Java's Bachelor Pad's exclusive
one-on-one with a classic pin-up gal!
A chat with June Wilkinson
(conducted 3/9/04)
Java's Bachelor Pad: So, tell me what you're
up to nowadays.
June Wilkinson: I'm a producer on the
show "The Directors" which is on Encore. It is a show about a director's
work. I have big names come on. I did Spielberg, Barbara Streisand. And
Tom Hanks came on, obviously, for Spielberg. And it has been a very successful
show and we're now in the, I think, third or fourth year and we got picked
up for two more years on Encore, so that's good. And we won a lot of awards,
which is nice too.
JBP: Do these people that you work with
now know about what you did in the 1950's?
JW: Oh, absolutely. I don't think I
can keep that a secret.
JBP: Well, not that you're keeping it a
secret, but do they shake your hand and say, "oh, it's you."
JW: Oh, yes. I'm proud of what I do.
Anybody who doesn't like it, I don't think they would be having a working
relationship with me. You have to respect and approve of people to work
well with them.
JBP: And that was a big part of your life.
JW: Oh, absolutely...and still is.
JBP: You started very young doing the men's
magazines modeling.
JW:
Well, I was a dancer (first). I dreamed of being a ballet dancer when I
was very young. And I used to go to dancing school, the Sussex School of
Dancing, every single day. Then I grew a little too tall. Now you have
tall ladies, but in those days you had to be sort of under 5'4" for ballet.
I don't know really why. I guess partners needed lighter ladies to lift
up or whatever. So, my body grew and we thought I could be the lead dancer
of the Windmill Theater. At the Windmill Theater they also had some nudity.
Because I was a dancer they gave me the fan dance to do in which I was
naked, but I had to make sure all the time I was dancing that I was totally
covered (by the fans). And at the very last moment there was a flash of
me stationary, naked. So, that was my first naked performance. You could
be naked and not move, (those) were the rules. But if you moved, while
you were naked they would close you down.
JBP: And how old were you when you were
doing the fan dance?
JW: Fifteen.
JBP: See, that nowadays would get people
in a lot of trouble.
JW: It was legal in England.
JBP: Oh, in England.
JW: Yes, it was legal. And if we're
going to talk about American legality on that, you had to be eighteen.
When I first came over here I was 17. I called up Hugh Hefner. Actually,
a gentleman by the name of Jimmy McCullough was with me, and my mom. We
called up Hugh Hefner and he said come on over and we took pictures. And
even though my mother was there, I was only 17, so Heff held the pictures
to my 18th birthday.
JBP: And then published them.
JW: Yes.
JBP: So, tell me about that transformation
to becoming the pin-up gal that everyone knew and loved from those men's
magazines.
JW: It wasn't a big deal to me. It wasn't
really. I was under contract with Seven Arts and when Playboy came out
they were not happy about that. And they (Seven Arts) had a big discussion
on what they could do. Warren Cowen was the publicist for me at the time.
They decided to make me the most publicized pin-up and nude in the world
so they hired Russ Meyer to take pictures of me. Actually, the deal they
made with Russ was if he took pictures he could sell them anyplace he wanted.
Obviously, I had the right to the pictures too, but he had the rights to
put them anyplace he wanted too. And that's what we did. Of course they
got a lot of attention.
JBP: You were in one of his movies in an
uncredited role, correct? The Immoral Mr. Teas.
JW: Absolutely. The reason I'm uncredited
was because I was under contract with Seven Arts and obviously they didn't
want me to be in a movie like Russ Meter's movie. So, Russ begged me and
said I've got to have your breasts in my movies somewhere. He said I won't
show your face and I won't give your credit. Please, I beg you to do it.
So, for free and for fun one day I just did that one shot that shows my
breasts where you can't see my face. And, of course, breasts are like fingerprints...no
two are alike. Everyone knew they were my breasts immediately.
JBP: Well, you were nicknamed "The Bosom."
I mean, you were really known for that...So,, during this time when you
were doing pin-up. You talked about working with Russ Meyer. What other
photographers did you work with that you really enjoyed working with and
of your photo sets, which ones, looking back now, do you think "oh, those
are the best ones I did."?
JW:
Mary Ann Greenwood. I love her pictures. Russ is a bust man and could care
less what my face looked like as long as the breasts look big and perky.
That's all he cared about. I don't think even perky...just big. Mary Ann
Greenwood loved the whole picture and she cared about lighting. Some of
my prettiest face-shots were done by Mary Ann Greenwood whether they be
a nude shot or clothed shot. She always cared about the face. As far a
fun shooting, Earl Leaf was a lot of fun to shoot with. He always made
me laugh and I will remember him forever because he's the one who taught
me how to drive. And I got my license to drive a car because of him. George
Hurrell...I liked his photographs. I don't think he gave my photographs
the attention he gave a lot of other people because I think he sort of
resented doing the girlie magazines.
JBP: There are some great features with
you in these classic girlie magazines. I've posted a few of them on the
website. They have titles like "The Bosom Buys A Bra" and
"June
Wilkinson Gets Ready For A Party." They are these big, kinda goofy
pieces. Did you have fun with that too? Did you get into the whole spirit
of that?
JW: Oh, Absolutely!
JBP: So nothing was terribly outrageous?
Too Outrageous? Because there's another one where you're in a performance
behind a Plexiglas thing and guys are shooting darts...
JW: Oh, well, I did that in England.
That one was for real. After I left the Windmill Theater. I got a little
mad at the Windmill because I was on my off-day and I wanted to do a show
Bob Monkhouse wanted me to do. A skit with him. And they found out I was
doing it and they said I couldn't do it and so I said well then I quit.
