THE RITES STUFF

… blah blah blah … free you from sin and save you … name of the lord ... amen. Okay, all done, guys. Cook him.

En deux manches et une belle… translates to, “In two sleeves and a beautiful…” offering us no idea of its actual meaning. Doubtless this is another French colloquialism. The author is Patrick Rock, an obvious pseudonym. These can be difficult to untangle, but in this case the main clue comes from the fact that the translator Louis Valgrand is listed on the cover. That sort of attribution is somewhat rare. And considering the fact that this book was almost certainly never actually written in English, but rather was part of the wave of French language imitations of American crime novels, we suspect Valgrand was the author. Probably the publishers Éditions Flamme d’Or wanted to Americanize the novel with an appropriate sounding pseudonym, but Valgrand couldn’t forego seeing his name on the cover. Don’t cite us on that. It’s still just a guess, but one that makes sense. The cover art is by René Brantonne and the copyright is 1952.

France, Éditions de la Flamme d'Or, Patrick Rock, René Brantonne, Louis Valgrand, cover art, literature

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 6

1966—LSD Declared Illegal in U.S.

LSD, which was originally synthesized by a Swiss doctor and was later secretly used by the CIA on military personnel, prostitutes, the mentally ill, and members of the general public in a project code named MKULTRA, is designated a controlled substance in the United States.

October 5

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators becomes a riot at the gates of Warner Brothers Studios when strikers and replacement workers clash. The event helps bring about the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, prohibits unions from contributing to political campaigns and requires union leaders to affirm they are not supporters of the Communist Party.

October 4

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik I, which becomes the first artificial object to orbit the Earth. It orbits for two months and provides valuable information about the density of the upper atmosphere. It also panics the United States into a space race that eventually culminates in the U.S. moon landing.

October 4

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

American blues singer Janis Joplin is found dead on the floor of her motel room in Los Angeles. The cause of death is determined to be an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

October 3

1908—Pravda Founded

The newspaper Pravda is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles living in Vienna. The name means “truth” and the paper serves as an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.

October 3

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

An obscenity trial brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of the counterculture City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, reaches its conclusion when Judge Clayton Horn rules that Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection Howl is not obscene.

October 3

1995—Simpson Acquitted

After a long trial watched by millions of people worldwide, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson subsequently loses a civil suit and is ordered to pay millions in damages.