SEVEN SIRENS

Year Published: 1946

Format: 16mm

Description: In 1946, a young filmmaker named Leo Caloia shot 16mm film footage of the "Blue Book Models" -- a group of starlets who posed in fashion shows at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Blue Book Modeling Agency was managed by Emmeline Snively, and its most famous member was Norma Jean Baker, later known to the world as Marilyn Monroe. The footage was released in a series of short films made by "World in Color Productions", a short-lived firm created by photographer Harold F. Jenkins. Jenkins' HFJ Pictures catalog included b&w and color versions of the modeling films, as well as more risque titles, and some non-fiction travelogues such as film profiles of national parks. They were sold through ads in magazines and in catalogs. This reel contains a couple of the "World in Color" releases, beginning with "Seven Sirens" including Marilyn Monroe as well as other models. Footage at 3:38 is a fragment of another "World in Color" release, and was probably provided as a "tease" to the buyer of one of the b&w shorts. At 3:53, "Glamour Newsreel Issue #2" shows scenes at the Ambassador Hotel pool, with models on parade and relaxing poolside with cigarettes (5:15). At (7:21) another film "Glitter Girls" shows off Blue Book Models lounging in the sun, in new and fairly risque (for the era) bikinis. At (6:00) the models have a bit of fun with a still camera on the grounds of the Ambassador. At 10:42, an untitled film shows two models in dress clothes, admiring flowers. The setting is unknown but could be in the Los Angeles vicinity.

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