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In the early 19th century, as more and more sailors returned from distant lands, tattooing had become highly popular in the British Navy. It spread even to the British admiralty, which has for a long time included certain royals who obtained rank. Field Marshal Earl Roberts is rumored to have expressed the opinion that “every officer in the British army should be tattooed with his regimental crest.” It not only boosted morale among the ranks, but it proved useful when identifying casualties. The Prince of Wales was tattooed with a Jerusalem Cross after visiting the Holy Land in 1862. Then, his sons, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of York (later King George V) were tattooed by the Japanese master tattooist, Hori Chiyo.

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Although much of maritime tattooing took place on board ship, sailor to sailor– the craze spawned an industry of tattoo parlors in port cities in Britain and the United States, and indeed, around the world. Many of the proprietors of early tattoo shops were sailors who had come ashore. Famed British tattoo artist George Burchett learned his craft with an early stint in the service. By the end of the 19th century, it was estimated that ninety percent of British and American sailors had tattoos, according to some sources.

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The anchor remains the favorite tattoo of sailors, and is still one of the most popular designs worldwide– usually placed on the upper arm, just like Popeye.  Tattoos of a sailor’s ship were like a badge of honor that proudly displayed his feelings of patriotism and comradery.  Roosters tattooed on the foot were a common motif in the early days– they acted as charms to protect against drowning.  And of course, Images of naked women were a major hit too– that is until the brass issued their ‘obscene’ warning.  After that, naval applicants could have their hopes dashed by showing up with too much ‘skin’ on their skin. Tattoo artists did a booming business covering the scantily-clad hula girls with grass skirts.

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Look, let’s just be honest here.  We all know who the real star of Benjamin Button was– Captain Mike.  Jared Harris is the reason that I will remember this film at all.  He totally stole the movie right from under that pretty boy Brad Pitt.  Poor guy is going through a divorce right now from British actress Emilia Fox.  They say he’s dark and troubled waters– the sensitive, difficult type.  Yeah, and?  The guy’s Irish, and an actor.  Did you know he’s the son of the late, great Irish actor Richard Harris?  That definitely explains where he gets his acting chops.  Whatever they say about the guy– he is OK in my book.  Long live Captain Mike.

The wardrobe in this film was also pretty respectable.

Brad Pitt before makeup. (below)  Gimme that jacket, son.

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If you don’t know who Sailor Jerry is– you don’t know tattoos. Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins (1911-1973) is considered the foremost American tattoo artist of his time, and defined the craft in two eras– BSJ and ASJ (before and after Sailor Jerry). Arguably, he did more for the ancient art of tattoo than most any other single person.

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At age 19, Sailor Jerry enlisted in the US Navy. It was during his travels at sea that he was exposed to the art and imagery of Southeast Asia. Artistically, his influence stems from his union of the roguish attitude of the American sailor with the mysticism and technical prowess of the Far East. He maintained a close correspondence with Japanese tattoo masters during his career.

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Sailor Jerry regarded tattoos as the ultimate rebellion against “the Squares”. His legendary sense of humor is oft reflected in his work– but he was never one to compromise his professionalism or take his craft and responsibilities lightly.

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Sailor Jerry’s first studio was in Honolulu’s Chinatown, then the only place on the island where tattoo studios were located. His work was so widely copied, he had to print “The Original Sailor Jerry” on his business cards. There’s a guy up in Canada that goes by the same name, but don’t be fooled– although he’s good in his own right, he ain’t the original Sailor Jerry.

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Sailor Jerry remained a sailor his entire life. Even during his career as a tattoo artist, he worked as licensed skipper of a large three-masted schooner, on which he conducted tours of the Hawaiian islands. Sailing and tattooing were his only two professional endeavors.

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Sailor Jerry went out of his way to mentor those tattoo artists whose talents and attitude he respected, among them tattoo legends Don Ed Hardy and Mike Malone, to whom he entrusted his legacy of flash designs. He also railed against flashy tattoo artists such as Lyle Tuttle, and what he called “hippie tattoo” culture.

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From his 20s to his late 50s, he stopped tattooing entirely as a part of a disagreement with the IRS. Believe it or not, Sailor Jerry only tattooed for approximately 12 years.

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In 1999, Ed Hardy and Mike Malone partnered with an independent Philadelphia company to establish Sailor Jerry Ltd., which produces rum, clothing and other goods. Some say that Ed Hardy sold his old mentor, Sailor Jerry, up the river– taking much credit for Jerry’s style and pocketing the dough. Sailor Jerry (and Von Dutch alike)  may be rolling in his grave.

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Originally there were few colors available to tattoo artists– Sailor Jerry expanded the array by developing his own safe pigments. He also created needle formations that embedded pigment with much less trauma to the skin, and was one of the first to utilize single-use needles and hospital-quality sterilization.

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Tattooing legend Norman Collins AKA Sailor Jerry

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Tattooing legend Norman Collins AKA Sailor Jerry

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RELATED TSY POSTS:

ANCIENT ART OF THE JAPANESE TEBORI TATTOO MASTERS | INK IN HARMONY

THE FOREFATHERS OF TATTOOING | “CAP” COLEMAN & PAUL ROGERS

BTC BRISTOL TATTOO CLUB | THE SKUSE FAMILY — GENERATIONS OF KILLER INK

ROGUES, SAILORS & ANCIENT MARINERS | HISTORY OF NAUTICAL TATTOOS

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The Legendary August "Cap" Coleman's Tattoo parlor in Norfolk, Virginia --1936. photo by William T. Radcliffe © The Mariners' Museum/Corbis

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Before Ed Hardy and even Sailor Jerry, there were a couple of guys who are widely considered the forefathers of American Tattooing– August “Cap” Coleman, and the youngling he heavily influenced and mentored, Franklin Paul Rogers.  When you trace the history of tattooing, a good chunk of the great flash icons can be traced directly back to these American masters.  They blazed a counterculture trail back when the only guys (and gals) that sported body ink were either in the service, criminals, or circus and sideshow freaks.  Tattoos were not taken lightly. Nowadays, ink has lost some of it’s original rebellious sting– but for the bearer, it often represents a deeply personal story and is worn like a badge of honor.

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August "Cap" Coleman personally manned his legendary tattoo parlor six days a week --circa 1936. photo by William T. Radcliffe © The Mariners' Museum/Corbis

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Not much is known about August “Capt.” Coleman’s early years– born in 1884, somewhere near Cincinnati, Ohio.  He like to boast that his father was a tattooist as well– but it’s not known for sure, and even Paul Rogers doubted that story.  It’s not even clear who was responsible for the handiwork displayed on Coleman himself, but some of it was more than likely done by hand.  In fact, much of the original artwork behind Coleman’s personal tattoos can be seen on an old  statue that he later displayed.

What is known without a doubt is that around 1918, “Cap” Coleman dropped anchor in the navy town of Norfolk, VA and set-up shop in a particularly salty spot on Main Street well known for strip clubs and sailors– there was no shortage of action or customers.  The rest as  they say is history– “Cap” Coleman wasted no time in becoming a living tattoo legend.  The shop was so well known, he didn’t even bother to list the address on his business card.

In 1950, tattooing in Norfolk was declared illegal.  After 32 years in Norfolk, Coleman relocated across the Elizabeth River to Portsmouth, Virginia– opened up shop and continued his practice.

Then sadly in 1973, Coleman’s body was discovered in the Elizabeth River.  Authorities suspect that he slipped and fell into the river.  It turned out Coleman was quite the savvy investor, and had amassed a small fortune– which he generously left to several local charities including the Virginia School for the Deaf, the Norfolk United Fund, the Tidewater Lions Club, and the St. Mary’s Infants Fund.

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Franklin Paul Rogers tattooing a gal believed to be his wife, Helen-- circa 1936.

