Never make a redhead angry.
Above, a cover for Les aventures de Zodiaque #46, by Gaston Martin for Éditions de Neuilly, 1953, with cool art of a lethal redhead painted by Aldé. In French “manque” means “lack,” but we don't know “pot.” The phrase “mon pot” means something like mate or friend, but we have a feeling “manque de pot” could mean something unusual. Anyway, you can see more Les aventures de Zodiaque and learn a bit about its history by clicking the keywords below. Update: Jo to the rescue again:
«Manque de pot» means «lack of luck» Pot is a slang word for luck. No relation with a pot or a jar.
Thanks, Jo.
Let me put it to you the only way men seem capable of understanding.
Cool Aldé cover art for Les aventures de Zodiaque #33 — Drôle de musique, published by Éditions de Neuilly in 1952. We talked a bit about Aldé and Zodiaque several years ago, so if you're curious just follow this link. We also have a cover collection you can peruse here.
Twelve signs of the Zodiac. Not long ago we showed you the cover from one installment of a French pulp series called Les aventures de Zodiaque. That was a lovely piece of art, but the series had modest beginnings. Above and below are one dozen fronts from the series’ early days, when it was being published in Montreal by Éditions PTE under agreement from the French parent publisher Éditions de Neuilly. These are all from the early 1950s.
Edit: Writing six years later, we realize now that these are not random women on these covers. They're celebrities. Or at least, we assume so, because we recognize Belgian actress Dominique Wilms on the fifth cover below, the light brown one. If we identify others we'll update this little addendum, but don't count on it, because if, like Wilms, the other women are French or Belgian, well, we're not as good on those actresses as we'd like. But we'll sure try.
The Zodiac is watching your every movement. Les aventures de Zodiaque was one of France’s most poplar pulp-style serials. Published by Editions de Neuilly throughout the 1950s, this one is entitled Cinq, quatre, trois, deux, un zéro and appeared in 1957, making it the 183rd entry in the series. The man who worked overtime to churn these out was Gaston Martineau, aka Gaston Martin, and the stories involved the exploits of Zodiac and his sidekicks Elayne, Dede and a reporter named Gaston Martin (subtle, no?). The cover was painted by Aldé, who we gather was Martin in disguise. You have to be impressed. You’ve probably noticed the black “Europe n° 1” on the cover. That isn’t part of the title. Martin had been interviewed on the recently launched radio network Europe n° 1 by Pierre Maintigneux, and the cover was publicizing that fact. There’s a photo of Martin and Maintigneux on the rear of the book from the interview. We’ll get back to this series pretty soon, but for now you can see more covers at Muller-Fokker’s excellent webpage here.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1951—The Rosenbergs Are Convicted of Espionage
Americans Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage as a result of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. While declassified documents seem to confirm Julius Rosenberg's role as a spy, Ethel Rosenberg's involvement is still a matter of dispute. Both Rosenbergs were executed on June 19, 1953. 1910—First Seaplane Takes Flight
Frenchman Henri Fabre, who had studied airplane and propeller designs and had also patented a system of flotation devices, accomplishes the first take-off from water at Martinque, France, in a plane he called Le Canard, or "the duck." 1953—Jim Thorpe Dies
American athlete Jim Thorpe, who was one of the most prolific sportsmen ever and won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football at the collegiate and professional levels, and also played professional baseball and basketball, dies of a heart attack. 1958—Khrushchev Becomes Premier
Nikita Khrushchev becomes premier of the Soviet Union. During his time in power he is responsible for the partial de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, and presides over the rise of the early Soviet space program, but his many policy failures lead to him being deposed in October 1964. After his removal he is pensioned off and lives quietly the rest of his life, eventually dying of heart disease in 1971.
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