McCalla

Nellie Elizabeth “Irish” McCalla (1928 December 25 – 2002 February 1) was an American actress and artist best known as the star Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (TV, 1955–’56). She was also a well-known “Vargas Girl” model for Alberto Vargas. McCalla has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1722 Vine Street. She is survived by two sons, Kim and Sean McIntyre..

Artist

Va: McCalla: Mail Order Bride (1975, 18×24″ on 21×28 print) Irish McCalla. #67/500.

Va: McCalla: The Letter (1981, 18×24″ on 21×28 print) Irish McCalla. #103/500.

Va: McCalla: Blossom Soft (1983, 16×20″ on 20×24 print) Irish McCalla. .

Va: McCalla: Warm Summer Night (1992, digital print) Irish McCalla. .

Actress

Date	Title	Role
c. 1950	Irish McCalla at the Beach (short)	herself (modeling)
1952	River Goddesses (documentary)	herself (modeling in the Grand Canyon)
1954-12-04	The George Gobel Show: (ep. #1.8)	Fashion Model
1955-03-05	The George Gobel Show: (ep. #1.18)	herself (actress)
1955	Backstage with N.T.G.: (ep. ?)	herself (model)
1955-10	The Colgate Comedy Hour: (#6.2, 3 or 5)	herself (model)
1955 – 1956	Sheena: Queen of the Jungle	Sheena (26 episodes)
1956-06-05	Texaco Star Theatre: (ep. #8.13)	herself (actress)
1957-08-25	The Steve Allen Show: (ep. #2.45)	herself (Sheena actress)
c. 1957	The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show: (ep. ?)	herself (Sheena actress)
1958-01-01	She Demons	Jerrie Turner
1959-06-15	Disneyland ’59 (documentary)	herself (Sheena actress)
1959-07-03	The Beat Generation	Marie Baron
1959-09-23	Five Gates to Hell	Sister Magdalena
1960-08-01	Five Bold Women	‘Big Pearl’ Jackson
1960s	Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)	Rita Marlowe
1960s	The Seven Year Itch (play)	The Girl
1961-06-22	You Bet Your Life: (ep. #11.37)	herself (Sheena actress)
1962-04-22	Hands of a Stranger	Holly
1963-01-12	Have Gun – Will Travel: “Bob Wire”	Anna Anderson
1963-12-13	77 Sunset Strip: “The Fumble”	Lynette

Model

 : Vargas: 4 of Diamonds: (Irish McCalla) (c.1947) Alberto Vargas. True (Dec.1951), Cavalier (12/52–4/53,7/53 BC), and a Vargas playing card.

Va: Van Gilder: Royal Pair: Irish McCalla (1995, ∼24×36″ signed print) Ron Van Gilder & Irish McCalla. series of 750.

AC Comics

• Irish of the Jungle (1992)
• Jungle Girls, #4 (1992)
• Jungle Girls, #5 (1992)
• TV's Original Sheena: Irish McCalla (1992)
• Good Girl Quarterly #11 (1993)
• The Golden Age of Sheena (1999)
• Wild Woman #1 (1999)
• Femforce #118 Special Edition (2003)