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From “Paul Rogers–  The Legend Lives Forever” by Tim Coleman, Skin&Ink magazine archive–

Paul Rogers’ influence on tattooing is immense. Rogers is the bridge that connects the best of the old-school American traditional tattooing to some of the most accomplished artists of the modern renaissance. Tattoo giants such as Don Ed Hardy, Greg Irons and George Bone, to name but a few, have all benefited not just from his over 50 years in the business, but also from the remarkable sophistication of the machines he designed, universally acknowledge to have been the best money could buy. Rogers later formed a partnership with Huck Spaulding establishing one of the most famous and highly respected tattoo supply companies in the world, Spaulding and Rogers.

American tattoo archivist Chuck Eldridge, who inherited Roger’s entire collection after his death in 1990, believes that Rogers’ contribution to U.S. tattooing was unique. “He was a vital conduit of information and experience,” says Eldridge. “Between 1945 and ’50, Rogers worked with Cap Coleman, who at the time was considered one of the best tattooists in the world. During this period he gained much of his knowledge about how to make and tune tattoo machines from Coleman and another tattooist, Charlie Barr.” Eldridge believes that it was this transference of knowledge about machines to the modern generation of U.S. tattooists that makes Roger’s contribution so significant.

Tattooist and archivist Don Lucas, who published Rogers’ autobiography Franklin Paul Rogers: The Father of American Tattooing, agrees with Eldridge.

“Without Paul’s willingness to share his knowledge and talent for building the world’s best tattoo machines, the hard learned secrets of the past masters would have been lost in time.”

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Franklin Paul Rogers tattooing a sailor --circa, 1940s.

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Rogers was born 1905 in the mountains of North Carolina. The family of five children lived in a log cabin in the woods. His father earned a living as a timber cutter. Rogers describes his first seven years as one of hardship and poverty, “but a way of life and what life is all about.” He spent much of his childhood moving from one cotton town to the next, as the family sought employment in the dehumanizing conditions of the cotton mills. This was a period of totally unregulated capitalism, and child labor laws didn’t exist. Rogers started work in the mills at 13 and continued up until 1942. On average, Paul earned $3.50 a week. In his autobiography, he states, “It was nothing but hardship. It was hard for everybody.” Fortunately for Rogers, he discovered tattooing and a way out of the stifling conditions of the mills.

Rogers’ first got interested in tattooing when a traveling salesman visited the log cabin, when he was still a child. He was struck by the design and the tall tales the man told of his time in the army during the Spanish-American war.

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In 1926, aged 21, Rogers got his first tattoo from Chet Cain, a tattooist who worked with one of the traveling circuses. It was through Cain that he first heard about Cap Coleman, the tattooist who he was later to work with and who had such an influence on his life. Cain gave Rogers some advice on tattooing, and two years later he began to tattoo. “I bought a tattoo kit in 1928,” he writes in his autobiography. “It was a kit from E.J. Miller. He had a supply place in Norfolk, Virginia. It ran off dry-cell batteries.” Rogers found out about the tattoo supplier through his interest in the traveling circuses. He had seen an advert for it in Billboard, the well known U.S. entertainment magazine. “I always wanted to travel with a circus,” he stated in an 1982 interview with Ed Hardy in Tattootime. “I decided to learn how to tattoo and travel with the carnival and work on the sideshow.”

As well as learning how to tattoo, Rogers trained hard in acrobatics. “I used to train religiously,” he stated. “Even when I started tattooing, I still trained. I have always been interested in the physical end of things.” He was also very careful how he treated his body. He never smoked, drank coffee or touched alcohol.

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George Burchett demonstrating tattooing in a UK series, host S.P.B. Mais is at right --1938.

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Rogers began tattooing from his bedroom, experimenting on himself and any willing neighbors. But he soon ran out of flesh and, in his search for new customers and experience, joined one of the traveling circuses. In 1932, he worked on his first sideshow in Greenville, South Carolina, where he vividly recalls striking up a friendship with the three-legged man. “He was fun to be around,” mused Rogers in Tattootime. “He used to kick a football with that there third leg. He said that, when the streetcar was crowded, he would use that extra leg for a seat. He could sit on it like a stool.” Later that year, Rogers joined the John T. Rae Happyland Show where he met his wife, Helen. She was working as a snake charmer. Rogers spent seven months of that year traveling around in a Model T Ford and living in an “umbrella” tent. “I had a ball,” he told Ed Hardy. “But I only grossed $247. So, I guess I ate a lot of peanuts that year, “he recalled, laughing.

Rogers explained that during that period many tattooists made their living working with the traveling shows. This was during the great depression and times were extremely hard. Throughout the 1930s, to make ends meet and to help support his wife and two children, Rogers would spend his winters working in the Cotton Mills and the summers tattooing with the circus. Helen’s stepfather owned the Happyland show, so the family worked together. Rogers recalled that, initially, the circus owners wanted the tattooists to double as the tattooed man and be on display, but later Paul was able to work purely as a tattooist.

As well as working out of a mobile tattoo studio, Rogers also worked in an assortment of poolrooms as well as army boot camps. “In Spartenburg, South Carolina, I worked in a combination shooting gallery and shoeshine place with a jukebox,” he recalled. “They sold hot dogs and bootleg whisky and had card games going on. They had it all covered.”

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In 1942, Rogers got a chance to get off the road and set up his own shop in Charleston, South Carolina. A friend and fellow mill worker F.A Myers, who had taken up tattooing, invited Rogers to go into a partnership. Up until that time, Rogers’ largest pay packet from millwork was $42 for a 40-hour week. Once he got his shop up and running, Rogers was able to make up to $200 a week. At last he was able to forever turn his back on the exploitation and slave wages of the mills.

It was during this time that Rogers saw many examples of Cap Coleman’s tattooing on the sailors who came through the shop. Rogers immediately recognized Coleman’s work, as it was far superior to any of the other tattooists working at the time. “I patterned myself after him,” he explained to Ed Hardy. “I used to copy any tattoo I could off the sailors.” Rogers would use celluloid sanded on one side, so the rough surface would grab a pencil lead. This way he could make to make a copy of Coleman’s tattoos. “I got a copy of a Panther head that way. A panther climbing an arm, that was a new thing back then. I would try and duplicate it. Shade it the same way Coleman had.”

Cap Coleman first became aware of Rogers’ tattooing from a sailor. Rogers explains the story. “Coleman would always say to the sailors, ‘You haven’t got a good one on you.’ It was his way of getting them to get one of his tattoos. So, he twisted this guy’s arm saying, “There’s one I did and there’s another.” But the sailor told him, ‘This isn’t one you did.” Coleman was amazed that anyone could tattoo well enough for him to confuse it with one of his own.

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Storytelling time aboard the U.S.S. Texas found S.O. Buchanan, tattooed wonder of the crew, surrounded by shipmates --1928.

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Later Rogers wrote to Coleman and then visited his shop in Norfolk, Virginia. Coleman then offered him a job in his shop, once the war was over. “It was the job offer from heaven,” explains Eldridge. “You have to remember that Coleman was considered one of the best tattooers in the world at that time. It’s like Ed Hardy offering a job to some 20-year old, hotshot tattooist. Who would turn that down, given all the fantastic things one could learn?”

In 1945, Rogers began a five-year association with Coleman. Coleman had been tattooing since 1918 and was so well known that he didn’t even put his address on his business card. Coleman’s studio was strategically located on Main Street, next to an old striptease and burlesque house commonly frequented by sailors. Norfolk was a navy town, so there was no shortage of customers. Rogers recalls Coleman with mixed feelings. He was in no doubt that Coleman was one of the greatest tattooist in the world, but he was certainly not in awe of his personality. “He was a very selfish guy,” remembered Rogers. “He would never give anyone the time of day. Coleman was a people hater. Quite the opposite of me, I was everybody’s friend. He was sort of a hermit and practically lived in the shop. He kept canned food there, so he wouldn’t have to go out. And he would have a can of tinned spinach for breakfast!”

