BERGEY, Earle K(ulp)

(1901-1952)

   US illustrator known to fans as the "inventor of the brass brassiere". For just over a decade, starting with the Aug 1939 cover of STRANGE STORIES, EKB painted covers for some of the less sophisticated and more lurid PULP MAGAZINES, especially those published by Standard Magazines: 58 covers for Startling Stories, 59 covers for TWS and 13 covers for Captain Future, among others. These, often featuring half-dressed pin-up girls in peril, represent the pulp style at its most typical and thus were singled out for ridicule by non-sf readers, and helped give the SF MAGAZINES a rubbishy reputation. In fact EKB was a skilled commercial artist, painted faces well, and was by no means restricted to the subject matter that made him famous. He helped to change the emphasis of cover art, in which he specialized, from gadgetry to people.

   PN/JG

   See also: THRILLING WONDER STORIES.