Milestones - Early Pinball Art

[Patch]

Here Ya' go Itchy  :cheers: ...

Been looking at all tables at IPDB & other places
by year, from the mid '40s on
Doesn't seem to matter what the table theme was
they mostly featured pretty girls 

This entry - 1948 Bally Ballerina, has pics of all the original pencil art
by Lester Hilbrich ...

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=141&picno=56519

This one shows the best detail ...

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=141&picno=56518&zoom=1

Marc Bouchard has recreated this one, it's @ IRPinball

Pretty cool stuff - how it was done before computers

[Patch]

Gottlieb 1951 Mermaid, Roy Parker's artwork
... a refurbished Mermaid recently fetched $22,000 by auction
It has backbox animation, where a fisherman pulls up the boot
& behind his back pops up a fish, thumbing it's nose

[Patch]

William's 1953 '9 Sisters'

http://www.pinrepair.com/wmswood/9sister.htm

Not much more than head & shoulders, only the blonde on the backglass
& the raven haired on PF, sisters, go below the shoulders

This could be the first table with a ramp
William's called it "whirligig" a corkscrew solid metal type
Flipper & bumper caps painted gold & one of 6 tables
with EM scoring reels, for that year only ...

[Itchigo]

Thanks, I thought these were awesome!

[faralos]

wondering also if those ladies were maybe modeled after some famous names back then
like maybe Barbara Stanwyck, Marilyn Monroe and possibly Rita Hayworth for the three ladies on the pin
(had to google some of them)

[Itchigo]

I'm not sure. I enjoyed this so much at PN, I asked Patch if he'd post it here. I thought it was really cool. :cheers:

[Patch]

Wouldn't doubt it, faralos  :cool:

One I saw & didn't bookmark, knowing it was a school teacher
thought it was 'Teacher's Pet' - not - but found it again - Gottlieb 1952 'Happy Days'...

http://www.pinrepair.com/gtb/happyd.htm

... rumored to be of Hedy Lamar

[Itchigo]

I've seen Teacher's Pet (Popoette did it for FP), I thought this looked older than that.

[Patch]

Ha ha, I just recalled what she was pointing out, more than what the table was, lol

[faralos]

wow I wished my teachers looked like that!
Maybe I'd have stayed in school or listened more...nah!
but what a fantasy for the little kids in those days eh?
and seeing this one does make me wonder how many if any
 of those older pins really used real life models for their art
or did the artists just 'wing it' and make the ladies LOOK like famous people

[Itchigo]

I'm sure a little of both. I love the artwork on the older tables. There's just not a lot to do and the flipper gap is tttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiisssssssss wide!