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The above image (and the first image set below) was taken on May 17 1954 by
camera club and professional photographer
Robert Stanton
when Alice Denham was 21 years old; about two years and a couple
months before her appearance as the July 1956 Playboy Playmate of the month.
Alice Denham was born on Jan. 21 1933 in Jacksonville Florida. When
Bettie Page
photographer
Charles West
described Alice Denham as elegant and well educated, he wasn't kidding. Alice
Denham earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina in
1949 and received her master's degree from the University of Rochester in
1950. Alice Denham also taught creative writing and served as an adjunct
professor of English from 1970 to 1980 at the City College of New York.
Alice Denham was ready for adventure and left the confines of her suburban
Washington home for literary New York where her heros lived. Once there,
Alice Denham indulged her love of literature and subsidized her income by
posing for pin-up magazines, advertisements and as a nude model for camera
clubs. A few of the people Alice Denham hung out with were James Dean, Marlon
Brando and Norman Mailer. Alice Denham is an author who has written articles
and short stories throughout the years for "Cosmopolitan", "The New York
Times", "New York" magazine, "Playboy" and has written many novels. One of
her short stories, "The Deal" was filmed in 1988.
Alice Denham's most recent published work is titled
"Bad Boys"
or "Sleeping With Bad Boys: A 1956 Playboy Model's Escapades with James Dean,
Hugh Hefner, Norman Mailer and the famous writers of the 1950's beat
generation" which gets 4.5 stars at Amazon! Alice Denham has distinction of
being the only woman to have published an article in the same issue of
"Playboy" that she posed in. All was not roses for Alice. During her
glory years in New York, Alice Denham describes her residence as a "scummy"
West 55th Street apartment.
Alice Denham was an integral part in the 1950s New York Nude Modeling Scene.
She was one of a handful of models (like
Bettie Page,
Lois Austin
and
Shelley Leigh
that made it beyond being a faceless model, she was desired for photo
shoots. New York was a large hotbed of nude photography during the 1950s.
Many woman accepted jobs to help make ends meet and the work was easy
(except for the occasional lecherous photographer). Then there were the
Camera Club owners who took their cut organizing nude photo events. In effect,
photography pimps. On the assembly line end, many people made businesses
selling nude photographs sized mainly at 4x5". 4x5s were relatively small
which kept overhead low and customers could easily hide them. A Camera Club
photographer stated that a lot of guys set up labs in their apartments and
printed nude photographs to help make an extra buck. This was going on all
over the city, that's why there's still a dearth of these 4x5" photographs
floating around in the market. And if you didn't want to spend the money on
a camera and/or pay a model, it was just as easy to copy someone else's work
and distribute it yourself. You just had to make sure you did not lift the
wrong person's stuff or you could have ended up with your legs broken which
still holds true today. If you published your own magazine, it was not
uncommon to have been funded by The Mob. Only a few beauties really stood out
throughout this complicated maze and Alice Denham was one of them. Alice
Denham did not affect any of the strange comical facial expressions (usually
comprised of feigning a surprised look or an over-exaggerated smile which
ended up looking more like a grimace) typical of 1950s pin-up photography.
Alice Denham appears to have been the consummate nude model.
Images 000-047 were taken by Robert Stanton. Image 054 is a portrait by Peter
Basch. The last three images were taken on the same day that Robert Stanton
photographed Alice Denham by a different photographer.
Thanks to Ed Carter for contributions on this page!
Sources: Wikipedia, The Villager
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