Home : Remembering :Siren Of Yesteryear Still Stirs The Troops
Six decades ago she occupied the restless dreams of countless young American GIs. Now some of those not-so-young former GIs have a chance to make one of their long-ago dreams come true. They have a chance to win a dinner date with Jane Russell. For those of you too young to remember, Jane Russell was one of history's hottest and most voluptuous babes - this at a time when voluptuousness wasn't easily available at any plastic Surgeon's office. Her 1941 film The Outlaw couldn't even make it past the censors and into release until 1943, largely because of the scandalous way producer Howard Hughes highlighted certain of Miss Russell's "assets" while promoting the film. GIs, on the other hand, had absolutely no problem with the public display of feminine assets. Along with Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, a sultry brunette, became one of the most popular "pinup girls" of World War II. After the war the GIs went on with their lives, and Jane Russell went on to star in such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (with Marilyn Monroe) and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes. Now the boys of World War II are in their late 70s and 80s, and the long-retired Miss Russell is - well, she's a little older than she once was. Nevertheless, when Jane Russell agreed to be the "prize" at the annual reunion Of some U.S. 8th Air Force veterans in Anaheim Oil Sunday, a lot of those aging veterans suddenly felt young again. For five bucks per raffle ticket, they all have a chance to win a dinner date with her in L.A. next month - chaperoned, of course - with the proceeds going to help build memorials to the 8th Air Force in England, Georgia, and San Diego. "They're all pretty excited about it," says Dick Baynces, 79, of Irvine, a former B-24 pilot and chairman of the Southern California Reunion of the Second Air Division Association. "She was quite a Sex Symbol." As for Miss Russell, pitching in for a veterans cause is simply a continuation of the support she gave the troops long ago. "Of course I'm flattered that they would want to see me after all these years," she told me from her home north of Los Angeles. "I toured [in the States] with Bob Hope back then, and they [the GIs] were all so wonderful. I don't know if they'll recognize me, though. I was famous as a brunette, and now I'm a blonde - my hair is white!" Frankly, I don't think she has to worry about being recognized. I've been to a number of World War II veterans' reunions, and it's amazing, how when they get together, they start to see their old buddies not as they are, but as they were. I suspect that in their eyes, Jane Russell will always be a gorgeous brunette. And who knows? Maybe someday, forty or fifty years from now, the young male soldiers of today will still he dreaming of Jennifer Lopez or Britney Spears - and leaping at a chance to win a dinner date with them. Yes, the years go by, and bodies and faces inevitably change. But memories, and restless dreams of pinup girls, remain forever young. Betty GrableHer iconic bathing suit photo became the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in Life 100 Photos that Changed the World. She was born Elizabeth Ruth Grable on December 18, 1916, in St. Louis, Missouri to John C. Grable (1883-1954) and Lillian Rose Hofmann (1889-1964). She was the youngest of three children. In the 1940s – after small parts in over 50 Hollywood movies throughout the 1930s – Grable finally gained national attention on stage for her role in the Cole Porter Broadway hit Du Barry Was a Lady (1939). It was during her reign as box office queen (in 1943) that Grable posed for her famous pinup photo, which (along with her movies) soon became escapist fare among GIs fighting in World War II. The image was taken by studio photographer Frank Powolny, who died in 1986. Despite solid competition from Rita Hayworth, Dorothy Lamour, Veronica Lake, Carole Landis and Lana Turner, Grable was indisputably the top pinup girl for American soldiers. She was wildly popular at home as well, placing in the top 10 box office draws for 10 years. By the end of the 1940s Grable was the highest-paid female star in Hollywood. In 1943, she married trumpeter and big band leader Harry James. The couple had two daughters, Victoria and Jessica. The couple divorced in 1965. Grable entered into a relationship with a dancer, Bob Remick, several years her junior. Though they didn't marry, their romance lasted until the end of Grable's life. Grable died at age 56 on July 2, 1973, in Santa Monica, California. Her funeral was held July 5, 1973, 30 years to the day after her marriage to Harry James - who, in turn, died on what would have been his and Grable's 40th anniversary, July 5, 1983. Rita HayworthMargarita Carmen Cansino was born on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Spanish flamenco dancer Eduardo Cansino (Sr.) and English/Irish-American Ziegfeld girl Volga Hayworth. She attained fame during the 1940s as the era's leading sex symbol. She was known as "The Love Goddess", and was celebrated as an expert dancer and a great beauty. The "love goddess" image was cemented with Bob Landry's 1941 Life magazine photograph of her (kneeling on her own bed in a silk and lace nightgown), which caused a sensation and became (at over five million copies) one of the most requested wartime pinups. During World War II she ranked with Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner as the pinup girls most popular with servicemen. Rita Hayworth would also become Columbia's biggest star of the 1940s, under the watchful eye of studio chief Harry Cohn, who recognized her value. Rita Hayworth was the recipient of the National Screen Heritage Award . Lynda Carter starred in a 1983 biopic of her life. She lived in an apartment at the San Remo in New York City. Following her death on May 14, 1987, at age 68, her marker included the inscription "To yesterday's companionship and tomorrow's reunion."
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