Arts and Music: Elaine Duillo

By Anna C. Bowling

Elaine Duillo has romance covered!

When illustrator Elaine Duillo first began her career in the 1950s, she often signed her work with male pseudonyms, as paperback illustration was, at the time, not a venue for women. Elaine certainly had a hand in changing that outlook, with over one thousand covers between the start of her career and her retirement in the 1990s. Best known for her romance covers for authors such as Bertrice Small, Johanna Lindsey and Rebecca Brandewyne, Elaine's repertoire includes covers for many genres, including westerns, mysteries, pulp, gothics and even 1960s editions of works by Emile Zola and Jack London.

Born in 1928 and a graduate of the Pratt School of Design, Elaine found her own personal hero in husband John Duillo, known as the king of western illustration. The two never collaborated on illustration, but produced two daughters, Melissa, and Bettina. Both daughters followed artistic paths of their own; Melissa in commercial illustration for a time, and Bettina using art in education. She has produced two art calendars, and is a member of the American Society of Illustrators.

Though many talented graphic artists of today create imaginative and innovative covers via computer technology, Elaine's work was done by hand. Preferring to work with acrylics for the final project, Elaine's dedication to her craft shone through in her attention to detail. The design elements on the back cover illustrations were often her favorite parts of an assignment, and alert readers will be able to spot locations and characters as described within the pages. She is quick to remind those who note the long, flowing hair of her heroines (and some heroes) that each strand was painted by hand. Art directors would sometimes request that Elaine use a particular model depicted with a prodigious mane, only to be told that the hair was all Elaine's creation.

No mention of Elaine Duillo would be complete without mentioning her role in the modeling career of Fabio Lanzoni (blame or thank her as you will.) Elaine spotted the Italian model's picture in a pile of head shots, and used him first on the back cover of Bertrice Small's Enchantress Mine and the front cover of Johanna Lindsey's Hearts Aflame. The rest, as they say, is history, including a national discount chain refusing to carry Bertrice Small's A Love For All Time, due to its supposedly racy cover illustration...which would have been an appropriate pose for a portrait of the period in which the book was set.

Now retired, Elaine is still active in mentoring younger artists and has turned her talents to non-figurative art with "very large brushes" and her enthusiasm for her art, in all its forms, shines through, and she speaks of her romance illustration career with great fondness.

Fashion: Lady Looks Like a Dude

By Anna C. Bowling

Having a heroine adopt male guise has been a staple of the historical tale for quite some time. Shakespeare did it in Twelfth Night, and Georgette Heyer in The Masqueraders and These Old Shades. Kathleen Woodiwiss brought this device to the modern historical romance with Ashes in the Wind. Susan Elizabeth Phillips also had her heroine in male guise for part of her only solo historical, recently reissued under the title Just Imagine. Several romances have adapted or borrowed from the lives of pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As of this writing, there are four newly-released books that have heroines in male disguise in my to-be-read and just-finished-reading piles.

Whether our heroine is out for a lark or running for her life, the heroine disguised as male device is one that can be used in several different settings and eras and for a variety of reasons. In many historical eras, a lone woman would have endured challenges and restrictions that a man, even a young one, would not. Prior to the twentieth century, a heroine who wished to serve in the military had no option but to adopt a male identity, and maritime superstition about women being bad luck aboard a ship (though some captains were allowed to bring their wives) revealed many a cabin boy to be a girl. A heroine who needs to elude captors would be wise to alter her appearance, and altering her perceived gender can throw even the wiliest villains off the track.

The specifics of this will of course vary on geography, era, culture and common dress, but the phrase "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck" applies to disguised heroines. In most historical eras, male and female dress were distinct from each other, and if some form of uniform was involved, the gender of the person in it couldn't be readily assumed.

A woman adopting male guise would have a few things to consider. Her hair would likely have to be cut or at least concealed, and the lack of any form of facial hair would turn even a twenty-something heroine into an assumed adolescent. If she can avoid bathing, a natural patina may have formed, hopefully obscuring a more feminine bone structure as well as smooth cheeks and jaw. Breasts would need to be bound with long strips of cloth such as bandages, unless the heroine has a naturally boyish figure, in which case she might have an extra advantage. Beg, borrow or steal a shirt, breeches and jacket from a likely male compatriot and the transformation is...not yet complete.

