Of all of Willie’s models, the most is known about the woman he called Pat. She appears, with variant spellings of the last name, in a number of men’s magazines and two films.

An article in Glamour Girls (number 10) about Pat Conley gives a few details about her life. She was born in 1937 or 1939 in Oklahoma and settled in LA in the mid-1950s. She appeared in men’s magazines from 1957 to the early 1960s, of which the article provides a partial list and illustrations.

I believe Willie began using Pat in the middle of 1959, first for at set of photos where she and June appeared together and then shortly after for his best story set, The Stolen Date (second version), whose first photo is above. Pat is to the left, holding the phone, and Jill, Doree’s sister, is to the right. Pat appears alone in seven sets of bondage photos shot in 1960. She was also used for a private shoot by Willie (shot at a Beverly Hills mansion’s poolside) and another private shoot by one of Willie’s visiting New York City friends. It’s possible that Willie used Pat for A Lesson in Riding story set shot in 1958, but I don’t have any originals for comparison.

Getty Images online has photographs of her by Michael Ochs.

I have a UPI press photo shot in 1957 (shown above) for a LA School for Strippers story. Pat is the model in the bikini. Here is UPI’s copy attached to the print.

Hollywood’s School for Strippers (10/11/57)

Hollywood, Calif.: An advanced study in the fine arts of the bump, grind and tassel-twirling has been opened here in Hollywood to supply what faculty member Jean Smyle, professionally known as “Venus, the Body,” terms a more refined type of striptease for the country’s burlesque theaters. The school offers a 15-week course for $150 with an enrollment limited to 25 girls. The curriculum includes such subjects as removal of inhibitions, posturing and posing, exotic technique and walking with a wiggle. Jean said that she objects to bumps and grinds, but that most audiences are outraged if they’re not forthcoming.

Daurene Dare illustrates the technique of starting a strip routine by removing a simple non-revealing item such as a glove. The attentive pupil is Pat Conley.

The magazine that Pat appears in earliest, that I have, is Bold, August 1957, where she is on the cover and inside. Bold was a digest sized magazine.

Pat also starred (as Pat Conelle) in the nudist movie The Naked Venus which is available on DVD. The 1958 film was directed by Edgar Ulmer (who made Detour). In the film Pat’s hair is dyed blonde (her natural hair color was dark red).

June was the first model John Willie used for his lingerie bondage sets. There were other models photographed previously after his move to Los Angeles, but it wasn’t until the June sets in 1958 that Willie organized his photographs around models and poses.

June was originally from Texas and in his letters, Willie refers to her as Beverly. There were 6 sets of 8 photos each created in 1958 and June appeared one more time, in the Pat and June set created in mid-1959. June was one of the three blonde models appearing in Willie’s LA photos.

This photo is from set number 6.

The best book of John Willie photographs was published in Paris in 1985: Plusieurs Possibilitieés: Les Photographies de John Willie. When I first looked through it a group of photographs struck me immediately, partially because of the angularity of the poses, partially because of the model’s appearance.

That model was John Willie’s Doree and the photographs that were shown were taken in late 1958 or early 1959 in Los Angeles in Willie’s house in West Hollywood. I believe Doree was a secretary at an aircraft factory who also worked for Willie in the evenings helping out with his photography sales. She appeared in a group of sets at that time and then appeared in more sets starting later in 1959, this time partially nude. These later sets were Doree (B).

After the cut I’m posting some of these early Doree photos that I have that I still find captivating.

The following photograph is from a different set but shot at the same time. It incorporates the unbound woman theme that first appeared in Willie’s 1930s Australian photographs.

I have some Willie LA photos I hope to begin posting soon. These will all be before mid-1959 when Willie began incorporating nudity in his photography. The photo here is the first of twenty belonging to the June and Pat set produced in mid-1959. The seated model is Pat and this is her first instance in the model sets he produced in LA. The standing model is June and this set is the last time she appears. Willie made lingerie bondage sets using her as a model in 1958.

Just a picture this time. When I get a chance I’ll be scanning 1930s Willie bondage and fetish photos I have. More soon.