The History of Breasts and Cleavage in Movie Posters

In college, I minored in film studies, and have since become a connoisseur of movies. There are many topics about movies that I have studied over the years to the point that some might consider me to be an expert in the field of movie history.

One interesting field that I have always been interested in is the history of movie promotion. The movie poster has always been considered to be one of the prime methods for promoting a movie. Breasts have been a significant draw for movie posters for over eighty years. Cleavage has had a significant role, but that is much more recent.

The first breasts ever to appear in a movie poster were those of the android woman in the movie Metropolis in 1926. Before that, women had been pictured in movie posters, but always covered up. A woman would usually have a hand over the middle of her chest to signify that she was scared by something.

From 1926 to 1951, breasts began to play more of a significant role in movie posters. A woman's breasts might be shown, but they were always covered up. If a woman was in a low cut top, a view would be seen from the side so that no direct indication was given about cleavage.

There was one exception to this rule, however. In one of the lobby cards for Gone With the Wind, cleavage can be seen. While this is an exception, it is only a slight exception since most theaters in the United States did not display the picture. They believed that it was too scandalous.

In 1951, when the poster was being created for Abbot and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Universal Studios decided to take a chance a place a small amount of cleavage in the poster. This had been discussed for years, but until this point had been avoided by all of the major studios ever since the outrage over the lobby card for Gone With the Wind.

It was finally decided to place cleavage in the poster since the studio would be more likely to get away with it since it was a movie poster for Abbot and Costello. They believed that the good hearty fun that the duo was known for would finally overshadow any issues that people would have with the poster.