Hey, Look!!

Look Magazine, 22 November, 1938: with Germany re-arming and war looming on the horizon, Claudette Colbert still managed to steal the cover spot :) The image seemed to be based on a publicity still from Zaza (odd, considering the film wasn't released until 1939; no doubt Paramount was eager to cash in on the spectacle of the talented Ms Colbert revealing her frilly underthings).

It's interesting to compare this cover shot with stills and posters from the same movie (both B&W and color). Unfortunately, the Hays Code didn't allow for garters and stocking tops back in the day...

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.

 

Universal Horrors: Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Bud and Lou bungle their way through yet another Universal Horror, this time as a pair of Brooklyn flatfoots sequestered to foggy London at the turn of the century. The movie includes two cancan scenes (kind of), the first during a suffragette rally in Hyde Park (get it?) and the second at the local watering hole. The musical number is performed by leading lady Helen Westcott and six anonymous show girls (with only the talented Ms. Westcott actually showing her knickers).

OK, you caught us out here: we added a pair of thigh highs via Photoshop, but you've gotta admit; it looks much better this way, doesn't it?

An Old Favorite

So, are you ready for another trip to The Judas Hole?  Yes, that's right, it's time to review our favorite moments from The Haunted Strangler (Amalgamated, 1958):

Loosely based around the Whitechapel murders of the 1880s (with a dash of Jekyll & Hyde thrown in), the movie contains two extended cancan sequences set in a Victorian music hall. Like Jimmy Sangster's Jack the Ripper (Tempean Films, 1959), the movie was shot in black & white and contains virtuoso performances by professional dancers. According to some sources, the cancan scenes were choreographed by Joan Murray, a former Windmill Theatre alumnus. 

Seriously, I still can't understand why nobody's come up with a color version of this masterpiece. Judging from these screencaps alone, the cancan number would be nothing short of spectacular!

North of the Border

For some unknown reason, our northbound cousins didn't start producing sex comedies until the 1980s, but when they did...well, the results were impressive to say the least. Screwballs (1983) and its sequel Loose Screws (1985) contain some memorable lingerie scenes, including a full-blown striptease by Cynthia Belliveau at the climax of the second movie.

While there was very little outright nudity in either film, the directors took the humor as far as they could, having eager young starlets falling out of their clothes as often as the script permitted. The ever-popular faux "medical" examination was put to good use in both movies, as suggested by the screencaps posted below:

 

 

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. 

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.

Not Now, Darling!

Wikipedia describes the term Farce as "a form of comedy which seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable." In British theatre, it seems more of a thinly-veiled excuse to have pretty young women strip down to their bare knickers before a live audience. This is most certainly true in the case of Ray Cooney's 1967 stage play Not Now, Darling and its 1973 movie adaption.

 

Completely gratuitous lingerie scenes from Not Now, Darling (1973).

 

The plot (such as it is) centers on a fur coat shop in central London, where philandering businessman Gilbert Bodley (Leslie Phillips) is trying to "seal the deal" with one of his wealthy "lady friends." In common with many British comedies of the period, the storyline contains three completely gratuitous stripteases by the female leads, played by Julie Ege, Trudi Van Doorn and Barbara Windsor.

 

What a Carry On!

 

 

The carry-on girls from...well, Carry On Girls.

 

The seaside town of Fircombe is facing a crisis – it's always raining and there's nothing for the tourists to do. Councillor Sidney Fiddler (Sid James, of course) hits on the notion of holding a beauty contest. The general populace is taken with the idea but the feminist contingent is naturally outraged by this "gross" exploitation.

 

During a subsequent press conference, fem-lib activists try to disrupt proceedings by demanding that the contestants submit to a full medical examination (don't bother asking why; this is a Carry On film, nothing needs to make sense). 

 

When the girls ask if they have to take everything off, Sid replies "Nah, just down to your undies." Naturally, the dolly-birds agree to this gratuitous striptease, immediately slipping down to their bras and panties before a local television crew (which is apparently how things were done back in the early seventies).

 

Summary freely adapted from Wikipedia. 

Before the Code

As mentioned in an earlier post, American cinema suffered a decades-long drought in sexual content, lasting from the mid-thirties to the late sixties. Intended to preserve the moral climate of the movie industry, the Hays Code forbade the depiction of practically all sexuality from the silver screen, even those delicious bra-and-panty scenes the public had grown to love during the Roaring Twenties.

Many film historians have theorized that this hardline censorship was inspired by the austerity of the Great Depression, but the plain truth is that the Code's designer, William H. Hays, was a puritanical jackass. OK, maybe that's being a trifle unfair, but let's face it: who in their right mind would consider Betty Boop a threat to the youth of the nation?


Mind you, Betty's animated shorts could get pretty steamy at times, but when cartoon characters are being censored over the length of their hemlines, you know someone has few screws loose upstairs. Prior to 1934, movies could still emphasize the inherent beauty of the female form with luscious underwear, bare thighs and stocking tops. Following the institution of the Code, revealing close-ups and gratuitous stripteases were strictly verbotten. 
 
The Hays Code was the Hollywood equivalent of Prohibition, only in this case the killjoys were battling the sins of the flesh. Girls had to be sweet, chaste and well-covered at all times. Hemlines were lowered, garters were hidden, and the very mention of women's intimates was banned from big screen (hence the word 'unmentionables').
 
It was a sad day for human civilization: audiences around around the world were forthwith denied the spectacle of Carol Lombard's satin underwear no matter how innocent the context. Disrobing had to take place off screen when it occurred at all, as everybody knew there was nothing more shocking than the sight of a pretty young woman in her stockings and panties.

Idiots.

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).