This week I ran across a familiar (to me) image on the cover of the November 1972 edition of Rascal magazine, their Special Nude Movie issue. But I couldn’t immediately figure out why it was so familiar. It took me a few minutes to dredge the recesses of my mind and realize that it also graces the cover of another rag, which also happens to be another “special” issue, Adam’s Special Report #10, Girls Who Do Sex Films (also from 1972, and somewhat well-known for the interviews with such early adult actresses as Kathy Hilton, Suzanne Fields, Maria Arnold, and Uschi Digard). Although a quick eye will notice the two pictures are not exactly identical.
So where are these images from you might ask yourself (I did)?
Well it’s none other than the Harry Novak/Bethel Buckalew 1971film BELOW THE BELT! And yes, that is Uschi Digard herself in that heavenly pose!
The un-obfuscated version of this picture is just so angelic, the lighting, the pose, the back ground…to think this was almost 100% positively an unstaged picture, more than very likely taken from the 35mm movie film itself, makes it all the more amazing. And in my humble opinion, if this image isn’t iconic yet, then it damn well should be!
And to that point, how do images become icons in the modern, 21st Century world? They become a MEME! And the more political the better. So with that in mind, I give you some options to share around amongst your friends at the online punch bowls you may frequent:
One final note, this post originated on the Something Weird Video Facebook Group page, and the Facebook Morality Police dinged me on two of the four pictures I posted. But the thing is, all four pictures were basically and fundamentally THE SAME THING! So why did their stupid alogrith ding two of them but not the other two? Because their stupid algorith is developed by stupid people to enforce a stupid concept! I pushed back and got both pictures un-dinged, but they still kept me in Facebook Jail for 24 hours (even though they fully admit I’d done nothing wrong). So you won’t see me posting any of these memey-things there, and be careful if you do too.
*** UPDATE *** August 30, 2021
Thanks to a tip we have another sighting of The Image, this time from an Italian poster (!) for a 1979 French film (!!) Caresses Inavouables. I wonder how THAT happened?
