Le Serveur

Yes, the rumors are true: Ridley Scott started out directing TV commercials for Dim Lingerie in 1977. Lasting barely 40 seconds from start to finish, "Le Serveur" became one of the most influential campaigns in advertising history due to its exquisite visuals, subtle lighting and understated sense of humor. Viewed in retrospect, we can infer the reason behind Sigourney Weaver's gratuitous striptease at the end of Alien two years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzDXhcvZtYU

Harenchi Gakuen

Based on Go Nagai's ground-breaking comic strip, Harenchi Gakuen incorporated a great deal of panchira (panty shots) and sukarto meguri (skirt flipping), with most of the lead actresses revealing their underwear at one point or another. The film even concluded with a Benny Hill-style chase scene, complete with attractive young starlets losing their clothes to a runaway bus:

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is in the air. 

More chaos ensues when the girls chase after the driver, demanding the return of their clothing (along with their dignity, one supposes), ably assisted by the local constable and various other aggrieved parties:

 

 

 

Insert "Yakety Sax" theme here.

According to Wikipedia and other sources, the original manga was highly controversial for its time (mainly due to its breaking of innumerable social taboos), though by 1970, the furor seemed to have died down to a dull roar. The film was successful enough to warrant three sequels, all of which employed the same basic formula.

Benny's Back

Well, actually, it's perennial straight man Henry McGee this time, blowing on the tuba in 1977's At The Streaker's Ball (performed by the Little Dimpton Milk Marketing Board, no less). In addition to Lorraine Doyle having her dress blown up, Suzy Mandel loses her skirt to Benny's baton during the inevitable closing fiasco.

Semi-Tough

And now it's back to the swingin' seventies for a completely gratuitous panty-shot in Semi-Tough (United Artists, 1977). BTW: that's a young Brian Dennehy holding the struggling extra by the ankles.

 

We tend to wonder how they found an actress brave (and pretty) enough to film such a dangerous scene; she was most probably a stunt double, but all the same, it must've taken one heck of a lot of courage to reveal her knickers in public that day.

 

Benny Hill: Acacia Avenue

Acacia Avenue is the closing tag from episode 24 of The Benny Hill Show (March 26, 1975). Waiting at the bus stop, several locals (Libby Roberts, Henry McGee, Moira Foot et al) and a priest (Don Estelle) are alarmed by the appearance of a stereotype "duffer" (Benny Hill) with a half-naked woman on his arm (turns out it's just a mannequin). Noticing the commotion, WPC Jeannie Collings turns up to investigate, ordering Benny to drape his coat over the figure. Meanwhile, a pretty young girl (Debbie Greenhill) strolls up, taking her place by the bus stop. Naturally, Benny mistakes her for the mannequin and rips her clothes off, exposing her underwear in public. Having incited the inevitable melee, Benny flees into a local park where he leaps astride an ostrich (?!) to ride to freedom.

Summary by User:Thor2000

Benny Hill: Bus Stop

Bus Stop is the closing tag of The Benny Hill Show Episode 27 (March 24, 1976). Playing a stereotype "silly old duffer," Benny sneezes his way through one catastrophe after another, first blowing away a civil servant's (Henry McGee) newspaper before disrobing an attractive young brunette. A chase immediately ensues, with Duffo blowing away a tent (revealing two young campers in their underwear), felling a tree (provoking lumberjack Bob Todd to take after him with an axe) and demolishing a smoke stack before finally setting off a nuclear blast in the middle of London.

 

 

Afternoon Delights?

More evidence that Japan is home to the most advanced civilization on the face of the planet: while Western kids were raised on a steady diet of Scooby Doo, Groovie Goolies and Everything's Archie, Japanese pre-teens were fed a healthy blend of panty shots and lingerie scenes via the popular media.

Chargeman Ken

 

Yes, it's all completely true: back in the late sixties, Japanese audiences were treated to scenes like this literally every day after school. Japanese Animation (anime, for the uninitiated) had a long history of fan service, particularly where young female characters were concerned. As the years wore on, the cartoons became increasingly more risque, leading to impromptu stripteases in shows like Cutie Honey (1973) and Majokko Megu Chan (1974). 

Majokko Megu-Chan

Sure beats the heck out of Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, doesn't it? All kidding aside however, it's worth noting that live action panchira was extremely popular on Japanese TV, so the transition to anime was probably inevitable. Despite periodic outcries from P&T groups and child welfare advocates, the trend caught on and soon became a staple of the cartoon industry. In the space of thirty years, fan service went from this in 1970:

Mahou No Mako-Chan

 

...to this in 2000.

