The Passing of an Icon: Jane Russell

Jane Russell, a sex symbol of 1940s and '50s Hollywood, was known as much for her voluptuous figure as for her acting has passed away a few days ago. To me, Jane was double-edge sword. On one side, she epitomized sultry glamour and helped promote feminism. While on the other side, she was involved with groups that promoted intolerance and hate.

Most likely, Jane caught your attention. If you are old enough, you probably saw her in such classic films as “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” with Marilyn Monroe or “The Paleface” with Bob Hope. If you are a younger baby boomer, your first introduction to Jane probably was in those Playtex bras in which she brought "good news for us full-figure gals."

As an aspiring young sissy in the 70s, I remember seeing Jane in those Playtex commercials but couldn’t understand why she was wearing her underwear on the outside of her clothes. I asked my mom if she would buy me one of those cross your heart bras and she laughed as she asked me why I would want one. I told her so that I could look just like that pretty lady. My mom just laughed – probably thinking that I was just kidding. Little did she know!

The story of how Jane’s career took off is well know. She was working as a receptionist when a photo of her was sent to eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes, who had been conducting a nationwide search for a curvaceous actress for his new film, The Outlaw. The movie gained notoriety after censors kept the film from general release in a dispute over Russell's cleavage. Hughes then engineered a long publicity campaign to take advantage of this “controversy” over the screen debut of Ms. Russell’s boobs. Adverts for the film showed the star sprawled on a bale of hay with the tag line "How'd you like to tussle with Russell?"

"Yes, Howard Hughes invented a bra for me. Or, he tried to. And one of the seamless ones like they have now. He was ahead of his time. But I never wore it in The Outlaw. And he never knew. He wasn't going to take my clothes off to check if I had … " Russell said.

You really can't appreciate what Jane was doing back then without taking into account the culture that preceded it. Girls wore one-piece bathing suit-the bikini was yet to appear. What Jane was showing off was considered scandalous. I think that it would be fair to say that Jane did help move forward as a society away from sexual repression and towards gender equality.

While known for her acting and singing, Russell’s World Adoption International Fund has succeeded in placing over 50,000 children with adoptive parents. Russell herself adopted three children.

While I can admired Jane Russell for much, she has also done things that make my blood boil. During a speech in 2003, she announced that "these days I am a tea-totaling, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded conservative Christian bigot…" While I have every respect for differences in religious views amongst people, I don’t have much respect for using one’s religion to legitimize violence and hate. 

For example, Russell was affiliated with Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, which wanted Muslims banned from the military, banned from political office, and banned from having government jobs. This group also testified in support of legislation that would allow the murder of abortion doctors as “justifiable homicide.” This seemed a bit ironic to me when I read that Jane, at the tender age of 19, had undergone an abortion herself. Russell’s opinionated stances sometimes made it easy for people to view her as a hypocrite – especially when one considers her extra-marital affairs, her divorce, and her alcoholism.

Unlike many of her conservative colleagues, Russell was certainly no homophobe. She often would talk nostalgic about her openly gay choreographer in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Jack Cole. She repeatedly called him a “genius” and credited him for the success of the film since neither she nor Marilyn Monroe could dance a step when they started shooting.

Jane always seemed to enjoy her status as a gay icon, and she commented on the bizarre bit of homoerotica in the film when she sings "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love" in the middle of a training session for the Olympic team. As dozens of hunky studs go through their work-out moves, Jane darts in and out of their routines singing lines like "I like big muscles, and red corpuscles, I like a beautiful hunk of man." The men ignore her completely and seem far more interested in each other as they gyrate in suggestive positions.

"Jane tried to convert me (to religion) and I tried to introduce her to Freud," Marilyn Monroe once said of Jane.

Jane Russell’s life was dictated by her beauty but the feisty glamour icon has deservedly earned a place in cinema history. Like each of us, her life was a mixture of good and bad, of opinion and controversy. Let us remember her for her beauty and for her helping children.
 

Celeb Watch: Katy Perry

How can any sissy not adore Katy Perry? I mean, like, not adoring her is like not adoring corsets, pin ups, big lashes and tight dresses! She kind of reminds me of bimbo version of Dita Von Tease.

Katy Perry Complex Video Shoot

Sherilyn Fenn in "Boxing Helena"

I am sooooo envious of Sherilyn Fenn!

"Beyond Love... beyond obsession... there lies something beyond reason."

Original Fountain Song (Boxing Helena)
Uploaded by Meowbay. - Watch original web videos.

Here is a link to the movie trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3669688601/

Anita Ekberg: Vintage Elegance

Anita Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress, and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 film "La Dolce Vita" in which she played the unattainable "dream woman."

Anita should be a role model for every sissy since Ms. Ekberg is an icon of femininity. 

 

Anita Ekberg was born in 1931, the oldest girl and the sixth of eight children. In her teens, she worked as a fashion model. In 1950, Anita entered the Miss Malmö competition at her mother's urging, leading to the Miss Sweden contest, which she won. She went to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

 

Although she did not win Miss Universe, she did come in as one of the top six as one of six finalists. This earned her a contract with Universal Studios, which caused her to move to the United States.
While in America, her boyfriend Scott Brady introduces her to famous Hollywood cheesecake photographer Bruno Bernard and asks him to promote her. Soon, she was in the company of many of the Hollywood elite. She even had an affair with Tyrone Power during the filming of her first movie, Mississippi Gambler.


She met Howard Hughs, who at the time was producing films. Hughs wanted her to change her nose, her teeth and even her name. Hughes thought that "Ekberg" was too difficult to pronounce. Anita refused to change her name, saying that if she became famous, people would learn to pronounce it, and if she didn't become famous, it would not matter. She ended up turning down Hugh's offer to sign with RKO Pictures.

You have to admire her backbone. Way to go, girl!

In 1960, Anita landed her greatest film role in La Dolce Vita, in which she played the unattainable "dream woman" opposite Marcello Mastroianni. Her scene in the Trevi Fountain in Rome remains one of the most celebrated images in film history.

  

 

 

 

The combination of a "colorful" private life and her enviable hourglass figure made her the subject of many of the new type of men’s magazines that became popular in the 1950s. She soon became a major 1950s pip up model. In addition, Ekberg participated in publicity stunts, one of which was an incident where her "accidentally" dress burst open in the lobby of a London hotel in front of some photographers. This was many years before Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction."

 

Anita was romantically involved with a number of well-known men, including Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, and Gary Cooper. Actor Robert Wagner claims to have had an "enjoyable one-night stand" with Anita.

At the 49-minute point in the James Bond film, From Russia With Love, the killer Krilencu attempts to escape through a hatch opening from Ekberg's mouth in a huge movie poster for Call Me Bwana. After his friend shoots the man, Bond notes that "she should have kept her mouth shut."