Legends of Dominance - 50
Legends of Dominance by Mistress Michelle Peters et al. and posted with permission (All information herein is provided by author) Legends of Dominance Article Index |
John Sutcliffe
A while ago I posted about Emma Peel - Tv`s First Fetish Heroine - the majority of her clothing, especially the leathers, were designed by John Sutcliffe. Her boots were made by Annello & Davide, the Queen`s Bootmakers. Atomage, founded by John Sutcliffe, began as a small outlet just off Drury Lane in Covent Garden sometime around 1957. Specialising in customised leather and vinyl clothes. Sutcliffe designed for the big screen, television and private customers from all over the world - including Hammer Films and famously the television show The Avengers with Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg watched weekly by millions both in the UK and in the United States.
The success of the television series lead to a stage version featuring truly outlandish costumes for its heroines, designed at the Atomage workshop and drawing more attention than the script. The Daily Express review stated 'The cast were clad in enough rubber, leather and vinyl to satiate the most avid student of Krafft-Ebing'.
Atomage caused a stir with a costume designed for the Granville Chemical Company - a gun slinging leather clad girl was used on bill boards with the slogan ‘She has leather protection. Have you the protection of our chemical products?
In the winter of 1972 , Atomage published its own magazine,originally subtitled ‘The Magazine of Modern Leather Couture’ (Later the Magazine of Leather, Vinyl & Rubber) . It specialized in photographs of leather, rubber and vinyl fetish clothes created in the Atomage workshop. Along with the clothes the Magazine featured articles on the pleasures of dressing and the appeal of the individual materials. Importantly it contained reader’s letters and private photographs which became a key feature of the magazine and its success. It also acted as an informal catalogue for Atomage clothes available for sale, along with news from the Atomage workshop. (Later additional publications included Atomage International, Atomage Bondage and Atomage Rubberist Magazine.)
John Sutcliffe later became a driving force behind the foundation of Skin Two.
Atomage
- By Mistress Antoinette
- From Kinky & Beyond Magazine - 1994
"Atomage" was a very special place in England. Many will recognize the address of 10a Dryden Street. Drury Lane, London, England.
John Sutcliiffe was the proprietor, the founder. He created the first protective covering from Latex — called the second skin. He was the reason that all other leather/latex publications were created.
He was my best friend, and had it not been for him, his eye for Fashion and Fetishism — I would not have created "Reflections" magazine here in the USA , he taught me the demeanour of the Dominant, and why I have listened to his marvellous tales and seen his fantasy come true through the photos in "Atomage" magazine.
A television program called "The Avengers" was the beginning of women in power. His protective clothing became known as "Catsuits", and so Cat Woman was born.
It has been granted to me by the relatives of John Sutcliffe, the privilege of resurrecting his posterity. I am going to call it "The Posterity Box of Atomage". will be re-publishing the famous "Masters and Mistresses Handbook" by Jim. There have been many, many requests, and now I can finally bring it back to life.
In the 25 years since I first met John Sutcllffe I have never heard a derogatory word spoken about this extraordinary man.
Criticism, yes. He was criticized for working too hard; for always trusting strangers; for his compassionate generosity which often he could not afford. Would that we too could earn such a reputation! John was a quiet man. He never lost his temper, although he could argue vociferously.
His sense of humor and wry acceptance of his fellow-man's weaknesses overcame any personal animosity, and always - but always — he could only see good in the human race, devious and tortuous as it sometimes appeared. He was a perfectionist in his work, taking a sublime pleasure In the creation of a leather garment, overseeing every cut and stitch of the superb material he imported from haute couture firms in Spain.
During World War II he was one of the youngest Inspectors responsible for the maintenance of the American aircraft engines, stationed in the Midlands. This knowledge of precision engineering, in post-war years, found an enthusiastic outlet in his love of Formula One car racing.
When John decided to publish his own magazine (To become world-famous as the forward-looking ATOMAGE) he applied this same desire for perfection and quality to its publication. Despite the extra cost (and loss of profit) he Insisted on the finest quality of paper and the highest standard of photo reproduction. His imaginative prose and his own fine photography made the magazine an Instant success.
