Bizarre Magazine

The US Bizarre Magazine was first started by John Alexander Scott Coutts, also known as John Willie^[wp] (English Slang for penis) in 1946. He was an artist, photographer, writer, publisher and banjo player, and was often called the Leonardo da Vinci^[wp] of fetish. The original Bizarre Magazine was sold purely by mail order and its pages contained amazing hand drawn pictures, photos and stories all written by Coutts and sometimes a contributor or two. During this time John Willie's most famous character, Sweet Gwendoline^[wp], was created, and each episode would detail how Gwendoline would foil (usually with help) the foul machinations of Sir Dystic D'Arcy (A comic book version of himself) and still be tied up in complicated rope bondage situations (John Willie was an avid fan) for most of the pages.

In 1957 Bizarre was given or sold (John Willie never specified) to his secretary and her then boyfriend but according to Fakir Musafar^[wp], who was both a correspondent of Willie's and a contributor (article on the Ibitoe), he was not happy with how they ran it or what they did to the magazine.

John Willie Quotes

• "I've tried a corset on myself and it was nothing else but damned uncomfortable. It gives a women a beautiful shape which I like but I shall get double pleasure out of using it as an 'instrument of correction'... I don't like extreme cruelty, I simply apply as much as is needed to correct disobedience."

Trivia

Issue No. 2 first appeared in 1946, Issue No. 1 was published after Issue No. 13 in 1954. The reason for this is unknown.

After publishing the first 23 issues of Bizarre, Coutts moved to Hollywood, California, where in 1961 he developed a brain tumor and was forced to stop his mail-order business. He destroyed his archives and returned home to England, where he died in his sleep in August 1962.

See also

• Sweet Gwendoline^[wp]
• Bettie Page^[wp]

This article based on an article Bizarre Magazine (US) from BME Encyclopedia, 18 October 2011.