Elmer Batters

Man's Favorite Pastime, Number 1
Kelly Publishing Company
Long Beach. California
ca. 1957

digital replica

We read some websites to get a date for Man's Favorite Pastime, Number 1, but all we found was that morality police entangled Mr. Batters in some legal snares over the foot fetishism of that magazine and Black Silk Stockings. We've pegged the date as 1957, but it might have been earlier.

Published by Edward Kelly, we're guessing the experience led Mr. Batters to experiment with his own publishing company soon after. Any artist (creator of unique images) with an explicit vision would want to run every aspect of his business, which Batters did in the 1950s and 1970s.

Some comments on websites attribute a dark subtext to Elmer's simple fascination with femininity, proposing that his work is infused with bdsm code. This isn't a stretch; it's a fabrication.

Few 1950s photographers (e,g., John Willie, Sam Menning) were as occupied with the presentation of feet and legs as Mr. Batters. Mr. Coutts' photographs did show some woman-to-woman bondage and discipline. Some of Mr. Menning's models posed holding a whip. But there's not a whiff of that in Mr. Batters' work. The cover says both Man and Girl, identifying the material as plainly heterosexual.

Man's Favorite Pastime promises pictures of the “The Most Beautiful Girls in the World,” that is, the world according to Elmer. But where do we — consumers of his media content — see these girls? They are at home, his home. That's his fantasy: to have his kitchen and hearth beautified by the presence of cheerful women with lovely legs standing on tiptoe. If he had a choice of decorating his living room with Botticelli's Venus or Melody Ward posing in full-fashioned stockings held in place by frilly white garters, we know what he would choose.

Not a cabaret, a bowling alley or a dungeon, it's leg, foot and stocking fetishism in a domestic setting. None appears as goddess (a man can't touch a goddess). Not a focus of worship, but an object of desire.

Many pin-up paintings show the female character at a point in a narrative. With essential precision, Elmer produced static scenes in a context that expresses unique functionality: spectacular household décor. They are not at home alone. They decorate Elmer's home. (Many of his later photo shoots occur outdoors at various venues such as, backyard swings, the desert, seaside, cars).

And to further objectify his subjects, he directed them to pose their limbs in accordance with a strict shaping protocol. He described his rigorous geometry in an essay titled Accentuating the Curve Line in an issue of Black Silk Stockings:

An attractive girl with a full and shapely figure has been and shall always be the most fascinating subject matter for artists and photographers in their quest for accentuating the line that follows the arc of a circle — the curve line. In accentuating the curve line of a curvaceous girl through the lens of the camera, there are many contributing factors to consider which can either add or subtract from the finished picture. In pin-up photography while posing an attractive girl for a picture that will be full of glamour it is necessary, like so many other things in life, to start at the very bottom and work up to the top. The tantalizing beauty of an attractive girl has its beginning right from the very tip of her toes with the line curving inward and outward ever upward to the very end of the curve line.

The curve line ends where thighs meet hips, many a man's favorite destination. The competent young photographer serves as our surrogate witness to the curvaceous glamour he positions in his house.

His fascination with femininity expresses a wonder he experiences but doesn't explain. Even though he controls every aspect of the photo shoot, his subjects sparkle with seductive mystery. He leaves their shoes in the frame after they're kicked off: the precious paraphernalia of female beings who wink from the other side of the gender curtain. Their charm (not their tyrannical whims) commands our attention, the intoxicating allure of a fetishist's fetish.

The cover says FIRST EDITION, which might make this Mr. Batters' first magazine. Most photographs show his distinctive style and those that don't are also excellent. As magazine editor, he's written blurbs that accompany pictorials with his byline. In them, he defines his ideals and values and gives useful advice about glamour photography, which he sometimes calls leg art.

The editor selected Melody Ward as “the first girl with 'Stars in Her Eyes,'” a regular feature that publicizes gifted newcomers to Hollywood who aspire to show business careers. With dark, wavy tresses and splendid curves, she shows her movie star poise in snug hosiery. Other models include Ann Paige, Vivian Maledy, Sue Sorell, Nancy Goode, and Dane Arden in slacks.

Brightness and contrast were adjusted and shadows reduced. A single photo fills most pages. Professional photography transposed to ebook format with clarity.

All new scans. 32 pages plus covers.

The ebook contains all content of magazine, including advertising, in the original page sequence. Some walls and floors were cropped out to obtain a smaller file size. Except for the cover, all pictures are monochrome.

The page-two editorial makes this promise:

MAN'S FAVORITE PASTIME is admiring photos of pretty girls. With this PASTIME foremost in mind, it shall be the Editorial Policy of PASTIME to have only the photos of the most beautiful girls. Therefore, to insure that this policy will be maintained the Publisher has selected the world's leading glamour photographer, ELMER A. BATTERS, to serve as the Editor of MAN'S FAVORITE PASTIME.

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