Girl Illustrated Volume 5 Number 1
In a mood which amounts to something of a purr of pleasure
we celebrate this fiftieth issue of G.I. with a cover picture
of the current Miss World; begins the editorial triumphantly.
Its interesting that come the one-hundredth issue of G.I., the
anniversary fails to get a single mention! Maybe they lost count?
The editorial also celebrates the worldwide continuing erosion of
censorship, and states that G.I. would continue to liberalise
its policy. I'm not quite sure the continue is the correct
word, as I see nothing in issue 50 that wouldn't have been
allowed in issue 5. True to its word, the magazine would
continue to reveal more as 1971 rolled out, but within a few
issues would lose its model based focus.
This issue kicks off with some interesting pictures of Edith
Catry in a studio mock up with autumn leaves, interesting because
they have a blurry shadowyness reminiscent of photographs that
might have been taken forty years previously.
Next comes Essex girl Christine Carey, whose photo I provide
below. Astonishingly, she looks much younger here than in the
colour photo which appears oppoosite it in the magazine.
Bradford's Toni Lee makes an appearance with three pleasant
backlit full nude shots. The blurb says that she has a striking
combination of red hair and green eyes, so it's a shame that
we don't see any colour photographs of her.
Merci Montello from Brooklyn is very pretty and it is a shame
that of the three pictures shown, two are very small and the
third is split across the fold in the page.
Next comes three classic black & white photos of Reading's
Donna Marlowe in a hammock, and she is followed by GI favourites
Rita Rubin and Georgia West, their photos clearly taken from the
same sessions used for Souvenir Editions Numbers 1 & 2
respectively.
The centre section this month features Dream Girls of Vienna
as it is said that Vienna lays claim to be host to more beautiful
girls than any other capital city, and certainly in 1970 held the
dual posts of Miss World (Eva Reuber Staier) and Miss Bosom of
Europe (Elizabeth Feichner). And to be honest if I was limited
to only five of the ten beauties shown here, then those two would
be left on the doorstep. HH, TB, JB, GF, and SH (see table) are
probably the five finest of the whole magazine; it just a shame
that the pictures we're given of the Viennese Top 10 are so small.
Three rather nice photos of A-level Maths student Sally Keane
follow, her moody earthy look defies her tender age. My criticism
here is that all three photos are rather too similar to each other.
My second featured girl, is not a model in the professional sense
but a dancer and choreographer. She is a buxom, yet shapely woman
who endeavours when modelling to express herself in terms of naked
grace rather than sexy glamour.
This issue seems to contain a high proportion of well qualified
women; Diane Ashley as a result of her success in the field of
music has more letters after her name than there are in it,
Liza Denby has a doctorate following postgraduate work in
sociology, and Isobel Lyons when not modelling is a librarian.
All, especially Isobel have very tidy figures indeed.
The issue closes with eight studies of the controvertial sturdy
figure of 20 year old German Mady Mann; buxom yes, but certainly
not with the shapely attributes of the likes of Helen Russell.
Still each to his own, and it did give readers what they wanted,
(and others what they didn't).
The letters page highlights the problem of models doubling up
on names, although the only example given is incorrect. There
are the usual requests for full nudity and also a couple for
celebrety nudes, but on the latter point readers are politely
asked not to hold their breath.
| Cover | Eva Rubier Staier |
| Back | Chako Tsukuba |
| Inside | Edith Catry |
| Christine Carey | |
| Suzie Crane | |
| Femi Benussi | |
| Toni Lee | |
| Merci Montello | |
| Donna Marlowe | |
| Rita Rubin | |
| Georgia West | |
| Cathy Crawfoot | |
| Jill Ferris | |
| Nadine | |
| Annette Myrtille | |
| Helga Hirsch** | |
| Tina Brabetz** | |
| Astrid Frankel** | |
| Eva Reuber Staier** | |
| Rosemarie Wyka** | |
| Juliette Bruhl** | |
| Grete Floderer** | |
| Sandra Hesse** | |
| Elizabeth Feichner** | |
| Christine Kariger** | |
| Soraya | |
| Sally Keane | |
| Helen Russell | |
| Astrid Frank | |
| Francoise Pascal | |
| Diane Ashley | |
| Liza Denby | |
| Isobel Lyons | |
| Sally Forrester* | |
| Mady Mann |
* usually known as Sue Shaw
**Choice of the Month: Dream Girls of Vienna
