For the Love of Opera Gloves is proud to present, courtesy of Michael Wright, webmaster of The Gina Lollobrigida Page and The Connie Francis Page (who has also, by the way, provided invaluable assistance in helping us build up the Gina and Connie galleries here, _and_ the Frederick's of Hollywood and "French Line" collections), FREE downloadable posters of great opera-gloved beauties for you to put up on your wall! The first nine posters feature Jane Russell, in her famous - and very scanty - outfit from "The French Line", another Jane Russell knockout from "Son of Paleface", Jayne Mansfield (and Loni Anderson as Jayne Mansfield), Sophia Loren in her hot "Millionairess" corset, and four gorgeous portraits of Connie Francis. Look at the thumbnails below and select the one you want; click on the smaller image to access the BIG full-size image!

Alice Faye as Lillian Russell
720.69 KB

Wedding gown with boned bodice
89.55 KB

Wedding gown by Caroline Holmes
116.17 KB

Connie Francis
196.95 KB

Connie Francis
177.50 KB

Connie Francis
109.30 KB

Connie Francis
252.80 KB

Consuelo Vanderbilt
169.10 KB

ginalollobrigida-beautifulbutdangerousmermaidgown.jpg
309.08 KB

ginalollobrigida-cancangirl.jpg
698.11 KB

ginalollobrigida-cancangirlincolor.jpg
261.81 KB

ginalollobrigida-flapper.jpg
418.09 KB

Gina Lollobrigida
320.88 KB

ginalollobrigida-signed.jpg
563.12 KB

ginalollobrigida-whiteoperaswithbobhope.jpg
379.21 KB

ginalollobrigida-whitesatinoperas1954.jpg
273.58 KB

Gina Lollobrigida
360.19 KB

Gina Lollobrigida
154.42 KB

Gina Lollobrigida
318.27 KB

Jean Simmons and Princess Margaret
323.17 KB

Jayne Mansfield
252.32 KB

Jayne Mansfield
216.38 KB

Jane Russell
167.64 KB

Jane Russell
165.26 KB

Loni Anderson
219.96 KB

Marilyn Monroe
165.93 KB

Princess Margaret
237.24 KB

Princess Margaret
195.66 KB

Princess Margaret
145.88 KB

Princess Margaret
164.54 KB

Princess Margaret
128.60 KB

Princess Margaret
468.01 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
185.92 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
604.75 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
127.38 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
239.74 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
295.40 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
133.79 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
295.77 KB

Queen Elizabeth II
431.71 KB

Rita Hayworth
128.86 KB

Rita Hayworth
138.31 KB

Rita Hayworth
174.83 KB

Rita Hayworth
164.99 KB

Sigourney Weaver
147.79 KB

Sophia Loren
266.61 KB

Each poster should be printed out on oversize paper to get the best possible effect if you want to put them on your wall (the first Jane Russell poster is 30 inches tall!). Michael Wright has provided detailed instructions (reproduced below) on how these images were created and how to get these photos printed as posters, using the first Connie Francis poster as an example; if you have a Kinko's nearby and a bit of cash, it'll be a lead-pipe cinch to put these beautiful opera-glove images on your wall.

from http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/connie_francis/cfforum6.html

Lifesize Connie Francis Poster (6/9/00) by webpage editor

I made a lifesize poster of Connie using high density scan and print it on a Xerox 8830 printer which is capable of B&W prints (on regular paper) 36 inch wide and variable length. The particular poster is 75 by 45 inches. Here's how I did it:

1. I scanned a 8x10 photo (the particular is the one on my main page of her by the pole in the long dress, gloves, poofy hair) in a high density and high size. Stored file in JPEG format on a ZIP disk. I set image size at 75 by 45 (650%) and tried for 300 resolution. However, the image was way too large so I reduced it to 100. Resolution 100 still produces satisfactory prints. Compared to 72 resolution of what I typically scan photos at for webpages.

2. The local Kinkos Copies has a oversize black and white printer (Xerox 8830). It prints on regular paper that is on a 36 inch wide roll. Cost is 50 cents a square foot.

3. I used the PC at Kinkos that prints to the oversize printer. Cost is $12 per hour. If you have the image prepared, then expect to spend about a half hour at the computer. There were some computer time for adjustments to make and it should take only about 15 to 20 minutes to print. However, this could take longer (2 to 6 hours) as problems can occur such as computer crash, running out of memory, wrong sheet size selected, etc.

Instead of a 75 by 45 inch wide poster, I simply left it at 36 inches wide but it is still very impressive. Although Connie is not 75 inches tall, but why not have a poster that is larger than lifesize.

If you're feeling really adventurous, you can even make a life-size standup of one of these ladies! Michael also provides instructions for producing a life-size cutout:

Connie Francis Standup Cutout

I did the same of Connie of the cover from the "Connie Francis at the Copa" LP (the white dress version).

However, the dress flares out quite a bit so I had to print an additional since the overall print is wider than 36 inches. The additional piece that I glued on the side was only about 15 inches, the lower part of the dress.

This was then glued on foam board about 1/4 inch thick, white on both sides. using a non-toxic gluestick. The full image was cutout and leftover portions of the foam board to fabricate a stand on the back. The actual height is 60 inches (I would have made it taller but this was the first print I did so my earlier estimates were low).

The particular photo I scanned was the LP cover "Connie at the Copa" as I did not have a quality 8x10 to begin with (though I just got one from ebay).

These photos of the lifesize standup cutout were taken with a $50 camera so it is not very good. The camera was place kind of high (only quick place to put it in this cluttered office).

In the second photo shows the backside of the standup. The bottom has to be flared horizontally so it won't fall over. This standup looks shorter than it really is because of the camera angle.

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URL for this page: posters.html.