The Birth Of A Leg Man

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Elmers Batters - Tip Top Magazine

The Birth Of A Leg Man - Article Taken From Tip Top No 1 (1960)

The year was 1944. In Europe, Nazi Germany was fighting a losing battle; in the Pacific, Japan was gradually being contained; in America, Rosie the riveter worked overtime in an aircraft plant. Somewhere on the East Coast, the Navy was commissioning new a submarine. Within the gleaming metal bowels of the new tin fish raced a piece of information which electrified 80% of the men aboard. With practiced motions they grouped themselves near certain hatches along certain companionways and waited.

Soon, the object of the rumour came into view. A sigh of contentment coursed through the craft as man after man glimpsed this gratifying sight. Murmured comments filled the ship: "Did you see 'em?" "What a beautiful pair!" "How about those curves!" "Dimples, yet!" "That's what makes this war almost worthwhile!"

The girl who owned the legs being talked about was fully aware of the effect her well-turned gams had had upon the men aboard the sub. As a woman she was pleased with herself - as an American she was proud to do her bit for the war effort.

That was 1944; now, sixteen years later, one of the men aboard that submarine is called by his many followers, "the Dean of American Leg Men."

He is none other than Elmer A. Batters, creator of two very successful magazines devoted to leg art, keeper of "The Book' at Edwards Air Force Base, dedicated glamor dedicated photographer and champion of the exciting curve line which runs from the tip of the toes to the top of the hose. What better choice could a magazine devoted to legs make than to select Elmer Batters as chief advisor?

Batters is a lean, angular man of 40, with a face something like that of a turkey buzzard and a quiet intense personality which takes on added sparkle every time the subject of beautiful legs comes into the conversation. As far back as he can remember, he has been fascinated by legs, but it was during World War II that this fascination grew into almost obsessive proportions. Batters was on submarine duty, and legs were the big thing in pinup art. Along with Betty Grable and the Petty girls, countless starlets distributed photos of their own glamorous gams to men aboard fighting ships and in muddy foxholes around the world. Skirts were tight and short, nylons were scarce, and legs were what the burgeoning bosom is today in the minds of the nation's males.

In these days of padded push ups and cosmetic breast surgery, a good pair of legs is still the most reliable criterion of natural beauty. And, Batters predicts, when the big bosom boom is over, legs will still come in for their share of erotic attention. Naturally, in sixteen years, Elmer Batters has had time to develop some pretty solid theories about legs and has conducted more leg research than any other man in history. He has found out, for instance, that: the first thing most men notice about a woman is her legs they can be viewed either coming or going. three out of four leg men prefer seeing a gal with her shoes off. Seamless hose is possibly the world's most useless invention, as the majority of leg fanciers appreciate the added emphasis a straight seam gives to the gentle swell of a woman's calf. leg men consider slacks an abomination which should be done away with completely. This goes double for levis, flat heeled shoes, no matter how artfully designed, are ugly, rolled hose is a heinous crime.

Bare legs are not particularly exciting. pastel tinted nylons - the high fashion reds, greens, blues, etc. have no sex appeal whatsoever. Open-mesh opera hose are disgusting. and (possibly the most astonishing piece of information) true leg men are vaguely disappointed that the world of fashion is again shortening skirts! According to Batters, there's nothing particularly sexy about a short skirt. The real leg afficionado prefers the sudden glimpse to blatant exposure, he explains.

"Are leg men fetishists?" we asked. "Is there something abnormal about this concentration on legs?"

The answer was an emphatic no! Batters, of course, has run up against his share of fetishists in the past decade and a half. "Some of these nuts want girls to wear all sorts of special equipment, like platform shoes, six-inch heels, high leather boots, even full-length leather stockings. No real leg man is interested in any of that stuff." The most attractive garb for a beautiful pair of legs, he adds, is a pair of black silk (or nylon) stockings held up by a brief garter belt and worn with plain black patent leather shoes with a four-inch heel. "There's nothing there you can't buy at Sears Roebuck," he observes.

Asked who has the most beautiful legs in the world today, Elmer named Mitzi Gaynor, Marilyn Monroe and Janet Leigh. "And the studios," he added ruefully, "waste them completely from a leg man's point of view.

Speaking of wasting leg potential, he continued, the biggest offenders in this department are the manufacturers of nylons. "They're so close to the subject they can't see the attraction anymore. Almost everybody else in the advertising world uses legs to advantage - a beautiful girl with gorgeous legs stepping out of a convertible, her skirt pulled up just enough, for example - but the hosiery people put a nylon on what is obviously a wax leg! Or worse yet, they build an ad around an empty pair of nylons!"

Elmer would love to do an ad campaign for a nylon company.

