THE QUEEN OF CURVES

See Also: WILLIAM BLAKE Post-Blake Blake, Jerusalem; PORNOGRAPHY; SOHO

Pamela Green (1929-2010) was born the daughter of a liberally-minded architect. She attended St Martins School of Art. While doing so she helped finance her studies by working as a live model at other art colleges; her parents had to give permission for this as she was then aged under 21. Subsequently, she posed nude in West End tableaux shows. Looking for work as a pin-up model she contacted the Soho photographer Douglas Webb.¹ Cheesecake photographs of her were published in magazines such as Men Only and Lilliput. The photographers whom she went on to work with included the likes of Bill Brandt and Angus McBean. She became known as the Queen of Curves .

On the set of the movie Folies Berg re (1953), Green met the snapper George Harrison Marks, with whom she began a relationship. He was an alcoholic whose career as a comedian had failed. She became his business manager and posed as a model for him for blue postcards. The success of these prompted the couple to launch Kamera, a pocket-sized pornographic magazine. She drew upon her art school education to design and build sets for the photo-shoots. The range of models available was extended by the simple ruse of Green dyeing her hair different colours and applying make up to her skin to create a cast that had names such as Rita Landr and Princess Sonmar. 15,000 copies of the first edition were sold within two days and 150,000 over five weeks.

The red-headed Landr drew Green to the notice of the film director Michael Powell. He cast her as the model Millie in the movie Peeping Tom (1959). The role involved her making the first nude appearance in a British feature film. Her character was murdered by being impaled upon the leg of a camera tripod. The set upon which Millie was dispatched was based upon a Parisian street scene that Green had created for a feature in Kamera.

She and Marks set up Kamera Publications, a business that published girly calendars and made 8mm striptease films. She appeared in his directorial debut, the 35mm nudist film Naked As Nature Intended (1960). This involved herself, four other women, and a large beach ball. The only line of dialogue was, 'Hello, do you come here often?' It succeeded in avoiding being censored because its makers claimed that it was 'a genuine film about British naturism'. The picture ran in London cinemas for five years.

Her relationship with Marks deteriorated into acrimony. They parted.² In 1960 she and Webb became a couple. He was then working as a stills photographer in the movie industry. She played bit parts in a few films, these included Legend of The Werewolf. As the popularity of cinema-going declined Webb moved increasingly into television. His output included creating the opening credits for the cop show The Sweeney. These incorporated his partner's fingerprints.

Green appeared in the film The Window Dresser. Her performance led to her being tried for obscenity in 1964. The case ended with the charge against her being dismissed and the presiding judge asking for a print of the movie so that he could give it to his son. The same year she became the first woman to appear nude on British television when she performed a striptease for a segment of Associated-Rediffusion's current affairs programme This Week. The company was rebuked over the matter by the Independent Television Authority.

In 1979 Ms Green gave up posing naked. In her later years she lived on the Isle of Wight. There, she became a pillar of her local branch of the Women's Institute.

Location: Kamera, 4 Gerrard Street, W1D 5QD (red, brown)

Website: www.pamela-green.com (A website with the strapline 'Never Knowingly Overdressed')

¹. Webb had served in the Royal Air Force. He had been a gunner on the Dambusters raid.

². Subsequently, Marks became involved with Mary Millington.

David Backhouse 2024