As a gal born in the '60s, I almost missed out on one of the greatest forms of bondage fantasy imagery: detective magazines.  Those sexy bondage covers were disappearing by the time I came onto the scene... and even if I'd been the right age, I might not've ever noticed detective mags, since I never spent any time at magazine racks.

I was still young enough to take on a new, wonderful emotional imprint when I finally did encounter detective mags -- in 1988.  I'd been invited to come out to Harmony for a week, to visit, do a shoot, see the ocean, and meet the Harmony staff.  This was something of a job interview actually, though I was approaching it as a neato cool vacation.

While I was there, I spent a lot of time at Eric Holman's place.  I'd watch his BF videos on the VCR, realizing that I was sitting right on the floor where Debra Lee had been hogtied.  (One day he went to the office and let me stay there -- so I tied myself up with his ropes!)

I also got to look through Eric's absolutely huge collection of detective magazine covers.  I'd never seen detective covers before, but they hit me right on my hot button.

There was one pose taken for a detective mag that was re-published more times than any other shot.  By my count it appeared on 7 different covers.  I loved this shot and could understand why it was printed so frequently (in one case, twice for the same mag title, in fact).

I wanted to shoot an homage video for detective covers, and I spent some time planning a Harmony KI video that I planned to title FRONT COVERS, but the project never got finished.

Happily, a similar project was completed just before I left Close-Up -- UNSOLVED BURGLARIES contained homages for 7 or 8 different detective covers, plus a 5-minute "History of Detective Bondage Covers" researched by Eric Holman.

However, I still hadn't shot a tribute for my favorite detective pose.  All I needed was to schedule Cathryn Beaumont, since she looks like the blonde seen in the original.

When I finally got hold of Cathryn, getting the shot was quite a project.  Cathryn lay on the floor and I adjusted her into the exact position of the blonde.  Then I set up a single light in the spot where I believed the original photographer had placed it.  The room was too bright and Jon ended up having to hang blankets over the windows... as Cathryn continued to lie exactly in place.

Then I had to apply the ropes without Cathryn moving.  She's normally the helpful type who will wiggle, lift and move to help me apply the ropes, but this time I wanted to be sure my bondage wouldn't change her position, so she had to hold absolutely still, even as I was trying to cram ropes underneath her.

Reproducing the gag wasn't easy.  In the original set, the blonde appeared to be gagged with a table napkin -- the thick old linen kind.  I didn't have something like that, so I layered two men's handkerchiefs and then rolled them in the direction that the original napkin had been rolled.

Once everything was in place, we turned on the lamp and I stood over her in the spot that I believed the other photographer had been standing.  For some reason the angle was wrong.  I couldn't see both of her eyes.  I mused this for a moment and realized that the original photographer had been much taller than me!  Of course.

I got out a chair and nudged it up against Cathryn's leg, climbed on it and pointed the camera down at her.  Perfect.

After I got a half roll of the homage shots, I shot a few of my "dream changes".  I took some pictures of her getting gagged, since I wanted something to precede the peak moment.  Then I changed the actual cover shot by adding a threatening burglar type (Jon in a hood) -- first with a knife, then a gun.  I prefer the emotional impact of having a damsel being in direct peril.

Afterward, Cathryn had some interesting ropemarks, so she waited as I took a photographic record of her marks.

If you recognize any of these cover mock-ups, and remember your feelings about the originals, I hope you'll tell us your Detective Magazine memories in the Guestbook.

By the way, these covers look beautiful as screen wallpaper.  Right-click to download and view, then left-click to save as wallpaper.