Earle K. Bergey

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Earle K. Bergey (August 16 1901-08-26 - 1952) was an American painter of pin-up art. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended the Academy of Fine Arts there from 1921 to 1926.

After leaving the academy, Bergey initially went to work in the art department of the Philadelphia Ledger. He also produced the comic strip Deb Days in 1927. He later moved to the pulp magazine publisher Fiction House. In 1935 he married and, while continuing to paint for Fiction House, he also went to work for The Saturday Evening Post. He then moved his family to Bucks County, Pennsylvania and opened a studio in New York City. In the 1930s, Bergey painted for a number of mainstream magazines such as Liberty, as well as men's magazines such as Gay Broadway and Snappy.

During the 1940s, Bergey painted for a number of science fiction magazines, such as Standard Publishers' Strange Stories and Captain Future, and later for Fantastic Story Quarterly and Planet Stories and others. His illustrations featured women in space helmets and bikinis or skin-tight outfits similar to Princess Leia's slave-girl outfit in Return of the Jedi. These covers, often described as "Bim, BEM, Bum" usually featured a woman being menaced by a monster or robot who resembled a man in a rubber suit, and an astronaut or other heroic type.

In 1948 Bergey made the transition to the rapidly expanding paperback book industry. He worked first for Popular Library, then later for Pocket Books. His art graced the covers of dozens of novels, and helped to sell millions of volumes. His other work includes paperback covers for Popular Library usually illustrating mystery titles (though he did do Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). This reportedly lasted until public pressure forced Popular Library to stop using him.

Bergey died in 1952 while visiting a doctor's office.

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Martignette, Charles G., and Louis K. Meisel (1996). The Great American Pin-up. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-1701-5.
Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.