Paige Young Images Used In Art and Merchandise. Paintings By Paige Young. (Updated 03/24/23) Previously Unseen Images. (Some NSFW)

Autographed photo I purchased. The seller found it going through the papers of his uncle who had died. It’s not photographic paper but more like a thin magazine paper. Paige’s signature is on the paper though, it’s not mimeographed.

I found on the next 4 slides on ebay. The seller had purchased them through an auction. I happened to recognize Paige in a few of them.

The subtle amount of pubic hair in this shot would have not made it into a Playboy centerfold in 1968. But it would have been rejected anyway due to a cat or dog’s tail captured along the bottom edge. Thank you for restoring and scanning the slides to  glamourphotographers.yolasite.com

by artist Martha Rosler. Rosler created a series of collages appropriating images of Playmates from Playboy magazine. Rosler used this image of Paige from the January 1969 Playboy. Original image seen in chapter Playboy 1969.
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Outtake from Playmate photo shoot by Peter Gowland. The stone pattern by Gowland’s pool was seen in numerous of his published photography instruction books over the decades.

Playboy calendar 1970.
Depiction of Paige Young with exaggerated breast size by Pop Art artist Mel Ramos. Ramos has painted many images based on Playmates, models and actresses, their bodies entwined or emerging out of consumer products with a brand label showing: soda bottles, candy bars, Velveeta cheese boxes, Chiquita bananas, cigarette packages, etc.
From Peter Gowland’s photographs, Paige’s image on left is in an incomplete set of 4 “Sip and Strip” glasses, very popular in the 1970s. You might have seen these on the shelves of a store like Spencer’s or perhaps in an ad from the back of a magazine There should be white painted negligee or bikini that covers the nudity until the drinker fills the glass with ice and liquid. On this set I purchased, the paint has been worn off. The Gowlands either sold the rights to these photos to the company who produced the novelty glasses OR he sold the rights to someone who then sold them to a production company.

November 1968. Paige Young was not the cover girl of her Playmate issue. Instead, the issue featured the Femlin character posed with the Presidential election theme. Robert F. Kennedy, favorite for the Democratic ticket only 5 months previous, was assassinated in Los Angeles at the Ambassador Hotel on June 6th.
The Femlin was created and drawn by famous artist LeRoy Neiman who had a long association with Hugh Hefner and the magazine. The cover is a photo of a sculpted clay model of the character which was used in some issues and as a “cover model.”.The term Femlin is a portmanteau of female and gremlin and is likened to a 10 inch tall sprite. Playboy’s Tinkerbell.
Lid of Paige Young puzzle with “mini-centerfold.”

LA writer Duke Haney told me about the history of Playmate puzzles, one of them included the centerfold image of Paige Young.

“The successful Playmate puzzle series was released periodically, in groups of 4 Playmates at a time. Paige’s group included Cynthia Myers, Gwen Wong and DeDe Lind. It was released in 70/71.

Haney describes the lid of the Playmate puzzle.

“The mini-centerfold measures 3×6.5 and two were included with every puzzle. One was folded so that only the face of the girl was visible through the opaque cap on the can. This was so that the buyer knew which puzzle it was, which Playmate. There are four pictured on the can itself. Then there was another mini-centerfold inside the can. This one wasn’t creased like the one below the lid. These pictures were guides to be referenced while piecing together the puzzle. Only one would have been necessary but hey…”

Author Duke Haney
Finished puzzle of the Paige Young centerfold. Image courtesy of Duke Haney

Haney says Playmates “never received residuals, Playboy owned the photos outright.” And that “The last of the puzzles were released in 1973, so Paige would have certainly been alive when her puzzle was released.”

Thank you Duke for speaking with me, I appreciate it!

Richard Sample as painted by Paige Young. Courtesy of Richard Sample

*NOTE* All of images of Paige’s paintings that follow were publicly posted on Pinterest and/or Facebook.

