The Birth of the Pin-Up Girl: An American Social Phenomenon, 1940-1946
Abstract
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Birth of the Pin-Up Girl: An American Social Phenomenon, 1940-1946
- Creators
- Michael West
- Contributors
- Brooks Landon (Advisor)Thomas Oates (Committee Member)Deborah Whaley (Committee Member)Travis Vogan (Committee Member)Catriona Parratt (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- American Studies
- Date degree season
- Spring 2020
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.005469
- Number of pages
- xi, 253 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2020 Michael West
- Comment
- This thesis has been optimized for improved web viewing. If you require the original version, contact the University Archives at the University of Iowa: https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/contact/
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-212).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
When we think of mid-twentieth century pin-up girls today, we typically imagine a “blonde bombshell” actress bursting out of her bullet bra and swiveling her hips to rock ‘n’ roll, or a long-legged beauty painted by any one of the several dozen pin-up calendar and advertising artists. While we occasionally establish that pin-ups first appeared during World War II, we often gloss over the pin-up’s original context and, therefore, overlook exactly why pin-up girls became meaningful cultural signifiers in the first place. Tracing the development of pin-up girls during World War II reveals how pin-ups became an American social phenomenon that remain relevant cultural signifiers today.
While most historians credit Esquire for introducing pin-ups to American soldiers and the general public, pin-ups first appeared in Life magazine and were disseminated to the masses by Life and regional newspapers. Life’s photo-articles on Hollywood glamor, “pin-up” artists, its profiles on average men and women, and its penchant for publishing risqué photographs coalesced when it introduced American culture to the pin-up girl on July 7, 1941 in a feature on actress Dorothy Lamour. Regional newspapers followed suit, expanding the reach of pin-ups.
While the “pin-up girl” first appeared in 1941, pin-ups did not become a social phenomenon until mid-1943 where GIs wrote to Life and their hometown newspapers requesting “illustrated” or “Hollywood” pin-up girls and, importantly, pin-ups of “everyday women.” This was a vital shift in pin-up girls that is often glossed over in histories of pin-ups. By the end of 1944, and into 1945, pin-up girls were increasingly represented by the girlfriends, wives, and even children of homesick soldiers needing a boost in morale. “Illustrated” and “Hollywood” pin-ups helped to popularize the initial phase of pin-ups to a general audience, but everyday women from mid-1943 until the end of the war turned pin-up girls into a social phenomenon.
- Academic Unit
- American Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9983949490902771