Not much justification for publishing these, other than the fact that many of us like Pre-Code (I know I do!), whether it be on film or in rare images like the ones shown here. The lady in the top hat is Grace Bradley. The former wife of William "Hoppy" Boyd just turned 93 and I understand she's still going strong. That’s Ginger Rogers in an early shot before she became a major name. I imagine this sort of layout would become verboten once Ginger began securing leads. Meanwhile, Joan Crawford strikes an artful pose around 1932. More of these to come as I run across them. There can never be enough Pre-Code at the Greenbriar!
I once borrowed an early-1930s men's magazine from a collector friend that featured Hollywood starlets in quite daring poses. I think it was called something like "Wink."
Anyway, in a two-page layout with several photos, Ginger Rogers was clad in little more than she wears here and was, well, sort of wrestling with a handsome young man (Joel McCrea, maybe?). I was surprised and amused by the suggestiveness of it.
Not to be a stick-in-the-mud here, but other than KING KONG and a few other exceptions, what enduring classics were made in the pre-code era to compare with those created between, say, 1935 and 1941? I don't see much that was glorious in the pre-code era. Selling the dark side of human nature is always a slippery slope. For my money, the Code saved us from getting the current filth by about twenty years.
To shiningcity- read Mick LaSalle's excellent book "Complicated Women" and you'll have a good idea of the very real cultural losses that the Code was responsible for.
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Long live Greenbriar!
I once borrowed an early-1930s men's magazine from a collector friend that featured Hollywood starlets in quite daring poses. I think it was called something like "Wink."
Anyway, in a two-page layout with several photos, Ginger Rogers was clad in little more than she wears here and was, well, sort of wrestling with a handsome young man (Joel McCrea, maybe?). I was surprised and amused by the suggestiveness of it.
Better times then.
Thanks for a great post!!
Better times then.
Thanks for agreat post.
Hope for more!!!
I have been reading and enjoying the pictures here at Greenbriar for several months and this is my first post.
I would say the pre-code pictures are much more alluring than the leave nothing to the imagination pictures of today.
Keep up the good work.
Pre-codes are the BEST!
Not to be a stick-in-the-mud here, but other than KING KONG and a few other exceptions, what enduring classics were made in the pre-code era to compare with those created between, say, 1935 and 1941? I don't see much that was glorious in the pre-code era. Selling the dark side of human nature is always a slippery slope. For my money, the Code saved us from getting the current filth by about twenty years.
Lovely, simply lovely
To shiningcity- read Mick LaSalle's excellent book "Complicated Women" and you'll have a good idea of the very real cultural losses that the Code was responsible for.
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