Venita Drake

HBN · August 27th, 2020, 11:24 PM

Sometimes credited as Venetia, Venita was an elegant, busty model, whose busiest career period was from around 1955 to 1960.

Outside of the naturist mag, H&E, toplessness did not really start until about 1955 in UK mags, and even then only within some rules by the censor, and many mainstream mags were still for a few more years, just peekaboo, cheesecake glamour.

One early criteria to be able to publish nude or topless girls, was that of artistic merit. So in a simple sense, girls could not actually be both flirty and nude, and if nude, had to be in tasteful, classical, quite solemn poses. This is my conclusion looking back at mags of the era. I invite confirmation or correction; it's before I was born.

Venita was one of a cohort of models who would do some lingerie work as fillers, but were not really into that; they clearly went for the (very radical for the time) nude assignments, and saw themselves as being more serious models than the ones that did strip tease and flirt. On the cover of Can-Can below, i believe she actually posed topless, but was too lively and smiley in those for print, and the bras were then painted onto the photos later to make them OK to publish.

Photographers of that era, included Russell Gay, Eva Grant, Stanley Long and so on.

Harrison Marks's work took off late 50s / early 60s, and from here, that now attracts all the attention for vintage fans. Apparently, there was no world before Marks, and then big bang. But there was indeed nude glamour before Marks, and the first early years of UK nude mags, was rich with superb models and photography, and Venita was among the best.

August 27th, 2020, 11:24 PM	#1
HBN Member Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: UK Posts: 63 Thanks: 2,231 Thanked 1,349 Times in 58 Posts	Venita Drake Sometimes credited as Venetia, Venita was an elegant, busty model, whose busiest career period was from around 1955 to 1960. Outside of the naturist mag, H&E, toplessness did not really start until about 1955 in UK mags, and even then only within some rules by the censor, and many mainstream mags were still for a few more years, just peekaboo, cheesecake glamour. One early criteria to be able to publish nude or topless girls, was that of artistic merit. So in a simple sense, girls could not actually be both flirty and nude, and if nude, had to be in tasteful, classical, quite solemn poses. This is my conclusion looking back at mags of the era. I invite confirmation or correction; it's before I was born. Venita was one of a cohort of models who would do some lingerie work as fillers, but were not really into that; they clearly went for the (very radical for the time) nude assignments, and saw themselves as being more serious models than the ones that did strip tease and flirt. On the cover of Can-Can below, i believe she actually posed topless, but was too lively and smiley in those for print, and the bras were then painted onto the photos later to make them OK to publish. Photographers of that era, included Russell Gay, Eva Grant, Stanley Long and so on. Harrison Marks's work took off late 50s / early 60s, and from here, that now attracts all the attention for vintage fans. Apparently, there was no world before Marks, and then big bang. But there was indeed nude glamour before Marks, and the first early years of UK nude mags, was rich with superb models and photography, and Venita was among the best. Last edited by HBN; August 28th, 2020 at 11:07 AM..