Above is a cover of the tabloid Midnight published today in 1968. The idea that someone stole JFK’s corpse was aired pretty much right after the murder, and to this day some people believe he was snatched off Air Force One sometime before the plane landed in Washington D.C. It’s a pretty farfetched theory, one not necessarily interesting on its own merits, but because it’s a good example of one of the most important factors that makes conspiracies work. And that is simply that in the absence of convincing facts people concoct multiple theories and those help obscure actual discrepancies about the event. Once you’ve heard enough crackpot theories you tend to forget the original, crucially pertinent questions. If one were conspiracy-minded one would almost suggest that the perpetrators of conspiracies count on this to happen. But that would be only if one were conspiracy-minded. We are not.

Above, a cover of the U.S. tabloid Midnight from today in 1967, with one of their standard sex headlines. This one is pure fiction. How do we know? Because despite all their “bros before hos”* machismo, men fall out over women almost as often as they do about money, which means the town would devolve into Fallujah style chaos in mere days. At least the bride-to-be wouldn’t have to break any hearts. Every man except one would be dead.

*For a serious grammatical discussion of whether “hos” is spelled properly see here

Another entry from that gift that keeps on giving—a book of tabloid covers we bought three years ago—this issue of Midnight hit the streets 45 years ago today, promising the lowdown on where to purchase love slaves. The cover star, who does not seem to have been available for purchase, is a German born Folies Bergère showgirl named Birgit Bergen. We’d never heard of her, but with hair that enormous she must have been a star, and in fact it turns out she was quite famous in her day. In addition to dancing in Paris, she appeared in about twenty films, including 1958’s Nackt, wie Gott sie schuf, aka, Naked, As God Intended, and 1972’s Laß jucken, Kumpel, aka Let’s Itch, Mate, which was a big hit in Germany. We located a couple of photos of Bergen at the height of her beauty and fame (her hair's still pretty high too, but not to the extent it was on Midnight), and we’ve posted those below.

 

Above, an issue of Midnight published today 1964, with cover star Sophia Loren. The text references her famed topless appearance in Era lui… si! si! However, despite the splash she made with that role, and despite what Midnight editors wished, Loren never actually went fully nude onscreen.

We checked out Jim’s Wikipedia entry, which led us to his publisher’s website and, sure enough, he’s put together a quite impressive bibliography. His million-selling Mr. Midnight series, and his newer Mr. Mystery collection, are both written under the pseudonym James Lee, and are described as being for Asian teens (Jim has lived in Singapore for 20 years). But they’re written in English and we suspect they have plenty of pan-cultural aspects. A few days after we first heard from Jim, he really surprised us by sending in some scans from two issues of Adam in which his fiction appeared. Since we already had today’s post ready to go, we’re going to share those a little later, so keep an eye open for them. In the meantime, enjoy the below scans from July 1973. 

Update: a sharp-eyed reader informs us that the model featured in the photo series entitled "Cynthia's Poses" is none other than Rene Bond, who appeared in about 300 x-rated loops and films during the 1970s. Thanks to Rai for soptting that. A bit more info here.

Above, a cover of the always brilliant tabloid Midnight published today 1966.  See many more by clicking its keyword below.

Above, an issue of Midnight published forty-six years ago today with a cover photo of a man who’s looked better. The claim that he’s a father hanged and left for vultures by his son is probably fiction, but the cadaver is genuine. Midnight editors seemed to pride themselves on obtaining real gore shots. The 1960s were the heyday of gore documentaries like Mondo Cane, so there was public interest in the subject, strangely. See many more issues of Midnight by clicking its keyword below.

Above, a scan of the American tabloid Midnight, published today 1966, with one of their standard cover motifs—a horny woman with money. In this case, she's offering 200K and a shopping spree, but keep in mind she's a widow, and it's possible her husband died of fright. See the rest of our Midnight collection by clicking the keyword below.

This issue of Midnight was published today, 1966, with yet another allegedly sexually available woman on the cover. Readers could always count on Midnight for fresh spank bank material. In fact, of the issues we’ve found, half have covers with exactly this type of content. We can’t find mention of Connie Britt anywhere, but that’s no surprise—we already explained how the cheapie tabloid thing works in terms of their usage of random modeling photos. Which means Britt joins the ranks of Midnight’s other one shot wonders. See them here, here, here and here, and expect more in the future.