligig figures, but no wind is required for these.

Anonymous Photographs, circa 1920? Collection Jim Linderman
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Jim Linderman Slide Show New York Times 2/12/12

PHOTO BY ADAM BIRD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
CLICK HERE TO VIEW SLIDESHOW from "Mining the Margins of Pop Culture" profile article by John Strausbaugh from the New York Times February 12, 2012

Roly - Poly Carnival Sideshow Sign and Tommy Duncan Throttles Bob Wills

I never did find out what sideshow game Roly-Poly was, but if they really did award a prize to every player you can be sure it was from under the counter, not from the wall display in back.

I will, however, take the slightest excuse to share Bob Wills, especially when it is a number performed by the great Tommy Duncan. Tommy was smooth as the expensive whiskey Bob was able to drink to excess every day, but what made the pair work so well was the suppressed, seething tension in Tommy's voice every time the lovable drunk buffoon stepped on his lines with a patented "Aaah Haah" aside. You can tell Tommy wanted to throttle Bob, the biggest country ham in the state of Texas, but it was a good gig.

He finally left...and as the clip below shows, he should have stayed. Still, you have to see a real roly poly play the Bob Wills part. Gnaw on a biscuit.

Roly-Poly Carnival Sideshow Sign. Circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman

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Original Mug Shot Photograph New York City Crime 1950s collection Jim Linderman

A striking original mug shot photograph circa 1950 from New York City

Mug Shot circa 1950 8 x 10 Collection Jim Linderman
(Tip of the Hat to Monica)

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A Rare Unusual Photograph of Israel Thornstein or Charlie Chaplin or Something

Or something. A Dummy of Israel Thornstein? An Israel Thornstein Look-a-like?
(See Here)

Curious Original Photograph, circa 1920 Collection Jim Linderman


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The Extraordinary Wood Carvings of Anonymous 1921 Snapshot Collection Jim Linderman

Some serious folk art wood carving by Anonymous, who was so good he even had his own special "wood carving coveralls" for when the chips began to fly! Too bad there is no identification on the photo reverse, but at least we know the work depicted was finished around 1921. Close-ups here show not only the remarkable carving, but his weapon of choice.


Anonymous snapshot of a folk art furniture maker and carver, 1921 Collection Jim Linderman








Tip of the Hat to Joey Lin of Anonymous Works
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Chief Paul Protects the Public from Peep Show Perversion Second City Smut Vintage Sleaze Midget Movies

Chicago citizens will sleep better knowing the pin-up peep shows have been unplugged by Chief Investigator Paul Newey. Since there was no other crime in the second city on this day in 1959, Chief Paul invited the press over to see his collection of confiscated coin-op smut. Paul's pursuit of the peep shows was crime-bustin' action of the highest order. To celebrate (and convince the public Newey was on top of the situation) he flicks his ashes on the filthy coin slot in distain!

Original Press Photograph (8" x 13") Unknown Chicago Paper 1959 Collection Jim Linderman

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Folk Art Painted Tintype Ferrotype Hand-Painted Means of Production and the Consumer

A circa 1880 hand-painted tintype. It is remarkable to consider the photographic process which resulted in an actual unique physical object one could hold, paint by hand and frame has gone from black and white to gone in two or three lifetimes. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but the warmth of an image may have gone with the film.

As far as the public goes, each step forward in the photographic process helped the producer become more effective (and profit more) while leaving the consumer holding less of a product in his hand. While it is an art, and it is progress... it is easy to view photography from a simple supply/demand capitalistic perspective. Dags, so beautiful and shimmering, an amazing thing folks will still circle to see at a show, turned to cruddy metal tintypes which were churned out like pizza at the shore in one lifetime.

It wasn't long before paper came and paper went. Instant photos followed and dropped the quality even further. Now the darkroom is empty and the bits and bytes which tore the guts out of reproduced music have done the same to pictures.

More and more recording artists are releasing their product once again on vinyl. As I understand it, digital music provides only a very small percentage of the aural quality not only possible, but once common. Once even standard. The consumer loses but pays more for it than ever before.

What is yet to be fully understood is what we have lost in pictures. Is the photo above particularly beautiful or desirable? Nope, not at all. But you could hold it in your hands.


"Full Plate" tintype (ferrotype) painted by hand circa 1880. Collection Jim Linderman



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Rude Novelty Gag Adult Bad Tasting Valentines

Ten cents worth of eleven novelty gag Valentines. One shown.

No date, no publisher Circa 1960 Collection Jim Linderman

Carnival Punks Folk Art Knock Down Gay Terminology and the Ramones on Joe Franklin!

Years ago, I had the fortunate pleasure of visiting one of the most prominent collectors of American folk art on a regular basis. Besides teaching me much, I was learning at the feet of a master. (Literally...there was no room in his house and I had to sit on the floor.) We traded things back and forth monthly. I would study them, he would study them, and once in a while swaps were made. The stuff didn't have much financial value then, and I'm not sure if it does today.

I once brought the collector three huge carnival knock-down targets, each about 3 feet tall, with effigies of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo painted on them. I didn't want Hitler in my house, so I hoped to trade them for an equally not valuable whittled miniature cane he had by a carver from Georgia. (Years later I saw Saddam Hussein painted on some carnival punks at the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, so things never change.)

I cabbed them down and presented them saying "check out THESE punks!"

What surprised me was that he immediately asked me why I called them "punks" and I really didn't have an answer. I'd just always known carnival knock-downs as punks. The collector was puzzled, which surprised me, as he had earlier curated museum shows having to do with esoteric material culture from the sideshow and such, and he certainly owned some. I figured no one could puzzle the master.

He told me "punk" was a term used to refer to a younger homosexual man dating an older man. I had no idea. To me at the time, punks were the Ramones. Or as Joe Franklin, perennial host of a local TV show called them "The Ray Mones" while appearing as puzzled by them as my collector friend was at my punks.

I knew gay "punks" were called "twinks" which I believe may still be in common usage. I'm a little isolated here, so I don't know for sure, and we should refer to all without derogatory terms anyway. But that also makes sense, as my collector friend was Eastern big-city based, and I suspect knock-down targets received their punk name in the Midwest.

If you look up punk in a carny lingo dictionary, the slang term has numerous uses. As a rube, a child. a trick, a fake fetus in a bottle, a person primed for a scam, an "easy target" as it were...though the punks here were intended to be a hard target. That's why they had fur...to create the illusion of width, and the carny would also encourage the punk in FRONT of him to lean in "for a good toss" because you would then be throwing off balance. He would watch as ball after ball whiffed through the fur not moving the targets at all.

I found these androgynous punks in an antique mall. My "axis of evil" punks are long gone and I can't find a picture, but I cribbed one of a similar group from an auction website below. Mine were better, as they were entirely made by hand, but these will give you an idea. As a bonus, see Marky and Joey "Ray Mone" jabber it up with Joe!


Group of three unremarkable carnival knock-down ball toss targets (Above) Collection Jim Linderman

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