"Please forgive this pencil, but if you could send me . . ." From Korea and U S training camps, letters with this sort of opening are streaming into Hollywood again, asking for pinups. The requests are already up 400% over the normal peacetime demand at M-G-M
World War II's favorite pin-up girls are holding their own. Two secretaries keep busy mailing out the classic shot of Betty Grable in a tight bathing suit. Studies of Rita Hayworth, who has not made a movie since 1948's The Loves of Carmen, are still in demand. Also in high favor: Jane Russell, Esther Williams, Virginia Mayo.
G.I.s also have an eye for new faces, bosoms and legs belonging to actresses who mostly went through World War II in bobby-sox: Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Jane Powell, Ruth Roman, Vera-Ellen, Debra Paget.
Most phenomenal is the special popularity of Ann Blyth, 22, who draws half her mail from Korea. Ann's fans want to see her photographed just from the neck up. Sample: "Please send us a head picture with that certain dreaminess in your eyes, just a sweet, simple picture."