You know that your message about Erotic Mad Science is getting across when two of your readers independently draw your attention to the same photograph that appeared in Life magazine back in 1961.
This device was apparently created by Hughes Aircraft. That fact that it gets featured in a major American publication suggests that it was — or was perceived to have been — a perfectly innocent picture. Our useful mechanical servant is helping a nice lady zip up her dress — a common enough task for the clothing of that era which she would have difficulty doing herself.
Of course to a certain modern eye this is Fetish Fuel — that zipper is moving down. And those arms — so tentacular in appearance. Oh dear…
Which of course leads me to wonder — just how many people were in on the Fetish Fuel joke back in 1961? (I have a similar wonder about the 1930s shrink wrapped girl noted at Bondage Blog a while back which, curiously, also drew on Life magazine.) It can’t have been no one, surely…
this picture makes me wonder. he had his own Hollywood film studio to play with. what kind of personal fetish films did Howard keep in his privet film vault over there at RKO.
I think Howard might have had this robot do a little more then just unzip this woman’s dress.
I suspect that as well.