And then they said, afterwards when they saw his show, it was fine and
I could stay. And I said “No. No”...stubborn kid that I was...I said I'm
outta here. So then I needed to make a living so I started doing cabaret
in a lot of the nightclubs there. I was doing the fan dance, because that
was easy and I had the dance down perfectly. I think I was also doing it
at the Embassy Club, which was the swankiest...it would be like the Coconut
Grove in New York City when that was popular. (The Embassy Club) didn't
want me working for all the other clubs. I would start an evening
at one club and then go an hour later to another. I was doing about four
different clubs ending up at the Embassy Club. Lou and Leslie Grade (the
agents that booked the talent) found out what I made and offered me the
same amount just to play the Embassy Club, which was good for me, of course.
But we changed the act every once in a while. And then Davy Kay, who was
a big comedian at the time, said why don't we do this fun thing. And it
got so much attention. It was unbelievable.
JBP: Because that's the act you see reprinted
in a lot of the magazines.
JW: I Know. It was such a silly thing.
I couldn't believe all the shows I did there, that's the one that got in
all the magazines.
JBP:
Well, you were a sweetheart with those men's magazines. They loved you.
JW: Well, thank you.
JBP: And we love you now not that we have
rediscover these magazines. You're one of the stars of that whole world
of girlie magazines. And you had a long career with those girlie magazines.
JW: Absolutely. The last one I actually
posed for was Celebrity Sleuth. And that was in '97, I think it was. They
were doing they top sexiest women of the world and they said, "we would
like to add you in, but you have to take some nude pictures because we're
not saying has been, we're saying now." They were working on my ego, obviously.
And I said, well, I'm the token oldie, right? And they said, no no, we
still think you're great. So, they sweet-talked me into doing it. And so
that was a pretty long time (in magazines) if you consider from when I
was 15 to when I was 57.
JBP: You moved through the different
eras (of girlie magazines.) You can see the styles change from the 1950's
to the early 60's to the mid-60's. And you're there through it all. Did
you notice those changes?
JW: Oh, sure. We have hairstyle changes.
We have make-up changes. My very first pictures, when I was 15 and 16,
and I have dark hair, and I still had dark hair at 17. So anytime with
dark hair you know I was a teenager. But if you look at those pictures,
because I wanted to look older and (look like) the vamp, I have very harsh
make-up on. Dark, dark red lipstick. Heavy eye shadow. Heavy mascara. Whereas
come the 60's, was more of the hippie look and the longer hair and the
70's we had the teased-up hair look. Remember how we use to tease it up
really high? Masses of hair. And you were skinnier in those days too. They
didn't like women as pump as they did in the 50's. If you look at Marilyn
Monroe, her body is not a body for today's models who are very skinny,
skinny, skinny. I don't think they would be that skinny if they didn't
enhance the bosom. One thing about a real bosom, is when you lose weight,
you lose weight in your breasts too. So, I think the fact that now they
can be that thin and still retain a bosom...that's why you have thinner
bodies today.
JBP: Well, you also saw that change not
only in body-type, but in what magazines would allow.
JW: Yes. When I first posed for Playboy
there were no frontal pubic hair nudity. In fact, I don't think you'll
see any frontal hair nudity with me. I did, in the Celebrity Sleuth, have
a front shot in the swimming pool but the lower part of me is under about
four inches of water. So it's diffused.
JBP: But you saw that change (in magazines)
happening. How did you react to that?
JW: Well, I think there's a place for
that, but I would rather see certain magazines do that and then others
still have the pin-up. I think there was a freshness and a sweetness and
an innocence about all those pictures and I think that would have been
nice to keep that.
JBP: But I'm guessing that about the time
things got much harder was about the time when you were about done with
it.
JW: It was too harsh for me. I would
not feel right taking a picture frontal nudity, spread-eagle, lower-down
shot showing all the way up my vagina. Frankly, I would not be comfortable.
JBP: So at that point, you said that was
about it?
JW: Well, I still take other kinds of
pictures. But I do the pictures I want. I'm not going to be told what to
do by a photographer who wants for me to do something I'm not comfortable
with.
JBP: During the 60's you did a few movies.
You did Macumba Love. Tell me a little about doing pictures
like that. Because that was the big "see June in the water" (promotion).
JW: Well, that was because nudity was
only in foreign pictures. And it wasn't in America. If you showed a married
couple during that period they had to be in twin beds or they had to have
one foot on the floor. I mean, I don't understand these rules but that
was it. So, I had the shot where I was married in the movie and I'm frolicking
with my husband Bill Wellman Jr. in the ocean and I jump up and my top
falls off. That was it. I mean how innocent can you be. But it was only
allowed in the European version, but I think what made the picture...there
have been articles. I remember one big article that said, “My summer vacation
with Macumba Love”. (The reviewer) went to go see Macumba Love
every day of his summer vacation. And I think the reason for that was there
was one moment where I lean out of a taxi and my breasts fill the whole
screen and I think they had not been use to that in the movies before even
though I had my clothes on.
JBP:
Well, it was the era of the tight sweaters. That was the number one accessory.
That and Capri pants.
JW: Capri pants. Tight sweaters...and
a bullet brassier.
JBP: Now, it has been a couple of generations.
You not only have the men who saw you the first time around, but you have
basically their grandchildren...grandsons and such.
JW: I know. Isn't that fun when they
write me.
JBP: You have multiple generations who
have been fans of yours. How do you feel about that?
JW: I'm flattered. I have never hid
my age. Never in an article will you see a lie about my age. If it is,
it isn't me lying. I just want to be the best that I can be at the age
I am, whatever age that is...whatever time. What is growing old gracefully?
I want to grow old with as much health, and vigor, and good looks and mental
capacity that I can. And I want to be a sensual, sexual person to the day
I die.
See also:
Femme Fatale--June
Wilkinson
"June
Wilkinson Goes to a Party"
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