Pin-up

Publication	Date	Pages	Notes (5′9½″, 39½″-24″-38″)
Night and Day	August 1950	?	—
Night and Day	Sept. 1950	?	—
Eve [magazine] Va	Oct. 1950	C,11–13	“Meet Eve”, Virginia Travers (photos from Globe)
Eve [magazine] Va	Nov. 1950	C, ?	—
Eve [magazine] Va	Dec. 1950	C, ?	—
Eve [magazine] O	Jan. 1951	C, ?	—
Eve [magazine]	Feb. 1951	C, ?	—
Eve [magazine] Va	Mar. 1951	42	(photo from Globe)
Night and Day	January 1951	C, ?	—
Night and Day	March 1951	?	—
Night and Day	April 1951	?	—
Frolic	May 1951	?	—
Frolic	July 1951	?	—
Famous Models	Sept.–Oct. 1951	?	—
Night and Day	Sept. 1951	C, ?	—
True	Dec. 1951	44–45	Vargas’ “True Girl”
People Today	(Vol. 5, No. 6) 1952	?	—
Night and Day	February 1952	?	—
Gala (Vol. 2, #6)	March 1952	25	—
Night and Day	April 1952	?	—
Night and Day	May 1952	?	—
Man (UK)	August 1952	?	—
Night and Day	August 1952	?	—
Pagent	August 1952	?	—
Vue	Oct. 1952	?	—
Show ✔	Nov. 1952	C,11–15	“Irish McCalla: Why Fans Love Her” (photos from Globe)
comme ci, comme ça! (Anything Goes!) by Vargas Va	c. 1952	4♦	Vargas’ “True Girl” (Dec. ’51)
Night and Day	January 1953	?	—
Night and Day	February 1953	?	—
Night and Day	March 1953	?	—
Night and Day	July 1953	?	—
Night and Day	Oct. 1953	?	—
Cavalier Va	Dec. 1953	BC	Vargas’ “True Girl” (Dec. ’51)(P)
53 Vargas Girls: Plastic Coated Playing Cards	c. 1953	4♦	Vargas’ “True Girl” (Dec. ’51)
Vargas Vanities: 53 Pin Ups Playing Cards	c. 1953	4♦	Vargas’ “True Girl” (Dec. ’51)
Vanities by Vargas	c. 1953	4♦	Vargas’ “True Girl” (Dec. ’51)
MR.	March 1954	14,15,54	“Strange Effects of Sex Chromosomes” by L. McKay Phelps
Point	March 1954	?	—
People Today Va	August 11, 1954	C,30–34	“Irish McCalla ‘The Magic Body’” (photos by David Sutton)
People Today Va	Sept. 8, 1954	64	“Letters” (photo by David Sutton)
Eye	Sept. 1954	C,?	(5½×7½″)
Focus	Sept. 1954	C,27–?	“Say At the Office with Irish McCalla”
Photo	Oct. 1954	?	—
Fabulous Females Va	1955 (No. 1)	C,66,67	—
Gala (Vol. 5, #5)	January 1955	?	—
Picture Scope	Jan. 1955	?	—
Frolic	February 1955	?	—
Tempo	3/21/1955	?	—
Art Photography	May 1955	?	Bettie Page cover
Man’s	June 1955	?	—
Adventure	Sept. 1955	int	—
Point	Dec. 1955	?	—
Vue	Jan. 1956	int	—
Cavalier Va	February 1956	34–37	“How to make a Leopard Girl” (b&w, Vargas’ sculpture)
Night and Day	February 1956	?	—
T.V. Star Parade	February 1956	?	—
Vue	March 1956	C, ?	—
Picture week	March 27, 1956	?	—
Show	Oct. 1956	?	—
Point of View, The Male	Dec. 1956	?	—
Snappy	March 1957	BC	—
Blighty (Iss. 910, UK)	April 6, 1957	C, ?	—
Jest	May 1957	C, ?	—
High (#4)	Dec. 1957	?	(11×4¼″)
People Today ✔	Dec. 1957	BC,50–55	“Irish McCalla: ‘Me Sheena, Me Good Girl Now’” (photos by Meyer)
Latin Twist ♪	1959 (CLP 5171)	LP C	Louis Martinelli and the Continentals (photography by Joseph Tauber)
Music For Big Dame Hunters ♪	1960 (CLP 5173)	LP C	Sounds of a Thousand Strings (photography by Joseph Tauber) Also released as CST 199 (black vinyl) and CST 199 (red vinyl)
Starweek	August 1982	?	—
Celebrity Sleuth	1991 (Vol. 5, #1)	32–33	“Separate But Sequel: Irish McCalla”
Prevue Pin-Up Special 2	Aug.–Oct. 1994	34–39	“The She-Cat Who Put the She in Sheena” by Steranko
Glamour Girls: Then & Now, The Best of	1995	24–35	—
Tease	1995 (#3)	?	—
Scarlet Street	1996 (No. 23)	C, ?	—
Celebrity Sleuth	1996 (Vol. 9, #9)	56–59	“Sheena Lives”
Celebrity Sleuth	1997 (Vol. 11, #1)	56	“Star-Tistics”
Playboy	March 1997	118	“Glamourcon” by Kevin Cook
Ultra Filmfax (Iss. 66)	Apr.–May 1998	C,74–78	“Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” by Herb Fagen
Femme Fatales (Vol.7 No.3)	August 1999	?	Varga model
Femme Fatales (Vol.7 No.?)	Jan. 22, 1999	48–55	“Sheena’s Irish McCalla” by Dan Scapperotti
Playboy	January 1999	105–128, 214–220	“Sex Stars of the Century”
Playboy’s Sex Stars of the Century	August 1999	89	(Playboy Special Edition)
Playboy	Dec. 2001	168	“Sheena’s World”
Alberto Vargas	2006	?	Works from the Max Vargas Collection (painting & sketch)
Playboy	February 2008	60–68	“Sheena… Without Her Wrap…” by Leonard Martin