In order to save money, Coleman would tell service men that he couldn’t use brown or green inks in the tattoos, if they had been vaccinated. He told them it would make them sick. “That way he got by using just black and red all the time,” recalled Rogers. “Black and red, black and red.” Despite these sly tricks Coleman was able to apply high quality work. His work was clear and well shaded. Consequently, his tattoo designs epitomized what came to be known as the classic American-style tattooing that dominated the 1920s to the 1940s.

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Case involving members of "Outlaws" motorcycle club, who are accused of nailing a female member of their club to a tree for holding out $10. Mrs. Bertha (Kitty) Randall and tattooed biker Donald "Deke" Tanner inside her bar --West Palm Beach, FL 1967. Hey man-- ten bucks is ten bucks. Check the iconic panther tattoo on Deke's right arm.

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Despite Coleman’s eccentric personality, Rogers learned a great deal about tattooing from him, especially about machines. Prior to working with Coleman, Rogers had to learn everything the hard way, through trial and error. While working for Coleman, Rogers began fixing the machines for all the tattooers working in Norfolk. “There were 11 of them at one point,” he stated. “And you could count the good ones on three fingers.”

In 1950, Rogers’ association with Coleman came to an abrupt end. The city of Norfolk decided to ban tattooing. This forced most of the Norfolk tattooists across the Elizabeth River to Portsmouth. Rogers eventually formed a partnership with R.L.Connelly, a talented tattooist who worked briefly with Coleman. The two set up shops in Petersburg, Virginia and Jacksonville, North Carolina, with Rogers eventually owning the Jacksonville shop.

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While working in the Jacksonville shop, Rogers met Huck Spaulding. Rogers described Spaulding as ” a real scratch artist,” a tattooist with very limited experience who had worked a little in the traveling sideshows. Rogers helped Spaulding improve his technique and when, in 1955, the studio Rogers and Connelly used was torn down, Rogers moved into Spaulding’s shop half a block away on Court Street, giving birth to the now famous name of Spaulding and Rogers. This shop became home to the famous supply business that is known worldwide.

What immediately distinguished this mail order supply business from its competitors was a commitment to high quality. Ed Hardy first noticed the company when he saw an advert in the back of the magazine – Popular Mechanics. Most of the best tattooists of that time started ordering through Spaulding and Rogers. A trend that continues to this day.

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Rogers only worked in the supply business for two years. He continued tattooing with Spaulding for four, but then in 1963, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida to tattoo with Bill Williamson. In 1970, Rogers and his wife, Helen, bought a mobile home and it was there that Rogers found much more time to focus on what he wanted to do most: improve existing tattoo machines and design new ones. In a portable 12-by-12-foot tin shack affectionately called “the Iron Factory,” Rogers spent all his time making unstylish but incredibly dependable machines. The now popular slang for calling tattoo machines “irons” derives from Rogers, who first coined the word.

During the 1970s, Chuck Eldridge befriended Rogers and spent much of this time with him at his home in Jacksonville. “Paul was from the old school,” states Eldridge. “His machines were built almost entirely with hand tools. Machine heads from around the world would gather in that small shed and hang on every word, hoping to gain some of Paul’s understanding.” Eldridge is keen to emphasize just how important the working of a tattoo machine is. “It’s a very subtle device. And it’s vital for a good tattooist to have a machine that is properly designed and balanced. It’s impossible to execute high quality work without this. It’s an absolute prerequisite. Why do Ferraris have such a great reputation in car racing? Because they win races, and you can’t do that without fantastic equipment. Its exactly the same with Paul’s machines.”

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Ed Hardy is equally enthusiastic about emphasizing the impact Rogers’ machines have had on the development of tattooing. “I think it would be amazing to see a catalogue of all the different styles of tattooing that are being done with the machines Paul made or re-worked,” he states. “That way, you could actually get an idea of how important Paul’s contribution has been.”

In 1988, when Rogers was working on his autobiography, he had a stroke and was rushed to hospital. Later he suffered another stroke that paralyzed his right side and deprived him of his ability to speak. Ironically, the stroke occurred on the 60th anniversary of the day he began tattooing. He died two years later in a nursing home at age 84.

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In 1993, Chuck Eldridge formed a non-profit corporation along with Ed Hardy, Alan Govenar and Henk Schiffmacher (Hanky Panky), the Paul Rogers Tattoo Research Center (PRTRC). This organization was the recipient of Rogers’ entire collection of tattoo memorabilia, flash and photographs. Unlike many tattooist who buy collections and keep them to themselves, the aim of the PRTRC is to raise money to establish a museum and research center. This center will then house the complete Rogers collection. “So far we have raised around $30,000,” states Eldridge. “The target amount is, of course, limitless but, initially, we need enough to put a down payment on a property, so we can create this landmark.”

Unfortunately, property in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Eldridge’s studio is located, demands some of the highest prices in America. “If we can’t find a building here,” states Eldridge, “we’ll take the collection back to North Carolina. It’s where Paul came from and would be the right thing to do. It would be like taking Paul home.”

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Examples of American tattoo legend Paul Rogers' work.

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Examples of American tattoo legend Paul Rogers' original flash.

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Dueling tattoo legends & bosom buddies– Al Schiefley (left) & Les Skuse (right)

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Yep.  On a tattoo kick again.  Check out these sick pics and you’ll know why.  This ain’t no Miami Ink — this is Olde School, Hard-Ass Tats.

The legendary tattooist, and founder of the Sandusky Tattoo Club, Al Schiefley lived and worked out of Sandusky, Ohio where he opened his famous Pearl Street shop that dutifully operated for over a quarter of a century.  The photo above was taken back in mid 1950s during Al’s travels abroad, and shows him seemingly double-teaming a well-inked young lady (with a strange sense of humor) alongside his host and fellow tattoo master — Les Skuse, President of the famed Bristol Tattoo Club.  While in Bristol, Al had the honor of being tattooed by Skuse, as well as the respected London tattooist, Rich Mingins.

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The Skuse family have a rich heritage in the art of tattooing — dating back well over 80 years. It all started with founder Les Skuse, who started the Bristol business back in 1928. Through his years of inking that brought him recognition in Bristol and abroad, Les Skusee was ultimately awarded the title of Champion Tattoo Artist of all England for his advancements in tattoo artistry and techniques.

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This 1950s pic of Les Skuse and members of the Bristol Tattoo Club shows them holding their club’s calling card. For recognition purposes, every member is secretly inked somewhere on their body with the club insignia — a black bat.

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From The Skuse Family History–

Les Skuse was born, lived and died in the port town of Bristol, England. He became the town’s most famous tattoo export and was almost as well known on American shores as he was at home. He visited the United States in 1956 and corresponded with many American tattooists. He was a big admirer of the Coleman School of tattooing as practiced by Paul Rodgers, Huck Spaulding, Al Schiefley and others.

In 1956, Skuse stated in a letter: “English tattooists were using a single needle. This caused a lot of bleeding and pain. This finished design looked very thin and scratchy when compared with the strong, well-shaded designs done in the United States.”

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The right-handed Skuse started his tattoo career in 1928 at the shop of Joseph Hartley, who was probably Bristol’s one and only tattoo artist before Skuse. Hartley was a long time tattooist/supplier in this area and was located at 2 Blackfields, near Stokes Croft, Bristol, England.

Skuse stated: “Professor Joe Hartley fixed me up with a Japanese hand tattooing outfit, and began to work on some of my friends. It was not long before I had earned the price of a six-volt combination tattoo machine.” Skuse is said to have stayed with Hartley until World War II, when he enlisted in the Royal Artillery. After five years of tattooing the troops, he got out, settled back into Bristol and opened his first shop. Les Skuse was located in at least three different storefronts in Bristol; 57 and 97 Lower Ashley Road, and 71 Mina Road.

