Rita Hayworth Yank Pin Up July 7, 1944

Margarita Carmen Cansino was born in New York on October 17, 1918 into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo was a dancer as was his father before him. He immigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita’s mother met Eduardo in 1916 and were married the following year. Rita, herself, was trained as a dancer in order to follow in her family’s footsteps. She joined her family on stage when she was 8 when her family was filmed in a movie called “La fiesta” (1926) (aka La Fiesta). It was her first film appearance, albeit uncredited, but by no means was it to be her last.

Rita was seen dancing by a Fox executive and was impressed enough to offer her a contract. Rita’s “second” debut was in the film “Cruz Diablo” (1934) at the age of 16. She continued to play small bit parts in several films under the name of “Rita Cansino” until she played the second female lead in “Only Angels Have Wings” (1939) when she played “Judy McPherson”. By this time, she was at Columbia where she was getting top billing but it was the Warner Brothers film “The Strawberry Blonde” (1941) that seemed to set her apart from the rest of what she had previously done. This was the film that exuded the warmth and seductive vitality that was to make her famous. Her natural, raw beauty was showcased later that year in “Blood and Sand” (1941) filmed in Technicolor.

She was probably the second most popular actress after Betty Grable. In “You’ll Never Get Rich” (1941) with Fred Astaire, in 1941, was probably the film that moviegoers felt close to Rita. Her dancing, for which she had trained all her life, was astounding. After the hit “Gilda” (1946), her career was on the skids. Although she was still making movies, they never approached her earlier work. The drought began between “The Lady from Shanghai” (1947) and “Champagne Safari” (1952). Then after “Salome” (1953), she was not seen again until “Pal Joey” (1957). Part of the reasons for the downward spiral was television, but also Rita had been replaced by the new star at Columbia, Kim Novak. After a few, rather forgettable films in the 1960s, her career was essentially over. Her final film was The “Wrath of God” (1972).

Her career was really never the same after “Gilda” (1946). Her dancing had made the film and had made her. Perhaps Gene Ringgold said it best when he remarked, “Rita Hayworth is not an actress of great depth. She was a dancer, a glamorous personality and a sex symbol. These qualities are such that they can carry her no further professionally”. Perhaps he was right but Hayworth fans would vehemently disagree with him. Rita, herself, said, “Every man I have known has fallen in love with Gilda and wakened with me”.

By 1980, Rita was wracked with Alzheimer’s Disease. It ravaged her so, that she finally died on May 14, 1987 in New York City. She was 68.

TRIVIA:

Measurements: 36.5-C-24-36 (at peak of WW-II pin-up fame), 35-25-35 (in 1953 at 120 lbs.) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Height: 5′ 6″ (1.68 m)

Spouse:
James Hill (2 February 1958 – 7 September 1961) (divorced)
Dick Haymes (24 September 1953 – 12 December 1955) (divorced)
Prince Aly Khan (27 May 1949 – 26 January 1953) (divorced) 1 child
Orson Welles (7 September 1943 – 1 December 1948) (divorced) 1 child
Edward Charles Holmgren Judson – (29 May 1937 – 22 May 1942) (divorced)

Some legends say the Margarita cocktail was named for her when she was dancing under her real name in a Tijuana, Mexico nightclub.

The famous red hair was not her natural color (which was black). When she was signed, studio heads decided that her hairline was too low on her forehead, and she underwent years of painful electrolysis to make it higher.

Knocked out two of Glenn Ford’s teeth during their fight in Gilda (1946).

Her singing was dubbed by Nan Wynn (1941-44), Martha Mears (1945), Anita Ellis (1946-48), and Jo Ann Greer (1952-57).

Yank Pin Up Jean Trent March 30, 1945

Jean Trent information is very scarce. She was from Denver Colorado, but no information when and if she was actually born there. She was in 14 films from 1942 – 1946. All but one uncredited. The most popular films she was in were “Western Mail” (1942) “Saboteur” (1942), “Arabian Nights” (1942), “Salome Where She Danced” (1945).

