John Willie
Montreal: Bizarre Publishing Co., 1952.

Single issue of the foundational fetish magazine of the 20th century. Created, edited, and largely illustrated by John Alexander Scott Coutts (1902-1962), better known by his pseudonym John Willile. Bizarre ran for 26 issues between 1946 and 1959 and remains the most influential fetish periodical of its era. Coutt’s work profoundly shaped later artists such as Eric Stanton, Gene Bilbrew, and erotica publisher Leonard Burtman. Born in Singapore to British parents, Coutts lived in Brisbane and Sydney from 1926 to 1945, it was in Australia that he developed his signature fetish aesthetic centred on high heels, corsetry, and bondage. During this period he produced numerous photographs and drawings, often featuring his wife and model Holly Anna Faram, many of which informed the imagery of Bizarre’s early issues. After a short stint in the Australian Military Forces, Coutts moved to North America in 1945, publishing Bizarre soon after. Though Holly stayed in Australia, Coutts did take with him the influence of the early 20th century underground Australian sexual sub-cultures that had shaped his art over the preceding years. Bringing this Australian perspective to North America and working with other pioneers of the American fetish movement such as Charles Guyette and Irving Klaw, Bizarre became the fashion and fetish icon it is today. Not without his run-ins with the law, Coutts was careful to avoid censorship, framing Bizarre as a fanzine of “extreme fashion”, largely avoiding nudity, homosexuality, and extreme violence, though it is clear that the pages of Bizarre were a safe space for sexual expression. As he writes at the opening of Vol. 3: “The magazine for pleasant optimists who frown on convention. The magazine of fashions and fantasies fantastic!