During World War 2, Betty Grable was an attractive blond singer, dancer and actress. She made musical comedies where she played cute but not too bright college girls and starred with many handsome leading men including Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Jon Payne.
She starred in a movie titled 'Million Dollar Legs.' A publicity agent came up with a brilliant idea to promote the film and Grable's career: her legs were insured for $1 million. A photo of her in a one-piece white bathing suit was circulated worldwide and Grable became the most famous pinup in U.S. history. Many GIs carried her photo with them into battle in Germany and the South Pacific.
Betty, a native of St. Louis, MO., was married twice. She wed child star Jackie Coogan and they stayed married two years before their divorce. Then she married big band leader Harry James and they remained married until her death of lung cancer at the age of 57.
Were Betty Grable's legs really worth a million dollars? They probably were to her publicity agent and the film production companies that made those spectacular star-studded musical comedies of the 1940s and '50s.
But I have news for Hollywood: Arizona and especially Phoenix has more gorgeous girls with million dollar legs than the entire city of Los Angeles. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
While Hugh Hefner made his millions with his nude centerfolds in Playboy Magazine, the average American male has always enjoyed a fixation on a woman's legs.
Just visit Talking Stick or Wild Horse Pass Casino any Friday, Saturday or Sunday. This must be the Year of the Leg because I have never seen so many beautiful young women dressed in scanty designer dresses that show off their million dollar legs to the nth degree.
They come to the casinos in twos, threes or groups. Sometimes they arrive with their boyfriends or husbands, but more often they show up alone to play poker, roulette, the slots or just to sit at one of the bars to sip on a fancy cocktail with an umbrella in the mix.
Betty Grable's World War 2 pinup photo would look like a Girl Scout calendar compared to the hot leggy photos a photographer could take of some of these beauties. All I can do is shake my head and wish I had been born 20 or 30 years later.
I mentioned this to a young valet attendant who was parking cars at Talking Stick. He understood my point immediately.
'Where do they get those outfits?' he said, shaking his head. 'They're so revealing it's unbelievable. It's so distracting that it's lucky some of the valets don't have head-on collisions in the parking lot.'
Toward the end of her career, Betty Grable co-starred with Marilyn Monroe in 'How To Marry A Millionaire.' While the producers of the film tried to fan a rivalry war between the blond beauties, Betty and Marilyn developed a genuine liking for each other.
Grable even had some advice for the up and coming Marilyn. She knew her years of stardom were nearing an end and one day she told Monroe, 'Honey, I got mine. Now it's time you got yours. Go for it.' And Marilyn did.
I don't know who invented the mini-skirt, but whoever it did the male species a great favor. Mini-skirts started out short but over the years they have been getting shorter and shorter. I wonder what they will be like in 2025?
I think I'll just have to buy myself a pair of dark glasses and go play poker.
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