Bettie Page’s life was filled with cult myth, mystery, and sadness. Her image captured the imagination of a generation with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality, during an era of 1950s sexual repression. She was the quintessential pin-up, tacked up on walls in military barracks and garages; five decades later, some feminists still hail her as a pioneer of women’s liberation. It has been estimated that over 20,000 photographs of Bettie were taken, and new generations of fans still buy copies by the thousands.

Page was born Betty Mae Page on April 22, 1923 in Nashville, Tennessee to a part-Cherokee mother, she grew up in a family so poor “we were lucky to get an orange in our Christmas stockings.” The family included three boys and three girls, and Page later said her father molested all of the girls. Her father eventually stole a police car for a cross-country trip. He was sent to prison, and for a time Betty lived in an orphanage. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old.

In her teens Bettie acted in high school plays and was a straight-A student. She graduated from the Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville on a Daughters of the American Revolution scholarship in 1944, and went on to study drama in New York. Her notorious career began one day in October 1950, while on a break from her job as a secretary in a New York office. On a walk along the beach at Coney Island, an amateur photographer admired the 27-year-old’s curvy body and asked her to pose. Nudity didn’t bother her, she said, likening it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Her modeling career took off, and she was the centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine.

In 1951, Bettie fell under the influence of Irving Klaw, a photographer who specialized in S&M. He cut her hair into the dark bangs that became her trademark, and posed her in spiked heels and little else. Bettie began to attain renown as the “Queen of Bondage,” known for her bangs, saucy come-hither looks, and controversial sadomasochistic poses. At the time, most of these photos were sold on a lucrative subscription basis, where the customers made specific requests as to the scenes and layouts. She also appeared as a performer in over 50 burlesque films. The photos and films were publicly denounced as perversion. Klaw was later arrested for “conspiracy to distribute obscene material” though the U.S. Mail, and Bettie was called to testify in a private session. Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, her home state, even launched a congressional investigation against her.

Believing that her days as a pin-up were over, Bettie retreated from public view, later saying she was hounded by federal agents. Her early marriage to her high school sweetheart had ended in divorce; she moved to Florida in 1957 and married a much younger man, but that marriage also failed, as did a third, and she suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1959, she was lying on a sea wall in Key West when she saw a church with a white neon cross on top. She walked inside and became a born-again Christian. After attending Bible school, she wanted to serve as a missionary but was turned down. Instead, she worked full-time for evangelist Billy Graham’s ministry.

A move to Southern California in 1979 brought more troubles. There she had a nervous breakdown and had an altercation with her landlady. The doctors that examined her diagnosed her with acute schizophrenia, and she spent 20 months in a state mental hospital in San Bernardino, California. After a fight with another landlord she was arrested for assault, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity and placed under state supervision for eight years. She was released in 1992 from Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County.

Her mysterious disappearance from the public eye only fueled the public’s fascination. In fact, for two decades no one was sure where she was, or if she was still alive. She resurfaced in the 1990s after being tracked down for a documentary. She occasionally granted interviews and sold autographs, but refused to allow her picture to be taken in her old age. In a 1993 telephone interview, she told a reporter that she was “penniless and infamous.” She later hired a law firm to help her recoup some of the profits being made with her likeness. She spent her final years living in Los Angeles with her brother.

According to long-time friend and business agent Mark Roesler, on December 6, 2008, Bettie Page was hospitalized in critical condition. Roesler was quoted by the Associated Press as saying Page had suffered a heart attack and by Los Angeles television station KNBC as claiming Page was suffering from pneumonia. A family friend said Page was in a coma, a claim not denied by Roesler. Her family eventually agreed to discontinue life support, and she died at 18:41 PST on December 11, 2008.

TRIVIA:

Measurements (during her glamour modeling career): 36-24-36 1/2 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Height: 5′ 5½” (1.66 m)

Became a born-again Christian in the 1960s and served as a Baptist missionary to Angola.

