What would the Hays Code officials have done if they had caught a flash of the underwear of the movie’s only female character displayed for all to see in the lobby of movie theaters across the land? The shock of it! Morals of the 1950s were safeguarded by the Hays Code which forbade explicit use of swearing, sexuality, drug use and other taboo subject matter. This lobby card for Forbidden Planet likely slipped by the notice of the motion picture association. An intriguing scene, a notable famous face, or a woman’s pair of legs might attract the eyes of the passerby. When lining up for popcorn or taking a bathroom break, the audience member would spot these stills hanging on the theater’s wall.
Lobby cards were used to whet the interest of cinema-goers. If the robot didn’t get your curiosity raised, the movie marketing people hoped that Anne would. Even with Anne’s miniskirt clad character being carried by the strange looking Robby the Robot in the movie poster, the studio issued various lobby cards and promotional photos to draw even more buzz to their product.Īnne Francis’ costume is slightly different in this alternate poster design.Īway from the sci-fi set, MGM staged a shoot with Anne Francis and Robby the Robot in a more everyday setting. MGM’s marketing department ran with all they could at the time to draw the attention of male moviegoers to the picture. This silver jumpsuit was considered “too sexy” for 1956 audiences.Īnother memorable costume Anne Francis wore for the movie. It’s rumored that Dore Schary’s wife Miriam nixed it, saying that it was too sexy, too extreme.”Ĭostume test for Anne Francis. “One was a silver lame jumpsuit with silver boots – just absolutely gorgeous. “I remember that there were some costumes that they decided were too revealing,” Francis once said of her first screen costume in the film. Listen to the lyrics of “Science Fiction Double Feature” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and you’ll hear the actress’ name and the movie mentioned, that’s how big of a role she had in the genre. Popular culture remembers Anne Francis and her Forbidden Planet role in a number of ways. “It was risqué if you didn’t know that I was wearing a nude undergarment. One did not swim in the nude in those days,” Francis said of the infamous swimming scene in an interview. The actress’ legs along with a suggestive swimming scene likely earned the movie a PG rating. Her short-skirted garb was just the second time that a movie actress had worn a mini-skirt on-screen, and it came nearly twenty years after the first appearance of such an event. That image has been a constant in the artwork of Forbidden Planet‘s DVD covers, posters and miscellaneous merchandise every since its release.įrancis’ look was modeled after the space women on the covers of sci-fi pulp magazines from the 1930s-40. Indeed, it’s an unconscious Francis that is being carried in the steel arms of Robby the Robot in the marketing collateral MGM used to promote the picture. The robotic character of Robby may be the picture’s most iconic figure from the screen story, but if there is a second it has to be the 25-year-old blonde blue-eyed Anne Francis who became a screen pin-up by way of the film’s poster. I'm all for nudity in art, but strongly against real girls taking their clothes off when they are too young or naive to be making these decisions.The 1956 film Forbidden Planet is considered to be one of Hollywood’s greatest science fiction movies. fall into the stripper/call-girl/drug addict way of life, and maybe, just maybe if they hadn't taken off their clothes that first time. But maybe sexploitation of young innocent girls CAN be reduced with the creation of digital girls. The desire for hot sexy girls is never going to go away, it's been there since the dawn of time. Later when I moved to LA, all through my late teens and up, photographers were constantly trying to get me to take my clothes off (which I never did!) To me, creating digital girls is taking away work from these sleazy predatory photographers and maybe saving a girl from taking her clothes off. Smartly, I answered "What if I want to be a politician when I grow up? I don't want this to haunt me." It wasn't until years later that I realized how truly sick this was. He wanted me to do nudity and showed me nude Polaroids of underage girls, including one that I recognized as being a year older than me who I used to play with in the park when I was six. I was tall for my age, but still clearly looked very young. First of all, when I was 11, walking my dog in Manhattan, NY, about to enter Central Park, a man approached me with a video camera and asked if I wanted to be a model.
I am often asked why I, as a straight female, create sexy female art, often including nudity.