This beautiful promo photo of Romanian actress Tala Birell strikes a film noir note, but because her career flourished before the advent of the genre she never made a movie that can be fully classified as noir, though 1937’s She’s Dangerous comes close. Birell appeared in about forty films, first in Europe, then the U.S., and eventually moved back to Europe where she worked for the U.S. Government organizing theatrical productions in Germany, France, and Austria. You’re thinking what we’re thinking, right? She was totally a spy. Well, perhaps not, but she sure looks like one above. The shot was made for Columbia Pictures after she was signed as a contact player there in 1933.  

Above is the cover of an issue of V published today in 1947. Inside are various celeb and cinema features, a photo-comic written by the famed Maurice Dekobra, a back cover by Jean David, and plenty of photography, including the feature “Don Juan les pins,” or Don Juan of the Pines, whatever the hell that means. Also a bit of a mystery is the baffled looking cover star surrounded by six swooning women and a dog. He’s damnably familiar but we can’t quite place him, and since this is V we’re talking about, the editors have predictably failed to identify him. He’s a Columbia Pictures player, according to the caption, but that’s all we got. Anyone recognize him? Drop us a line. Thanks.

Update: So we have the answer from Nick, who informs us this is Arthur Lake, who played Dagwood in the U.S. television series Blondie, based on the famous comic strip. Thanks a million for that info. This also seems like a good time to thank not just Nick, but all Pulp Intl. readers. Your support and knowledge is essential to making this site work and we always appreciate it.

Update 2: Now it all becomes clear. A reader informs us that "Don Juan les pins" is a play on words. Juan-les-pins is a popular vacation spot in France, located on the Côte d'Azur between Nice and Cannes.

The Japanese weren’t the only ones who produced amazing 45 sleeves for James Bond music. Above you see art for Shirley Bassey’s Bond theme “Goldfinger,” released by Columbia Records and EMI in Italy in 1965, with Sean Connery and gold plated Shirley Eaton caught during a moment between takes on the set. In Italy the movie was called Agente 007, Missione Goldfinger, which is why the title on the reverse differs from the front. Check out those Japanese Bond sleeves here.

This Columbia Pictures promo photo of Swedish actress Märta Torén was shot when she appeared in the adventure Sirocco in 1951, starring opposite Humphrey Bogart. The film, which was set in Syria, was an attempt to recapture the magic of Casablanca, and one of its taglines was: “Beyond Casablanca... Fate, in a low-cut gown lies in wait for Bogart!” The movie didn’t recapture that Casablanca magic, but it was a nice role for Torén. She worked steadily until 1957 when she died of a sudden brain hemorrhage at age 30. 

These two gorgeous promo photos of Jan Sterling, née Jane Sterling Adriance, were shot for her role in Columbia Pictures’ drama Women’s Prison. Sterling also appeared in Johnny Belinda, Mystery Street, Appointment with Danger, and was Academy Award nominated for her role in The High and the Mighty. Women’s Prison was released in 1955, and these images date from the year before. 

Above is a great shot of American actress and dancer Ann Miller, who was born Johnnie Collier (a much better name, in our opinion) and who appeared in many films, beginning with 1934’s Anne of Green Gables and ending with 2001’s Mulholland Dr. This shot is from her 1944 Columbia musical Hey, Rookie!, in which she had the lead role. Miller died in 2004.

By now we shouldn’t be surprised where Marilyn Monroe turns up. Still though, we never thought we’d see her befrocked and befrilled, fondling livestock in a field. Yet there she is on the April 26, 1946 cover of the women’s magazine The Family Circle. At the time, Monroe was modeling just about anywhere she could find work, going by her real name Norma Jeane Daugherty. She was twenty years old, one year away from her first film appearance, and two years away from her first minor film contract with Columbia Pictures. The year after that, in 1949, still trying to make ends meet, she posed nude for photographer Tom Kelley. In 1952 one photo from that session ended up on a Western Lithograph Co. pin-up calendar. Monroe was a contract player with 20th Century Fox by then, and the studio feared the photos would cause a scandal. They were wrong. Monroe admitted posing nude to pay the rent, and the public was fine with it. The next month she appeared on the cover of Life. Said Monroe: “Oh, the calendar’s hanging in garages all over town. Why deny it? You can get one anyplace. Besides, I’m not ashamed of it. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Monroe’s career took off from there, but there’s a modern postscript to the story—namely, with the internet being what it is (a massive repository of misinformation the likes of which we never could have imagined a mere fifteen years ago), there are many shots of Monroe out there that are misidentified as the one that ended up on that 1952 calendar. So we took the liberty of posting a scan of the Life story, with its inset of the Monroe calendar. The shot you see there—and not the several others appearing on assorted websites—is the one that scandalized Monroe’s bosses but was shrugged off by the public. The nude image is pretty small in Life, but the internet being what it is (a massive repository of nakedness the likes of which we could never have imagined—but always hoped for), we were able to simply grab a larger version of Kelley’s shot and post it below so that, for purely academic interest, you can have a closer look. The photo will disappear if we get a cease and desist order, but for now it’s there.

This issue of Top Secret from April 1962 asks the question: Did Kim Novak really perform in the nude during the filming of The Notorious Landlady? In the movie, Jack Lemmon bursts in on Novak while she’s bathing and she delivers her dialogue covering her breasts with her arms. It was racy stuff for back then—in fact, one contemporary review referred to the scene as “degrading”. Columbia Pictures’ publicity department fanned the flames by letting it be known that Novak had no bodysuit or other covering, meaning one of the most desirable women in Hollywood had been seen in the buff by an entire film crew. Hubba hubba. However Top Secret says the story is untrue and Novak was, in fact, covered. Whatever the truth, the timing was perfect, promotionally speaking. The Notorious Landlady hit cinemas that same month with the tagline “Did she… or DID SHE?” The line referred to a murder her character was suspected of committing, but it dovetailed nicely with the nude controversy. So the question remains: Did she… or DID SHE? And the answer is: Judge for yourself below. 

American actress Cleo Moore, seen here in a Columbia Pictures promo still used for the 1956 drama Over-Exposed, in which she starred with Richard Crenna. Moore was one of half a dozen actresses who found fame during a wave of blonde mania that gripped Hollywood just after Marilyn set the town on fire.