Delving into my vast archive of newspaper clippings today for a promo image for “Ziegfeld Follies”. What is interesting in this 1950s spanking image is that it was taken in a small New York town, in a place where I actually use to live from 1990-1992.
An interesting side note, I walked to the local supermarket one day for my weekly shop and sat there waiting in a limo outside was none other than Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio. The store was located in an exclusive Connecticut neighborhood and I also once ran into the former tennis star, Mats Wilander in the store. I didn’t bother either of them, other than getting a perfunctory wave from Joltin’ Joe 🙂
The town that I lived in was on the New York/Connecticut border and the closest store within walking distance was in Connecticut.
This is a wonderful picture, Richard! I wish I could identify the spanker. The Ziegfeld Follies had their heyday in the 1920s and30s, but there were still some shows in the 40s and 50s. The spankee is a Ziegfeld Girl whom we probably have no hope of identifying.
She’s not OTK, but look how good her bending-over pose is: in heels on her toes, 90-degree bend at the waist, and perfectly straight knees! If the spanker had used a paddle it would have looked like a scene from the days of Burlesque (see the one paddle-swat in the movie Gypsy.
web-ed,
The man in the picture is the actor, Bert Wheeler, and the actress is Helen Wood. Now there were two Helen Wood’s, one who was born in 1917 and the other who was born in 1935. This picture almost certainly depicts the older of the two. While it can’t be guaranteed, the actress who was born in 1917 had pretty much stopped making films in 1939, however, there are numerous credits for her performing at various Ziegfeld Follies productions in the 1950s. While this particular production isn’t listed as a credit, it is a pretty good educated guess that this is her.
The Helen Wood that was born in 1935 would later be credited as Dolly Sharp who appeared in the 1972 adult movie, Deep Throat. I’m pretty certain though that the woman shown here is the Helen Wood who was born in 1917.
Rich