The 1950s beta testing page
If the 1940s was a bit short, then the 1950s will certainly make up for it!! In the 1950s inspiration came from the beginnings of space travel and atomic bombs. So we had huge monsters and space rockets. We also had futuristic costumes...and lots and lots of lovely ladies. Most of them were of the screaming genre, often abducted by weird monsters, but we do encounter some deeper characters from time to time. Either way - there were plenty of gorgeous ladies in this decade. Sadly, mainly due to the lack of imagery and poor quality of film in some cases, this section only currently deals with a fraction of them.
The screamers.
In my blog, I described a hierarchy of sci-fi babes according to their sci-fi attributes. Here, I'm introducing another level of character which I think is part and parcel of the way in which women were seen in the past - some may well argue that this is still true today, but that's for another site to argue about. I'm talking about the screamer! Yes, the hopeless female character who screams at the slightest sight of an alien monster, usually paired up with Mr Macho, the beefy but brainy scientist who always seems to save the day. Not a favourable stereotype but it did exist. Here's a few examples...
Julie Adams played by Kay Lawrence in The Creature From the Black Lagoon
Julie Adams was a scientist girlfriend of an icthyologist, but spent most of her time parading in a swimsuit and being abducted by a creature - standard 1950s stuff.
Dr Patricia Medford played by Joan Weldon in Them!
Giving a female actor a scientific qualification, together with intelligent actions and dialogue makes for a more believable character, and this was certainly the case with Dr Medford, a specialist in insects, who's knoweledge was invaluable when huge irradiated ant were discovered in the New Mexico desert. Far from being frightened by the creatures, she volunteered to go down into the belly of the colony, deep underground, in order to study the insects.
The screamers.
In my blog, I described a hierarchy of sci-fi babes according to their sci-fi attributes. Here, I'm introducing another level of character which I think is part and parcel of the way in which women were seen in the past - some may well argue that this is still true today, but that's for another site to argue about. I'm talking about the screamer! Yes, the hopeless female character who screams at the slightest sight of an alien monster, usually paired up with Mr Macho, the beefy but brainy scientist who always seems to save the day. Not a favourable stereotype but it did exist. Here's a few examples...
Julie Adams played by Kay Lawrence in The Creature From the Black Lagoon
Julie Adams was a scientist girlfriend of an icthyologist, but spent most of her time parading in a swimsuit and being abducted by a creature - standard 1950s stuff.
Dr Patricia Medford played by Joan Weldon in Them!
Giving a female actor a scientific qualification, together with intelligent actions and dialogue makes for a more believable character, and this was certainly the case with Dr Medford, a specialist in insects, who's knoweledge was invaluable when huge irradiated ant were discovered in the New Mexico desert. Far from being frightened by the creatures, she volunteered to go down into the belly of the colony, deep underground, in order to study the insects.
The 1950s
Monsters, robots, flying saucers, invasions from outer and inner space and much more! The 1950s was a truly golden age for cinema-goers and fans of science fiction as the atomic age and space race loomed. And whilst the true sci-fi babe was still under development, the female characters were starting to offer credibility. This era brings us the groundbreaking Forbidden Planet, one of my favourites, and The War of the Worlds. The films were often low-budget, cross-genre and aimed at teenagers to draw audiences from the comic-book world - just perfect for this web site!
Other Posts
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The Batman Question
Is Batman science fiction? -
Is jessica Alba a sci-fi babe?
Why I think she isn't -
A brief history of scifi babes
Who was the first scifi babe? -
The Women of Star Trek
To boldly go... -
The Women of Marvel and DC
A comic inspiration -
Dr Who companions
Well, at least the female ones -
The story of Barbarella
My view on a classic -
Resident Evil
Alice et al
Tags
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