Profile of John Willie on Famous Like Me

John Alexander Scott Coutts (December 9, 1902 - August 5, 1962), better known as John Willie, was a pioneering fetish photographer and bondage artist.

Coutts was born in Singapore and grew up in England; he was a relative of a wealthy banking family. In the 1930s, he taught himself how to draw while living in Australia. In 1940, he moved to New York City where he published his bondage and fetish magazine "Bizarre" from 1946 to 1959 (compare with ENEG's "Exotique" magazine, published 1956 - 1959). Volume 2 appeared first in 1946, volume 1 wasn't published until after volume 13 in 1954. The reason is unknown.

The magazine included many photographs, often of his wife. There were also many letters from readers; he was accused of inventing these letters, but insisted that they were genuine.

As a bondage artist, he is best known for his figure of Sweet Gwendoline, which he drew in a clear, anatomically correct style that influenced later artists such as ENEG and Eric Stanton. Other characters include U69 (censored to U89 in some editions) as the raven-haired dominatrix who ties up Gwendoline and Sir Dystic d'Arcy, the only male character and probably a parody of Willie himself.

The comic strip was published by Irving Klaw, who forced Stanton to paint clothes over the whip marks on the originals of "The Escape Artist" and "The Missing Princess".

Coutts developed a brain tumor in 1961 and was forced to stop his mail order business. He destroyed his archives and returned to England, where he died.

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