Her favorite drink was Hires Root Beer.

Lina Romay - YANK Pinup Girl - May 18, 1945

Maria Elena “Lina” Romay was a Mexican-American actress and singer. She was born on January 16, 1922 to Porfirio Romay, the attache to the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. She performed for a time with Xavier Cugat.

The Latin-American singer/actress Lina Romay was active in films from 1942 to 1952. She came to Hollywood under contract to Columbia, then worked briefly at MGM and RKO. In 1949, she began a three-year run as featured vocalist on the TV series “Paul Whiteman’s Goodyear Revue”. She can be seen in such stellar movies as “You Were Never Lovelier” (1942) starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth and “Bathing Beauty” (1944) starring Esther Williams and Red Skelton. She attracted the attention of servicemen worldwide as a stunning Latin beauty and appeared in “Yank” Magazine as a pinup girl or cover girl in other publications. She also appeared in several Soundies of the era, no doubt having been selected because of her exceptional singing voice and uncommon good looks. Being of Mexican heritage, and having been born in the USA, Miss Romay could sing equally as well in both English and Spanish and her roles she played were both as Spanish senoritas to non-ethnic Anglo roles.

Lina appeared with Xavier Cugat in the WW2 feature “Stage Door Canteen”, where she can be seen singing and even dancing a bit with Cugat, with the delightful song “A Bombshell From Brooklyn”. Lina reminds some of enchanting Carmen Miranda, especially in her excellence in singing and stage presence as seen in “The Heat’s On” (1943). She is top notch in this picture, as evidenced by her fabulous singing and hand gestures…yes, hand gestures. I don’t know if my fellow fans have noticed, but she is perfectly poised a la Miranda while delivering her songs and perfectly gestures with her hands. It’s very poetic, feminine and artistic, so if you are lucky enough to see this movie, you’ll see what I mean. Several movies later, Lina proves herself a talented actress by appearing in a notable dramatic role in the little gem “Adventure” (1945) with Clark Gable, where she plays Gable’s first love interest in the picture (the “girl in a distant port), but second-fiddle to Greer Garson in the picture which boasted the byline “Gables Back and Garson’s Got Him”. Lina’s performance was very convincing and quite important in the movie. She even gets to sing some wonderful Spanish-language songs. Although it was a minor part in the picture, she was no doubt noticed by her growing legion of fans and moviegoers just discovering her charms and talents. Gable’s really lucky that he gets to play brief love scenes with Lina, who’s simply stunning on the silver screen. Lina nearly steals the show in her next project “Love Laughs at Andy Hardy” (1946), playing Polly Benedict’s perky cousin. She charms everybody with a sexy and spirited song and dance near the opening scenes, as her character enchants the townsfolk including Judge Hardy and his family. However, our hero Andy, seems bored and daydreaming of his girl, even while the stunning Lina does the rumba for him. Her infectious smile and cheery personality truly light up the screen. It’s an important role for Lina which is still pleasing audiences today. Lina Romay’s screen credits should not be confused with those of the same-named actress/director of the 1970s and 1980s.

Lina married Dr. Jay W. Gould III, descendant of the railroad financier, at the Westwood Lutheran Church in a ceremony attended only by members of their families. He’s 33; she’s 34. Gould’s the son of Jay and Anne Gould and was married twice before, in 1944 to Jennifer Beryl Bruce, daughter of actor Nigel Bruce, and in 1948 to socialite Blair Roemer Stevens. He has a 6-year-old boy from his marriage to Bruce. On January 13, 1954, her daughter Anne Elena is born early in St. John’s Hospital in Los Angeles. On June 8 1956, her daughter Gloria D. is born in Los Angeles. And on April 15, 1961 her son, Jay IV, is born in Los Angeles. Her husband, Dr. Jay W. Gould III dies at age 67 in California.

