 Join our old buddy "Kilroy" in peeking over the wall at our collection of World War II pinup queens. The most famous of all? Check out Betty Grable, our selection for January 1999, when this feature made its debut (we've since added pinups for earlier months!). War movie buffs will remember actor Robert Strauss (playing "Animal") in Stalag 17, professing undying love for a tattered picture of Betty. Or the scene in Patton when "Ole Blood 'n Guts" (played by George C. Scott) tears a pinup off a wall with his riding crop during an inspection. Whether tacked on a barracks wall in some dreary camp in Britain, folded into a tiny square inside a wallet that crossed European and Pacific battlefields, or merely secreted away as a prized possession in a POW camp, pinups afforded the GI a glimpse of American (and, yes, English) beauty, however remote, wherever they were. Even the German at the radar site in Saving Private Ryan, in his litany of Americanisms, utters "Betty Grable ... great gams." (For more about WW II pinup art, read our overview.) Many of these vintage views of the most beautiful women of the 1940s are from the webmaster's pesonal collection; others are from other sources and will be so-credited. And, if a girl of the month wasn't enough, visit any of these special sections for more!
Select any of our main pinup girls from the listing below, or use the buttons further down the page to move through the gallery month by month. (The "Home" button will always bring you back to this page.) Cheesecake, anyone?
- Virginia Field, November 1993
- Patricia Roc, December 1993
- Barbara Stanwyck, January 1994
- Kathleen Lane, February 1994
- Myrna Dell, March 1994
- Dorothy Lamour, April 1994
- Alexis Smith, May 1994
- Suzanne Ridgeway, June 1994
- Grace MacDonald, July 1994
- Veronica Lake, August 1994
- Adele Jergens, September 1994
- Virginia Mayo, October 1994
- Marie McDonald, November 1994
- Evelyn Ankers, December 1994
- Adele Mara, January 1995
- Marie Wilson, February 1995
- Connie Greene, March 1995
- Joan Leslie, April 1995
- Jean Trent, May 1995
- Joan Chaffee, June 1995
- Peggy Moran, July 1995
- Frances Drake, August 1995
- Ida Lupino, September 1995
- Maureen O'Hara, October 1995
- Ann Sheridan, November 1995
- Esther Williams, December 1995
- Gene Tierney, January 1996
- Paulette Goddard, February 1996
- Ann Sheridan, March 1996
- Gale Storm, April 1996
- Linda Darnell, May 1996
- Jinx Falkenburg, June 1996
- The Wilde Twins, July 1996
- Frances Gifford, August 1996
- Jane Russell, October 1996
- Lizabeth Scott, October 1996
- Gloria DeHaven, November 1996
- Virginia Mayo, December 1996
- Esther Williams, January 1997
- Ann Miller, February 1997
- Rita Hayworth, March 1997
- Judy Garland, April 1997
- Linda Darnell, May 1997
- Doris Day, June 1997
- Jeanne Crain, July 1997
- Lucille Ball, August 1997
- June Haver, September 1997
- Jinx Falkenburg, October 1997
- Carole Landis, November 1997
- Alexis Smith, December 1997
- Donna Reed, January 1998
- Lizabeth Scott, February 1998
- Lina Romay, March 1998
- Yvonne DeCarlo, April 1998
- Rita Hayworth, May 1998
- Ginger Rogers, June 1998
- Vera Ellen, July 1998
- Dorothy Malone, August 1998
- Arlene Dahl, September 1998
- Gloria DeHaven, October 1998
- Gene Tierney, November 1998
- Lana Turner, December 1998
- Betty Grable, January 1999
- Rita Hayworth, February 1999
- Jane Russell, March 1999
- Veronica Lake, April 1999
- Hedy Lamarr, May 1999
- Dorothy Lamour, June 1999
- Paulette Goddard, July 1999
- Frances Langford, August 1999
- Esther Williams, September 1999
- Carole Landis, October 1999
- Joan Leslie, November 1999
- Ella Raines, December 1999
- Leslie Brooks, January 2000
- Marilyn Maxwell, February 2000
- Maria Montez, March 2000
- Gloria DeHaven, April 2000
- Ava Gardner, May 2000
- Barbara Stanwyck, June 2000
- Barbara Bates, July 2000
- Rhonda Fleming, August 2000
- Evelyn Keyes, September 2000
- Joan Blondell, October 2000
- Lana Turner, November 2000
- Susan Hayward, December 2000
- Dolores Moran & Rita Hayworth, January 2001
- Jinx Falkenberg & Joan Leslie, February 2001
- Ann Rutherford, March 2001
- Frances Rafferty, April 2001
- Frances Gifford, May 2001
- Virginia Mayo, June 2001
- Mala Powers, July 2001
- Lila Leeds, August 2001
- Dale Evans, September 2001
- Mary Howard, October 2001
- Virginia Dale, November 2001
- Florence George, December 2001
- Martha Vickers & Lynn Bari, January 2002
- Beverly Tyler, February 2002
- Arlene Dahl, March 2002
- Jeanne Crain, April 2002
- Joan Caulfield, May 2002
- Evelyn Keyes, June 2002
- Angela Greene, July 2002
- Rosemary Clooney, August 2002
- Dinah Shore, September 2002
- Danielle Darrieux, October 2002
- Jane Wyman, November 2002
|
Deanna Durbin
Janis Carter
Betty Grable
More Pinups This Way ...