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Undoubtedly two of the major accomplishments that etched Les Skuse’s name into tattoo history were the formation of the British Guild of Tattooing and the Bristol Tattoo Club. These organizations were given worldwide publicity by both the British and overseas presses, and kept Skuse in the limelight during the 1950s.

Riding on this wave of popularity, Skuse was voted the Champion Tattoo Artist of All England in 1955. The next few years brought an international exchange of tattoo ideas, with Skuse visiting the U.S., and Milton Zeis and Al Schiefley visiting England.

Les Skuse died in 1973. The most fitting tribute I can find for Les Skuse died from a 1957 letter: “I have always been ready and willing to learn, never thinking I knew it all and continually searching for ways in which to improve my work and equipment. It is my firm belief that the more tattooists meet, correspond and exchange ideas, the better it will be both for the individual and the profession.”

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When Les Skuse died in 1973, Les Skuse Junior (Danny) took over his shop on Mina Road. Danny worked up to 1990 when he retired from the day to day running of the studio. He did however decide to work along side his lifelong friend Ron Ackers of Portsmouth and traveled around the world working at conventions, which he is still doing today. Danny is Jimmie’s Father and Brother of Billy.

At the time when Danny took over the Mina Road shop, Les Skuse Senior’s other son Billy was tattooing in Aldershot, Hampshire, alongside his wife Rusty Skuse, who was featured in the Guinness Book Of Records for being the most tattooed woman in England. Billy is Jimmy’s Uncle and Brother of Danny.

Jimmie Skuse started tattooing over 30 years ago when he worked alongside his father Danny at the age of thirteen. Jimmie established the Temple Street shop in 2004. Prior to that he worked as a guest artist in many studios throughout the West of England. Jimmie is the Grandson of Les Skuse.

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The legendary Janet “Rusty” Skuse

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Another English tattoo legend – Ron Ackers

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The Tattooist, ca, 1944 — Norman Rockwell.

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Simply no one captures the idealism and essence of vintage Americana like Norman Rockwell.  You can generously apply all the cliche descriptors enthusiastically, and without remorse — EPIC, ICONIC, etc. — because never have they been more appropriate.  1942′s “The Tattooist” above has long been one of my favorite Rockwell works– so I thought I’d share some of the history behind it, via the Tattoo Archive–

Norman Rockwell worked from various staged photographs while painting The Tattooist, which was used as The Saturday Evening Post cover on the March 4, 1944 issue.  In Fact, Rockwell used photographs as an aid in doing most of his paintings.  Rockwell had many willing participants in his town of Arlington, Vermont.  For the actual tattooist, he used one of his fellow illustrators from the Saturday Evening Post, and a neighbor, Clarence Decker, as the sailor.  This was Schaeffer’s only appearance as a central figure in a Rockwell illustration.  Decker was ‘Master of the Grange’ in Arlington, and shows up in quite a few other Rockwell illustrations.  For The Tattooist, Rockwell borrowed a tattoo machine from the Bowery tattooist Al Neville.  Rockwell obviously consulted with Al Neville, along with former sailors to insure the accuracy in his painting The Tattooist.

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Staged photo of Clarence Decker (left) used by Norman Rockwell for 1944′s The Tattooist. Via

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The Tattoo Archive received an email from Ross Mosher, who is the great, great nephew of Clarence Decker, the sailor model for The Tattooist, which read–

“Clarence didn’t have a single tattoo in real life.  Also the last name on his arm is Betty– that’s because my great, great aunt Belle told Norman that if he put her name in the painting, she wouldn’t speak to him ever again.  So Norman crossed the L’s and added a Y.”

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In “Triple Self-Portrait” (1959) Rockwell reveals himself to be clear-eyed about his illusions. “In some ways it’s his most mature painting,” says Rockwell’s son Peter. Via

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Circa 1945: Portrait of American artist Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) sketching with a pencil while sitting at a drafting table. He holds a pipe with his free hand. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Related TSY Posts:

THE FOREFATHERS OF TATTOOING | “CAP” COLEMAN & PAUL ROGERS

THE LEGEND OF SAILOR JERRY | TATTOO MASTER NORMAN COLLINS

BTC BRISTOL TATTOO CLUB | THE SKUSE FAMILY — GENERATIONS OF KILLER INK

ROGUES, SAILORS & ANCIENT MARINERS | HISTORY OF NAUTICAL TATTOOS

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When I was 11 or 12 years old, I learned all about the cholo firsthand.  I had been born and raised in NY, when in grade school we suddenly uprooted and headed out West for a new start.  After a brief stint in Anahiem we finally settled in Arizona– and we were flat broke.  For a good many months we (mom, stepdad, sis, myself, and our Doberman pup) lived in a tent out in the alien desert north of Phoenix.

When the family finally scraped up enough money through my mom waiting tables at some greasy spoon and my stepdad running screw machines, we rented a rundown, roach-infested 2 bedroom trailer in Glendale, AZ.  I’ll never forget that place as long as I live.  The trailer park was directly across the street from the Glendale High School. It was anchored by an old, once-stately mansion that was cut-up into cheap apartments, and was surrounded by a sad assembly of rundown trailers and a couple white-washed shack homes.

It was the first time in my life that as a White, I was a minority– and boy did I stand out.  I was a lanky stick with shoulder length, fiery red hair that I wore parted down the middle, and to top it off I also wore glasses.  This was before the days of designer frames, people.  I don’t think there was such a thing as cool glasses back then.  I felt like I had a bull’s-eye painted on my forehead.  I was fresh meat in a school of tough-ass kids who looked like nothing I’d ever seen before.  The guys all wore pressed Dickies khaki pants, white tees, and hi-top white Chuck Taylors.  The uniform didn’t change, except come winter a large untucked flannel shirt, also pressed, and buttoned up to the neck was added to the ensemble.  They looked as foreign to me as I must’ve to them.  And the funky music, well I’d never heard anything like it– man, I still have Rick James’ “Give It To Me, Baby” ringin’ in my ears…

I quickly learned that if you start runnin’, you’ll be runnin’ the rest of your life.  Better to stand and fight– even if you get beat, you can still look yourself in the mirror, and maybe even gain a little respect.  Soon enough I’d hear them say in the halls that I was ok– I put up a good fight.  Damn if it wasn’t the roughest school year of my life– but I wouldn’t trade those days, even if I could.  The cholo brothers taught me to stand up and not take any crap off of no one.  I don’t by any means advocate breakin’ the law, but I do advocate findin’ your voice and letting the world feel the weight of who you are.

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Photographer Robert Yager

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Source: Robert Yager Gang Photography

Robert Yager profile and interview HERE

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Related TSY Posts:

DON’T DO THE CRIME– IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME | A THUG’S LIFE ARCHIVE

PHOTOGRAPHY OF DOROTHEA LANGE | AN AMERICAN ARCHIVE– HARD TIMES

PHOTOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM GEDNEY | AN AMERICAN ARCHIVE, KENTUCKY

PHOTOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM GEDNEY | AN AMERICAN ARCHIVE– BIKERS

PHOTOGRAPHY OF DANNY LYON | THE BIKERIDERS AND BEYOND

PHOTOGRAPHY OF ROBERT FRANK | THE AMERICANS

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“Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion — and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion… while truth again reverts to a new minority.”

–Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

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Circa 1972, NY– Prisoner reading in his cell with photos of women covering the walls in Tombs Prison. — Image by © JP Laffont/Sygma/Corbis

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Circa 1954– L.A. Gang Squads.  Image by George Silk for LIFE Magazine.

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Circa 1993– South Central LA 40th Street Gang members show off scars from bullet wounds. — Image by © Mark Peterson/CORBIS

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All my friends know the low rider, the low rider is a little higher. The low rider drives a little slower, low rider is a real good goer.

