Naughty Glittering Witch, 1934

Nancy Carroll (1903-65), the “flaming flapper” (she had red hair) was a very popular actor during the late 1920s and early 1930s (apparently, she received the most fan mail of any star in the early 1930s). She made almost forty films while under contract to Paramount studio from 1928 to 1935, including The Devil’s Holiday (1930), Night Angel (1931), Hot Saturday (1932), Scarlet Dawn (1932) and The Woman Accused (1933).

The Halloween press photo below was issued by Paramount, probably towards the end of her time at the studio. It shows Carroll scantily clad in a glittering two-piece outfit, the top of which looks remarkably similar to that imagined by Dave Stevens in his 1985 painting “Pumpkin Pie” (here). A close look at this top suggests that there may have been a band of material under the arms that has been edited out of the photo to make her look even naughtier! Nice move.

All that is missing from this gorgeous glittering red-headed witch are the sparkling red magic shoes worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939); or perhaps Dorothy was missing this outfit. Either way, the shoes and the outfit would been perfect together. I will leave it to you to decide who would have looked better in such an outfit.