Hot Chicks Beat Rock'n'Roll Every Time

Alberto Vargas
Feb. 9, 1896-Dec. 3, 1983

Bill Haley, most famous for the song "Rock Around the Clock", virtually invented rock'n'roll. In fact, he coined the word rock'n'roll. But even though he died on this date in 1981, this entry isn't about him. While rock'n'roll may be important, Dead Person of the Day is more about people who have had an impact on me personally. And if you know me, and know what I'm all about, then this is an obvious choice. So, no Bill Haley this time. No, in my opinion another figure looms larger, and the name of said figure is Alberto Vargas.

Who?

Let me explain.

I could just wholesale copy the Wikipedia entry for Alberto Vargas, but I don't see the point. The guy's been dead for nearly 25 years and most of you have never heard of him, but you know his work. Vargas did one thing only and he did it better than anyone else...he painted beautiful women. Thousands of 'em. Born in Peru on this day in 1896, he came to the United States in 1916 after studying art in Europe and worked for many Hollywood studios. His greatest fame came in the 1940s painting pin-ups for Esquire magazine. Many of these were adapted and put on the noses of American fighter aircraft in World War II.

But again, mostly he just drew hot busty perfect women.

I admit I didn't know that much about the guy either, and a lot of what I now know about him I just learned from the internet, but I've always been in awe of his art. And I owned a piece of Vargas art long before I ever heard of the guy. The cover of The Cars' album Candy-O.



I've never studied art, but I've studied artists. No one else could do what this guy did. Many artists during that era painted magazine pin-ups, but Vargas' work excelled and its impact on our national culture during World War II cannot be disputed. In a time before the internet, before even Playboy, those pinups in Esquire gave the boys over there something to dream about, something to want to come home for. After all, they were literally fighting for our freedom.

And without freedom, there would never have been rock'n'roll.

Right?