Magazine covers: eyes on stalks

[Girlfan]

I remember visiting three or four newsagents on a rainy afternoon trying to buy this magazine (about 1995, I think?)
The cover appealed so much, but every shop I checked out seemed to be full of customers, or staffed by blokes (both were a big no-no for me when buying mags). At last I got my copy!

[Pinkpapercut]

Originally Posted by Girlfan

I remember visiting three or four newsagents on a rainy afternoon trying to buy this magazine (about 1995, I think?)
The cover appealed so much, but every shop I checked out seemed to be full of customers, or staffed by blokes (both were a big no-no for me when buying mags). At last I got my copy!

Sorry for taking the thread slightly off topic but I was interested by your remarks in your last post, Girlfan. Buying your 'eyes out on stalks' magazines must have been a real hassle for you.

I was never myself troubled by buying from male staff although I preferred the frisson of buying from females and neither was I troubled by the presence of other customers. That said, I didn't buy my mags very close to home, most usually I bought them in the side-streets of central Manchester and Bolton, and I was approached only twice in 35 years of being a porn-hound by someone who recognised me and one of those was buying porn himself.

One of the things that I kept in mind through most of my girly and porn buying years is that there's nothing to be ashamed about. Any member of staff who looked down on one would likely be a hypocrite because nearly everyone, male or female, single or in a relationship, masturbates or has masturbated.

Then again I'm often told by friends that I have few boundaries so my lack of discomfort buying a mag then and there that had my eyes out on stalks might have had something to do with that

[Sharkhunter]

Originally Posted by Pinkpapercut

Bobbie (Jennifer Eccles) on the cover of Knave Vol 9 no 8, I think 1977



Back in the later 1970s I was studying graphic design at Manchester School of Art and used to walk back into Manchester town centre to catch my bus home. More or less on St Peters Square there was a large bookshop and newsagents that had one of the broadest selections of books, newspapers, alternative comics and - most importantly for me - girly magazines available on any local high street, running the gamut from soft cheese cake mags to full-on open cunt and arse mags plus the odd bit of continental hardcore now and then

I wasn't a fan of 'Knave', I found it a pale imitation of Men Only, which at the time was, along with Club International, my favourite girly magazine.

But the evening I went in and saw this Knave cover it stood out to me from the broad selection on the top shelf - I noticed it immediately, it stood out from the rest of the mags like a pair of bared Double Ds in a Convent. 'Bobbie' the girl on the cover (better known as big tit porn star Jennifer Eccles) just cried out 'knead my firm young titties' from that cover.

As I've mentioned in posts above I'm a bum man rather than a tit man but there have always been some models, some girls whose tits impress me. 'Tits' is too small a word. Titties, Knockers, Bristols, even Boobies are all nearer the mark.

'Bobbie' attracted me for another reason - she, and her bristols in particular, reminded me of a delicious fellow student known with good reason as 'Big Mandy'.

As usual with my 'eyes out on stalks' purchases I couldn't wait to get home to my student bedsit and have a wank over 'Bobbie'. And once through my door I didn't wait, I sat on my bed, whipped out one of the hardest hard-ons I've ever had, pumped away like fury over the photos of 'Bobbie' and squirted with such force that my spunk hit the ceiling above me and then dripped down over the duvet cover.

Sadly I never got off with Big Mandy but I regularly returned to the Knave set of 'Bobbie' and knocked many a one out imagining I was feeling up Big Mandy's tits and then shagging her brains out.

I've realised looking back over my posts in this thread that quite a few of my 'Eyes On Stalks' purchases were motivated by covergirls who reminded me of girls I knew and desired in real life.

Please note that the cover above and the set immediately below were posted by member mayfair1975 in the VEF Knave 1960s-1970s thread so if you like the photos please click through and leave thanks.

If this set of 'Bobbie' causes stirrings in your trousers there are more photos from the shoot in The Old Hacker's post in the Jennifer Eccles VEF thread including a few of her fingering open her twat-lips.

I think many of us saw girls we knew - or wanted to see girls we knew - when leafing through a magazine. Sometimes they'd look nothing like them, but there would one feature to focus on.

What is interesting is that cover, with that massively resplendent rack on show. I think I might have been a wee bit embarrassed handing over my pennies for that!