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Tattooed inmates of the California State Prison. -– Image by © Ted Soqui/Corbis

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“It’s so easy to laugh. It’s so easy to hate. It takes strength to be gentle and kind.”

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California State Prison in Los Angeles County.  – Image by © Ted Soqui/Corbis

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Circa 1992– East Los Angeles Gang TMC– The Mob Crew. — Image by © Joel Stettenheim/CORBIS

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Circa 1954– L.A. Gang Squads.  Image by George Silk for LIFE Magazine.

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Circa 1992– East Los Angeles Gangs. “Clown”, TMC member with shotgun accident victim. — Image by © Joel Stettenheim/CORBIS

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LA gang members throwin’ up signs– Left, Pueblo Bishops gang members (section of the Bloods).

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“Haven’t had a dream in a long time. See, the life I’ve had can make a good man bad.”

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Circa 1972, NK– Prisoner shaking his fists through the bars in the Tombs Prison. –Image by © JP Laffont/Sygma/Corbis

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Circa 1983, Watts, LA– Members of the Hustler Crips. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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Circa 2008– Inmates of the California State Prison in Los Angeles County. –Image by © Ted Soqui/Corbis

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Circa 1982– Two Crips in Venice, California. — Image by © Ken O’Brien Collection/CORBIS

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Chola must-have accessories– AK-47′s & Pit Bulls. (Left) “Sweet Pea” via, (Right) “Diana” via

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“You shut your mouth– how can you say I go about things the wrong way?  I am human and I need to be loved– just like everybody else does.”

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Circa 1954– L.A. Gang Squads.  Image by George Silk for LIFE Magazine.

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Say hello to my little friend.  Diana with Pit Bull via

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Circa 1971– Graffiti by gang member Bird 1 of Florencia 13. Via

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Circa 1992– East Los Angeles Gangs-TMC: The Mob Crew member. –Image by © Joel Stettenheim/CORBIS

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(L) ca. 1984, LA– Crips Gang Member.  (R) ca. 1996– Prison tats in TX. –Images by © Daniel LainÈ/CORBIS

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“And when I’m lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death– and neither one particularly appeals to me.”

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Circa 1972, NY– Interior of the Tombs Prison, built in 1840. –Image by © JP Laffont/Sygma/Corbis

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Circa 1984, Compton– Crips in Los Angeles’ Compton district. — Image by © Daniel LainÈ/CORBIS

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Circa 1996, Phoenix, AZ– Tattooed gang member inmate. –Image by © Najlah Feanny/CORBIS SABA

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1992, LA– Gang graffiti reading “No banging Just hanging together Bloods and Crips together” written on a wall in response to gang violence, and the ‘not guilty’ verdict in the trial of police officers accused of beating Rodney King. –Image by © Joseph Sohm/Visions of America/Corbis

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“I saw my hometown burning that day.  Can’t we all… just… get along?”

–Rodney King

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Uncredited quotes by Steven Patrick Morrissey

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Related TSY Posts:

LA GANG LIFE | DICKIES, THUGS & GUNS THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF ROBERT YAGER

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Taking off from JFK today for a two week trip that will take me on a quick stop at Tokyo, then on to Korea, China, and finally Hong Kong.  The zen and artistry of Japanese tattoo has long fascinated me, and with this trip, this post seemed only fitting.

Oguri, known in Japan as Horihide, his tattooing name, is a famous artist and highly regarded as the pioneer that brought Japanese tattooing to American tattooists, like Sailor Jerry, and subsequently Ed Hardy, after World War II. Thus setting the stage for large Asian body suit tattoo design to change the face of western tattooing in the last half of the twenty first century. Here in his own words is his story.

In old days, Japanese tattooists worked at their own houses and ran business quietly (without using the ads.). They didn’t put up a sign and list telephone numbers on the book. The practice of tattooing was forbidden in Japan (until the end of World War II). The customers used to find the tattoo shops by word of mouth.

When I was an apprentice, feudal customs still existed in Japan. The apprenticeship was one of the feudal customs called uchideshi in Japanese. Normally, pupils lived with their masters, and were trained for 5 years. After 5-year training, the pupils worked independently, and gave the masters money that he earned for one year. The one-year service was called oreiboko in Japanese, the service to express the gratitude towards the masters. The masters usually told new pupils about this system, 5-year-training and 1-year service, when they began the apprenticeship.

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Mid 20th century, Japan ~ A group of traditionally tattooed gamblers. Umezu (c), the chief of gambling, sits among them. ~ Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection

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I slept at the master’s workplace when I was a pupil. I wanted to be a great tattoo artist as soon as possible. In the middle of the night, I picked up the needles from the master’s tool box, sat cross-legged and practiced tattooing on my thigh without the ink, remembering how my master performed. I continued to practice tattooing without using the ink. I used a thick bamboo stick for sujibori (outlining), which was about 20 cm long. The edge of the stick was sharpened, and 6-7 needles were put in order and tied up by silk thread. The length of the tip of needles was 3-4 mm. I wanted to workas a tattooist soon, and practiced incising both my thighs with the bamboo stick every night after work.I did not know how to use the tattooing tools and how to adjust the angles. Sometimes I penetrated the skin very deeply with the needles, and the skin bled and swelled. I could not tattoo by using the bamboo stick as I wanted.During the daytime I did chores. If I had no work during the day, I would sit down on the left side of my master and watch his work from the distance.

Every customer came to the master by appointment and got hitoppori. Hitoppori in Japanese means to get tattooed for 2 hours each day. If a big tattoo was to be done, the customer came by every third day. I used to keep sitting straight for 2 hours and just watching my master’s hands learn his tattooing skills.  The master would say to me, “I’m not going to lecture you. You steal my techniques by watching me work.” Watching is the fastest way to learn, rather than listening to the lecture, if people really want to learn something. Even though I was full of enthusiasm, my skills were not improved easily. I couldn’t see any progress at all.

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1946, Tokyo, Japan ~ A Japanese tattoo artist works on the shoulder of a Yakuza gang member. ~ Image by © Horace Bristol

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One day, the master’s wife asked me to split wood. (Pupils normally call the master’s wife ane-san or okami-san. The master’s wife looked so happy when I called her ane-san. So I called her ane-san during the apprenticeship.) One day while I was splitting wood in the back yard, I got hotter and hotter. I was in a sweat, and took off my shirt and trousers. Ane-san came and asked me to take a rest. She brought a cup of tea for me. Then, Ane-san happened to see my traces of the needles on the thighs.

She was surprised and said to me, “How did you get scars on the thighs? Do you practice tattooing by yourself?”

“Yes,” I answered, “but I cannot tattoo well like the master does.”

“Have you ever seen my husband’s legs and ankles?” she asked again.

“No.” I said.

She continued, “His whole legs are covered with tattoos. You know what I mean? He told me that he practiced tattooing on his legs with the ink when he was a pupil. That’s why his legs are all black. He also told me that a tattooist needs to learn by tattooing his own body to become a professional tattooist. There is nothing to replace human skin. So you have to learn tattooing by using (tattooing) your body.”

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24 Oct 1955, Tokyo, Japan ~ Tattoo: At a gathering of tattoo devotees, this man points out to his son the meanings of the designs, as well as the artistry with which the technique has been executed. One day, when the youngster grows up, he may choose to have his own body decored in the same way. American GI’s, on duty in Japan, are among those who today patronize the tattoo artists. ~ Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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After hearing this story, I remembered the master had tattoos on his arms to wrists but that I had never seen his bare feet. I wondered if Ishould practice tattooing with the ink. Otherwise I couldn’t’t get how the ink was inserted into the skin. I decided to master the techniques until my whole body would be black. “I will never give it up. If I give it up, I won’t be a true man.” Since then, I practiced tattooing on any parts of legs from the thighs to the ankles almost every day. In order to keep practicing again and again, I didn’t’t use the ink when practicing tattooing.