Lina Romay died of natural causes at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California on Dec. 17, 2010. She was 91.

Despite being one of the great exotic screen beauties of the early ’40s, Ramsay Ames never broke out of leading roles in B-movies and supporting parts in A-films.

She was born Ramsay Phillips on March 30, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York (her reported year of birth varies from 1921 to 1924, depending on the source), and was a student athlete (especially excelling as a swimmer) in high school.

She attended the Walter Hillhouse School of Dance, specializing in Latin-style dance, and also took up singing, becoming the vocalist with a top rhumba band. She later became part of a dance team under the name Ramsay Del Rico, and appeared as a model at the Eastman Kodak-sponsored fashion show at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. A back injury sidelined her from dancing and fate intervened: in the course of a trip to California to visit her mother, she had a chance meeting at the airport with Harry Cohn. He was the president of Columbia Pictures and the meeting resulted in a screen test and then her 1943 movie debut, “Two Senoritas From Chicago” (1943). From there she moved to Universal, where she was cast in key roles in movies such as “The Mummy’s Ghost”, in which she was the hapless modern victim of the ancient curse of Kharis the Mummy, and major supporting parts in pictures like “Calling Dr. Death” (1943), “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” (1944), and “Follow the Boys” (1944).

With her dark good looks and statuesque, athletic yet attractive physique, Ames was ideal in portrayals of exotic roles, such as the Egyptian student in her Mummy movie and the French and Latin women she often got to play. She was also good in physically demanding action roles. During the mid-’40s, she made a pair of Cisco Kid movies with Gilbert Roland, “The Gay Cavalier” (1946) and “Beauty and the Bandit” (1946). In the first, Ames is credited in some sources with co-authoring one of the songs, and in the second, she brought a good deal of fire and humor to a script that, for the first half, resembled a cowboy version of “As You Like It”.

Ames had small roles in major movies like “Mildred Pierce” (1945) and the epic-length “Green Dolphin Street” (1947), but by the second half of the 1940s she was locked into B-features such as PRC’s low-budget “Philo Vance Returns” (1947) and was also working at Republic in serials such as “The Black Widow” (1947) and “G-Men Never Forget” (1948). She gave up acting and Hollywood at the end of the 1940s and for many years lived in Spain, where she had her own television interview show and occasionally took acting roles in films produced in Europe. Her later movies included the features “Alexander the Great” (1956) and Carol Reed’s 1963 thriller “The Running Man”. She returned to the United States in the early ’60s and was married to playwright Dale Wasserman, best known for Man of La Mancha, until their divorce in 1980. She died of lung cancer on March 30, 1998 in Santa Monica, California.

Known as “The Polka Dot Girl” of World War II pinups, Chili Williams (born Marian Sorenson Uhlman on December 18, 1922) was discovered by a modeling agent in 1943 at Fire Island in New York. The modeling agent’s photographer, Ewing Krainin, took her picture while she was frolicking in the Atlantic Ocean surf, and a series of photos appeared in the September 27, 1943 issue of LIFE Magazine.

Krainin had stitched together a black-and-white polka-dot dance-set (which would later come to be known as the “bikini”) for her. The photos were so well received, that 100,000 fans sent in letters requesting copies. The pinups eventually found their way into the hands of homesick GI’s fighting during the final phases of World War II.

She signed a movie contract later in 1944 and moved to Hollywood, California, where she appeared appeared in 17 films, including the wartime favorites “Girl Rush” (1944), “The Falcon In Hollywood” (1944), “George White’s Scandals” (1945), “Johnny Angel” (1945), “Wonder Man” (1945), and “Having A Wonderful Crime” (1945). Chili died on October 17, 2003 in California.

