To: pml1@yahoogroups.com From: Mark Tomlonson Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 08:45:53 -0400 Subject: [PML1] Classic Centerfold: Linda Gamble You'd never know it from looking at American cars of the period, but there was a school of thought in the late '50's that emphasized the spare, unadorned line. Good examples of this are the "Bauhaus" glass box skyscrapers and "modern" furniture of the period. Every design element in Linda Gamble's April 1960 centerfold by Mario Casilli reflects this ideal that "less is more". The lighting is monochromatic, tinted by the drapes. Whatever lights were used on the camera's side of the curtains were designed to extend the quality of the light coming from behind Linda, and there are almost a complete lack of strong shadows in the picture. The result is much like the lighting you would find in a bedroom with light colored walls as the morning sun was filtered through an east-facing window. The design is equally simple: large numbers of vertical lines, broken only by the short horizontals of the louvered doors and the diagonal line running from Linda's right arm down to her left leg. A less dominant design element, the right leg makes a diagonal in the other direction. This sets up a triangle in the lower half of the photo, which gives the centerfold weight and stability. Linda's costume is about as simple as it gets: a pair of high-heeled slippers and a sheer nightgown draping from her left hand. The gown fills out the triangle formed by her legs, giving it even more weight. The implied situation is also pretty basic. Linda has arisen from bed, and is just about to open the drapes. The viewer is still in bed, judging from the height of the lens, which is at the same level as Linda's bottom. Linda's right hand is turned as if to open the drapes, but she has turned toward the viewer and is hesitating, contemplating a return to bed. From the light we know this isn't early morning: this is more like 10 or 11 o'clock. From Linda's expression we know the viewer and Linda have already spent a good deal of time in the bed. And not because they're sleepy. 1960 is not a year that will ever be known as one of great sexual liberation. Although the exact date of the onset of the Sexual Revolution is open to debate. I think it's safe to say that April 1960 is definitely Pre-Revolutionary. Which makes this centerfold all the more of a standout. A case could be made (although I won't make it here) that it was the most sexually direct and overt centerfold to appear in Playboy up to that time. But what really makes this centerfold a classic is the relationship between the photographer and model, between Mario Casilli and Linda Gamble. I've talked about "perfection" in design - a design in which nothing can be changed without either reducing the impact of the design or making an entirely new one. Linda's pose is "perfect" in this same way. Look what the high-heeled slippers do to the firmness and shape of her legs. (Like I really have to tell you to look!) Look how her pelvis is turned to show off the fullness and roundness of her hips, how that same slight twist outlines and highlights the structure of her back, how raising her right arm gives an absolutely perfect curve to her breast, how turning her head to look over her right arm adds to the allure in her eyes, how the turn of her right hand forms and defines the muscles in the right arm. Not to take anything away from Linda, but no other photo of her I've seen even comes close to the allure and "perfection" of her gatefold. Was it an accident? A lucky shot? While I can't rule out the possibility, the 8 x 10 Deardorff view camera does not lend itself to "accidents". I prefer to think that Mario Casilli discovered, in the short time he had to work with her, the pose that would work best for Linda. While it's possible I might, on a good day, stumble across a pose that flatters a model as well as this one does Linda, it would take many, many exposures and many hours, if not days, for me to find it. But Mario found it. Not only that, but he took the technical restraints he was forced to deal with and made them strong, integral parts of the centerfold. That monochromatic lighting may have been as much because the printing process Playboy used couldn't reproduce full-range color as well as single tomes as it was to stimulate a bedroom in mid-morning. Linda may have been asked to twist her pelvis as much to provide a "fig leaf" as to highlight the curve of her hips. To use only the simplest elements in a design is like being on a high wire without a net. There is no place to hide sloppiness. "Less is more" makes a catchy phrase, but it's damn hard to pull off. Witness the large number of soulless, heartless glass boxes that dominate much of our landscape. But Mario did it in April 1960 with the help of the stunning Linda Gamble, and the result is definitely a Classic Centerfold. Mark Tomlonson Kalamazoo MI