American Beauty Venus: by James Montgomery Flagg

Here is an elegant confection by American illustrator James Montgomery Flagg. It appeared in the second ever issue of Playboy in January 1954 illustrating a cocktail.

The recipe for the cocktail the picture illustrated, we have to say, sounds quite disgusting. Called an American Beauty, it consists of one part each of brandy, grenadine, dry vermouth and orange juice with a dash of white crème de menthe. We can’t think that orange and mint would be very happy glass fellows! It’s an old cocktail, however, first appearing in Harry Craddock’s classic The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. The name refers to a type of rose, as seen in Flagg’s drawing, rather than a girl, which mirrors the colour of the drink.

James Montgomery Flagg, as he always signed himself, was born in 1877. He was something of a prodigy, selling his first magazine illustration at the age of twelve and by the age of fifteen he was on the staff of Life magazine. By the time he was eighteen he had done his first magazine cover illustrations. Although he had a painting accepted by the Paris Salon in 1900 he preferred to stick with illustration.

He was also a writer and got involved in film production to the extent that he was asked to produce promotional films for the US Marines during World War 1. It was during the war that he produced his most famous painting, in 1917, for a recruitment poster. He modelled Uncle Sam’s face on his own. He went on to produce dozens of other propaganda posters.

Flagg with a young Jane Russell in 1941

After the war most of his work was done for magazines but he also did some book covers and a lot of portrait work.

Other than his illustration work he carried on painting for himself and produced some splendid work such as the wonderfully louche The Fencer.

The Fencer

He died in 1960 and at his peak was reckoned to be the highest paid illustrator in America.

James Montgomery Flagg

 
 

Flagg's I Want You poster is one of the most recognisable images in the world but these days he is not well known, outside those who are interested in illustration.   Partly this is because of his concentration on pen and ink work rather than paintings.  He was one of the earliest generations of illustrators whose work reached a wide audience because of techological advances in printing, building on the work of Charles Gibson (creator of the famous Gibson Girls), who was ten years his elder and later became a great friend.

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Centrefold Venus of the Month 32: Tamara Kapitas, January 1980

It's a rare incursion into the eighties for this Centrefold of the Month; but only just, as we alight on January 1980 and the lissome form of Tamara Kapitas, who appeared in Penthouse that month. Given it's a cold and snowy day today the thought of Miss Kapitas cavorting around in a tropical setting is very warming.

Note: originally this post was much longer but, at her request, we have deleted anything that refers to Tamara's current life. We are loathe to delete all the pictures as she looks so splendid.  She very kindly offered a few snippets on her experiences in being one of the first women to be photographed by both Playboy and Penthouse.

These photographs were the work of female photographer Pat Hill who had done her first model shoot for Penthouse back in 1977. She began working at Penthouse and Viva with Art Kane before becoming a Penthouse staff photographer, which involved photographing interview subjects, then covers and eventually centrefolds. This was her first Pet of the Month shoot but she would go on to do two more in 1980 (Annie Hockersmith (April) and Monika Kaelin (May). Her name didn't appear on this, possibly because she had two more centrefold shoots coming up.

Originally from Hawaii, she is now based in New York, having moved on to advertising and fashion photography, where her clients have included firms as diverse as Wonderbra, Macy's, Sony, Proctor and Gamble and Revlon.

The accompanying text tells us very little about Tamara other than the fact that she is from New York and is 37-24-36, which is quite believable, looking at her.

Tamara also appeared in Playboy in 1977

Tamara had appeared in Playboy in a 1977 pictorial which looked at girls who were under consideration for Playmate.  At least five of those featured did go on to be a Playmate but Tamara was not one of them.  In fact, according to Tamara, she was photographed for two weeks and Hugh Hefner was very involved ordering re-shoots.  She never made Playmate, however, as Tamara was only seventeen at the time. She had told them she was a year older.  hefner, of course, had got into big trouble over the use of underage Playmates, like Elizabeth Ann Roberts, before so no doubt didn't want to risk it again.

Tamara did some other modelling.  Here she  is, in 1982, being the sort of politically incorrect adornment that you don't see at motor shows any more (except in Italy).

Tamara's take on this shoot is interesting and she sent me the following:

"Guccioni was another fussy man who was very involved in the details. He wanted more explicit pics than I was willing to give the mag. I didn't mind being nude, as I had grown up on the beaches of the Riviera and Italy, where everyone is half nude anyway. As long as the pictures felt natural, w/o being contrived. But I was uncomfortable, VERY uncomfortable. I refused to shoot with him. His directions for poses were out of the question for me. I wanted to walk around in the Everglades and have her photgraph me the way I was, not the way HE wanted to see me. The only way I agreed to do it was if the photog was a woman. I insisted there was no one else on the shoot other than a female make-up artist. And of course, my name was never to be used, nor any information about me.

Guccione always thought I was difficult to control. And he was right."  So that's why she never made pet of the Year!

Lovely smile!

There were not enough photograph's of Tamara's wonderful posterior in the pictorial.

We like these final shots; they're intense!  The gradual zooming in on Tamara in her gauzy bower contributing to the voyeuristic quality that Penthouse did so well.

So we like this set of Tamara and it's a shame she didn't do more modelling for Penthouse but she was obviously uncomfortable with the explicit route that Guccione was taking at this time.  She did make the Pet of the Year Playoffs in the June 1981 issue but there were no new shots of her for this, sadly.  So an unusual combination of a female photographer, a tropical setting and the striking-looking Tamara make for a fine antidote to our cold and snowy day.

We are very grateful to Tamara for the comments she gave on this piece and wish her well.  She is still a strikingly beautiful woman. 

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