Maple Leaf Studios

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Maple Leaf Studios - Folkestone - Kent

I have recently put up for sale a small selection of prints on the Brazen site that originated from Maple Leaf Studios in Folkestone. These prints have attracted quite a bit of attention, with a few people contacting me to fill in some gaps with extra information. I like these pictures, and I am sure in there time they must have been quite popular.

What I Know or Don’t Know

I am told that Linda was the big star of Maple Leaf Studios, and I am also reliably informed that she was the photographer’s wife or partner. It must have been nice to keep it in-house that way. I do have other very similar-looking prints that could have possibly been produced and sold by Maple Leaf Studios. It would be helpful to have some clarification on this, especially if you ever bought prints from Maple Leaf Studios.

I have scanned a very poor photocopy of the information that would have been sent out if you responded to their advertisements, which I am told used to appear in the back pages of Fiesta and Escort. I have extracted the text from that sheet to make it more readable; it's hard to believe that they actually sent out such poor copies to potential customers.

Prints

I have scanned what I have and will be making some of them available as improved 5” x 7” reprints on the Brazen site if you'd like to indulge in a bit of nostalgia. I am keen to acquire more of these prints and am willing to pay well for them. Alternatively, I'd be happy to arrange exchange reimbursement if that would work better for you. Contact Me

More Information

As always, if you have any more information on Maple Leaf Studios or the models, please take the time to comment below or contact me directly so that I can keep things updated.

Delta Pictures - Magazines

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Delta Pictures

Many thanks again to TocoFan for his comments on the Delta Pictures post. The girl featured in the Parisiennes book is we think Maria Montez, who had a couple of ToCo appearances in Spick No. 237 and Beautiful Britons No. 217. The other girl featured with Maria in the scan that TocoFan sent in is Helena McGuire, who was seen just once in Spick and Span Extra No. 50. These sets and pictures tie in nicely with TocoFan’s comments, as all those pictures appeared in magazines published in late 1973 and early 1974.

The gallery shows the scanned images sent in by TocoFan, along with pictures from The Parisiennes book and the photos used in the ToCo book sets featuring Helena and Maria. Judge for yourselves.

I do find it hard to believe that nobody has any more information on these Delta books, which are quite nice. Surely, someone must have collected them and know a little more about them or the publisher. Contact me privately if you don’t want to leave a comment. It is just nice to keep all this information up to date.

Check Maria's and Helena’s tags below to see the original ToCo sets.

Delta Magazines Information Required.

Linda Deane

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If you want it, then come and get it.

To me, Linda always looks like she’s up for a bit of fun, and these two pictures are no exception. She has that naughty 'come and get it' glint in her eyes. Linda was a popular model during the 1970s, appearing in all kinds of magazines in addition to her appearances for ToCo.

From an original print.

Lulu Betts

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What's French For Lulu?

"Pardon me, duck," said the London docker who was on a day trip to Boulogne, "'but what's French for Lulu?"

The exquisite young French thing hesitated on the pavement. She wasn't sure of the question, and she wasn't sure of herself. The London docker was brown, muscular and vibratory.

"Lulu?" she said.

"That's her," said he, "I met her at a charity ball in Shoreditch. Full name of LULU BETTS. Said she was French and came from Barcelona."'

"Ah, zat Barcelona, it in Spain," said the shy French piece.

"Well, I'm blowed, I've been blinded by science," said the docker.

The fact is, Lulu Betts is very much a pure Anglo-Saxon. She has a flat in London, and she didn't say she was French and came from Barcelona, she said she found it a wrench to leave Barcelona, where she'd been on holiday. The docker happened to be a bit hard of hearing that night, but he made out all right with the French doll, you'll be pleased to know.

Span No 236 - April 1974

Estelle Warner

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Who's Young and Beautiful

"Ah," said Mr. Pyper, putting his head into the ladies' gown shop in Malvern, Worcs, "who's young and beautiful, then, eh?"

"Oh, you are awful," said the lovely 18-year-old salesgirl. She was ESTELLE WARNER and she was just trying to get a small-size sweater on an outside dummy. And Mr. Pyper, whose other name was Joseph, was the young man who worked in the fishing-gear shop close by. He liked to pop in occasionally—about ten times a day— to ensure he wasn't missing anything. He was dead keen on Estelle, and so are quite a few other fellers, as you can imagine. But she's in the middle of being absolutely dedicated to her job, and all she could offer Mr. Pyper was some advice to either go away or get poked in the eye with a dress hanger.

"I'll risk a poke in the eye," said Mr. Pyper, "it's worth it to see you reaching for red ribbon on the top shelf."

"Right, cheeky-chops," said Estelle and Mr. Pyper slipped out just in time to miss being injured. Estelle can't half lash out when she needs to.

Span No 236 - April 1974

Sharon Gale

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Yorkshire Vista

Making the Yorkshire countryside look even better than it is, SHARON GALE is quite a vista all by herself.

Sharon has recently left college to enter the world of modelling and is finding lots of opportunities in the big cities of the north. It doesn't all happen in London and New York, you know. We're glad about that. It makes the whole world lively.

Sharon is a pop fan, of course, and also likes a good book as long as the story has a modern background.

