| Hollywoodland | Nov 29 2021 |
She was one of the most watched people in the world—onscreen and off.
Whisper magazine, in this issue published this month in 1961, offers readers an interesting story about an unnamed millionaire's obsession with Ava Gardner. Apparently the millionaire hired people to follow Gardner around 24/7, all over the world, and report back to him, with this surveillance going on for years. The purpose? If he couldn't have her, he at least wanted to know what she was doing. Whisper focuses on a particular spy named Bill, the fourth of four spies employed by the millionaire, who Gardner came to be friends with and let live on her property, rather than have to sleep in his car night after night. Is this tale true? Maybe. Money buys a lot—including tolerance for bad behavior.
And speaking money, there's also a story on gangster Mickey Cohen, who counted among his consorts Liz Renay and Candy Barr, both of whom we've discussed, Renay here, and Barr here and here. Barr has also shown up in five magazines we've posted. The easiest way to see those is click her keywords and scroll. Cohen proves that no matter what people try to tell you, money is an aphrodisiac, because there's no way trolls like him could score beautiful dancers and models if it weren't for wealth. Take a look at the worst man in the world, and if he has money, he has a wife far more beautiful than makes sense.
Whisper goes on to talk about Burt Lancaster's and Charlie Chaplin's lovers, teen-age drunks, Soviet honeytraps, U.S. prisons, Jane Fonda's professional and family lives, and more. It was a Robert Harrison publication that morphed from a cheesecake magazine with painted pin-up covers into a gossip rag. That happened around 1954, when the original Whisper, launched in 1946, began going broke thanks to an inability to compete with girly magazine numero uno—Playboy. But there was plenty of room in the tabloid market and Harrison made Whisper a staple monthly on par with Confidential, his flagship publication. We'll have more from Whisper later, as always.
WhisperAva GardnerNigel PatrickAssen PiekovMickey CohenAlbert AnastasiaSandra HagenCandy BarrLiz RenayCharlie ChaplinLita GreyJoan BarryPaulette GoddardBurt LancasterJane FondaHenry FondaRobert HarrisonColette Laurentburlesquetabloidmafia
| Vintage Pulp | Jan 24 2017 |
If you want crime done right get the military to do it for you.
By now, the question for Noir City attendees should be whether anyone ever gets away with the money in these heist films. So far the crooks are zero-for-the-week. Or maybe one-for-the-week—we didn't watch La città si difende, so we can't be sure about that one. But if anyone can do it, it's the eight thieves in The League of Gentlemen, among them Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, and Richard Attenborough. Each is ex-military, and each is in a bad personal situation, which makes them all willing to partner in a scheme to steal £1,000,000 in used bank notes. The robbery is to be a precision affair, with the English thieves even having thought to adopt Irish accents so the IRA gets the blame. Do these guys actually pull it off? Remember years ago when we promised no more spoilers? We will tell you that The League of Gentlemen is a thriller rather than a film noir. Because it's paired tonight with the crime comedy The Ladykillers, we don't think this is one of the festival tickets we would have bought had we been there. We'd want to see film noir at a film noir fest. Yet both movies are high quality affairs and we imagine the audiences will be (grudgingly) satisfied.
