Soon there was a Gibson Girl boom, with her face appearing all over magazine and newspapers, quickly becoming the ideal standard for American beauty. To be fair, the Gibson Man does look like an insufferable twat She wanted independence, but like… not too much independence (Gibson Girls weren’t after the vote, that would just be crazy!).Ī Gibson Man was created to go with The Gibson Girl, but much like Ken to Barbie, nobody really cared. It was the impossible woman they wanted to pin to their walls, not her random boyfriend. There is no danger of these ladies getting sand in their hair, nor anywhere else.īut what bought the Gibson Girl to life was that she had a clear personality. She was a new woman, self assured, put together, sensual and intelligent all at once. She had sizeable breasts but an itty bitty wasp waist a swan-like neck that was dangerously close to biologically impossible and masses of dark hair piled precariously atop her head, miraculously inoperable to sweat, rain and general disaster. There were 61 editions, with the last entitled Winter 1976, the year all ToCo magazines died the death.Well, my friends, let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start) with the mother of all pin ups:Ĭreated in 1887 by Charles Gibson, The Gibson Girl is now widely accepted as the first pin-up.Įvery time I throw my hair up I aim for this level of beauty…and every time I get a crow's nestĭrawn lasciviously, the Gibson Girl represented a woman that could be imitated but couldn’t actually exist. But, just to make life even more difficult for collectors 4 years later, they reset the numbering – with the first edition of the new batch of combined mags being the second No 1. The year and season were banished to the index page and only the number was given on the front cover. 10 for both Spick and Span.ġ961-76 – from winter 1961 to winter 1976, they reverted to 68-page combined publications with the original name, but the “and” was replaced with an ampersand (&) so their title became Spick & Span Extra.

Editions were subtitled, like the first batch of combined extras, with the season and the year and not numbered on the cover (but were on the index page) until somewhere between winter 1959 and summer 1960, which was No. Which means, of course that Winter 55 should be No 1.ġ958-61 − from spring 1958 until autumn 1961, the Extras were published separately as Spick Extra and Span Extra, and containing 66 pages. So Spick and Span Extra Spring 1956 proclaims itself as being No.2. This first batch was not numbered on the cover – just the season and the year – but there was a number on the index page.

The confusion in numbers may be a ToCo printing error – they made many. In Autumn 1956 there were 80 pages, with a corresponding price increase to 2/6 (two shillings and sixpence). By Winter 1955, the mag had grown to 76 pages for the same price – but with the old symbol of 2/- rather than shillings. Summer Extra 55 comprised 68 pages and had a price of two shillings (spelt in full on the cover). There are three distinct eras of the Spick/Span Extras:ġ955-57 − from summer 1955 to winter 1957, the first 9 editions were produced as combined Spick and Span Extras. In addition to these Extras, there were Holiday Specials, Annuals and a calendar, issued in the early years. Collection InformationĬataloguing the ToCo Extras is a bit tricky and their numbers can be confusing. But in the summer of 1955, they were joined by a new title, Spick and Span Extra – listed here. In addition to the monthly editions of Spick, Span and Beautiful Britons, fifteen quarterly Extra editions were published, much thicker – and more expensive − books than their monthly counterparts.

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