Beautiful Britons No 242 - January 1976

Sally McGregor

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Flower Arranging

Sally McGregor or Angela Perkins. Sally only appeared for ToCo four times, with three of those appearances under the name of Angela Perkins. These are great pictures, of which I have a few more that I hope to show over the next few weeks. These two pictures were never published in a magazine but were sold as prints.

Valetta - Private Collection

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Sitting Pretty

Two more of Valetta from the private collection of negatives, with her giving us a very teasing glimpse of her stocking tops and petticoat. The cameraman was obviously excited by what he saw, as he managed to cut her feet off in both pictures.

Sandra Sonning

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Dolly Bird

Dolly birds come in all colours and some wear feathers too. SANDRA SONNING lights up as a vivacious redhead, and with or without feathers comes under the category of what someone's grandfather calls a "corking eyeful of Chelsea architecture M to Z." Sandra is nineteen, works full-time as a secretary and part-time as a model.

Span No 186 - February 1970

Sandra Norvic

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I Say, Miss

Salesgirl SANDRA NORVIC of Middlesex heard the call behind her.
"I say, miss!"
"Yes?" smiled Sandra over her shoulder.
Up came Jonathan Burntwhistle, a gay old geezer of sixty or so.
"Er—I thought you ought to know-um-that your dress—I say, it's hot, ain't it?" He dabbed his russet forehead.
"What's bothering you?" smiled Sandra, the sweetest 18-year-old dolly anyone could wish to meet by an old mill stream.
"Ah—er—you're all hooked up," said Mr. Burntwhistle.
"Oh, dear," blushed Sandra, "how embarrassing." "I ain't exactly embarrassed," he coughed, "in fact, I ain't seen such a nice pair of black silk knickers since Dora Tippledown fell off the swings in nineteen hundred and twelve."
"How sweet of you to notice," smiled Sandra and patted him on the head and sent him on his way.

Spick No 262 - September 1975

Nicola Taylor

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Tight Squeeze For Nicola

These two pictures were featured in Span No. 243, during the twilight of ToCo’s run. They were probably taken much earlier, as they were certainly in the business of regurgitating pictures at this time that had not been used from earlier sets. 

There is no mumbo jumbo attached to them; they were just being used to advertise the sale of prints and to fill space. 

Nicola is clearly wearing tights with her knickers over the top, which was more common when tights were starting to become more popular.

Span No 243 - November 1974

Jan Warner

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P.T. Pet

It's nice to be in Wales now, bach. Nice and invigorating. Well, it is at a certain summer school where the physical training instructor happens to be JAN WARNER, gymslip and all.
But fellers who roll up thinking what a dish don't half get the palsied vertigo-colloquial language for the shakes when she gets them hooted and booted into their first P.T. session of the day, which happens to be well before breakfast.
It's all strictly tutorial with Jan. She's only got one thought as far as the male students are concerned, and that's to lick them all into a decent shape.
What a pet.
We took these pin-up pics of her just to let you see what lovely legs she's got and that she's in utterly enchanting shape herself.

Spick No 262 - September 1975

Margaret Wade

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Additional

We did give you some shots of MARGARET WADE in our January issue, and berserk readers kept ringing up to ask for more. Well, we found some additional shots of Margaret-indoor pics this time-and here they are. Only this time don't sound so hysterical on the phone.

Just to remind you, Margaret is a receptionist and a lover of the countryside, and if you ever see a horse looking particularly handsome because of its rider, and the location is Sussex, then it could be Margaret out for a gallop over the Downs.

Beautiful Britons No 184 - March 1971

Sara Stuart

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Is That Better

Is what better?
The telly, silly. Is the picture better?
The young man said that as far as he was concerned the television was entirely non-existent, since he had never believed that any inanimate man-made object, no matter how many dials and wires it had, could be regarded as real when compared with that which was a gift of nature.
SARA STUART, Ayrshire girl, thought he was trying to give a lecture on social welfare. Beautiful but by no means vain, Sara had no idea just how much better she looked than the television set.
The young man, quite earnestly absorbed in his subject, went on about tramcars and monuments, lucidly dissecting the argument that these things can be looked at with sympathy and admiration, and emphasising his own argument about things that really mattered.
At the end of it all Sara, a secretary with a liking for classical music, said she supposed that what he meant was that he wasn't bothered about the television programme.
"Oh good," said the young man, "you've caught on. How about coming out to dinner with me?'
"I was beginning to think,' said Sara,' that you'd never ask.'

Beautiful Britons No 181 - 1970

Samantha Brown

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What Could Be More Appropriate?

Life is full of intriguing little surprises.

When we found SAMANTHA BROWN she herself was a delicious surprise, because we were actually looking for a surplus beer barrel in a coopers' yard. We wanted to go over Niagara Falls in it and get our name in the North American papers. Anyway, we couldn't find one comfortable enough, so we gave up and bumped into this delicious surprise, who turned out to be a lovely Hampshire girl.

Samantha provided the intriguing little surprise because we found out that as a pin-up girl, with a particular flair for modelling lingerie, she is also a part-time underwear representative. Yes indeed, what could be more appropriate than that?

Samantha is twenty-five, and a happy housewife with what her husband calls a divine talent for gardening.

Beautiful Britons No 184 - March 1971