No refunds. Handcuffs not included. Offer void on Birgit Bergen. 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.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1967—First Space Program Casualty Occurs
Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when, during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere after more than ten successful orbits, the capsule's main parachute fails to deploy properly, and the backup chute becomes entangled in the first. The capsule's descent is slowed, but it still hits the ground at about 90 mph, at which point it bursts into flames. Komarov is the first human to die during a space mission. 1986—Otto Preminger Dies
Austro–Hungarian film director Otto Preminger, who directed such eternal classics as Laura, Anatomy of a Murder, Carmen Jones, The Man with the Golden Arm, and Stalag 17, and for his efforts earned a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, dies in New York City, aged 80, from cancer and Alzheimer's disease. 1998—James Earl Ray Dies
The convicted assassin of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., petty criminal James Earl Ray, dies in prison of hepatitis aged 70, protesting his innocence as he had for decades. Members of the King family who supported Ray's fight to clear his name believed the U.S. Government had been involved in Dr. King's killing, but with Ray's death such questions became moot. 1912—Pravda Is Founded
The newspaper Pravda, or Truth, known as the voice of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication in Saint Petersburg. It is one of the country's leading newspapers until 1991, when it is closed down by decree of then-President Boris Yeltsin. A number of other Pravdas appear afterward, including an internet site and a tabloid. 1983—Hitler's Diaries Found
The German magazine Der Stern claims that Adolf Hitler's diaries had been found in wreckage in East Germany. The magazine had paid 10 million German marks for the sixty small books, plus a volume about Rudolf Hess's flight to the United Kingdom, covering the period from 1932 to 1945. But the diaries are subsequently revealed to be fakes written by Konrad Kujau, a notorious Stuttgart forger. Both he and Stern journalist Gerd Heidemann go to trial in 1985 and are each sentenced to 42 months in prison.
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