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.
1929—Seven Men Shot Dead in Chicago
Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s South Side gang, are machine gunned to death in Chicago, Illinois, in an event that would become known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Because two of the shooters were dressed as police officers, it was initially thought that police might have been responsible, but an investigation soon proved the killings were gang related. The slaughter exceeded anything yet seen in the United States at that time.