My 'back in the day' was before your 'back in the day' so I started my girly mag life with different expectations and in the 1970s and very early 80s when I was a committed porn hound in the first flush of girly mag buying I can assure you that although cover shots were deliberately chosen and intended as cover shots, back then the covers of many if not most mainstream girly mags were relatively explicit, by which I mean never mind girls in their bras or with nipples dotted out - the 70s cover girls were often tits out, nips on show, bum full on, cameltoes, the girl sometimes plainly fingering herself through her knickers, more or less see-thru knickers with crotch full on to the camera, tufts of pubic hair sometimes peeping out of knickers, and so on.

All on the cover, mainstream girly mags all on the top shelf of many a local family newsagent. Despite these fairly explicit cover photos the covers managed to look classy because the photographers were skilled and the designers of the magazines were prepared to put effort into the design of the mags. At one point in the 70s Men Only was one of the best designed, high production value magazines in the world and that's including mainstream non-girly, non-porn magazines.

From 1980 onwards UK covers became increasing prudish, as did the photos within, at least at the Men Only/Knave end of the shelf. as did British society, an effect I think of the combination of the prudish Thatcher government on the Right and joyless and easily offended second wave feminists on the Left.

Yep! I have seen some of those covers, and while they lack the silly editing of recent issues, it may have been a bit too much for me. I have always preferred a bit of a tease on the cover. A bikini top or a bit of semi-transparent lace, a hand or even soap suds.

How many girly mags and even hard-core mags are there left in the whole world, classy or not? They were falling like dominoes already when I bought my last wank mags in 2009 and those mags were so poor compared to what I'd known and to what I was able to find for free online that I decided never again to buy a wank mag.

Oh, there are still quite a few. The PRP stable are still churning out the old popular titles, and if one really wants to find them there are more than enough out there to burn a hole in your wallet. Moreso as they are massively overpriced.

But yes, the quality is so, so poor as a whole. Models who are nowhere near as attractive as their counterparts from even a decade previously, compounded by poor photo selection. One might think that being a girlie mag editor is a fun and easy job, but some of the crap one can find today suggests that it is anything but easy.

As I mentioned in previous posts and in other threads, the PRP mags saw a change in 2009. This resulted in thinner paper which came away from the staples more easily, tore easily, and took an errant blob of cum really badly. This is forgetting the influx of fake tits and nasty tattoos.

I stopped buying mags when Club went up the spout (again, mentioned previously), and never thought I would find a suitable replacement. Yes, I have shitloads of digital porn, but there is something about wanking over great looking women with one hand while turning a page with another. Then I found Barely Legal, which is chock full of quality content, free of silicone and ink, and published on quality paper with excellent editorial guidelines.

They are dedicated to this niche (yeah, normal looking pretty girls are niche these days) so I cannot see anything changing soon. But as soon as I see one fake tit, that will be the end there too.

Every two weeks for a good long part of 2000s, a time when I wasn't in a permanent relationship, I used to go into the centre of Manchester to scope out the new wank mags and videos, UK and US. I'd had a previous habit of doing this in the early to middle 90s and the decline and reduction of titles was already very visible monthly throughout that time.

In my youth I'd bought UK mainstream girly mags that ranged from soft through explicit posing to full on fucking. These magazines often had moderately explicit covers of the sort I mention above. In the 80s I mostly bought magazines like Escort and Razzle for the 'fun girls spreading' aspect or I bought C*C*C full-on hardcore mags.

I was much the same. I'd pick up Club, of course, but if those eye stalks started to extend on seeing other covers, I would also pick up others too. I collected Mens World during the early Jo Guest era in the mid-1990s (which I still have) as well as some copies of Men Only, Mens World and Model Directory (later Just Girls). I never once bought Knave, Fiesta, Escort or Razzle. The first two were like lower quality versions of Men Only, while the latter two were pretty rank.

I loved held open shots, but I was never into the likes of Whitehouse or Playbirds as there was a degree of skankiness about them. That said, I still have a copy of Whitehouse with Andrea Hargitay on he cover. Like you with "Bobbie" aka "Big Mandy", Andrea reminded me of a girl I fancied at University. I remember knocking one out on many on occasion think of fellow student Stef in that blue lingerie prising open her sweet pink cunt lips.

Escort in the 80s did have a run of - for me - eyes on stalks covers that were as good as or even better than the photos of the cover girl inside



but as the years passed by even Escort covers eventually became polite and the magazine's contents began to feel seedy and joyless.

For me, there was always something seedy about Escort. In fact, I was pretty repulsed by middle aged "Readers wives" with saggy faces and saggier tits. It was not only about being able to have a good page-turning wank, but also about spending the pennies wisely.

The topshelf mags had become too tame for me, far more tame than they had been for most of the 70s and far less stylish, the girls far less elegantly dressed, far less explicity posed in the tamer end of the mags, and posed in far more predicable ways.

