17 Vintage Halloween pin-up girls from the ’30s & ’40s for a different kind of pumpkin cheesecake

1930s, 1940s, Old photos & vintage photography, Vintage & retro entertainment, Vintage beauty & fashion, Vintage Halloween

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WWII brought more than just a demand for more fighter planes and warships — the soldiers also wanted reminders of home, and diversions to make those cold nights a little warmer.

Pin-up pictures were already around, but the war helped them to have a meteoric rise in popularity. These sexy/cute/cheesy portraits of famous actresses and models were embraced both by the “boys over there” as well as plenty of schoolboys still home in America.

Here are some of these portraits of vintage pin-up girls from the 1930s and 1940s — all with a Halloween theme, which is why we’re calling them pumpkin cheesecake.

1940s classic Halloween pin-up girl shushing a black cat

Vintage actress and Halloween Pinup girl Nancy Gates

Silent film actress Clara Bow posing for for Halloween

Retro Halloween pin-up model

Vintage Halloween pin-up girl in a swimsuit coming out of a pumpkin house

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Vintage Halloween pin-up model in a cat costume

Vintage actress Cyd Charisse dressed up for Halloween

Retro Halloween pin-up girl surrounded by creepy carved pumpkins

Vintage actress Lillian Wells – Halloween pin-up

Add pin-up models to your scrapbooks for the boys over there

Pin-up girls have proved their worth in keeping warm the cold and often barren temporary quarters of many boys in service. They a certain “something” essentially “American.”

Scrapbooks made under sponsorship of the USO are now including fresh “pin-ups.” Makers of scrapbooks are advised to use either gummed tape or adhesive tape so that when the picture is removed, as it always is, the book will remain complete for other readers. – The Times (San Mateo, California) October 26, 1943

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Sexy vintage pin-up girls adore Mennen aftershave with the "He-Man" aroma (1940s)

Vintage actress Veronica Lake dressed as a witch on a broom

Vintage Halloween pin-up girl with “Halloween and Spook Stories” book

Gloria Dickson – vintage Halloween pin-up girls

Vintage Halloween pin-up girl with pumpkin and jack o’lantern shadow

Lona Andre – Vintage Halloween pinup girl from the 1930s

Youths reveal ideal of pin-ups

South Washington school pupils in this year of 1944 find all about those bevies of pin-up girls. Pin-up girls have become idealized by the men in our armed services. In barracks all over the world, the walls are plastered with pictures.

The boys of Washington High [in Ogden, Utah] have selected their own imaginary pin-up girl. Questions concerning the color of eyes and hair and height were put to the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth grade boys. The average of the opinions was summed up by the committee.

The preferred girl would have azure blue eyes, long flowing brunette hair, and be about five feet two inches in height.

A pleasing personality is a necessity for any ideal pin-up girl. The boys of Washington are especially fussy about a girl’s personality. She must like some sports, dances, school activities, and all social events. She must be neat in appearance, and any boy likes a good figure. – The Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) October 22, 1944

Anne Gwynne – Vintage Halloween pin-up girl

A vintage actress with a Halloween mask

Ava Gardner – Vintage pinup girl for Halloween

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