 A heady new brew of tabloid gossip gets served up in Hollywood. 
We have a brand new tabloid to our website today—the colorful Off the Record Secrets, of which you see its June 1963 cover above. This was published by an outfit calling itself Magazette, Inc., which aimed for the high end of the tabloid market with bright fronts along the same lines as the big boys Confidential, Whisper, Hush Hush, et al. Like those, Off the Record Secrets covers miles of ground between its pages, spilling on everyone from Hugh Hefner and his Bunnies, to Frank Sinatra and his Pack, to Elsa Martinelli and her hubby Franco Mancinelli Scotti, to Kirk Douglas and his bad behavior.
Of the items on offer, we were struck by the photo of Annette Stroyberg stuffing her face. We always thought trying to catch celebrities eating in embarrassing fashion started with the internet gossip sites, but apparently we were wrong. In any case you can see why the best restaurants have private dining rooms. Stroyberg must have been furious. Also of note, you Cary Grant fans get see him in a towel at age sixty-one. He's holding together nicely, though there seems to be some stomach sucking going on. Still, nothing to be ashamed of. He's got ninety-five percent of men his age beat.
The earliest issue we've seen of Off the Record Secrets is from January 1962. By the early 1960s the tabloid market was crowded, therefore owing at least partly to a logjam on newsstands, this magazine lasted only into 1964 before folding its tent. Because of its scarcity issues sometimes go for hefty prices. We got ours for $19.00. But we've seen them auctioning for $75.00. The high pricing means we may not buy another example for a while, but we'll get it done. In the meantime, get acquainted with Off the Record Secrets. We have multiple rare images for you below.
                            
 Strange ideas from the minds and lenses of mid-century promo photographers.   A while back we shared a promo photo of Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame from 1953's The Big Heat that was meant to imply oral sex (it absolutely was, and you can see for yourself here). We commented on its weirdness, and noted that an actress would probably not be asked or made to pose that way today. The shot got us thinking about whether there were other kneeling promo shots from the mid-century era, and above you see two others from The Big Heat. Below we have more such shots, and while none are as jarring as that previous promo, they're all interesting. We assumed there would be few if any featuring kneeling males, but we found a couple. Even so, there are probably scores more kneeling actresses that we missed. While many of shots took the form they did to highlight the criminal/victim themes in their parent films, you still have to wonder what else—consciously or not—was in the various photograhers' minds. Anyway, just some food for thought this lovely Thursday. Ready, set discuss!   Rod Taylor and Luciana Pauluzzi swap subordinate positions for 1967's Chuka.
 Edmund O'Brien goes for the time honored hair grab on Marla English for 1954's Shield for Murder.
 Inger Stevens and Terry Ann Ross for Cry Terror, an adaptation of a novel we talked about a few years ago.
 Kim Hunter soothes an overheated Marlon Brando in a promo for 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire.
 George Raft menaces Marlene Dietrich in the 1941 comedy Manpower.
  As promos go, these actually make sense. They show three unidentified models mesmerized by vampire Christopher Lee for 1970's Taste the Blood of Dracula.
 Glenn Ford is at it again, this time looming over Rita Hayworth for the 1946 classic Gilda.  Aldo Ray and Barbara Nichols for 1958's The Naked and the Dead.
 This one shows less domination and more protectiveness, as Humphrey Bogart prepares to defend Ida Lupino for High Sierra, 1941.
 Humphrey once more. Here he's with Lizabeth Scott for Dead Reckoning, 1947.
 This shot shows Brazilian actress Fiorella Mari with an actor we can't identify in a movie we also can't identify.
 Shelly Winters and Jack Palance climb the highest mountain together for I Died a Thousand Times, 1955.
 As we said, we didn't find as many examples of kneeling men, but we found this gem—Cappucine makes a seat of director Blake Edwards on the set of The Pink Panther in 1963. Does this count, though? While Edwards is subordinate, he isn't kneeling and it really isn’t a legit promo. And lastly, in a curious example, Hugo Haas seems to tell Cleo Moore to stay in a shot made for 1953's One Girl's Confession.
 Twentieth Century Fox offers up a mix of Monroe's most famous tunes.  
Above: the front and rear sleeves of a 1962 Twentieth Century Fox album featuring the brightest star in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, performing musical numbers from three films—River of No Return, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and There's No Business Like Show Business. Inside you get a “ready to frame” Monroe photo, which is the cover shot unaltered. It's a nice image indeed. The full list of songs is as follows: “Heat Wave,” “Lazy,” “After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It,” “River of No Return,” “One Silver Dollar,” “I'm Going To File My Claim,” “A Little Girl from Little Rock,” (with Eileen Wilson), “When Love Goes Wrong,” (also with Eileen Wilson), “Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend,” and “Bye Bye Baby.”
You can hear most of the tunes by looking around YouTube, if you're curious.
 Mexico hasn't been the same since. 
Did we ever mention that Mexico is our favorite country? Not that we really rank them, but we've been numerous times, always had fun, and more than once considered moving there. It could still happen. Marilyn Monroe looks like she had a fun time there in this publicity photo made today in 1962, when she landed in Los Angeles after ten days of vacation in Mexico City. You may have noticed the fur coat. It probably wasn't just for show. Mexico City can be quite warm in Fenruary, but nightly lows can get into the 40s Fahrenheit. Or maybe the plane was freezing. In any case, we like this shot showing a world champion of striking excellent poses looking a bit candid. We took notice of this shot because we too shall be flying away on vacation. We'll get into that tomorrow, and as always, Monroe will return.
