Lisa Petrucci from Something Weird graciously sent me a stack of magazines, including two issues of a publication called Wolf Bait. Given that my publishing imprint shares the name, it was only natural for me to showcase them, even if I don’t typically cover the American glamour scene — there are already enough people doing that.
Among the other magazines were Blush, Fever, and Flame, each comprising around 48 pages. These publications were all published by Zee Zee Martine in the late 1950s. Zee Zee was an exotic dancer who starred in the film Hypnotism Confidential in 1957.
These digest magazines served as additional promotional material and income generators for dancers on the runway circuit — rare relics from over six decades ago when a dancer would pack her costume in a trunk and hit the road.
It’s plausible that the Zee Zee also contributed some of the pictures, although I recognized a few as being captured by the lens of Stephen Glass. Zee Zee sought the editorial assistance of her friend Evelyn West, affectionately known as “The Hubba-Hubba Girl.”
Together, these dancing dames profiled their female friends, advertised their photo sets, placed ads for lingerie, and cribbed risqué gag cartoons from various sources. I suspect the girls were permitted to sell these magazines in clubs, as there was no subscription offer available.