- Carole Landis, December 2002
- Ann Miller, January 2003
- Kathryn Grayson, February 2003
- Mary Meade, March 2003
- Jean Rogers, April 2003
- Jane Greer, May 2003
- Ginger Rogers, June 2003
- Alexis Smith, July 2003
- Penny Edwards, August 2003
- Martha Vickers, September 2003
- Linda Darnell, October 2003
- Faye Emerson, November 2003
- Jane Nigh, December 2003
- Merry Anders, January 2004
- Rita Hayworth, February 2004
- Betty Hutton, March 2004
- Lucia Carroll, April 2004
- Barbara Bates, May 2004
- Donna Martell, June 2004
- Dusty Anderson, July 2004
- Helen Murphy, August 2004
- Jinx Falkenburg, September 2004
- Barbara Hale, October 2004
- Yvonne DeCarlo, November 2004
- Linda Christian, December 2004
- Marlene Dietrich, January 2005
- Hillary Brooks, February 2005
- Virginia Mayo, March 2005
- Vivien Leigh, April 2005
- Brenda Joyce, May 2005
- Ava Gardner, June 2005
- Eleanor Parker, July 2005
- Constance Bennett, August 2005
- Lillian Porter, September 2005
- Aina Constant, October 2005
- Joan Leslie, November 2005
- Martha O'Driscoll, December 2005
- Martha Vickers, January 2006
- Evelyn Keyes, February 2006
- Marie McDonald, March 2006
- Joan Leslie (Again!), April 2006
- Lynne Baggett, May 2006
- Hazel Brooks, June 2006
- Adele Mara, July 2006
- Lana Turner, August 2006
- Linda Darnell, September 2006
- Margaret Stapleton, October 2006
- Marjorie Woodworth, November 2006
- Sheila Ryan, December 2006
|
|
|
Navy Nurses as Pinup Queens?
In the newsreel "Navy Nurses Look Good to the Boys of Guadalcanal" as a means of reassuring home front audiences that despite constant interaction with the masculine world nurses will remain feminine and attractive to men women are shown attending to their usual beauty rituals. In a number of scenes, groups of women apply make-up, wash their hair, and preen themselves. Particularly striking are two moments: one following a training session, the other when debarking from a military truck. In both scenes the nurses attend to themselves in a mirror, wiping off dust and reapplying powder. The inordinate number of times women perform these tasks suggests that there is not much work for the nurses to do and that it is important for women to maintain a certain level of attractiveness for male soldiers. Also in the clip, nurses walk down a long runway from the ship and a cameraman stands near the bottom as they approach. The camera shifts noticeably to look up the skirts of the debarking nurses. After a voice-over comment concerning their nursing abilities, the narrator playfully says the "nurse can pose for a soldier as a pin-up girl!" and she obliges, leaning against a tree to show off her curvaceous figure for a man who photographs her (see Fox Movietonenews, "Navy Nurses Look Good to the Boys on Guadalcanal," May 1944, 51-775 V. 26/72; text and photos from Images Journal).
 
|