By the 90s the only mainstream girly magazines that I bought regularly were Men's World and the US version of Club and I bought those only because I was a Jo Guest completist.

During the same time, I only bought Club and the occasional Mayfair. Men Only and Mens World had seemingly gone down a transatlantic route, and the number of fake tits in the latter was also a turn off. I did go through a spell buying some of the lesser known US titles like Genesis and Velvet, but often found myself flicking past sets of enhanced models which always ruined the moment. I did enjoy the penetration and cum shots though, which then pushed towards Private for a short time as I continued my quest for pornographic quality. I still have a few copies squirreled away with some of favourite Euro models from the late 90s and early 2000s.

I can't remember any top shelf purchases that I've made since the turn of the 90s that were motivated by 'eyes out on stalks' covers in conventional newsagents. There were plenty of covers that did have my eyes out on stalks but they were bought from specialist back street outlets specialising in niche tastes such as oriental girls, public nudity, bottom-spreading or the rash of 'Barely Legal' type mags that suddenly proliferated after the US Government insisted that models provide two age-related IDs after the she-who-must-not-be-named under@ge modelling/porn scandal (talk about the Law Of Unintended Consequences).

Oh, there were some great covers in the early 2000s, mainly when Stella aks Sophie Moone was adorning the covers of Club. Barely Legal is of course the original and best, and the rash of copycats are shit in comparison.

I realise I'm coming over as a grouch on this subject; in a nutshell, I'm saying that the decline of eyes on stalks covers started a very long time ago. The web sped up the decline but it had already begun by the early 80s as can be confirmed by looking through the VEF threads for the various UK girlies.

Right, that's my grouch over.

I will agree for the most part. I loved the grouchy comments though. That is what makes this place so great.

[Sharkhunter]

Originally Posted by Girlfan

I remember visiting three or four newsagents on a rainy afternoon trying to buy this magazine (about 1995, I think?)
The cover appealed so much, but every shop I checked out seemed to be full of customers, or staffed by blokes (both were a big no-no for me when buying mags). At last I got my copy!

I still have that little beauty! I remember going to a couple of newsagents down the road during this time. One was staffed by an attractive looking Asian girl, but I would often do a 180 if I saw her mother there. She'd happily take the money and say nothing, but the eyes... Like daggers. Then there was the guy who looked like Salman Rushdie, who further down the line would set aside my copy of Club for me.

[Sharkhunter]

Originally Posted by Pinkpapercut

Sorry for taking the thread slightly off topic but I was interested by your remarks in your last post, Girlfan. Buying your 'eyes out on stalks' magazines must have been a real hassle for you.

I was never myself troubled by buying from male staff although I preferred the frisson of buying from females and neither was I troubled by the presence of other customers. That said, I didn't buy my mags very close to home, most usually I bought them in the side-streets of central Manchester and Bolton, and I was approached only twice in 35 years of being a porn-hound by someone who recognised me and one of those was buying porn himself.

One of the things that I kept in mind through most of my girly and porn buying years is that there's nothing to be ashamed about. Any member of staff who looked down on one would likely be a hypocrite because nearly everyone, male or female, single or in a relationship, masturbates or has masturbated.

Then again I'm often told by friends that I have few boundaries so my lack of discomfort buying a mag then and there that had my eyes out on stalks might have had something to do with that

No worries about the topic diversion... Seeing those covers would be part of the purchasing experience!

When I was around 18 I preferred to buy from a guy, based on the notion that he probably did the same time and was never going to be judgemental. I did try and time the swipe from the shelf, walk to the counter and hand over exact chnage ritual, just to keep things as quick as possible and avoid a glare from nasty old granny. Or schoolkids. (Even though I was once one of those jealous tykes watching a guy casually reach up to the top shelf).

By the time I was around twenty I had had enough of worrying about it.

[Pinkpapercut]

Originally Posted by Sharkhunter

As I mentioned in previous posts and in other threads, the PRP mags saw a change in 2009. This resulted in thinner paper which came away from the staples more easily, tore easily, and took an errant blob of cum really badly.

My last purchase of a girly mag from a newsagent was in 2009, it was a copy of a PRP Mayfair and it was for me the only 'eyes out on stalks' cover I'd seen in a newsagents since the early nineties (I'm contradicting my previous post, I realise) with a pretty girl face on to the viewer, lying on knees and elbows, the twin cheeks of her bare arse rising behind her head, but on opening the magazine at home I discovered set after set of girls whose skin had been photoshopped to a featureless latex smoothness and what was worse the paper was thinner than newsprint paper. I wish I still had the cover so that I could scan and post it.