Pawneean ’46

Cover art (logo, Indian headdress, and crossed peace pipes) by Nellie McCalla.

Seniors…

Nellie McCalla ^(p.8)

“Irish”

“She is known for her artistic ability.”

Band 2, 3, 4; Girls’ Glee 3, 4; Choir 2, 3, 4; Girls’ Octet 2, 3; Girls’ Sextet 4; Girl Reserves 1; Pep Club 4, President; Pawneean Staff 2, 3, 4; Annual Staff 4; A cappella Choir 4; Saxophone Quartet 3, 4; Opera 2, 3; Carnival Queen 4; Class Play 4.

Class Will…^(p.12)

Nellie McCalla’s artistic ability to the person who draws the Pawneean covers next year.

Class Prophecy…^(p.13)

Nellie McCalla—age 30, cartoonist for Esquire. (It’s first class mail now, fellas!)

Annual Staff…^(p.20–21)

Fourth Row: Nellie McCalla …

Art Editor . . . . . . . . . Nellie McCalla

Pawneean Staff…^(p.23)

Third Row: … Nellie McCalla …

Art Editors . . . . . . . . . Nellie McCalla

Band…^(p.24)

Tenor Saxophones: Nellie McCalla …

Pep Club…^(p.26)

Third Row: … Nellie McCalla …

President . . . . . . . . . Nellie McCalla

Choir…^(p.27)

Third Row: … Nellie McCalla …

Girls’ Glee…^(p.28)

Third Row: … Nellie McCalla …

Calendar…^(p.38–39)

Dec. 3   Everyone calls Nellie “Rockette.”

Mar. 1   High school carnival with confetti and stuff. Queen McCalla and King Gifford preside.

May 1   Commencement. Au Revoir.

EVE

EVE, The Woman’s Magazine for Men

One of the Holmes Group

Gambit Publishing Corp.

Publisher, A. Lawrence Holmes

Editor, Virginia Travers

Managing Editor, Mary Anne Guitar

Business Manager, George Becker

Art Director, Carl Cerminaro

Production Manager, Ann Waite

Picture Credits: Covers, 1.11–13, 2.26–28—Globe

Oct. 1950, Vol. 1, No. 1

EVE’s Cover

Irish McCalla’s face and figure launch this first issue of EVE. No amateur as a cover girl, Irish has a large and impressively enthusiastic following. But the readers of EVE will have a chance to look her over every month. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Irish, EVE might never have been born. And vice versa. You can read all about it on page 11.

Meet Eve

As a special reader bonus we’re giving you Irish McCalla, “Eve of the Year.” No premiums, checks, coupons required. Here’s why.

