V magazine from France, published February 8, 1948, with a photo-illustration of an almost unrecognizable young Marilyn Monroe on the cover. 

3-D pin-up book with Marilyn Monroe on the cover. If her outfit looks familiar, that's because it’s pretty much identical to the one she was wearing in those amazing shots we posted Christmas Eve, right down to the shoes, except everything is red instead of blue. So, what exactly do 3-D pin-ups look like? Let's just say it's a good thing Avatar isn't this blurry.

Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, shown here in two shots from the same photo session, with a wardrobe change in between, 1975. For reasons probably having to do with poor manual dexterity, she never got either outfit completely fastened. How embarassing. More Kristel wardrobe malfunctions here and here. By the way, don't you just love the drapes? 

There’s been a lot of death on the website recently, so today we’re reversing the trend by bringing back one of our earliest femmes fatales, Scottish actress Caroline Munro. She appeared such films as The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Spy Who Loved Me, and the awesome Star Crash. She was born today in 1950. 

Swedish actress Mia Nygren, seen here in a still from Francis Leroi and Iris Letans’ French softcore classic Emmanuelle IV, 1984.     

Publicity still of English actress Diana Dors. Her real last name was Fluck, and she joked about that unfortunate fact, famously quipping, “They asked me to change my name. I suppose they were afraid that if my real name Diana Fluck was in lights and one of the lights blew...” 

Publicity images are used for multiple purposes, and today we have a 1954 promo shot of Marilyn Monroe that was also used for a post card, which you see just below. Under that we have other shots from the session, reversed. One of those reversed versions appeared later that year on an Israeli magazine, partnered with a shot of Mamie Van Doren. And finally the truly priceless version, featuring Marilyn flipped back around again and slightly slenderized, was used on the breathtaking Japanese promo poster at bottom. There are thousands of Monroe images in existence, but this poster is one of the most rare. Enjoy it, and enjoy Christmas too. 

We ran across this 1970s-era Japanese celebrity magazine Movie Information featuring Chris Noel on the cover and absolutely had to repost it. She was a notable figure during the Vietnam War due to her “A Date with Chris” radio program, which she broadcast twice weekly to American troops. The show was immensely popular. In fact she was thought by the Viet Cong to be such a morale boost that they reportedly placed a $10,000 bounty on her head. They never managed to kill her, but helicopters in which she rode often took ground fire, and two crash-landed with her aboard. Her efforts to make personal contact with U.S. troops wereremarkable when you consider she had already established herself in b-movies and on television and may have been on the verge of becoming a star. Yet she put Hollywood on hold and instead became a radio broadcaster in a war zone. After Vietnam she tried to return to movies but the reception in Tinseltown was icy for a minor actress who was perceived to have supported a U.S. war of aggression. Eventually she gave up and opened a shelter for homeless veterans, which she still runs today. All in all it’s a remarkable—perhaps even movie-worthy—story.

History has written a last draft on Vietnam. The event is remembered by the majority of the world as an error, one that cost the U.S. considerable prestige, and resulted in a humanitarian disaster for the Vietnamese—more than two million civilian deaths according to the most conservative tallies. Even the war’s chief architect, Robert McNamara, who died recently, declared the conflict a colossal mistake. Today Vietnam remains under communist rule, but has restored diplomatic ties with the U.S. and is one of the most welcoming nations in the world, a place where Americanvets comment with amazement upon the Vietnamese ability to put the war behind them despite the ghastly suffering they endured. But whatever history’s take on that divisive period, personalities like Chris Noel are worth admiring. During a time when politicians, pundits, and protestors fought a war of their own over the direction of the United States, Chris Noel rejected the glitz and glamour of Hollywood in order to serve the grunts who were sacrificing their lives on the firing line.
 

French treasure from our recent trip to Madrid, Zoom magazine with cover star Raquel Welch, 1972. 

Photo of British-born actress/singer Abigail, née Abigail Rogan, who became Australia’s top sex symbol by starring in the 1972 season of the television show Number 96.