We’ve already commented on the good taste Aussie publishers Horwitz showed when selecting images for its Carter Brown covers. We found this 1954 edition of Murder! She Says! in the University of Queensland’s online Carter Brown archive, and the lovely woman on the front is British actress Joan Collins. Joan’s short-haired period didn’t last long—she had this boycut for just a few years—but it’s a very good look that obviously caught the eyes of the people in the Horwitz editorial suite.
The previous Horwitz celeb covers we showed you used actresses—Elke Sommer and Senta Berger—who were barely known at the time, which led us to believe their images were simply appropriated. But by 1954 Collins was already a legit star. That suggests official licensing, but what would have been the benefit for either Collins or the actual owners of the copyright, The Rank Organisation, and why would Horwitz pay money for the image then fail to even identify Collins as their cover star? Where’s the gain there? Why not just use a local model?
We’re not lawyers, but we speculate that maybe trademark infringement across international boundaries didn’t exist in the same detailed way in 1954 as it does today, and Horwitz simply came across the photo and liked it. That makes sense. As a media company Horwitz likely would have had stacks of handout photos mailed from numerous film companies for publicity. But without benefit of digital technology, it would have been extremely difficult for those studios to track usage of the shots. Anyway, it’s an interesting side note to a very attractive piece of art. See the other Horwitz ingénue covers here and here.
