Zippo Manufacturing Co.'s first national
print ad appeared in Esquire Magazine in
December 1937 and carried the image of the
now famous pin-up girl leaning into the wind
lighting a cigarette. The "Windproof
Beauty" design was the creation of Enoch
Bolles, one of the earliest and most widely
published glamour illustrators at the time,
and appeared in many Zippo print ads in the
late 1930's and early 1940's. The image was
also reproduced on the
boxes in
which the Zippo lighters were packaged from
1938 to 1941, after which production shifted
to the
World War II black
crackle Zippos in 1942 with their
simplified packaging. The Windproof Beauty
reappeared on Zippo boxes for a brief period
in early 1946.
The image was reintroduced
in 1982 on Zippo boxes in
celebration of Zippo's 50th
Anniversary. In 1993 the
image was reproduced on "The
Varga Girl 1935" Zippo which
came in a collector tin. "Varga"
was the name used for
Alberto Vargas, the artist
from
Peru
who became famous for his
pin-up calendars in the late
1940's and the Vargas girls
in Playboy Magazine during
the 1960's. Vargas did work
at Esquire Magazine under
his name without the "s",
but he did not do any work
for Esquire until late
1940. The implication that
the design was created by
Vargas when in fact it was
created by Enoch Bolles
resulted in some copyright
problems for Zippo which
have since been resolved and
the famous Zippo Lady is now
called "Windy" and has
become very popular with
collectors with many
variations of her image
continuing to be produced.
1992
brass Zippo with prototype
design with
Windy for the 1932-1937
5-year anniversary which
reads: "Windproof Zippo
Lighter - A Week's Trial,
Then All the While- Zippo's
5th Year Anniversary".
The three lighters above are
dated 1982 and are
prototypes for the
commemoration of Zippo's
50th Anniversary. The
official lighter issued for
the commemoration was a
plain brass Zippo with
diagonal lines and a special
bottom bearing the 1932 and
1982 dates and was
distributed in a box with
the Windy design. The Zippos
above which are engraved
with Windy and "Commemorative
Lighter 1932-1982"
have the special bottoms
and are quite rare as 50th
Anniversary Zippos with
Windy did apparently never
go into full production.
In 1993 Zippo issued as it
"Collectible of the Year" a limited
edition commemorative lighter
featuring a high-polish chrome
case
with a pewter "1935 Varga Girl"
replica emblem in a
collector's tin,
also with Windy's image. The toned
Zippo on the
far left is silver
plated with a gold plated emblem;
the middle is
engraved brass and the
right is engraved on a high-polished
chrome.
All are dated 1993 and are
prototypes.
1999 Zippo with
Windy in a red dress & cape
on matte finish case which
reads: "Zippo Lady Circa
1935".
Windy in a light
"green dress and cape on
1993 high-polish Zippo with
"Commemorative Edition since
1932 Windproof Lighters" .
1999 high-polish Zippo with
Windy in a blue dress and
yellow cape which reads:
"Windproof Beauty -
If any Zippo Lighter ever
fails to work,
we'll fix it free -
Zippo - Zippo
Manufacturing Co."
A beautiful 1999
high-polish Zippo with a
large Windy dressed
in red.
1999 high-polish
Zippo with Windy in a green
dress and white cape which
reads: "United States of
America
Zippo American
Classic Zippo Manufacturing
Co."
1999 high-polish
Zippo with Windy
in a yellow dress & red cape
which
reads: "Zippo is the one
lighter that will pass the
fan test. Y
our dealer will prove it to
you. Hundreds
of thousands
of Zippo Lighters -
Zippo
Manufacturing Co."
1999 high-polish
Zippo with Windy
in a brown dress
and yellow cape
which reads: "American
Classic - Zippo Since 1932".
1999 Zippo with
Windy dressed in
red on a high polish
on an engraved high-polish
chrome finish: "Limited
Edition for Okinawa 1999 No.
0013 Zippo's First
Lady" .
