A man with a head full of Varga girls might not have much time for reading contracts. Peru-born Alberto Vargas, slight, black-mustached creator of Esquire's pin-up girls, claims that he signed his without reading it. He further claims that his trusted employer said, "This is one contract you can sign with your eyes closed."
According to Artist Vargas, he thought the deal was $18,000 annually for 26 Varga girls a year. The contract actually called for one Varga girl a week for ten years, at $12,000 a year. That was a "physical impossibility," said Vargas—the girls must first be born in the...