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1940s Varga and Al Moore Esquire Girl Calendars A

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Paper Start Price:120.00 USD Estimated At:350.00 - 400.00 USD
1940s Varga and Al Moore Esquire Girl Calendars A
<B>1940s Varga and Al Moore Esquire Girl Calendars</B></I> Alberto Vargas was born in Peru, studied in France and moved to the United States in 1916. Discovered by Flo Ziegfield while doing window displays, Vargas painted Ziegfeld girls for twelve years. He was hired by <I>Esquire</B></I> magazine when George Petty left in 1941. The publisher, David Smart, changed his signature name to Varga, thinking it sounded more exotic. It was while at Esquire that Varga produced the images for the first two calendars in this lot which are 12" x 8.5" in size. The 1944 calendar has verses by Phil Stack such as this one for January <I>"My New Year's resolution involves a sweet routine. I'm going to bed an hour ahead and dream of my marine!"</B></I> The 1945 calendar (original envelope included) also features Varga's girls and Phil Stack's verses such as for April, "<I>April is romantic and each her must have a him. This honey has a serviceman away out on a limb!."</B></I> Needless to say, these calendars were <I>extremely</B></I> popular with servicemen during World War II. The last of the three original vintage calendars in this lot is the Deluxe Esquire Girl calendar for 1949 with images by Al Moore. It is a larger 16" x 11" in size and the original mailing envelope is included although with tears and edge roughness. All three of these rare and desirable calendars are in fine condition. Note: the 1949 calendar will work for the rest of 2005! Lot:253