And never mind the problem of getting a little spunk on the paper, the magazine was so poor that I never got as far as blowing a load, the paper cockled badly just at the touch of my fingers as I turned the pages.

That was the moment I thought 'never again' and I never did buy any kind of porn mag after that, soft or hard.

[Girlfan]

Originally Posted by Pinkpapercut

[COLOR="Black"]Sorry for taking the thread slightly off topic but I was interested by your remarks in your last post, Girlfan. Buying your 'eyes out on stalks' magazines must have been a real hassle for you.

Not really, because the two newsagents I used for 90% of my purchases seemed to have an exclusively female staff. The day in question I was just unlucky. My only self-imposed "rules" were - no buying from blokes, I didn't want to risk having some guy judge me, or take the piss - secondly, no buying if there was anyone in the shop except me and one member of staff. Weird, perhaps, but that's the way it was. Of course there were exceptions - the very first magazine I actually bought was purchased from Menzies' bookstall on Liverpool Lime Street Station, at a very busy time of day, and when there were at least four staff on duty! Such was my eagerness to get my hands on some smut (I bought a copy of "Fiesta"), that I forgot about my rules - though I did wait five minutes until a group of elderly nuns(!) had cleared the area before making my purchase, and I'm not even a Catholic! Madness.
I stopped buying regularly in around 1999 or 2000, and my last ever over the counter purchase was, I think, in 2003.

[monkeyboy0072002]

Originally Posted by Pinkpapercut

My last purchase of a girly mag from a newsagent was in 2009, it was a copy of a PRP Mayfair and it was for me the only 'eyes out on stalks' cover I'd seen in a newsagents since the early nineties (I'm contradicting my previous post, I realise) with a pretty girl face on to the viewer, lying on knees and elbows, the twin cheeks of her bare arse rising behind her head, but on opening the magazine at home I discovered set after set of girls whose skin had been photoshopped to a featureless latex smoothness and what was worse the paper was thinner than newsprint paper. I wish I still had the cover so that I could scan and post it.

And never mind the problem of getting a little spunk on the paper, the magazine was so poor that I never got as far as blowing a load, the paper cockled badly just at the touch of my fingers as I turned the pages.

That was the moment I thought 'never again' and I never did buy any kind of porn mag after that, soft or hard.

[mayfairreader]

Originally Posted by Pinkpapercut

My last purchase of a girly mag from a newsagent was in 2009, it was a copy of a PRP Mayfair and it was for me the only 'eyes out on stalks' cover I'd seen in a newsagents since the early nineties (I'm contradicting my previous post, I realise) with a pretty girl face on to the viewer, lying on knees and elbows, the twin cheeks of her bare arse rising behind her head, but on opening the magazine at home I discovered set after set of girls whose skin had been photoshopped to a featureless latex smoothness and what was worse the paper was thinner than newsprint paper. I wish I still had the cover so that I could scan and post it.

And never mind the problem of getting a little spunk on the paper, the magazine was so poor that I never got as far as blowing a load, the paper cockled badly just at the touch of my fingers as I turned the pages.

That was the moment I thought 'never again' and I never did buy any kind of porn mag after that, soft or hard.

Guessing it's this one? Absolutely cracking cover (excuse pun).

[Sharkhunter]

Originally Posted by Pinkpapercut

My last purchase of a girly mag from a newsagent was in 2009, it was a copy of a PRP Mayfair and it was for me the only 'eyes out on stalks' cover I'd seen in a newsagents since the early nineties (I'm contradicting my previous post, I realise) with a pretty girl face on to the viewer, lying on knees and elbows, the twin cheeks of her bare arse rising behind her head, but on opening the magazine at home I discovered set after set of girls whose skin had been photoshopped to a featureless latex smoothness and what was worse the paper was thinner than newsprint paper. I wish I still had the cover so that I could scan and post it.

And never mind the problem of getting a little spunk on the paper, the magazine was so poor that I never got as far as blowing a load, the paper cockled badly just at the touch of my fingers as I turned the pages.

That was the moment I thought 'never again' and I never did buy any kind of porn mag after that, soft or hard.

Readng this and seeing that cover posted by Mayfairreader, I have to agree that it is one that could give you whiplash.

But yes, my own experience of PRP mags in 2009 was much the same, There was a real structural weakness, and the pages had the consistency of toilet paper. Then there was the fact that the models inside never really matched the expectation created by the cover.