Today’s young people never understand how tough the training was. I used to wake up 5 a.m., and sweep the whole house inside and out. I also wiped thefloor with a damp cloth. In winter, my hands were numb with cold water and got chilblains. My fingers were swollen. At meals, I was allowed to have only one cup of soup and one dish. A bowl of rice was also served. Even though I wanted to eat more, I could not eat enough because I was in training. It was right after World War 2. Due to insufficiency of supplies, it was so hard for us to get enough rice. We would eat a mixture of rice and barley. I was only 19 and always starving. It was tough experience.

Sometimes the master yelled at me and even hit me. To endure such treatment needs patience. Because of such unreasonable treatment, most pupils gave up and ran away from the master. Of course, I often wondered why he hit us. Although I had anger towards the master, I could not talk back. All I could do in the feudal period was to obey what the master said. I was so frustrated that I cried in bed so many times. The master sometimes slapped me without any reason. However, I found the master purposely hit me and forced me to do overwork for my mental training after I became a tattooist later on. I hated him so much during the apprenticeship. Looking back now, I am ashamed of having had such feelings towards my master.

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1946, Tokyo, Japan ~ A Japanese tattoo artist works on the back of a woman. ~ Image by © Horace Bristol

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When I was an apprentice, my master taught me how to make tattooing needles. Each tattooist has his own preferred way of making needles. I put 7 needles in order, and curve the tips of them. Then I make a fan-shape with them. The middle of the needles is set as the top of the fan, pulling the rest of them down.The needles should be arranged like the following figure and soldered up.

When incising thin lines, I use 2 or 3 of 7 needles, which are the closest to the hands, by adjusting the angle of the needles with the skin. Normally when tattooing the outline, I touch the skin with only the middle of the group of needles.

To tattoo details, some tattooists use a separate tool consisting of only 3 needles. But the professional tattooists can tattoo whatever they want, using only one set of needles for outlining. They don’t have to use other tattooing tools. They can tattoo any thin or thick lines, small circles and so on. The professional tattooists tattoo the designs on the skin smoothly, from up to down, down to up, right to left, left to right. When I need more ink after tattooing from left to right, for example, I do kaeshibari, flipping the needles. Kaeshibari is one of techniques, which is flipping the other side of the needles and tattooing by using the rest of the ink on the other side.

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1946, Tokyo, Japan ~ Tattoos cover the skins of Japanese cadavers that were donated for research and preservation. ~ Image by © Horace Bristol

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Horimono means “tattoo” in Japanese. Hori or horu is “to incise” or “to dig” and mono means “things.” Tattooing is similar to engraving a sculpture. A tattoo is not a picture. It is supposed to be appreciated at a distance of several years. What is expressed by the tattoo should be clearly recognized from a distance. If the tattoo is too detailed, it can hardly be seen from a distance. Like sculptures, tattoos need to be rough and drastic to some extent. Such tattoos are more Attractive to people. I can see why tattoos need to be bold after the work is finished.

Tattooing by hand, Tebori,  requires special techniques. It should be done by puncturing the skin with the needles gently, adjusting the strength of hands. Human skin is very soft and elastic. As the needles leave the skin, I can hear the sound, shakki. If I tattoo smoothly, I can hear a rhythmical sound like “sha, sha, sha.” I dip the needles in the ink, and tattoo a line about one centimeter long. This same step is done continuously during sujibori (outlining).I keep the same speed (rhythm) to tattoo no matter what kind of designs or shapes, such as circles, squares and lines, are tattooed. I draw the outlines step by step on each part of the body, such as the shoulders, the arms and the back, and finally finish the art work on the body. Then the full body tattoo is completed.

or bokashibori (shading), sets of 12 and 13 needles are prepared, and each set is made in the shape of a fan and soldered. The set of 12 needles is put under the set of 13 needles and staggered by pulling the set of 12 needles back a little bit. When I do bokashibori , I insert the ink into the skin at an angle which corresponds to the angle made by the two sets of needles. I have to adjust the strength of the stroke by using both 12-set needles and 13-set needles. If I use either one or the other, the ink cannot be inserted into the skin properly. The lower 12-set needles has to be used carefully, like touching the needles on the skin gently. It’s very difficult to master how to use those tattoo needles, especially the lower set of needles.

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1946, Tokyo, Japan ~ A Japanese tattoo artist works on a group of  Yakuza gang members. ~ Image by © Horace Bristol

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Today, we Japanese tattooists order tattooing needles from the factory. However, when I was a pupil, I would make tattooing needles by using the thinnest sewing needles. Many of them did not have good quality points. One package had 25 needles, and a half of them were no good. In those days, we used the ink called sakurazumi. Now we use baikaboku for tattooing, which is made of soot of cooking oil. The ink for calligraphy, which is made of soot of resin, is not suitable for tattooing, because the color does not last long.

Those needles were often stolen by customers. I assume that some other tattooists asked them to pretend to be customers and to steal my tools, in order to know how I made the tattooing needles. Although I understood that they had eager feelings to learn professional tattooing, I was so angry with the attitudes. When I was tattooing, I put my tool box beside me. While I was away (going to bathroom, for example), they stole my needles. It is not difficult to steal them. After all, I prepare the necessary needles only when I need them. I usually lock the door of my studio after work. Electric machines, color inks, my drawings (about 120 designs) for the back have all been stolen at various times. The tattoo designs were especially important for me. I had drawn many designs and collected them for a long time. I am so frustrated whenever I remember those incidents and think how much time I spent on the drawings.

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1946, Tokyo, Japan — Tattooed Men at Public Bath — Image by © Horace Bristol

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Tattooists who have not been apprenticed and trained by tattoo masters do not know the reasons or meanings of the traditional designs. For example, there are four seasons (spring, summer, fall and winter) in Japan. The seasons should be expressed in tattoo art as well. Real Japanese tattoo artists express each season on the skin. However, the untrained tattooists do not know traditional thoughts on Japanese art. The untrained tattooists draw a snake and cherry blossoms, but this is a wrong way in tradition. When cherry trees begin to bloom in March in Japan, the snake still hibernates under the ground. So the snake and cherry blossom cannot be seen in the same period. In other words, it does not make any sense if the snake and cherry blossoms are drawn together.

Some tattooists draw a carp climbing up the waterfall together with peonies. Actually, we can see the carp climbing up the waterfall from the late September to October in Japan. It is supposed to go with maple leaves, not peonies. (The symbol of maple leaves refers to the autumn.) When hutatsugoi (twin carp) and huhugoi (a married couple carp) are drawn, two carp (one carp for the arm, for example) can go with peonies, because we do not have to express seasons in these cases. There are several traditional combinations: Karajishi, which is a combination Shishi (lion) with botan (peonies), and ryu (dragon) with kiku (chrysanthemum) and menchirashi (men means “a mask,” and chirashi or chirasu means “to scatter”) with cherry blossoms. Those images are particular sets for Japanese traditional tattoo designs.

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1946, Tokyo, Japan ~ (Left) Tattooed Bathers at a Public Bath, (Right)  A Japanese tattoo artist works on the shoulder of a  gang member ~ Images by © Horace Bristol

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I am very happy with my job and love it. As long as I can move my hands, I will keep tattooing. I thank my master very much. Without his teachings, I could not have been a tattooist. I will never forget the gratitude towards the master forever.

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read more at tattoo.com

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Betty Grable, in what may be the most iconic pinup image of all time.  –Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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Though its origins can be traced further back, it was WWII that really put pinups on the map.  The pinup was a reminder to troops of what awaited back home, and as us men go, served as the ultimate motivator to the male psyche– T&A.  What can I say, we are simple creatures.  Maybe you see it as an objectification of women, but the fact is it kept soldier’s morale up in dark, harrowing and uncertain times.  It also served to launch the careers of many a young Hollywood starlet.

