Whitey Schafer

Adolph L. "Whitey" Schafer (1903 – August 31, 1951) was an American photographer known for his pin-ups and glamour photography. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Schafer grew up in California and began working in the movies in 1921. He took still photos of movie stars for several studios, including Columbia and Paramount. Schafer was killed by an explosion on a yacht in 1951.

He died at Puget Sound Naval Memorial Hospital on August 31, 1951, from injuries caused by a yacht explosion in Bremerton, Washington. He was survived by his wife, Mabel, and 22-year-old son, Wayne.

A 1947 profile described Schafer's role as "to photograph hundreds of glamour queens wearing about as much clothes [sic] as normally serves the gun crew on a battleship".

In 1943, and as of 1948, Schafer was the director of still photography at Paramount Pictures. A 1943 profile of Schafer, published during World War II, emphasized his role as a pin-up and glamour photographer, referring to a fictitious serviceman abroad:

In a parody of the Hays Code, Schafer's 1940 photograph Thou Shalt Not depicts a sex worker, dead policeman, and liquor.

Schafer began working in the film lab of Paramount Pictures in 1921. He also worked for Thomas H. Ince's studio, Cecil B. DeMille's studio, RKO-Pathé, and Columbia Pictures, where he headed the photography department as of 1938.

Adolph L. Schafer was born in 1903 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents moved to California when he was six months old. He went to high school in Hollywood, California, and attended art school at some point.