Post #497582 by JOHN-O on Sat, Dec 5, 2009 9:29 PM

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yeah…..

1. Bettie Page - No need to apologize to me on this one ATP. I still remember the visceral thrill I got when I first picked up the "Bettie Pages" some 20 year ago and thought "Hmmm. This is interesting……". I also assumed I was familiar with all the existing Jungle Bettie pics but that zebra one was new to me. Thanks.

2. Vampira - We should start a new thread for Vampy on "Beyond Tiki". She's one of the original old-school Goth girls for the sub-culture that refuses to die (ha, ha). Also Vampira had a close Las Vegas relationship with mid-century pop icons Liberace and Elvis Presley. I'm sure they all hung out together at the Aku Aku and DTBC LV at some point.

3. BigBro comments "…..thank you for your mostly intelligent, sometimes a little off incentives to engage in intelligent conversation about this ridiculously unimportant topic we call Tiki." - Hey I take that as a major compliment from Tiki's very own Yoda. And yes I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes use Tiki as an excuse rather than the point for my many rambling pop cultural posts.

This next one is no exception: :)

OK, so what do the following animal-skinned hotties have in common:

Well IMHO they were all inspired by a particular 1940's genre called "Good Girl Art". This is a term used to describe the comic books which featured scantily clad, amply proportioned heroines. A sub-genre of "Good Girl Art" was the Jungle Girls. Now I know many of you might be familiar with "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" (since she had her own live-action 1950's TV show) but the overall number of JGs was staggering. In addition to Sheena, there was Jana of the Jungle, Jann of the Jungle, Jill of the Jungle, Judy of the Jungle, White Princess of the Jungle, Nyoka the Jungle Girl, Princess Pantha, Jungle Lil, Leopard Girl, Zegra Jungle Empress, the list goes on and on. Even Pre-Tiki icon Dorothy Lamour got in on the action.

One of the most explicit JGs was "Rulah, Jungle Goddess". Check out the suggestive phallic symbology.

Eventually this all caught up with the comic book publishers as the Hayes Code did with the movie studios in the early 1930's. In his book "Seduction of the Innocent", psychiatrist Fredric Wertham accused the horror, crime, and "sex" comics of the time as being a key influencer of juvenile delinquency. Even Batman and Robin were accused of a "homosexual wish-fulfillment" relationship. This lead to U.S. Congressional inquiries which resulted in the self-imposed CCA (Comics Code Authority) in 1954. Comic books were then neutered and made safe for America's children.

Here's an interesting observation. This is an example of one of Bettie Page's many fetish photos. In the 1950's this had to be obtained under the counter or via mail order. Now compare that to a common (pre-CCA) Jungle Girl theme that was available to any boy with 10 cents in his pocket. Ahh, to be a kid back in the good old days. :)

OK, obviously the 1940's Jungle Girls are a part of the African Pop theme of this thread.

I might also argue, however, they were a precursor to the Tiki-style Exotica girls posted on this site.

Is this a stretch? How about some Exotica album art featuring obvious Jungle Girls?

Actually as BigBro suggested, any African/Safari Pop album art would be a great addition.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-12-06 08:02 ]