• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Key Artists
    • Rolf Armstrong
    • Mahlon Blaine
    • Henry Clive
    • Gil Elvgren
    • Cardwell Higgins
    • Earl Moran
    • Charles Gates Sheldon
    • Arthur Prince Spear
    • Bunny Yeager
  • About
  • Browse by Topic
  • Contact

Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

  • Gallery Blog
  • Golden Gallery
  • Fine & Decorative
  • Illustration & Advertising
  • Paperback & Pulp
  • Pin-Up & Glamour
Pin-Up & Glamour Art

Pep Stories Spicy Majorette

Artist:Earle K. Bergey
Date:1935
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:Sight size 22" x 27" Framed 27 1/2" by 32 3/4"
Condition:Excellent with some minor craquelure in the finish gloss
Original Use:Cover for Pep Stories - October, 1935
Full view of oil on canvas cover painting
Full view of oil on canvas cover painting

 

The artist's signature lower left
The artist’s signature lower left

 

The painting as the October, 1935 cover for Pep Stories
The painting as the October, 1935 cover for Pep Stories

This rare original oil on canvas spicy pulp painting by Earle K. Bergey is an exciting recent estate find.  Used as the cover of the October, 1935 issue of Pep Stories, this topless majorette pin-up girl exudes perhaps just a little too much “pep” as she winds up tumbling back-side-first into a large marching drum. This captures the exuberance and decadence of 1930s chorus hall burlesque, and comes from the collection of Sire Records mogul Seymour Stein, which makes the music theme all the more resonant.

Pep Stories was one of the most popular spicy pulp titles, and the longest running “girlie pulp” in publication. Throughout the 1930s, the spicies pushed the envelope of what was considered decent, celebrating the risqué, daring, and free-spirited.  Even as censors tried to ban them from the newsstands, the popularity of these affordable, wild and highly modern magazines continued to grow. The colorful sexy covers were a tremendous part of their allure, and Bergey was one of the most innovative artists to be associated with this dazzling genre.  We were fortunate enough to acquire a second example by the artist from the Seymour Stein collection, and it too is available on the site.

Detail
Detail
Framed in handsome gold and black gallery frame
Framed in handsome gold and black gallery frame
Frame corner profile detail
Frame corner profile detail

 

Verso view of untouched back canvas on original pine stretchers
Verso view of untouched back canvas on original pine stretchers

Pep Stories Spicy Majorette

Artist: Earle K. Bergey

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1930s, art deco, Earle K. Bergey, flapper, Golden Age, magazine cover, nude, Pep Stories, pin up, pulp, risque, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: June 4, 2015

 

Contact Grapefruit Moon Gallery



    Primary Sidebar

    Join our mailing list

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery Around the Web

    • Facebook
    • Instagram

    Copyright © 2025