It’s an art form expressed through performance, photography, fashion, music, tattoos, etc., that is with us to this day.  It’s taken a decidedly more alternative bent in recent years with the popularity of Bettie Page, Dita Von Teese, Suicide Girls, etc., all of which have helped to keep pinup fanaticism front and center.  Long live the pinup.

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May 18th, 1944 — A variation of the old Police Gazette, that used to keep customers happy in grandfather’s day, is this collection of pinup cuties adorning the wall of this barber shop at a U.S. Marine Base in the Pacific. Barber Joseph J. Perino, a Marine Corporal from New Orleans, Louisiana, and a veteran of Guadalcanal, here trims the locks of a customer, who uses the interim for a “dream on the house.” — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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Nov 23rd, 1943 — Here are members of the B-24 Liberator Bomber “Miss Giving” credited with making the longest flight mission from Australia while on photographic reconnaissance over a Japanese Oil producing city last October. The Ship fought its way through intense anti-aircraft fire and was intercepted by approximately nine enemy fighters, downing four of them in battle.  One engine was knocked out, but the plane returned to its base without injury to any crew members.  Left to right, front: S/Sgt. Aloysius Ziober, Chicago, Ill., Gunner; Capt. Jack Banks, Portland, Ore., Pilot; 2nd Lt. John Calhoun, Wenona, Ill., co-pilot; 1st Lt. Robert MacFarland, Philadelphia, navigator; 1stLt. Clinton McMillan, Chicago, Bombardier; Back Row: T/Sgt. James Ressguard, Seattle, radio-man; Sgt. Donald J. Ford, Kansas City, gunner; Sgt. James Murphy, Elkhardt, Ind., gunner; T/Sgt. Phileman Blais, — Image by © Bettmann/Corbis

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(Lt.) July 13th, 1941, Stockton, CA — Motion picture beauty Jane Russell inspects her own insignia on the training plane of Don Brown, son of gap-mouthed screen comic Joe E. Brown at the Air Corps Advanced Training School at Stockton.  She’s the first actress to be chosen mascot by a group of Uncle Sam’s airmen. “D” flight, 1st Echelon, 2nd section, named their group after the starlet. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS  (Rt.) Southwest Pacific, January 22nd, 1944 — Yes, Sir!  Here’s one order Marines at a southwest Pacific base can’t say they didn’t read.  To put her message across too, the life-sized pinup girl is seductively draped in a sleeping net — the kind she asks Marines to keep mended so a malaria bearing Mosquito won’t drop in. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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Saipan, Marianas Islands, February 1945 — US Marine Randall Sprenger putting the finishing touches on “Little Gem”, a pinup mascot adorning a B-29 fuselage. — LIFE Archive

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(Lt.) December 1943, Near Tarawa Atoll — As a landing barge approaches the Jap-held island of Tarawa, a Marine takes a last look at his picture of a pin-up girl.  Tarawa burns in the background. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS  (Rt.) 6/19/1943- General H.H. Arnold, Chief of Army Air Force looks at the big Flying Fortress “Memphis Belle” as she arrived from England after eight motnhs of fighting over Nazi Europe. The nose cone of the plane is painted wiht 1940′s style pin-up girls. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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June 14, 1943 – Crew gazing up at American bomber “Mission Belle” decorated with a scantily clad pinup girl mascot, somewhere in the South Pacific. –LIFE Archive

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(Lt.) 1952, Korea — With nearly 3,000 pin-ups, including over 200 shots of Marilyn Monroe, serving as wallpaper for their Quonset hut, these Marines of the “Devil-cats” squadron are still looking for more.  1952. — Image by © CORBIS  (Rt.) November 1944 — USS  aircrewmen inspecting a pinup. — Image by © CORBIS

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April 1945 – American Pfc. Robert L. Brestow lying on bunk next to wall covered with his favorite pin up beauties, in his quarters in a stone farmhouse, on the Itallan front in the Appennine Mountains. — Margaret Bourke-White, LIFE Archive

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(Lt.) 1943, Darwin, Australia —  Three P.M. is siesta time in Darwin, Australia and flying Captain R.N. Skipper dreams up a date with a dreamgirl.  Since their flight missions usually encompass a distance of 3,000 miles, personnel of B-24 squadrons in the Darwin area are only allowed four or five raids a month.  Thus, in between times, they lead a hum-drum existence, and 3 p.m. is official nap time, although the heat usually makes it impossible to sleep. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS  (Rt.) A British Sapper lays on his bunk looking up at pinups posted on his bulletin board in England. — Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS

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Okinawa, 1945 — Glamorous Dorothy Lamour is the pin-up girl of leatherneck motor transport battalion on Okinawa. Pointing to the film star’s photo is PFC Edward M. Szynczak, 27, Pittsburgh, PA.; looking on (left to right) are: CPL Theodore Papit, 21, Philadelphia, PA.; PFC Pat O. Cerinehe, 24, Lansford, PA.; and PVT Albert Servadio, 38, Pittsburgh, PA. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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1942 — The Captain of the USS Doran stopping to look at a pin-up girl on the crews mess door while performing a check of the ship before pulling out. — LIFE Archive

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December 1943, New London, CT — Pin-up girls in Navy Submarine. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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(Lt.) April 1959, Corolla, North Carolina — United States Navy seaman L.P. Dowell, stationed at Currituck Lighthouse, exposes tattoos of a pinup girl on his chest and a crab on his stomach. — Image by © The Mariners’ Museum/CORBIS  (Rt.) 1944, England — Staff Sargeant Allen Blake, of Defiance, Ohio, waist gunner of the United States bomber, is shown being interrogated after he took part in a recent raid on German targets in France, including a round trip of 1,200 miles on the Chateau Bernard Airfield.  Sargeant Blake wears a flying suit he calls, “Flossie”, named for his wife.  It bears the cartoon of a “pinup girl”, which he claims has brought him luck. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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Korea, 1952 — Pfc. Milton Reince of Green Bay, WI, adds a picture of Mitzi Gaynor to his bunkerful of pinups at his post in Korea.  Sixty-one of the collector’s items adorn the four walls of the bunker, keeping the soldier reminded of the beauties of the stateside movie lovelies. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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1940s, Colorado — The Army and the pin-up girl collaborate to teach the American soldier the essentials of map reading, one of the most vital phases of knowledge in any good soldier’s teaching.  How it is done is demonstrated by First Sergeant Richard P. Bates of Lowry Field, who uses a “pin-up girl map” of Betty Grable as a visual aid in teaching the principles of map reading.  The picture of the girl is divided into sections with lines, each of which is numbered, and by checking the lines on it, as on a real map, soldiers can locate any given spot— knowledge which in actual combat can mean the difference between life and death. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS  (Rt.) 1953 — Mamie Van Doren in Nautical Costume — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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1953, Hollywood, CA — Glamour queens Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, needless to say, made Hollywood’s hall of fame at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre while extra police kept traffic moving.  A large crowd vied with newsreel, press photogs, and newsmen for a glimpse at the famous hands being oozed into posterity.  There were plenty of cheers, sighs, popping flashbulbs, and, yes, even out-and-out wolf whistles. The actresses just finished working on the picture, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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(Lt.) March 15, 1953 — For comparison’s sake, here’s how Mamie Von Doren and Marilyn Monroe shape up.  Mamie is a little shorter, and weighs a few pounds less.  It can be noted, therefore, that Marliyn’s dimensions are proportionately ampler, but the total effect is strikingly similar. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS (Rt.) Marilyn’s double…This, for the record, is Mamie Van Doren — starlet at the Universal Studio, who, it would appear, can be mistaken for la Monroe, because of the way she dresses, poses and looks. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS*

