Vikki

in the movie star scrapbooks I kept in the '50s there is evidence of a pretty even division between cheesecake & beefcake. in fact there's one page which I labeld "Male and Female Pinups." at the top there's a color photo of a smiling George Nader in one of his ubiquitous swimsuits beside a b&w shot of Richard Egan in his underwear combing his hair in front of a mirror. the lower half of the page features Jane Russell in that scandalous pose from "The French Line" & Esther Williams with her back to a grindstone   boobs pointing skyward & chiton partd to display ample leg.

I rememberd all this last nite as I watchd "The Rebel Set." this minor heist film from 1959 featurd Vikki "The Back" Dougan in a small part. she made only 6 films in her 7-year career. none of them establishd her as an actress. but she must've had one hell of a press agent. her pinup pictures were everywhere -- even on a 1953 Life cover. she dated the likes of George Raft & Porfirio Rubirosa. but she got the most ink for a gimmick. while Marilyn & Jayne & Mamie were showing more & more breast she became famous for "reverse cleavage." yup... just look at this typical photo of her:


there's only one clipping of her in my scrapbooks. she's wearing either this same dress or a duplicate -- along with a to-the-floor fur stole.

she disappeard from public view years ago. however many of her cheesecake photos circulate on the internet. & folkies remember her for 2 reasons: Malvina Reynolds wrote a song abt her for the Limeliters & her final screen appearance was in "Hootenany Hoot" which also featurd the legendary Judy Henske.