Naked as a Jaybird and loving it
A true milestone in fine art publishing. Excerpt from the book by Dian Hanson
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
"We knew there were nudist magazines being made in California," Connie says, "and by golly, they needed pictures! We thought we'd give it a try."
Out in California there were indeed nudist magazines being made. Modern Sunbathing, that same magazine Connie's new husband had used to tease out her nudist confessions, responded to the couple's queries with a job offer. Known as the nudist magazine that had never had a nude on its cover, Modern Sunbathing avoided Boone's battles, preferring to go unnoticed by the government. This had less to do with modesty than that the publisher's main business was girlie magazines. Publisher Ken Price was the first to see there was money to be made from nudism after the legalization of pubic hair, but other men's magazine publishers were watching his sales with great interest.
"When we got to California in 1962 we went to camps every weekend, shooting pictures for Modern Sunbathing and having fun," said Connie. "We became members of The Sundial Club, and there we met Ed Lange. Ed wanted to start magazines that would end nudist prudery. He finally found a publisher and named his first magazine Sundial, after the club."
Ed Lange was not new to nudism but was a new kind of nudist, an avowed hedonist like Connie and her husband. When he embraced nudism in 1938 it was "to discover a way that would acknowledge the innate sensuality of all humans, that would allow me to accept my and other's humanity and sexuality comfortably-without shame." In his book Thy Neighbor's Wife, Gay Talese described Ed Lange as "a tall, well-built former fashion photographer with an elegantly trimmed gray beard." Everyone I interviewed spoke of his charm, his charisma, his vision of a sexually liberated nudist community. Several people also described him as a swinger. It's little wonder he picked Milton Luros to publish his magazine.
Luros started his professional life in New York City illustrating science fiction pulps. By the late 1950s sci-fi was a sinking ship; Luros jumped to illustrating the rising pin-up pulps. In 1958 he left New York for L. A., where he worked as art director for Adam and Knight, two of the better girlie magazines of the time. In 1959 he started his own publishing company, American Art Agency, in North Hollywood; his first magazine was a nudes and booze celebration called Cocktail. Where he got the money is debated and perhaps best unexplored. Whatever the source, there was plenty of it; by 1965 Milton Luros so dominated the field that the staid Readers Digest proclaimed him America's richest pornographer, citing profits of $20,000,000 a year.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
"We knew there were nudist magazines being made in California," Connie says, "and by golly, they needed pictures! We thought we'd give it a try."
Out in California there were indeed nudist magazines being made. Modern Sunbathing, that same magazine Connie's new husband had used to tease out her nudist confessions, responded to the couple's queries with a job offer. Known as the nudist magazine that had never had a nude on its cover, Modern Sunbathing avoided Boone's battles, preferring to go unnoticed by the government. This had less to do with modesty than that the publisher's main business was girlie magazines. Publisher Ken Price was the first to see there was money to be made from nudism after the legalization of pubic hair, but other men's magazine publishers were watching his sales with great interest.
"When we got to California in 1962 we went to camps every weekend, shooting pictures for Modern Sunbathing and having fun," said Connie. "We became members of The Sundial Club, and there we met Ed Lange. Ed wanted to start magazines that would end nudist prudery. He finally found a publisher and named his first magazine Sundial, after the club."
Ed Lange was not new to nudism but was a new kind of nudist, an avowed hedonist like Connie and her husband. When he embraced nudism in 1938 it was "to discover a way that would acknowledge the innate sensuality of all humans, that would allow me to accept my and other's humanity and sexuality comfortably-without shame." In his book Thy Neighbor's Wife, Gay Talese described Ed Lange as "a tall, well-built former fashion photographer with an elegantly trimmed gray beard." Everyone I interviewed spoke of his charm, his charisma, his vision of a sexually liberated nudist community. Several people also described him as a swinger. It's little wonder he picked Milton Luros to publish his magazine.
Luros started his professional life in New York City illustrating science fiction pulps. By the late 1950s sci-fi was a sinking ship; Luros jumped to illustrating the rising pin-up pulps. In 1958 he left New York for L. A., where he worked as art director for Adam and Knight, two of the better girlie magazines of the time. In 1959 he started his own publishing company, American Art Agency, in North Hollywood; his first magazine was a nudes and booze celebration called Cocktail. Where he got the money is debated and perhaps best unexplored. Whatever the source, there was plenty of it; by 1965 Milton Luros so dominated the field that the staid Readers Digest proclaimed him America's richest pornographer, citing profits of $20,000,000 a year.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