Depending on where and when our heroine found herself, she'd need to alter not only her appearance but her speech, vocabulary, movement and social skills. A sailor, for example, would have a different air about him than a gently reared miss of the upper class. If the disguise persisted for an extended period of time, she'd have to find a way to deal with menstruation, and once the hero entered the picture, possibly pregnancy.

Though many women throughout history did choose to live out their lives in male garb, in a romance, at some point, our heroine would resume her feminine appearance. Still, as with when our heroine adopted her disguise, the outer appearance wouldn't always tell the whole story. Whatever she wore, our heroine would have seen life from a different angle, giving her insight into any adventures yet to come.

Women: The Historical Romance Heroine

By Anna C. Bowling

1. Ringside seats at historical events.
2. Comes with great wardrobe.
3. Endless career opportunities, from scullery maid to queen. Possibly both in same lifetime.
4. If in a series, potential for second career as wise matriarch to sisters, daughters and granddaughters to come.
5. If in a standalone, knowledge that you truly are the most amazing woman in the entire world.
6. Resourcefulness--whether finding creative solutions to relatives' debts, defending a castle or thwarting enemy spies, you'll carry it off with aplomb.
7. Potential for being oneself carried off with aplomb by alpha hero.
8. Potential for carrying off alpha hero.
9. Better than average health thanks to or in spite of state of the art medical care of your era.
10.Never at a loss for words, since your dialogue is provided by some of the best minds in the business.
11. Resiliency--kidnapped by pirates? Enduring the Depression? Caught in the middle of an uprising? Down with what looks like the Plague? Don't worry; you'll bounce back.
12. A hero worthy of you.
13. Guaranteed happily ever after.

Social Movements: Romance Pride

By Anna C. Bowling

In 1972, editor Nancy Coffey picked the thickest manuscript from the slush pile and took it home because of its size. The title was The Flame and the Flower, the author was Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, and the age of the modern historical romance had begun. Those of us who read and write historical romance in all its permutations owe much to that fateful delve into the slush. Whether or not Woodiwiss is to one's taste, whether the alpha male provokes happy sighs or makes one recoil, and whether "forced seduction" is a fancier term for a much uglier word, one can argue this is where "those books" began.

Certainly, romantic tales set in times past have been in existence since somewhere around one day after the first novelist found the first reader. Serge and Anne Golon treated readers to the adventures of Angelique, Dame Barbara Cartland stunned booksellers with a truly remarkable number of titles, and Georgette Heyer flung open the doors that led to the popularity of the traditional Regency. Anya Seton regaled readers with the fictionalized tale of legendary real life lovers in her classic Katherine and added an eerie twist in A Green Darkness. Still, the advent of Kathleen Woodiwiss' debut brought in a new age for those who loved to read and write historical romance and a genre was born.

As with anything new, the critics soon followed. The new genre became "those books." Bodice rippers. Porn for women, though some of the founding mothers of the genre were actually founding fathers. (Jennifer Wilde, anybody?) Interchangeable, unrealistic sex scenes strung together for bored housewives. Very little could be farther from the truth, and such comments often did (and still do) come from those who have not read much if any of the genre. As more women began to take a new look at their work in and outside of the home, the heroines of historical romance novels embraced a variety of roles and eras. A heroine might be a middle Eastern princess, a pioneer woman, Viking maiden, member of any number of royal Courts, a pirate or privateer, among only a few, and could very well go to the ends of the world to secure her own happy ending, complete with a strong hero only she can tame.

Some sniggered at the covers, though the talents of artists such as Pino Danei and Elaine Duillo created lush, vivid or ethereal images to draw the eye across a bookstore aisle. When illustrator Elaine Duillo first spotted a headshot of Italian model Fabio Lanzoni, "those covers" came into full bloom. While some readers proudly displayed their covers, others preferred to take a more discreet tactic and cover the cover, perhaps one of the inspirations for the stepback cover that offers the best of both worlds.

While much has changed in the genre and the readership, the core is still the same. We read and we write for love, adventure, enjoyment, healing, respite, excitement, hope and as many other reasons as there are individuals. Nothing to be ashamed of there. Read those romances proudly, guys and gals.