Eros Series #6: Fantastique

At first blush, Fantastique appears to be the quintessential mid-century fetish digest: corsets, garters, high heels and opera gloves. Each issue, created by Sheba Publications, features a, well, fantastic cover model: Joyce Mills, Vicky Palmer, Corrine Corlette, Jackie Miller, Shirley Kilpatrick, and last but not least, the icon herself, Bettie Page. Their energy and poses, coupled with ultra-high platforms and knee-high lace up boots, really set Fantastique apart from its contemporaries.

Research reveals the origins of this early sixties magazine to be a bit of a mystery. While the magazines are expertly produced for their time, it seems that Sheba did not publish anything else besides this run of six issues. So who was behind Sheba? How did they have access to some of the top models of the era? And what’s up with all the cats?

These questions have helped make Fantastique one of the more curious, rarest and most sought after examples of its genre and era. While we cannot provide
answers that have the certainty of fact, we do believe it’s likely this digest is a successor to Exotique, the iconic mid-’50s magazine started by Lennie Burtman and Benedict Himmel (known collectively as Burmel Publications). Like Exotique, Fantastique did not include nudity or advertising and was influenced by John Willie’s legendary fetish magazine, Bizarre.

Exotique ceased publishing on legal grounds in 1959. And it’s possible that the team, or perhaps just a solo Burtman, used Fantastique as a stopgap before moving onto other projects. Shortly after the end of Fantastique, Burtman launched Selbee Associates, where he continued to find success in the world of adult magazines into the mid-sixties.

This latest volume of our Eros Series features some of our favorite images from these rare classics, found in the original magazines in the Vasta Images Archive. A list at the back indicates the model’s name when known. The cats, for now, remain anonymous.

OUT OF PRINT.