When
K.O. Munson left Brown & Bigelow, Freeman Elliot, veteran artist
of pin-up style covers for Hearst's Pictorial Weekly, took over
the famous "sketchbook" calendar series.
Elliot's girls were gorgeous, impossibly long-limbed creatures,
often involved in whimsical situations - painting the house in
a bikini, answering the phone in a towel, cooking in nothing but
a tiny apron. Elliot's style was closer to Munson's than Mac Pherson's,
and his girls have a glamour and glow rivaling Elvgren's.
His "sketchbook" pages are nicely cluttered, side sketches in
both pencil and color embellishing the comic situations, even
telling a story of sorts. What medium exactly Freeman is working
in is uncertain; the handful of originals that have surfaced are
oils on board.
He also contributed several images to the 1953 Ballyhoo calendar,
the other contributors to which were Esquire pin-up artists. Here
his style had evolved into a lushIy sensual one similar to Al
Moore and Ernest Chiriaka. |