“Monica and Gort” by Paige Young.
By Paige Young “High Noon.”
The Laundry Girl posted on Pinterest

A Gowland frequently used model in the late 1950s: starlet Venetia Stevenson

To mark the 100th birthday of Peter Gowland ZEPHYR – Space for Photography in Mannheim & Reiss-Engelhorn Museums curated “Peter Gowland’s Girls,” the first international exhibition of his lifework.  “Peter Gowland’s Girls” showcases some 200 works selected from Peter Gowland’s estate, which comprises tens of thousands of superb prints and slides, including the most sensational, most elegant and most daring pictures from his unparalleled career as a pin-up photographer. The exhibition displays his portraits of stars like Joan Collins and Jayne Mansfield, his work for “Playboy” and “Rolling Stone”, and his pictures for innumerable calendars and magazines from the 1940s to the 1970s. from petergowlandphotography.com

vPETER GOWLAND’S GIRLS exhibit and book curated by Thom Schrimbock 2016

Photo below is from the book “Peter Gowland’s Girls.” Labeled “Unknown”

Outtake from a Gowland a Playboy session. Peter Gowland. Compare to “Unknown” photo above.
Another scuba photo not published. Paige’s published centerfold scuba photos show her immersed in water wearing full scuba gear while her companion spears a sea creature.
This is the cover of an art book featuring a Martha Rosler collage. Paige Young appears in the upper right corner, mirroring Sally Sheffield, May 1969. Image is distorted due to enlarging.

Paige had some photo shoots published and distributed in 1970. Like the Playboy Calendar shown above.

One of the Gowlands long time employers, 1964-2002, was the Ohio-based Ridge Tool Company, a hand tool manufacturing company, using the “Ridgid” brand name.

Ridgid Tool Company became famous for its’  2-year calendars featuring images of bikini-clad models holding various tools made by Ridgid. I’m guessing Ridge sent these calendars every year to their tool purchasing clients.

Paige appears in the 69/70 edition.

Paige appeared in the 69/70 edition of the famous Rigdig Tool Calendar with fellow Playmates Reagan Wilson and Mercy Rooney (Merci Montello) below. The calendar does not identify them as Playmates. Collection of the author.
Playmate, model and starlet Reagan Wilson posed for Peter Gowland several times in the late 1960s.
Mercy Montello model/starlet was a favorite of the Gowlands and appeared in many of their instructional books, late 60s, early 70s. She worked as a Bunny at the Los Angeles Playboy Club. She married Mickey Rooney Jr. and appeared as a Playmate in December of 1972 under the name Mercy Rooney. She wanted to be an actress but appeared in only 4 really bad softcore 70s movies.

Many more models, starlets and Playboy Playmates were unnamed models in these Ridgid Tool calendars over the decades. One did go on to great fame: Raquel Welch.

From 1964 until 2002, Peter and Alice photographed models for the Ridgid Tool Calendar (Ridge Tool Company). Some of the models who appeared in those calendars include Raquel Welch, Stephanie Drake, Kathy McCullen, Cindy Margolis, and several Playboy Playmates, including Renee Tenison, Nikki Schieler, Barbara Moore, Heidi Sorensen and Penny Baker.

Michael at glamourphotographers.yolasite.com

Family History#2. 1930s & 1940s. Great Depression. Peoria, Move To LA. Frank & Rose. the Marinellos. Radio City. Sunset and Vine. KNX. CBS. Tom Breneman. Jane Harker. Warner Brothers. Updated 03/04/2023

Frank LaRocca, brother of Diana’s grandfather and defacto father Ned, was a violinist and music director in Decatur, Illinois in the 1920s. His wife was named Rose. The rest of the family lived in nearby Peoria, Ill., where the children had grown up.

Decatur Daily Review Aug. 23, 1925
Part of an ad for the historic Avon theater in Decatur, Ill, where Frank LaRocca worked in the 1920s.

Mildred Marinello.

was a first cousin of Donna LaRocca, Diana/Paige’s mother. She was introduced in Family History #1.

Mildred and Donna lived next door to each other both in Peoria, Ill. in the 1920s and 1930 (see below) and later in Sherman Oaks, Ca. in the 1950s. She is listed as a witness at the Hollywood wedding of Donna to Robert M. Cotterell in 1940. See 1940s chapter.