In his cluttered workshop overlooking Covent Garden (the clutter being an endearing paradox to his organized mind) he would personally receive would-be customers, spending valuable minutes chatting to them, often knowing they were 'time wasters' who only wanted to browse through catalogs and photographs. When once I remonstrated with John at the waste of his time, he replied simply: "It made him happy, didn't It?"
I believe one of John's greatest assets was his ability to listen to people, and be genuinely concerned about their problems. His sympathy and compassion are warmly remembered by his multitude of friends.
John suffered physical pain dwing his final months, but never complained; his quiet smile and keen sense of humor never faltered. He was a noble genteman.
We miss you, John Sutcliffe!
Jim E Dickson
--Complied By Mistress Michelle and slave english
Mistress Lonnie
- The House of Dominance
The House of Dominance was one of the first commercial houses of bondage with professional Mistresses, located 6440 Selma Ave, Hollywood, California. If not the first, certainly the most notorious! Many people of prominence walked through its doors. Mistress Lonnie, the head Mistress for years, was famous in her own right. The second House of Dominance was used for the movie, "HardCore" (1979) starring George C. Scott. The scenes with Mistress Victoria Smith were a hit with audiences, Mistress Victoria was linked with Roman Gabriel of the Los Angeles Rams, and Bob Crane of Hogan's Heroes. At the time, she was a famous Mistress , she now practices Law in Phoenix , Az. Because B&D was legal in the state of California, many more commercial places sprang up after the fire at the first House of Dominance in 1975. When the second House of Dominance, located 3141 Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, California, was built, there were other places like the House of Dominance, in New York and Los Angeles. There were many movies filmed there, and I could tell you many more stories about this famous place
--Mistress Michelle Peters
It seems that recently the practices of bondage, discipline, sado-masochism, all of the sexual specialities that come under the general heading of the bizarre or the fetishistic, and world of transexualism, are coming out of the proverbial closet and are gaining a kind of status approval. The probable reason for this renaissance of the bizarre is really quite obvious. All these manifestations of sexual practice are truly part of everyone's unconscious mind, and the degree to which a person is dedicated to the actual practice of sadomasochism, is what determines whether or not that person qualifies as normal or perverse. The standards of normality and deviance are undergoing a thorough and far reaching revision in our society, as the influence of the sexual revolution spreads, and so it not really that surprising that sado-masochism should finally surface, out into the open to assert its rightful place in the spectrum of varied behaviour and sexual taste.
The opening of the House of Dominance in Hollywood, Ca. is an outstanding example of the reassurance of the bizarre, and a striking illustration of the wide based appeal of pain in our society. A truly unique establishment, at least for the present , the House of Dominance offers the man or woman who craves pain, humiliation, abuse, bondage, and spanking a place where all fantasies can be brought to life at the hands of a SKILLED Dominatrixes and, for the woman who craves these masochistic delights, at the hands of brutal male slave drivers. The interior has been decorated in the traditional style of torture chamber, and all of the implements of pain are stocked inside. Of course, the professional torturers are garbed in the appropriate fetish gear that enhances their image of authority. Because of the deeply held taboo against the practices of sado-masochism, it is necessary that all slaves who wish to undergo torture at the House of Dominance do so by appointment only. Discretion is still of the utmost importance at this early stage in development of the professional sado-masochistic service. Once the truly pervasive influence of sado-masochism becomes established, it is more than likely that we shall see a large scale movement toward more specialized houses catering to each separate facet of the syndrome of fetishism and the love of pain.
This was first written in 1974 and appeared in a Jennifer Jordan Associates magazine, Beatuiful & Dominant , Vol. 5, No3, 1974.
The House of Dominance was located at 6440 Selma Hollywood, Ca. Its hours were 3 p.m.- 3 a.m. / Mon.-Sat. Phone number (213) 464-9043
--Compiled by Mistress Michelle Peters and slave english
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