Customer Reviews

Va Va Voom!: Bombshells, Pin-Ups, Sexpots and Glamour Girls

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a must for anyone who longs for the glory days of the hollywood bombshell. It features stars, pin-up girls, and strippers from the 1940's to 1960's. Each woman has a complete biography that includes the films she was in, the magazines she appeared in, and any other relevant media in which one might be interested. The author has even gone to the trouble of letting you know who was still alive at the time of printing which is something I always wonder about when I'm reading up on famous faces of the past. The book is chock full of pictures in both color and black and white. The book is very beautiful and quite informative.

Being 41 years old now, I missed the majority of these women when they were in their heyday. But this is the book which introduced me to Bettie Page back in 1998. She is the cream of the crop. I didn't know who she was before I picked up this book, but now I am hooked for life. Nice reference book with detailed biographies. I recommend this highly. It's a classy and well done.

Few have covered the era of the pin-up as interestingly as Steve Sullivan. This
book puts a history and personality behind some of the classic glamour girls of the
50s and 60s. He covers everyone from movie bombshells, to pin-up models, to the
burlesque performers. Each featured woman has an in-depth biography as well as
a sizeable list of their film and pictorial career. The women with the largest amount
of ink devoted to them are Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page and Jayne Mansfield. Other
women featured in this book include Mamie Van Doren (the cover girl), Julie
Newmar, Bunny Yeager, Sophia Loren, Tempest Storm, Lil St. Cyr and Brigitte
Bardot.

The Jayne Mansfield chapter:
First of all this is a good introduction to Jayne for the new Jayne fan. Despite little
inaccuracies such as the wrong birthday, the misspelling of Jayne's middle name
(it's JaYne not Jane, I have a copy of her birth certificate) and confusion around the
type of bathing suit(s) she wore to the Underwater! premiere, this is a decent
biography. Where we seem to get off track in the bio, as well as the bios of the
many other women in the book, is that the author becomes annoying and
redundant when trying to decipher 'why' Jayne or the subject was famous. The
book is also rather self righteous with it's findings of supposed surveys of
international cinema and glamour girl fans. Indeed, this is something the
writer--Mr. Sullivan seems to be partly obsessed with is surveys. He runs several
YAHOO! groups where he does nothing but run surveys of famous women.
Supposedly he is compiling information for another book. We'll see. But back to
THIS book, written by an obviously straight man, we are forced to sit through
paragraphs and paragraphs of ink concentrating on Jayne's breast size in
comparison to the sizes of other female stars. It gets boring and at times, almost
goes off track. I suppose we had the Martha Saxton women's lib fodder in her
book, and 20 years later we have Steve Sullivan's T&A fodder. Those are my main
complaints about the Jayne chapter. Otherwise, it IS a decent biography on Jayne
by a straight male fan who truly seems to 'get' her. The Jayne chapter IS filled with
a delight--some rare quotes. The author must have done some extensive research
because they are at times new to even me! There is a particularly extensive
overview of Jayne's early modeling years. Jayne's early years can be confusing
and the author does a good job of time and placing things. There is a filmography
included and some great shots of the glamazon Jayne, with the focus being on the
50s. All in all...pretty good Jayne bio and a treat for fans of all bombshells.

Very enjoyable book. Excellent photos accompinied by informative biographies of each of these women. For those who remember the thrill of seeing a scantily clad and partially nude woman, this is such a book. The book stands out the most by describing how many of these women struggled to do well in their profession, whether trying to be taken seriously in Hollywood, spending their own money on costumes and props for their acts, and how in some cases they are disregarded by the powers that be after a certian age. Well written and very informative.
I found the most fascinating subjects to be Lili St. Cyr, Jayne Mansfield, and Tempest Storm. The way they presented themselves and were confident with their own identity, and not feigning indignity about how they were viewed by their fans. These women were truly feminine, and pioneering about the nature of their sexuality during times that supressed such open displays of a sexual nature. Most important, many of these women had fun with their perceptions as sex symbols of their day and made the most of them without the "diva" antics and nonsense displayed in the entertainment industry nowadays.