When the unsuspecting editors of Night and Day ran a picture of Irish McCalla they hope to get only a hundred letters or so asking for her phone number. But God is sometimes good to editors. The postman still drags in sacks of fan mail on Irish. Apparently she combines the happier qualities of the girl next-door and the eternal female. She is the Eve every man subconsciously looks for. Never slow to pass up an opportunity, the editors ordered a dozen more pictures. The publisher had a better idea. He created a magazine just for Irish. So here’s Eve and here’s EVE.

Modeling isn’t a full-time job with Irish. She likes to paint herself, sold the third oil she ever made and is now working on a mural. Movies and television round out her career, don’t leave much time for art school studies.

Cartoonist Jefferson Machamer sizes up Irish before modeling session begins. When he met her the first time, he said, “For 20 years I’ve been making up a girl just like you … pigeon-toed even.” Now they’re a steady team.

Outside the studio, Irish spends free time at the beach, swimming, diving for lobster and abalone, and playing around on tricky paddle boards in trickier surf.

Nov. 1950, Vol. 1, No. 2

EVE’s Cover

All of the returns are not in on EVE, the magazine, but we know for a fact that EVE, the girl, is a huge success. As faithful readers of Night and Day, Taboo, and EVE know we are now referring to Irish McCalla who is on our cover this month. She’s obviously getting as big a bang out of sponsoring a magazine as our readers are getting out of her. See page 26.

Photo “Interview”

We don’t know how exclusive an interview can get but this one is probably something of a record breaker for its kind.

With the first issue (October) of this magazine, the editors announced the selection of Miss Irish McCalla as our title girl. Irish, a West Coast model and painter, is, in the opinion of this magazine and innumerable readers of Night and Day, and Taboo, where her pictures first appeared, one of the most remarkable young women of her time. Anticipating little disagreement with our selection, it seemed to the point to find out how Miss McCalla felt about her appointment. We have therefore prepared the attached photo-interview for your enlightenment. The method employed is quite obviously an adaptation of the current publishing successes—“The Frenchman,” “Home Sweet Zoo,” and “White Collar Zoo”—all picture-interview-article-type volumes which have met with a somewhat alarming success. We are pleased then, to present to you a completely mythical non-interview with one of the nation’s outstanding females. In case you don’t care to read on, she’s happy to be Eve.

How does it feel to be Eve?

Do you think this is a credit to you in any way?

Why do you suppose you were selected to be Eve?

Did you have a great deal of red-hot competition?

We think the best woman won. Do you agree?

What do you think it will get you in the long run?

Suppose some Hollywood mobile makes an offer?

Do you think beauty is really only skin deep?

What are your plans for the immediate future?

timeline

Date	Age	Event	Location
1928-12-25	0y	Nellie Elizabeth “Irish” McCalla born	Pawnee City, Nebraska
1934-09	5y 8m	Irish enters first grade	Pawnee City, Nebraska
1939 late	10y	McCalla family moves	Des Moines, Iowa
1941-11	12y10m	McCalla family moves	Marshalltown, Iowa
1942-09	13y 8m	McCalla family moves	Omaha, Nebraska
1942 late	13y	McCalla family moves	Pawnee City, Nebraska
1946-05-24	17y 4m	Irish graduates	class of ’46, Pawnee City, Nebraska
1946-06	17y 5m	Irish moves	Southern, California
1946 Summer	17y	Irish, in a Miss California contest, meets and poses for Vargas.	Age according to Taschen. In 1946, Marilyn Buferd won Miss California and Miss America.
1947 Summer	18y	Irish, in a Miss California contest, meets and poses for Vargas.	Terror Orstralis.163 In 1947, Laura Jean Emery won Miss Calif., but not Miss America.
1948-05-26	19y 5m	Irish is a Miss California contestant.	LA Times photo caption
1950-09-05	21	Irish marries Patrick McIntyre	—
1951	22	Irish marries Patrick McIntyre	—
1952	23	Irish is in River Goddesses	as herself
1955–1956	26–27	Irish stars in Sheena	as Sheena
1957	28	Irish and McIntyre divorce	—
1958	29	Irish marries Patrick Horgan	—
1958	29	Irish in She Demons	as Jerrie Turner
1959-07-03	30	Irish in The Beat Generation	as Marie Baron
1959-09-23	30	Irish in Five Gates to Hell	as Sister Magdalena
1960-08-01	31	Irish in Five Bold Woman	as 'Big Pearl' Jackson
1962-04-22	33	Irish in Hands of a Stranger	as Holly
1963-01-12	34	Irish in Have Gun - Will Travel	"Bob Wire" as Anna Anderson
1963-12-13	34	Irish in 77 Sunset Strip	"The Fumble" as Lynette
1969-01	40	Irish and Horgan divorce	—
1969	40	Irish diagnosed with brain tumor	—
1981	52	Irish diagnosed with brain tumor	—
1982	53	Irish marries Chuck Rowland	—
1989	60	Irish and Rowland separate	—
1993-09	64	Flacks shows Irish Vargas photos	Glamorcon I
2002-02-01	73	Irish dies of stroke and tumor complications	Tucson, Arizona