In 1930, the year after the stock market crash of 1929, Joseph “Ned” LaRocca lives with his wife “Jeanette” and their daughter Donna as “Lodgers” at 206 Martin, in Peoria. This is the same address the LaRocca family had in earlier census records going back to 1900. In 1930, a Leana M Buckler is listed as Head of house. Next door lives Mildred, Donna’s first cousin, and her parents Anthony Marinello and Kathryn LaRocca Marinello, Ned’s only sister. They too were living with another family. It looks like Frank had already moved out to Los Angeles where he would die only 7 years later.

1931 and 32 Los Angeles phone directories list a Frank LaRocca and wife Rose in Los Angeles. The couple reside at 2303 Gatewood.

Ned, his wife Virginia LaRocca and their 9-year-old daughter Donna, join Frank and Rose in Los Angeles by 1934. The family moved into a house located at 2234 Shoredale Ave. It’s located about two blocks away from Frank and Rose on Gatewood.

Virginia LaRocca voter’s registration shows that the family was in LA permanently by 1934. Virginia started to be listed as a Republican by the 1940s.

Ned and Virginia had performed their vaudeville acts in the Los Angeles area many times in the teens, 1920s and early 1930s; so they had familiarity with the area, as well as both having siblings already living in there.

The Shoredale and Gatewood houses were in a neighborhood very close to Elysian Park, the LA River and Riverside Drive, well before “the 5” freeway was built.

 Brothers Frank and Ned LaRocca are listed as “music teachers” in the LA phone directory in the mid1930s. 

1937: According to his death certificate, Frank is admitted to Methodist Hospital with peritonitis/perforated duodena. After one week in the hospital, Frank dies, having contracted pneumonia two day previous.

Frank is buried in his home town of Peoria, Illinois.

His find-a-grave page includes an obituary from the Peoria newspaper. It states that brother Ned LaRocca lives in LA and is a harpist in a “Hollywood radio orchestra.”

The LAT obituary is below.

Los Angeles Times Jan. 7, 1937. Widow Rose remained in the Gatewood house for decades. Her death records indicate she died in Glendale, 1977.

In the late 1930s, A “Radio Row,” was forming along the section of Vine Street between Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd.

A sensational Streamline Moderne building was the new west coast headquarters of NBC radio and opened in 1938. Architect was John C. Austin. Austin was also architect of the Griffith Park Observatory along with Frederick M. Ashley.

*Below, I’m attributing radiocityhollywood.com below for several clear historic descriptions and explanations.

 

The National Broadcasting Company originally used the phrase Radio City to describe their studios at Rockefeller Center in New York City.  When NBC opened their new Hollywood studios at Sunset and Vine in 1938, they placed the words  Radio City prominently on the front of their new building.  However, the area between Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard on Vine Street became known as Radio City for tourists and locals alike who visited the many radio studios and radio themed cocktail lounges and businesses in the area.

radiocityhollywood.com

Veteran performing artist Ned LaRocca found a steady paycheck at both NBC and CBS.

CBS radio aka “Columbia Square” opens just down the street from NBC, also opened in 1938.

The website radiocityhollywood.com describes vividly what must have been a fascinating “scene”overflowing with human activity; all the types of people who had a requirement, a desire, or both, to be there, from the employees, their friends and families, tickets holders, which includes tourists from near and far, big wigs in the industry, interns, janitorial staff, professional radio performers including musicians like Ned LaRocca.


Architect is Swiss-born William Lescase. CBS Columbia Square is the official moniker. The legendary Brittingham’s Restaurant existed in Columbia Square. This building and NBC were major tourist attractions in 1938 on through the 1940s In Los Angeles.

This building is the new home to KNX Radio, where Ned LaRocca performed.

Old postcard when these spectacular buildings were brand new. Ned LaRocca worked at both.
Description on back of postcard.
Radio Room cocktail lounge on Radio Row in Radio City Hollywood 1940s. Bowling alley and coffee shop next door. Lots of neon which Los Angeles was becoming famous for.

A block away, the Columbia Broadcasting System opened it’s new modern studios at Columbia Square.  Across the street, on December 26, Earl Carroll opened his premier nightclub and restaurant, with the glamorous neon sign proclaiming, “Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world.”

