1950s American Underground: The Art of Eric Stanton, Bettie Page & Steve Ditko

Eric Stanton: The King of Pin-Up Art. This is an abridged censored version I uploaded for YouTube. Dig the transcript on my website: https://witsendpod.com/podcast-episod...

CHAOS ENSUES MEDIA:
-Website: https://witsendpod.com
-YouTube channel:    / @witsendpod  
-Support the channel on Patreon:   / thechaosensues  

There's a 50/50 chance this salacious joint will be taken down by the Powers That Be. This is the abridged censored for YouTube version but viewer's discretion advised anyway.

Covering Eric Stanton, the pioneer of pin-up art. Before he became the pin-up pioneer, he was just Ernest Stanzoni Jr. Born in Brooklyn in 1926, he had a father who worked constantly and a mother who wasn’t home often. So his Aunt May looked after him while he looked after his sister, Eleanor.

(Going to highlight the Stanton book by Richard Perez Seves because it was a foundation in making this essay. Check out my sources below.)

As an adult, he enlisted in the Navy during the Second World War. He went on to work with a guy named Boody Rogers (no, that's not his real name) and got some experience in the comic book field. When he went to the School of Visual Arts in the early 50s, he met one of the most important collaborators in his life. The artist Steve Ditko.

This essay also goes into Stanton's collaborations with pin-up publisher, Irving Klaw (and his sister Paula) from Movie Star News. As the Klaw siblings were Stanton's gateway into the world of pin-ups. During his Klaw collaborations, Stanton crossed paths with his muse, the artist, model and Queen of Pin-Up herself, Bettie Page.

One of the lesser known parts of The Amazing Spider-Man's comic origins and history is how Stanton had a role. Stanton's son even mentioned how Peter Parker is a mix between his father and Steve Ditko.

Ditko, Page and Stanton would regularly work on similar projects while dealing with censorship, court subcommittees and the stigma that came from working in their fields. While Ditko went on to work in superhero comics, he and Stanton continued to collaborate and share a studio.

With all of Stanton and Page's struggles, they would become pioneers in their fields.

Be sure to check out other comic documentaries on my channel. Thanks for watching.

TIME CODES:
-0:00—Disclaimer
-0:31—Eric Stanton History
-3:46—School of Visual Arts and Steve Ditko
-5:13—Ten I See (Bettie Page History)
-8:51—Other themes
-10:51—Steve Ditko studio
-12:54 Spider-Man Comics Origin History
-16:08—Later Career (Stantoons)
-17:38—Legacy
-19:05—Life Changing Information

VIDEO SOURCES:

-Eric Stanton Book (Eric Stanton & the History of the Bizarre Underground by Richard Pérez Seves): https://www.amazon.com/Eric-Stanton-H...

-New York Footage:    • New York Scenes (1940)  -Steve Ditko footage property of Ditko Estate

-Bettie Page and Irving Klaw Footage (Bettie Page Reveals All Documentary by Mark Mori from 2012)

-Tom Stanten Interview (2014) from SMGalleries:    • SM Galleries Interview with the Son of Eri...  

-Eric Stanton Spider-Man Interview (Greg Theakston’s Steve Ditko Reader Vol. 1 from 2002)