What a treat it was for me to receive an email from Pam recently with the above photo attached. This rather racy theater card would have been sent to movie houses for display before and during the run of the feature. This type of advertising is a dead art, unfortunately, so something like this is valuable on many levels. Click to enlarge and note not only the details of the photo but also the beautiful preservation of the item itself.
The thing that struck both Pam and me is the overt sexuality of the picture. The Buccaneer was released in 1958, a time when we generally imagine morality as just this side of Victorian. But here, in one picture, is the classic visual of Laffite the sex god. The lady in question is not only kneeling before him but her hands rest on his knees. Her blouse is just about to treat us to a wardrobe malfunction, and she has eyes for only him. Meanwhile, he lounges in a completely relaxed if bored attitude. Legs apart, he gazes into the middle distance and one wonders whether or not a cigar is only a cigar. Regardless of what happens next, we can rest assured the Monsieur Laffite has been there and done that.
Laffite the lady killer is summed up in one picture: power, charisma, sexual tension at its highest height. Many a bodice-ripper has been - and continues to be - based on this image of Laffite the pirate.
You can watch this scene from the movie on YouTube if you've a curiosity about what put this lady with the heaving bosom in thrall to Jean Laffite. It's certainly a worthwhile Friday pastime... Tell your boss Pauline made you do it.
Header: Theater card from the 1958 version of The Buccaneer via Pam Keyes to whom I am once again very much indebted ~ thank you Pam!
Hmn, I tried leaving a comment earlier, but I think it didn't go through, so here goes again. You're welcome, Pauline, but alas, I didn't wind up being the successful bidder on this photo on eBay. I did make the other bidder pay a pretty penny for it. This sexy photo for the Buccaneer is very unusual considering in the US, the film was promoted as a "family" film for Christmas, and even got the Parents magazine seal of approval; but obviously the movie was promoted as more of a sexy pirate flick in the UK, where this photo was among the press packet promos.
ReplyDeleteThe great costume designer Edith Head was responsible for the near wardrobe malfunction look of Bonnie Brown's (Claire Bloom) outfit, as well as Laffite's (Yul Brynner) skintight pantaloons.
As for your post re Laffite as "sex god," I imagine poor Pierre Laffite must be rolling over in his grave. Certainly neither Laffite ever imagined the Byronic, bodice-ripper status Jean Laffite would attain in the future, LOL.
I'm sorry to hear the bidding didn't go you're way, Pam, but I'm so glad you had a minute to add so much to this post.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah; it's hard to imagine the slightly manic Jean and "stout" Pierre seeing themselves as future sex gods. It is kinda fun though...
As you and I have both stated many times in the past, Pauline: "It's good to be Jean Laffite."
ReplyDeleteAt least the way he is imagined most of the "historical fiction" nowadays, anyway...
:-)
True, partially true or just myth, all the lore surrounding the Laffite brothers and their band is nothing if not fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great fun (although possibly disappointing) to go back in time and see what the Laffites were *really* like. Modern-day PR firms could learn a thing or two from how the Laffite mythology was created, Most people think (incorrectly) that Jean Laffite became famous after helping Jackson at Chalmette during the Battle of New Orleans, but actually he first got wide public notice courtesy of Lord Byron about a year earlier.
ReplyDeleteAnd it helped that he was a good story teller in his own right.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. The inappropriate imagination runs rampant. Bowing to another fictitious captain, "It is a a glorious thing to be a pirate king."
ReplyDeleteSeriously; perception is, after all, reality.
ReplyDelete