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May 26, 1952, Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood film star Marilyn Monroe relaxes on her terrace, looking beautifully content.  Actor Hugh Marlowe told the voluptuous actress that she needn’t worry becuase she’s being typed as a sexy girl.  Marlowe’s theory is that one “Only becomes a real success when you’re a specialist, “so Marilyn is “Lucky to be born that way.”   Whether Marilyn is typed or not, she surely doesn’t look worried. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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1951 — Marilyn Monroe shows what she means here when she says “you have to walk so that it makes you tingle”.  Her director claims Marilyn can squeeze more meaning out of a few steps in front of the camera than most actresses can get out of a half dozen pages of dialogue. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS (Rt.) Reaching for the sky on tiptoe, the barefoot advocate shows how to keep those curves. Walking is the only exercise Marilyn takes to keep her figure at its present proportions, perfect enough to win her the title “Miss Cheesecake”. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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Aug 16th, 1954, Hollywood, CA — (Original caption) Pin-up queen Betty Grable kicks up her heels in a scene from “Three for the Show.”  She’s back in a dancing role in the movie after letting her famous legs rest in several films. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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943 — Jane Russell on the set of “The Outlaw”. — Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

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Van Nuys, CA– (Original caption) Jane Russell, who is known to movie fans through publicity stills for her only movie, which was never released, may soon grace your neighborhood screen.  Millionaire producer Howard Hughes, who has held up release of Jane’s film, “The Outlaw,” for three years, has announced that it will be shown in 1946.  Jane poses for artist Zoe Mozert, who makes a chalk drawing for a publicity poster. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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1943 — Jane Russell on the set of “The Outlaw”. — Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

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New York — At the Hotel New Yorker where she arrived Thursday (June 14) morning, Anna Buzon, a worker at the Casco Plant, Bridgeport, Connecticut, recently selected as the country’s “most typical war worker,” stands against a backdrop of pin-up girls.  Blonde Anne, 21, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, implored girls to forget pin-ups and strive to become “mighty wallet girls.”  She suggested that girls give their pictures for the boys to keep in midget wallets for their own personal satisfaction and not to post for public exhibition. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS  (Rt.) 1946, Los Angeles, CA — Los Angeles newspaper advertisement for Howard Hughes’ film,  starring Jane Russell, which is the subject of an upcoming meeting in New York of the Motion Picture Association as they consider Hughes’ expulsion from the Association on a charge of violating the standards of good taste in his advertising of the film. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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Sometime between 1946-51, California — Pinup artist Zoe Mozert painting a model. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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(Rt.) ca. 1943 — Pinup art by Zoe Mozart — Image by © Cynthia Hart Designer/Corbis  (Lt.) ca. 1940 — Pinup Calendar Illustration of a Woman in a White Dress by Billy De Vorss — Image by © Cynthia Hart Designer/Corbis

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ca. 1948 — Illustration of a Pinup Girl with Telephone and Hat by George Petty — Image by © Swim Ink/Corbis

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(Rt.) ca. 1940 —  Pinup illustration by Al Buell — Image by © Cynthia Hart Designer/Corbis  (Lt.) ca. 1945 — Illustration of a Pinup Girl in a Bikini by Billy Devorss — Image by © Cynthia Hart Designer/Corbis

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ca. 1948 — Illustration of a Pinup Girl on the Telephone by George Petty — Image by © Swim Ink/Corbis

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(Rt.) ca. 1946 — Pinup illustration by Billy Devorss — Image by © Swim Ink/Corbis  (Lt.) ca. 1943 — Illustration of a Blond Pinup Girl — Image by © Cynthia Hart Designer/Corbis

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Listen, I don’t know what’s going on down there, I really don’t. I mean, it’s not like it’s something new—clearly not. After all, Australia is the land that bore and bred Rennie Ellis; country and countryside where the legendary Sam Haskins chose to live out his final days. Only two of many greats from Down Under, but those two, alone, are some pretty damn big shoes to fill. And sure enough, along comes this new group of Australian photographers—Oliver Bryce Yates, Joe Nigel Coleman, Jared Brown, Ryan Kenny and Luke Byrne, to name a few—who call home to Adelaide, Newcastle and Sydney. They’re all young, mid-twenties, on average, but all wise enough to know there is only one way to carry a torch, and that’s by forging your own path.

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— Image by © Jared Brown

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— Image by © Jared Brown

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Taken individually, there’s the wonder, lust, and wanderlust of Jared Brown’s imagery; the completely outrageous and utterly nonchalant cinematic compositions of Oliver Bryce Yates; and those freefalling and submerged carpe diem captures of Luke Byrne. There’s the incorrigible way Ryan Kenny constantly shifts from dreamy to delinquent in the blink of an eye, and, of course, Joe Nigel Coleman, whose lens surfs the wind with the joy of a hand out the car window.

There are crossroads, certainly, influences seen, felt, openly exchanged in their photography, but in attitude more than anything. That’s one page they’ve all taken from Ellis’s book, blurring the boundaries between portraiture, social documentary, fashion and fine art. Kindred spirits of that wonderfully perverse Aussie pragmatism, which follows: if a rose is a rose is a rose, then photography is photography is photography, like Fosters means beer. And of course their work has a common backdrop, residing between an endless ocean and endless desert, connected by the history of land and landscape—to sun, sand, wave—not to mention skin, bodies, tattoos, the most beautiful girls, and, of course, that greatest of all artistic love affairs, better known as light.

Another characteristic they share: their photography is unfussy and unpretentious. Really, the shutter moves as such a natural extension of self, you get the feeling that any one of these guys would be far more likely to leave the house without pants than a camera. And wherever their travels take them, day in, day out, they continue to quietly post their work on their various sites, for all to see, and all are welcome.

That’s what I really admire most about each of them, that they’re so easy-going and so hard-working, never taking themselves too seriously, but always taking their work quite seriously. Even the youngest of the group, Ryan Kenny, whose got talent to burn, and often does by all appearances, but it’s his hard work that just landed his first photo in Rolling Stone. And it’s that combination of self-determination and free-spiritedness that has international advertisers chasing them, and with which at least one of the group—not to name names, but Luke Byrne—has taken almost all his earnings in order to throw a big party for his friends, then he simply shot the fun. Nice work if you can get it, yes, indeed.

Personally, I love that they’re young, they’re having the time of their lives, and they don’t hide the fact—far from it. These images are drug-fueled, sun-streaked, bum-streaking, skateboarding, house-burning, broken-boned and light-bleeding, in no particular order. In other words, good times. Open roads. And life is for the living: so just shoot it.

Well, then. Whatever explains it, whatever it is that’s going on down there, all I can say is keep it up, keep on, and peace out, mates.

–Courtney Eldridge is a writer living in Los Angeles.

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— Image by © Oliver Bryce Yates

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— Image by © Oliver Bryce Yates

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— Image by © Luke Byrne

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— Image by © Luke Byrne

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— Image by © Luke Byrne

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— Image by © Ryan Kenny

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— Image by © Ryan Kenny

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— Image by © Joe Nigel Coleman

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— Image by © Joe Nigel Coleman

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Visit the artist’s sites here:

Jared Brown

Oliver Bryce Yates

Luke Byrne

Ryan Kenny

Joe Nigel Coleman

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You gotta love social media– not always, but this particular time, HELLS YES.  So, I see on Stacie’s triplenickel555 Instagram account that there’s a pic re-gram’d of some sort of bike tattoo. I look a little closer, and– hey, I recognize that image! So here’s the deal– this cool gal Matylda in Sweden saw the pic on TSY and was inspired enough to get it inked on her inner arm..OUCH for any of you who know about tattoos. God bless the internets. I reached out to Matylda, and she was kind enough to send pics of the finished work– read on and check it out.

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Scott Pommier shooting Stacie B. London for –SHUTTER SPEED– image courtesy of Camerabag.tv

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Hello from the land of the ice and snow! Hope these pics are usable — it’s winter now and we don’t have any decent light to shoot in (not exactly 30 Days of Night, but you know…). Btw, the website is awesome, and I’ve been a big fan.

Cheers,
Matylda

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