lørdag 20. mars 2010

Euro actresses doing print ads

I've always found prints ads featuring Euro-actresses to be a lot of fun and since I've been lucky to come across several of these lately, I figured I'd share some of these goodies.

First up is this black & white ad from 1964, in which renowned Italian actress Virna Lisi attributes her shiny white smile to the use of Chlorodont toothpaste:





However, the product that Euro actresses seemed most eager to promote in the 1960s was soap - more specifically Lux soap. Here's a 1964 ad in which the gorgeous Sylva Koscina promotes Lux soap:





Another actress who endorsed Lux soap was Antonella Lualdi, who has been a popular actress in Italian films for decades. She's been somewhat less prolific in genre cinema but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Antonella thanks to her amazing performance as the seductive and provocative Serena in Death on the Fourposter (1964). The same year she starred in that film, Antonella did this advertisement for Lux:





But Antonella Lualdi did other ads too. In 1965 she endorsed a product called Stilla. At first sight it looks like some kind of beauty product but from what I can tell it's actually an eye medication sold only in pharmacies:





Gorgeous Japanese actress Yoko Tani had a career in Hollywood - appearing in stuff like The Wind Cannot Read (1958) with Dirk Bogarde, The Savage Innocents (1960) with Anthony Quinn and Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963) with Dean Martin. I must admit, however, that to me she is of more interest thanks to her appearances in a number of Eurospy films, such as the last entry in the Mabuse series, The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse (1964), Ferdinando Baldi's Suicide Mission to Singapore (1966) and Umberto Lenzi's The Spy Who Loved Flowers (1966). Yoko, too, did an advertisement for Lux soap in 1964:





Flame-haired Italian bombshell Luciana Paluzzi became a busy actress both internationally and in Italy after her role as a wicked James Bond girl in Thunderball (1965). So naturally, Lux soap got Luciana to promote their product in 1966:





American actress Carroll Baker earned good money by making films in Italy but I'm pretty sure this ad for Lux soap paid very well too. This one is from 1967 and, as you can see, it's a bit different from the 1964 ones:





The final ad features Minnie Minoprio, a well-known figure in Italy but perhaps more obscure to non-Italians. Minoprio is actually a British singer and she made her debut in 1957 (at age 15) by starring in "Cinderella" by Rogers and Hammerstein at the London Coliseum. She was then a soubrette in an Italian variety show and ended up staying in Italy, where she become a very well-known jazz musician. She also appeared in a few films - most notably the mafia comedy The Funny Face of the Godfather (1973), in which she played the leading role. Minnie's career started to falter in the mid 1980s and this prompted her to do pornographic photoshoots for smut magazine Le ore (although without partaking in the actual hardcore activity) and starring in the softcore flick Una storia ambigua (1986) directed by porno specialict Mario Bianchi. Nowadays, Minnie likes to pretend that she never made this film - at least it isn't listed among her credits on her official website.
But enough on that. The reason I'm mentioning Minnie is because in 1973, she did a couple of sexy prints ads for Playtex corselettes as you can see an example of below:


2 kommentarer:

CiNEZiLLA sa...

Great entry! -THis is what makes reading blogs worth while. THe unexpected piece of trivia that one never saw coming.Fascinating stuff

Johan Melle sa...

Many thanks for the kind words! :)
It is indeed fascinating since this in an aspect to these actresses' careers that is completely forgotten about today. I at least knew nothing about this until I came across these ads in various fotoromanzo magazines. Those magazines were largely aimed at female readers but they can be a real tresure trove as they are full of ads, TV guides, articles on films stars of the time etc.