Janis Carter - YANK Magazine Pin Up - January 5, 1945

Janis Carter was born Janis Dremann on October 10, 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio.  After graduating with two degrees (Arts and Music) from Mather College (Western Reserve) in Cleveland in 1935, Janis headed to New York with aspirations of embarking on a musical career in opera.  Supporting herself by waitressing, singing in churches, modeling (Conover) and writing radio scripts, an audition with the Met came along. However, a case of nerves assured her failure and an end to that ambition.  Landing on her feet, she got a part in the Broadway musical, “I Married An Angel”.  ”DuBarry Was A Lady” soon followed and then “Panama Hattie” in which she had a solo number.

Darryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox attended the opening night and was impressed enough with Janis to offer her a contract.  She arrived in Hollywood in February, 1941, and stayed for 12 years making more than 30 movies for 20th Century Fox, MGM, Columbia, and RKO.  She appeared in the films “Night Editor” (1946) and “Framed” (1947) with Glenn Ford and the “Flying Leathernecks” (1951) with John Wayne.

She was married to Carl Prager from 1942 to 1951, but divorced him.

After leaving Hollywood for good, Janis headed back to New York and began a career working in television. She acted in numerous shows, both drama and comedy, and in 1954 became the hostess of the NBC quiz show, “Feather Your Nest”, working with Bud Collyer.

In 1956, Janis married Julius Stulman and retired from show business. They remained together until her death. With the same enthusiasm she had shown in other areas of her life, she involved herself in cultural activities of her community serving in various capacities throughout the years, primarily in Sarasota, Florida. She died from a heart attack, on July 30, 1994, aged 80, in Durham, North Carolina.

TRIVIA:

Height: 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Spouse:
Julius Stulman (1956 – 1994)
Carl Prager (1942 – 1951) (divorced)

1936 – ? Models as a Conover Girl and is one of the first ten models to sign with the new John Robert Powers Agency in New York.

1938 is in advertisements for Raleigh cigarettes and Ipana Toothpaste.

Chosen “1946 Motion Picture Sweater Girl” at the National Knitted Outerwear Association convention in New York City.

Evelyn Ankers - YANK Pinup Girl July 13, 1945

Evelyn Ankers, a beautiful movie actress who was a staple of Universal’s horror films in the 1940s, was born in Valparaiso, Chile to English parents on August 17th, 1918. Her parents repatriated the family back to England in the 1920s, and it was in Old Blighty that Ankers developed a desire to become an actress.

She began appearing in small roles in English movies in the mid 1930s while she was still in school. She appeared in “Fire Over England” (1937) with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh and in “Bells of St. Mary’s” (1937). A beauty with talent, she soon won starring roles in the low-budget “The Villiers Diamond” (1938) and “The Claydon Treasure Mystery” (1938).

With war clouds darkening the skies over Europe, Ankers emigrated to the United States and was signed to a contract by Universal in 1940. She made her Universal debut in the Abbot and Costello comedy-horror picture “Hold That Ghost” (1941) before appearing in the horror film classic “The Wolf Man” (1941) opposite Lon Chaney, Jr. Ankers found herself cast into the horror picture ghetto, appearing in two more Chaney fright films, “The Ghost of Frankenstein” (1942) and “The Frozen Ghost” (1945) during a period in which she was cast ashore with a sarong-less Jon Hall in “The Invisible Man’s Revenge” (1944). She also appeared in support of Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes in “The Voice of Terror” (1942) and “The Pearl of Death” (1944).

Ankers married B-movie hunk Richard Denning in 1942 and made a go articulating the anxieties of the home front while her husband was off to war. Horror flicks were popular during World War II, but after the cessation of hostilities in 1945, they went out of favor with audiences. Ankers’ career, mated to the genre at Universal, suffered.

She quit Universal in 1945 and freelanced at Columbia and Poverty Row’s Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) and Republic Pictures in dramas and mysteries. Evelyn co-starred with her returned husband Richard in the major release “Black Beauty” (1946) for 20th Century Fox. For PRC, she headlined “Queen of Burlesque” (1946) and later co-starred with Lex Barker in “Tarzan’s Magic Fountain” (1949).