For many years it was not widely known that Vargas and his wife, Anna, who was also present during the session, took about eight 4×6″ black-and-white photos of Irish naked, so Vargas could use them to paint from. They promised her they would be the only ones to see them. Those photos ended up in the possession of Erwin Flacks, a Las Vegas collector who had purchased Vargas’ personal photos of his models. Also included were the negatives. Flacks showed them to Irish and one of her closest personal friends when they were running a booth at the first Glamorcon Show in Los Angeles in September 1993. Irish, who had never seen the developed photos before, became a little annoyed and commented, “I knew these would show up one day”. She eventually lightened up a bit and during one of their conversations confided in him, “You are looking at an eighteen year old virgin”. She made him promise not to sell the photos while she was still alive. Irish had been battling recurrent brain tumors for many years at this stage. For that promise Irish agreed to sign several sets of photos that Flacks had prepared. Irish’s friend said that the photos were stunningly beautiful. Frank Bonilla, my collaborator on this site and the world’s most avid collector of Irish McCalla memorabilia, was unsuccessful in obtaining a set of the photos from Erwin Flacks, so in June 2007 he wrote to Hugh Hefner, a keen fan of Irish, and suggested that Playboy do a biographical story about Irish. He also alerted Hefner to the existence of the nude photos. Playboy managed to acquire those rare photos and used them for a feature story on Irish in the February 2008 issue of Playboy. The photos are indeed very beautiful but you won’t find them on this family-friendly site. If you would like to see them search The Net for sites that specialize in images of nude celebrities. A Vargas sketch of Irish’s nude torso also appears in the book, Alberto Vargas: Works from the Max Vargas Collection.(2006 Bullfinch). Max Vargas was Alberto Vargas’ nephew. (Bonilla).

—Wickham, Paul (May 2009) “Modelling, Page 5”. Irish McCalla Biography. Terror Orstralis.

See also

• Fagen, Herb (April 1988) “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle”. Ultra Filmfax, Iss. 66, pp. 74-78.
• TV’s Original Sheena: Irish McCalla (1992) Bill Black. AC Comics & Paragon Pub., 1-56225-005-1.
• Steranko, Jim (October 1994) “The She-Cat Who Put the She in Sheena”. Prevue, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 34-39.
• Shinnick, Kevin G. (1996 [Oct–Dec]) “Irish McCalla”. Scarlet Street, pp. 74-77, 95.
• Alberto Vargas: Works from the Max Vargas Collection (2006) Reid Stewart Austin. , 978-0-8212-5792-0.
• Maltin, Leonard (February 2008) “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Without Her Wrap”. Playboy, pp. 60-68.
• Selvedge Yard (2013-05-30) “the Six Degrees of Sharon Tate, Mao McQueen, Manson, Mad Men”.
• “Vargas Pin-up Art”.
• American Art Archives “Vargus”.
• FlashBak.com “Irish McCalla, Sheena, Catalyst of Impure Thoughts”.