Gakko No Kaidan

Viewed as cute and harmless (if a little risque), shows like Gakko No Kaidan and Read Or Die were aimed at a young demographic, mainly adolescents and middle-schoolers. Most of the humor was family friendly; kids could laugh at the jokes while their parents smiled at the frequent innuendos.

 

Read Or Die

The Golden Age part 3

The 1970s were a kind of Golden Era for the British television and film industries. While Hammer, Ealing and Amicus rose to prominence, BBC, ITV and Thames cornered the market on comedies, dramas and police procedurals. There was no shortage of risque content either; the Carry On gang were at the height of their game, Benny Hill was elevating farce to the level of an artform and the hottest part of The Sun was Page Three. Virtually every TV series produced after 1969 incorporated gratuitous panty shots, unexpected stripteases, wardrobe "malfunctions" and full-figure lingerie scenes.

 

 

Sid cops an eyeful in Bless This House.

As the decade progressed, the studios' costume departments kept pace with the fashion industry, especially where the actresses' underwear was concerned. Female cast members wore floral bras and briefs during the early seventies, eventually giving way to gauzy French intimates towards the Eighties. It's interesting to note that this obsession with the bare essentials wasn't confined to rom-coms and variety shows; "dolly birds" turned up in productions as disparate as UFO, The Sweeney and The Professionals.

 

From: Carry On Abroad, Carry on Loving and Doctor in Trouble.

 

George Layton  cops an eyeful in Doctor at Large.

 

Click on the "start" arrow to begin. You may need to click more than once..

 

Fast forward to 1.12.

The Two Ninnies

As the late Seventies drew to its inevitable conclusion, Benny Hill found himself up against some rather tough competition, particularly from Messrs  Barker & Corbett, alias The Two Ronnies. Overwhelmingly popular during their decade-spanning career, the Ronnies' humor was largely based on word play and spoonerisms, though they weren't above "borrowing" from Benny's tried-and-true blend of smutty innuendo and gratuitous lingerie shots. On a few occasions, the two programs seemed to share the same blackout gags, all the way down to the color of the starlets' underwear:

 

Click on the "start" arrow to begin. You may need to click more than once.

Benny Hill: Continental Capers

 

Benny lends Barbara Wise a helping hand.

The Continental Capers Band is a ten-piece orchestra which plays in the bandstand of a large unidentified park (possibly in Dimpton or Lower Tidmarsh). When they arrive, the gate into the bandstand appears to be stuck. Naturally, Benny immediately assists two of his musicians (Barbara Wise and Malou Cartwright) over the railing. The girls are required to hike up their skirts, revealing their knickers and stockings in the process. Once they're inside, Benny opens the gate without further incident, allowing the rest of the band to set up their instruments (summary by Thor2000).

The full skit may be viewed on youtube:

Benny Hill: Civil Servants

While civil servants were normally the purview of Monty Python's Flying Circus throughout the 70s, they occasionally turned up on Benny Hill whenever the opportunity arose. The scene posted below illustrates one of the fundamental differences between the two shows: on Monty Python, government bureaucrats were targets for absurdist ridicule; on Benny Hill, they were employed to 'inadvertently' raise skirts before the camera.

 

 

 

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.

Purple wigs and silver knickers

OK, let's get ready for another trip down memory lane. 1970's UFO was something of an oddity even by the standards of its time. Produced by Jerry and Sylvia Anderson (of Thunderbirds fame), the show was basically a live-action version of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, employing many of the same tropes and premises.

Running for a total of 26 episodes, the low-budget sci-fi series was aimed at a 'mature' audience, as implied by the presence of pretty young starlets in micro-minskirts liberally sprinkled throughout each storyline. The very first story featured a completely gratuitous striptease, allowing audience a peek at the futuristic under-fashions of the far-off year of 1980.

The two screencaps posted here depict a typical scene on Moonbase Alpha, as one of the female residents prepares for a date. The dressing-room resembles an aircraft capsule and comes equipped with a two-way mirror (presumably so the occupants can see who's lurking outside).

No explanation is offered as to why a dressing room would need a two-way mirror, but then again, we're talking about a space-faring civilization where purple wigs and silver knickers are considered  de rigeur. Obviously, some questions are better left unasked.

Screencaps from UFO, episode 1 (1970).

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.