To: pml1@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PML1] Classic Centerfold: Joan Staley
From: Mark Tomlonson
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 23:52:16 -0400

Believe it or not, there were actually nude glamour shots before 
Playboy. So many of them that rules and traditions had grown up 
reflecting what viewers expected to see when they bought (usually from 
under the counter) a magazine "Sold For The Use Of Artists And Models 
Only". The magazines carried pictures of lovely, nude women in sexually 
themed poses obstentiously for the use of aspiring artists who were 
unable to obtain the services of a live nude model. (Yeah right! Like my 
mother would buy that excuse!) Playboy's lasting contribution (I hope) 
to glamour and pin-up photography was their expansion and, in some 
cases, abandonment of those rules. But before Playboy did that there was 
a transition period where Playboy worked out what the new rules were 
going to be. Some of these transitional centerfolds seem very 
self-conscious and forced, but some of them are amazingly sophisticated 
in style and implied message, precursors of what was to come. In my 
eyes, the best of the lot is the Classic Centerfold from November 1958 
of Joan Staley, photographed by Ron Vogel and Lawrence Schiller.

Joan is described as an aspiring actress, looking for that big break in 
television. She was by no means the last Playmate to fit this category! 
Her centerfold and PMOM story are set in Television City, the CBS 
studios in Hollywood. The script that Joan is holding (and that provides 
her fig leaf) is for a "Studio One" (live, one hour drama series) 
episode entitled "Ticket to Tahiti". For Americans in the McCarthy years 
a ticket to Tahiti meant a trip to a place with legendary sexual, 
artistic and cultural freedom mush as the island did to the crew of the 
H.M.S. Bounty a century before. I think it's obvious why Joan is holding 
this particular script!

The television set itself cannot be ignored as a defining element of 
this centerfold. In 1958 television was similar to today's broadband 
Internet in terms of who had it in their homes and its glamour and 
allure. It was high-tech, modern, a new way of being entertained. There 
was a strong connection between the appeal of a 1958 centerfold set in a 
TV studio and a 1996 pictorial featuring the Women of the Internet.

In her Classic Centerfold Joan is framed by the doorway of her dressing 
room, which outlines two strong vertical compositional elements. These 
are offset by the curves of the camera (did PEI get permission to use 
the CBS logo?), the variety of forms inside the dressing room and the 
curves of Joan herself. She is offset to one side, but the splashes of 
red in the dressing room provide a central axis, and the dark forms of 
the camera provides further balance to the composition. A nice touch on 
several levels is the way Joan is holding the upper drape. It works in 
the composition by introducing a slight angle, and it helps bring a bit 
of life and naturalness to the pose and the implied situation.

The lighting is a throwback to those pseudo-art magazines, making Joan's 
skin look as hard and brittle as porcelain. It's a reflection of the 
traditions that date back to the days of "Living Tableau" on Vaudeville 
and Burlesque stages, where actors and actresses would don white tights 
or layers of powder and become "statues", acting out scenes from 
mythology and classic literature. "If it's statues, it must be art" 
(Don't laugh too hard - we have our own hypocrisies.) The natural, 
"California" look that we take for granted in a pin-up was in its 
infancy in 1958, not to gain full flower until after the revolution of 
the '60's.

But this centerfold looks forward too. For all of her porcelain 
hardness, Joan is wearing very little make-up on her face, especially 
compared to most other glamour shots of the fifties. There is just a 
touch on her lips and around her eyes. Amazing!

She is standing the way real women stand, not bent over to accentuate 
the fullness of her breasts or highlight her cleavage. Neither is she 
twisted around some impractical piece of furniture, dripping in fur, 
feathers and jewels. Revolutionary!

She's not pouting, cooing or billing. The expression on her face is a 
blend of invitation, experience and innocence that even in this century 
Playboy does better than anyone else. Unheard of!

Irrespective of how she fits in the evolution of the pin-up there is no 
denying that forty-five years ago Joan was a beautiful, attractive young 
woman. (I haven't seen any recent pictures, but I would expect today 
she's a beautiful, attractive mature woman.) I am drawn to her face time 
and again. It's not the innocent look of say, Kona Carmack, but neither 
is it the experienced look of today's Pam Anderson. And when I can take 
my eyes off her face, her body is neither whipped into over-toned 
hardness nor suffering from the high-fat, high-calorie diet of the times.

 From my perspective, the capper of this Classic Centerfold is the 
simple, unabashed way that Joan is presented. Joan didn't spend hour 
preparing for this moment with the viewer. It's just one of those 
delightful moments in life that make it worthwhile to drag yourself out 
of bed each day. This isn't seduction on a grand scale; this is an 
encounter between two friends whose relationship has reached the sexual 
level. This isn't a highly-produced glamour shot, with dozens of make-up 
artists and photographic assistants scurrying around to make sure 
everything is just right; this is a snapshot of a lovely actress caught 
between costume changes.

O.K., so maybe I'm guessing on that last one!

So - a delightful, sexy woman in a delightful, sexy photograph. A 
photograph that is a product of its time but also shows the beginnings 
of a revolution on the way we look at sex, sexuality and pin-ups. Sure, 
some of these "future" elements had already shown up in Playboy before 
this, and some of the "traditional" elements appeared afterwards. But in 
this case, not only do we see a blend of the old and new, but a young 
woman who would look beautiful in any time. A truly Classic Centerfold.

Mark Tomlonson
Kalamazoo MI