Rosa Domaille

Also known as  –  Eve Eden

Rosa was born as Rosa Annie Domaille in Norton Radstock in Somerset, the cider county. In her youth, she worked as a stitcher in a shoe factory but dreamed of being a fashion model. Her dream came – well, almost; she became a knickers and stocking model, one of the most iconic glamour pin-ups of her day.

ToCo must have looked back when in its prime and taken great pride in the fact that, according to the blurb in 66 No 30 at least, her first step into modelling was as a result of the recruiting campaign the company ran to entice undiscovered talent out of their country farms and city bedsits and into the studio. It stretches the imagination to breaking point to think that these rustic innocents didn’t realise they would be down to their knickers before the photographers had taken his lens cap off. Anyway, she sent in some snaps and, before you could say “sleaze”, she was on the pages of the June 1957 editions of both Spick and Beautiful Britons. Once established as a model and looking to go down the path of film and TV, she changed her name to Eve Eden.

She is a confusing model, difficult to categorise. She did a very broad spectrum of modelling work ranging from nudist magazines (Health and Efficiency) to blatant pornography, though only solo – the sort of stuff sold in the ‘60s in sleazy Soho shops in small cellophane envelopes. She was one of the earlier ToCo models, appearing regularly in all the titles from the mid-‘50s to early ‘60s and very popular, especially so, perhaps, after she was signed up by Bill Watts (who first saw her in Spick), London’s leading glamour agent in early 1958. Watts also ‘looked after’ Sabrina and Shirley Ann Field. But, first and foremost, she was one of Harrison Marks’ most featured models, regularly appearing in his collection of publications such as QT, Kamera and Solo where she did much hairier stuff than in the ToCo pin-ups – actually much less hairy would be closer to the mark as she is shaven in nearly all that work. She also found moderate success in the film and TV world, even getting a part in the Beatles 1965 film Help!.

The confusion arises from the fact that, despite all the ‘legit’ work, there was a phase in her career when she was seen in many sequences that are much more pornographic (some of it surprisingly erotic despite its lack of subtlety), including a number of bondage shoots tied up in a cellar clad in stockings, knickers (often halfway down her thighs) and suspenders.

ToCo claims her hobbies were cycling, cooking and dancing. Photo editor Robin Brewster also informs us that Rosa shared a flat with another ToCo model – Fiona Callum, the blonde with whom she did duo shoots.

When she was 28 and at the height of her modelling career, she married 46-year-old bank manager Claudio Anthony Marinelli in the London district of Marylebone on 8 August 1969. At some stage, Rosa and her husband moved to the States and they are apparently both still alive. At the time of writing, June 2014, Rosa was 73 and Claudio 91.

Personal Details  –  Born 30 August 1940      38-23-36

Appearances  –  61 (16 covers, 9 back covers), debut Beautiful Britons 20 (June 1957)

Spick  –  43, 48, 49, 51, 53, 104, 105, 112(bc), 113, 114, 131, 175, 179, 248, X1, X2, X4, X11

Span  –  42, 44, 63(bc), 80, 95, 104, X2, 10

Beautiful Britons  –  20, 23, 27(bc), 28(bc), 31, 36, 38, 46, 67, 79, 80, 90, 106, X2, X5(bc), X10, X14

Spick & Span Extra  –  7, 41, 48, 59

Annual  –  3

Holiday Special  –  2

Funfare  –  9(bc), 10, 23(bc), 24

66  –  24, 26, 27, 28, 29(bc), 30, 35, 51