As the 1950s dawned, a decade of conformity and family values, Ankers quit the movies for married life and motherhood after making “The Texan Meets Calamity Jane” (1950), in which she was first-billed. She was 32 years old. A decade later, Ankers came out of retirement to make one final screen appearance, in her hubby’s “No Greater Love” (1960).

Evelyn Ankers died of ovarian cancer on August 29, 1985 in Haiku, Maui, Hawaii, twelve days after her 67th birthday.

TRIVIA:

Height: 5′ 8″ (1.73 m)

She was called “Queen of the Screamers” on account of her blood-curdling vocal outbursts in “B” suspense thrillers of the ’40s.

Ankers was engaged to actor Glenn Ford, but Ankers broke the engagement when she met Richard Denning while Ford was on location.

Evelyn’s husband, Richard Denning, had a recurring role on Hawaii Five-O as the governor of Hawaii from 1968-80. Sadly, Evelyn never put in appearance as the First Lady of the Aloha State even though she’d been offered the role. She was quite contented with retirement.

Buried at Maui Veterans Cemetery, Makawao, Hawaii next to her husband Richard Denning, who served in the US Navy during WWII and served on a submarine as Yeoman 1st Class in the South Pacific.

Diana Mumby YANK Pin-up Girl for August 4, 1944

Diana Mumby was born on July 1, 1922 in Detroit, Michigan. Diana’s first film was “A Night at Earl Carroll’s” (1940). Diana  next appeared uncredited in “Up in Arms” (1944) with Danny Kaye, and was one of many “Goldwyn Girls”. Originally, the “Goldwyn Girls” were basically Metro-Goldwyn Mayers musical stock company of female dancers like the “Golddigers” etc. who appeared in many musicals. Many of these ladies danced as “The Goldwyn Girls”, “Golddiggers” and even “Ziegfeld Girls” as well as other musicals and movies in the 1920s-1940s. They were sometimes listed as “Models,” “Showgirls” or “Chorus Girls.”.

Diana Mumby appeared in about 30 Hollywood movies from 1940 to 1956. Her movies include “The Harder They Fall” (1956), “Son of Sinbad” (1955), “G.I. Jane” (1951), “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” (1951), “A Song Is Born” (1948,) “Winter Wonderland” (1947), “The Kid from Brooklyn” (1946) and “The Thrill of Brazil” (1946.

Diana Mumby passed away on May 19, 1974 (age 51) in Westlake, California.

Diana Lewis - YANK Pin-up Girl - 4 Aug 1944 "Down Under Edition"

Diana Lewis was born on September 18, 1919 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Lewis began her film career in “All the King’s Horses” (1934) and worked steadily over the next few years, usually in minor roles. Her more notable films include “It’s a Gift” (1934), “Gold Diggers in Paris” (1938), “Go West” (1940) and “Johnny Eager” (1942). She was the love interest of Andy Hardy as Daphne Fowler in “Andy Hardy Meets Debutante” (1940).

She met the actor William Powell in 1940, married after a courtship of three weeks and retired from acting in 1943. The couple remained together until Powell’s death in 1984.

Lewis was an active supporter of women’s golf and the LPGA. The LPGA’s William and Mousie Powell Award is named in honor of the Powells.

Lewis died from pancreatic cancer on January 18, 1997 in Rancho Mirage, California, aged 77, and was interred at Cathedral City’s Desert Memorial Park in Riverside County, California, alongside Powell, and her stepson, William David Powell.

TRIVIA:

Height: 5′ 1½” (1.56 m)

Nickname: Mousie

Sister of actress Maxine Lewis and composer J.C. Lewis.

William Powell and Diana knew each other for only a few weeks when they eloped. He had previously been married to Carole Lombard and engaged to Jean Harlow at the time of her sudden death.

Diana’s best friend was Carole Landis. Diana gave Carole a gold cross in 1938 that she wore for the rest of her life, and was buried wearing.