Classic Funhouse...

Not exactly the cancan, but counted amongst our all-time favorites nonetheless. Once again, we've used deep AI to give these exceptional pieces a new lease of life:

 

If memory serves correct, the last image was actually christened "off-duty cancan" and featured a dancer from the Windmill Theatre.

Marujita Díaz

A leggy shot of Marujita Díaz from La Casta Susana (1963)...

 

 along with a more "wide-screen" version:

 

 

 

Tried to enlarge the images via AI;  will leave the final judgments up to the viewers:

 

Carry On Cowboy

And now it's back to the Old West in 1965's Carry On Cowboy (Anglo-Amalgamated, UK). Featuring a brief appearance by the Ballet Montparnasse, the film's cancan sequence is one of the best-remembered of the 1960s, due to the overwhelming popularity of the Carry On franchise.

Notorious outlaw Johnny Finger (Sid James), rides into the frontier-town of Stodge City, immediately gunning down three complete strangers and taking over the local saloon. Within a few weeks, Belle's Palace has devolved into a den of iniquity, where a troupe of cancan girls (played by the Ballet Montparnasse) entertains the criminal element.

 

Naturally, the puritanical Judge Burke (Kenneth Williams) is mortified by the sight of pretty young women "showing their underthings" in public ("right up to here") and attempts to close the show down, the ensuing conflict leading to one zany situation after another. 

Jane Revisited

Following Jane's phenomenonally successful run in the 1940s, the Daily Mirror attempted two revivals of the character over the next three decades, first with the short-lived Jane, Daughter of Jane in the 1960s (Alfred Mazure, 1961-1963):

...followed by a mid-eighties reboot which updated the original heroine for a contemporary audience (1985-1990). Veteran cartoonist John M. Burns added an espionage parody recalling Jane's homefront adventures of the war years:

 

While both strips were initially well-received , neither managed to recapture the charm of Norman Pett's wide-eyed ingenue. Despite some truly knockout artwork from Burns and Mazure, the revivals simply couldn't match the patriotic fervor of their predecessor. Apparently, the key to success involves more than just a pretty blonde running around in her lingerie :)

See also this post for more of the same. 

Tiffany Jones

More gratuitous lingerie scenes from Pat Tourret's Tiffany Jones. Initially published in London's Daily Sketch, this beautifully illustrated British 'strip' followed the time-honoured tradition established by Norman Pett's Jane (ie featuring the title character in her underwear as often as possible). Strangely enough, cheesecake shots from the strip are somewhat rare on the internet, though they occasionally turn up on Ebay and similar auction sites. 

See also this post for more of the same.

The Golden Age part 2

British comedies of the 60s and 70s often included completely gratuitous lingerie scenes, randomly dropped into the script for no apparent reason at all. Phenomenally popular in Commonwealth nations, they've since became a mainstay in the popular culture. It's no exaggeration to say that an entire generation of young men grew up checking the weekly news guide to see when the latest episode of Dick Emery or The Two Ninnies was coming out.

As mentioned elsewhere, Sid James probably started it all off with the Carry On franchise, of which 1961's "Regardless" is still one of the best known examples.

As suggested by the image posted above, the humor was similar to The Benny Hill Show and the girls just as beautiful. It's interesting to see how lingerie styles changed over the years. For example, in the early 1960s, the girls wore suspenders and stockings:

 

 

...while a few years later, they wore only bra and panties:

 

By the 1970s, fashions had changed completely:

 

 

Then suspender stockings made a brief comeback (for one film) in 1972...

In British comedies, young girls weren't embarrassed to walk around in their lingerie, even if there were men watching. They were completely innocent, and seemed to enjoy modeling their underwear in public. It's unfortunate they don't make movies like this any more.

Tiffany Jones

Posh, British elegance from Tiffany Jones...

 

Tiffany Jones was a British comic strip that ran in syndication between 1964 and 1977 and was published in Daily Sketch. The series centered on a young woman who traveled to London to become a fashion model. It is notable for being created by two female comic strip artists, Pat Tourret and Jenny Butterworth. Following in the steps of her predecessors, Tiffany featured a surprising number of gratuitous stripteases and lingerie scenes. 

Amazingly, this is all that Wikipedia has to say on the subject.

B-Grade Thrillers

Lingerie scenes were less common in US cinema than in its British counterpart, although occasional 'boudoir' imagery sneaked in under the radar every now and them. Sexual elements were generally toned down in accordance with the Hays Code, a censorship board which demanded - amongst other things - that underwear be of the neck-to-knee variety so popular in the late 19th century.

The results were amusing to say the least. Navels were a taboo subject on both film and TV, meaning that costumes frequently had to be redesigned to cover the tummy-button. In addition, American actresses were rarely depicted on screen in stocking-tops and garter belts - presumably because such uninhibited sexuality would cause riots in the streets.

There were, however, a few notable exceptions to the rule, usually B-grade thrillers that somehow made it past the censors. It's also interesting to note how overtly sexual themes surfaced in American horror flicks (in contrast to Britain's 'naughty' comedies).


The 1964 schlock masterpiece The Strangler featured two gratuitous stripteases (unusual for the time) between assorted acts of mayhem and violence. In both cases, the girls were shown stripping down to pristine white bras and panties before peeling off their stockings.

By contrast, 1959's Attack of the Giant Leeches may best be described as a horror in its own right. Take my word for it, this has to be one of the biggest turkeys this side of Plan Nine from Outer Space, and that's being as generous as humanly possible. Even the brief panty-scene near the start couldn't save this humongous lemon.

The Golden Age

Ok, let's get this thing out in the open.

Everyone loves panties. Don't try to deny it; panties are an almost universal passion, one which crosses social and cultural boundaries without exception. You can see them virtually everywhere you look; billboards, magazines, window displays and every known form of electronic media. Which would, of course, include the television and film industries, both of which enjoy a major presence on the web.

Oddly enough, despite the proliferation of cinematic blogsites on the intertubes, there is comparatively little information available on the bra-and-panty genre (if that's the right word). While you can find reams of data relating to petticoats, corsets or even opera gloves in mainstream film, the net seems to have developed a blind spot when it comes to unmentionables.
To demonstrate my point, I ran a Google search for "underwear scenes in film and TV" a few nights ago. I expected to find references to Edison's 'Black Maria' or Vitagraph's 'Mlle Elegantine', but the historical landscape could best be described as an uncharted wasteland. Aside from a few blogs similar to this one, no one seems to have attempted a comprehensive history of lingerie in western cinema.

Most of the sites I consulted listed perennial favorites such as Melanie Griffith in Working Girl or Cameron Diaz in Charlie's Angels, but very few mentioned the unsung heroines the classic era. A strange oversight indeed, considering that the Celebrated Lingerie Shot has a rich and colorful history stretching back beyond the memory of the present generation - even as far as the long-forgotten era of Monochrome Filmstock.


Contrary to popular belief, gratuitous panty shots didn't begin with Body Double. As most native Brits can tell you, panty-gags were a well-loved staple of 'bawdy' comedy during the 60s and 70s - and that's to say nothing about classic TV shows like Benny Hill, Doctor at Large or The Two Ninnies.

 

Images: Carry On Regardless (1961) and A Stitch in Time (1963).