 Marilyn Monroe's dark places. 
Since Marilyn Monroe is on people's minds thanks to the recent biopic Blonde, in which she's portrayed by Ana de Armas, it seems like a good time to feature Miss M as a femme fatale. This is probably the fifth or sixth time we've done so, and always it's pure pleasure merely to behold her. In case you missed it, Blonde focuses largely on Monroe's tragedies, and paints her life as lurching from horror to horror. We've written about Marilyn's traumas a few times, so we'll quote ourselves on the subject:
Monroe's life was marred by abandonment, depression, and rape [but] since she isn't around to speak for herself, we view her on the terms she chose. She started as a model and worked hard to become an actress, and we think those achievements are more important than what she had no control over.
Therefore, we don't spend much time trying to present the dark side of stardom every time we mention Monroe (today being an exception). Aside from when we focus on the purely pulp aspects of a performer's life, we celebrate them as content producers above all else. And Monroe the content producer was a virtual colossus who stood astride Hollywood. In the above photo, which we found inside a Japanese magazine published in 1968, she looks amazing as always.
 Geez. They're all about me again. 
Philippe Halsman shot this sly commentary on fame featuring one of the most famous women in America, Marilyn Monroe, as his subject. She checks out a newspaper, and next to her you can see machines for the afternoon tabloids Mirror, Daily News, and Herald-Express, the latter of which is a publication we've mined often for historical crime photos. In that issue the front page says, “Fight Grows to Keep Chaplin Out of U.S.,” a headline that dates the photo to sometime in late 1952. Why was there a fight? People had been led to believe Chaplin was a communist theat to America for saying things like he wanted every person to have a roof over their heads. He wouldn't return to the U.S. for twenty years. So, the tabloids weren't all about Marilyn every issue. Just mostly. Even gossips need a little variety.
 Back by popular demand.
Earlier this year we shared an issue of one of the prettiest mid-century celebrity magazines—West Germany's Bravo. We have pages from another issue, published today in 1956. We'll return to this publication a bit later.
 Inside Story goes where other tabloids tread—then claims not to have gone there. 
It's been a few years since we posted an issue of Inside Story, but we don't run out of tabloids, we just run out of time to scan them. Today, though, there's time aplenty, so above you see an issue that appeared this month in 1963 with a cover touting a feature on the new generation of young actresses in Hollywood taking over from Brigitte Bardot, Kim Novak, and Marilyn Monroe. At the time, Bardot was twenty-nine and Novak was thirty-five. Those aren't exactly geriatric years for actresses, even back then, but Inside Story said there was a young new guard: Angie Dickinson, Ann-Margret, Jane Fonda, Connie Stevens, Tuesday Weld, and Julie Newmar. Dickinson was actually older than both Bardot and Novak, but we get the general point.
Later in the issue there's a story dedicated to Monroe that describes her fans as a death cult. The interesting aspect of this is that the author Kevin Flaherty accuses people of obsessing over Monroe—while himself obsessing over Monroe. The gist of his article is that a cottage industry of films, books, and magazine articles were cashing in on her suicide, which had occurred the previous August. This was, of course, shaky ground for any tabloid to tread upon, as they all made their profits via unauthorized articles about various celebrities, which one could define as exploitative by nature. But never let the facts get in the way of a good story angle.
Flaherty tells readers that Monroe's life was marred by abandonment, depression, and rape, and suggests that if she had been given a little peace by constantly clamoring fans and intrusive reporters she might not have taken that fatal dose of pills. We think it's just as valid to conclude that without stardom she wouldn't have lasted as long as she did. Since she isn't around anymore to speak for herself (she'd be ninety-six this year), we view her on the terms she chose. She started as a model and worked hard to become an actress, and we think those achievements are far more important than what she had no control over. But there will always be debate over Monroe's legacy, and Inside Story shows that the discussion was already in full swing. Twenty-plus scans below.
                           
 *yawn* What a refreshing nap. Oh, hello. How long have you been standing there and why do you have a banana in your pocket? 
Above: a nice photo of Marilyn Monroe in bed, shot in 1953. That was arguably her pivotal year. It was when her massive hits Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How To Marry a Millionaire came out, and she made two appearances on The Jack Benny Show. No wonder she was tired.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
2003—Hope Dies
Film legend Bob Hope dies of pneumonia two months after celebrating his 100th birthday. 1945—Churchill Given the Sack
In spite of admiring Winston Churchill as a great wartime leader, Britons elect
Clement Attlee the nation's new prime minister in a sweeping victory for the Labour Party over the Conservatives. 1952—Evita Peron Dies
Eva Duarte de Peron, aka Evita, wife of the president of the Argentine Republic, dies from cancer at age 33. Evita had brought the working classes into a position of political power never witnessed before, but was hated by the nation's powerful military class. She is lain to rest in Milan, Italy in a secret grave under a nun's name, but is eventually returned to Argentina for reburial beside her husband in 1974. 1943—Mussolini Calls It Quits
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini steps down as head of the armed forces and the government. It soon becomes clear that Il Duce did not relinquish power voluntarily, but was forced to resign after former Fascist colleagues turned against him. He is later installed by Germany as leader of the Italian Social Republic in the north of the country, but is killed by partisans in 1945.
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Marilyn Monroe swoons as Richard Widmark snarls for Don't Bother To Knock, 1952.
