Pinups, contrary to popular belief, have been hanging around since long before the first staple was removed from the navel of a Playmate of the Month. They came into their own during World War Two, when glossy photos of Betty Grable and Veronica Lake, of recent and revered memory, adorned foot-lockers and Flying Fortresses. But the golden age of cheesecake was the Thirties, when the pinup girl was still, for the most part, a figment of artists' imaginations. In magazine foldouts (notably Esquire's), on calendars, on the covers of such racy periodicals as Spicy Stories and College Humor, the classic pinup was created by George Petty (whose "long-stemmed American beauties" frequently caressed a white telephone), Earl Moran, Fritz Willis, Gil Elvgren and Alberto Vargas. Vargas' monthly contribution to our own pages keeps the tradition alive, but Playboy's preference has always been--to paraphrase the old song--less for paper dollies than for real live girls. Acting on the theory that even such fantasies can become reality, Associate Art Director Kerig Pope and Staff Photographer Bill Arsenault swore that they, and their models, could bring those painted pinups of yesteryear alluringly to life in a gallery of photographs. We didn't believe them. We were--quite obviously--wrong.