This ad for the movie "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is from the April 1949 Photoplay magazine. I don't think I've ever seen this movie. Well, if I did, I don't remember it. Geez, I can't believe there's a Gene Kelly movie I haven't seen.
What fascinates me about this ad is probably what fascinated everyone about this ad...ummmm...the tight sweater that was painted for the Esther Williams character. Doesn't this seem just a little extreme and tacky, yeah that's the word I want...TACKY for Esther Williams? The song shouldn't be "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" but "June is Bustin' Out All Over." That sweater looks like it's about to explode!
Click on image to (dare I say it?) see it larger.
Okay, so they were marketing this movie for some reason to horny men in a magazine women read. Most likely the guys were somewhat disappointed by the Busby Berkeley production if the sweater girl is what they were hoping for. I guess the logic was women would want to see the movie because of the stars and this ad was what women could use to get guys interested in going to the movie. Esther deserved a lot better than this.
I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but there just seems to be a lot of double entendres in this ad. I actually do believe advertising is this subtly manipulative. These lines didn't show up in the copy by accident:
It's tops in musicals.They're back together.
Okay, tell me I'm reading too much into this. It's past my bedtime. I shouldn't be thinking so much.
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They certainly portrayed her bazooms as very high and perky and prominent, didn't they? Was it that bad of a movie that they had to draw in moviegoers with soft porn? It certainly takes away from Esther's wholesome image through no fault of her own.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this one either, but I started singing the song as soon as I saw the title.
Looking at IMDB it gets a very good rating. So I just think marketing went tacky. I'd like to see what an actual movie poster looked like. They rarely looked like the magazine ads.
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