The National Broadcasting Company, after moving from New York to San Francisco, opened its’ new Moderne studios at the intersection of Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, California.

The Hollywood Palladium opened two years later between NBC and CBS, with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, featuring band singer Frank Sinatra. Across Vine Street, on the northwest corner of Sunset and Vine, sat Music City and Capitol Records, operated by bothers Glenn and Clyde Wallich.

radiocityhollywood.com
San Fernando Valley Times July 1938

The radio industry in Los Angeles, and the world I imagine, was at its’ zenith from the late 30s through the 1940s. This era was short lived. Television would soon replace radio as the mass entertainment medium of choice. (1950s)

Film-noirish look at Sunset & Vine. Found on the internet. NBC on the right. 1940s. Capitol Records on the left, before the iconic new location, the “Stack of Records” building, was built at 1750 Vine St. by Welton Becket and Assoc. (Opened in 1956)

Vintage postcard. Famous Earl Carroll theatre across the street.
Back of postcard

The American Broadcasting Corporation set up shop a few doors north on Vine Street.  Up the street was the Radio Room, Club Morocco, Mike Lyman’s and the famous Tom Breneman’s Breakfast in Hollywood restaurant. Even further up Vine, just before Hollywood Boulevard, Clara Bow operated her restaurant, the It Cafe.  Across the street,  south of the Boulevard, was the world famous Vine Street Brown Derby, more restaurants and bars, and at Selma Avenue, the RCA building. Further south, at the end of the block, at the intersection of Vine Street and Sunset Boulevard stood the radio flagship studio, NBC Radio City.

It was a glorious year, 1938, for Hollywood and for radio. And, while NBC called their new studios Radio City, the entire area became famous across America and around the world.

Radio City Hollywood website.

Tom Breneman broadcast his popular show “Breakfast In Hollywood” from his restaurant on Vine off Sunset Blvd. I’ve listened to a few of his radio broadcasts on youtube, and Breneman often asks the audience members “where are you from?” It seems like they are a combination of locals and out of state visitors.

Tom Breneman’s Hollywood Restaurant.
Known as the “Mayor of Encino,” Tom’s family in the 1940s.
1948 Taken from NBC. No more Tom Brenamen! Sadly he died suddenly in 1947. KECA TV moved in. Television’s explosion into American homes would happen soon but not quite yet in 1948.

Ned LaRocca continued to work at NBC and CBS throughout the 1940s and made an important contact with Leith Stevens, conductor and composer.

Studio 1 CBS Close up of harpist in the Wilbur Hatch Orchestra 1940-41 Photo by “Dick” Whittington Studio. Could the harpist be Ned LaRocca?

1938, 1939 & 1941 LA phone directory, Joseph LaRocca is listed as a musician and living at 3834 Evans.

1938 Los Angeles directory.

Late 1930s Los Angeles directory. Joseph’s sister-in-law Rose, widow to his brother Frank, is a factory worker this year. One year she was a cook and another year a seamstress. Biagio LaRocca may be a family member, he was also listed in the Oakland directories in the late 1920s, along with Ned LaRocca.

Donna LaRocca had another female cousin named Mary Jane Harker. She was born two years after Donna and had short lived fame in the 1940s. She was contracted to Warner Brothers studio for about 2 years before getting married and leaving LA.

.Jane Harker was the daughter of Josephine and George Truman Harker. I write more about them in Family History Part #1.

From a Scandinavian ? Hollywood stars and starlets were promoted overseas through these type of magazines.

The information about Jane Harker that you see on websites like imdb is incorrect. I’m attempting to officially get the record straight.


Salt Lake City Tribune July 19, 1945. Paige Young’s 2nd cousin. Name would eventually get shortened to Jane
.

Daily Calumet, Chicago. May 18, 1946.

I have a lot of material collected about Jane Harker if anyone would like to collaborate on this project contact me.

Warner Brothers Starlet Jane Harker in a publicity pinup shot by Hollywood photographer Wellbourne.
Jane Harker in a publicity pinup shot by famous Hollywood photographer Wellbourne.

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