Shortly after the war, Batters decided that the field for him was glamor photography, specializing in beautiful legs. About the same time, he met the girl who was to become his wife. "It was on a train," he recalls fondly. "I was at one end of the car and she was at the other, sitting by a window. I couldn't even see her legs, but she had a nice smile and beautiful eyes. Her eyes attracted me first. Then when I discovered that she had gorgeous legs, too, I was hooked!"

Elmer's wife is a charming, understanding woman. It was she who posed endlessly while Elmer learned the technical and aesthetic aspects of leg photography, shooting thousands of pictures. Later, when he started shooting professional models, Mrs. Batters proved herself to be a permissive and broadminded wife.

"I couldn't ask for a better partner in life," Elmer avers.

It was at Edwards A.F.B. where Batters was working as a civilian employee on flight test problems that he became keeper of "The Book, a community-property scrapbook containing the favourite pinups of most of the test pilots and many of the top brass visitors to the base. Countless Admirals and Generals would make Elmer's section their first stop upon arrival, to have coffee and take a look at the book. Each page contained a pinup or other piece of glamor art, bearing the name of the donor and the date inserted in the book. Lines like: "Contributed by Brig. Gen. A. M. Hawkins, U.S.A.F., Dec. 17, 1947" were common. It may have been sacrilegious, Elmer admits, but each time a contributor died, his page was placed in a separate section in the back of the book. "For a while there, " he recalls, "the test pilots were kicking off at a rate of about one a week." The book remained at Edwards; Batters did not. Having perfected his photographic approach with the help and critical comments of Air Force and visiting news photographers, Batters went all out on a glamor-shooting program and began submitting photos to national magazines and entering other shots in photo contests. He enjoyed enough success to inspire him to create his first magazine, Man's Favourite Pastime, which at the outset was devoted exclusively to leg art. Closely following on Pastime's heels was the phenomenally successful Black Silk Stockings, which amazed the girly book industry with a one hundred percent newsstand sale and drew fan letters from all over the world. Legal difficulties later forced Elmer to dispose of both titles, which were then taken over by other publishers and have subsequently deteriorated (from the leg man's standpoint into run-of-the-mill "bosom" "bosom" books.

Batters continued shooting his favourite subject, but thus far has declined going back into publishing. "Too many headaches," he contends. "I don't want to make a million dollars as a dog-eat-dog publisher – I just want a comfortable income and the freedom to pursue my favourite art form, beautiful legs.

It was only natural, then, that Elmer Batters should be consulted by the editors of Tip Top for his advice and guidance in producing what they hope will be the logical successor to the original Black Silk Stockings.

"Legs will be with us for a long time to come," Elmer contends. "And as long as there are beautiful legs, there will be thousands upon thousands of leg men to appreciate them."

Elmer is still surprised by the reaction of the public to his first publishing ventures. After the second issue of Black Silk Stockings, he suddenly discovered that he was an international figure, acclaimed as the world's number one authority on beautiful legs. Letters poured in from all over the world requesting leg shots by Batters, many of the writers also asking that Elmer autograph the photos. Used copies of his first magazines are currently selling at from two dollars to five dollars per copy.

"The appeal of a well-turned pair of legs," Elmer thinks, "is largely to the mature man. Most younger men aren't interested in legs - they're still too overwhelmed by the sight of a naked woman to be able to appreciate her underpinning. But the mature man of the world can recognize and respond to quieter, more aesthetically satisfying forms of beauty."

When offered an advisory position on Tip Top, Batters stated that although his publishing days are over, he would be pleased and honoured to act as coordinating spokesman for the nation's leg men.

"I know there are a great many men who resent the casual treatment afforded legs in other publications," he said. "It'll be a pleasure to look out for their interests.

By Larry Maddock - Top Top No 1 (1960)

Telephone Cheesecake

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Cheesecake With A Telephone Gimmick

The primary purpose of cheesecake photography is to compose a picture with impact which is capable of casting a spell of enticing charm. In creating this optical illusion, it is necessary for the photographer to accentuate that combination of physical attributes, i.e., the face, arms, legs, and bust of an attractive girl which contributes to her complete physical beauty. In order to properly accentuate those physical attributes of a pretty girl it is advisable to associate them with a gimmick. A gimmick as Webster defines it is a device by which a magician works a trick. During the past number of years photographers like magicians have been working tricks through the use of gimmicks. Some of the most clever gimmicks we have become accustomed to enjoying either in picture magazines, advertisements on billboards, or on calendars are fireplaces, telephones, playing cards, and many others. By posing a girl with a telephone gimmick there are many angles revealed in which her beauty can be delusively glorified. Comparatively speaking, a telephone gimmick is to cheesecake as the application of the proper seasoning is to a tossed salad -they both require a special applicable technique. In cheesecake a telephone gimmick is capable of raising an average picture above the snapshot category into that type of photograph which is able to entice additional glamour from a pretty girl who has been graciously endowed with physical beauty.

Black Silk Stockings Volume 1 No 3 - Elmer Batters 1958