| Vintage Pulp | Mar 10 2016 |
Folies de Paris et de Hollywood kept readers guessing with their models but this one we know.
This issue of Folies de Paris et de Hollywood is from 1963 and its theme is “les peches capiteaux,” or the seven deadly sins. You see them listed at bottom left on the cover, if you ever wanted to learn them in French. While the theme is interesting, we're sharing this cover for one reason—Sophia Loren. Well, we think it's her. Folies never credited its cover models, so we can't be sure. The editors used her image on at least three other covers, and those instances are identifiably Loren because the shots are standard portraits, leaving no doubt. But this one has an oblique angle, which is enough by itself to make positive ID more difficult. And the model is wearing a see-through blouse. For casual fans of Loren that may seem out of character, but it isn't. Her early nude scene in Era lui... sì! sì! is well known today. We've discussed it a couple of times. And of course who can forget her wet-shirt appearance in Boy on a Dolphin. The point is Loren was not shy, so the see-through lingerie here is not a sign the cover model isn't her. We're going to say this is indeed Loren until someone convinces us otherwise. Inside the magazine identities are a bit clearer. You get various Parisian showgirls, as well Vicki Kennedy, aka Margaret Nolan, who we're beginning to think may have been the most photographed glamour model of the 1960s, centerfold Terry Higgins (in a crib, disturbingly), and June Palmer as “la paresse,” or sloth—though not so slothful she wasn't able to pose for three pages of photos, then don a blonde wig and appear on the rear cover too. That's more than we did all last week. Scans below.
