Pulp International

vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news

PAGE AFTER PAGE

Riveting from the first to the last.

Cheesecake postcards were widespread during the mid-century era, featuring many famous and semi-famous models, but Bettie Page appeared on so many that she’s now her own industry of vintage collectible mailers. We’ve run across many interesting examples, so we thought we’d share a few for your enjoyment today. Above and below we present a group culled from auction sites showing the revered model in her usual mode of dress—not much. The same shots were used on multiple cards. In the last she’s posed with regular collaborator, Florida based photographer Bunny Yeager, who appears with Page and a couple of exotic cats on the last card. Most if not all of the shots were made in Florida, despite an allusion to Hawaii and a reference to Washington. As always, Page will return.

Hawaii, Florida, Washington, Bettie Page, Bunny Yeager

PAGE FROM THE PAST

These boots were made for... well, nothing practical, but they make me feel great!

There’s so much Bettie Page imagery out there nowadays it’s difficult to get a precise date on some shots. We came up blank on this image of her booted and looking ready for some serious fun, but we love it because it exemplifies exactly how we felt having the last week totally off. We had two sets of Stateside visitors, saw some lovely new places, had many good laughs, saw hundreds of horses, and drank of lot wine. Well, we drank a lot of everything, actually. No negatives at all, except the part where we thought Mudwerks called it quits for his Tumblr, but like us, he’s back too. Our daily pulp resumes. Call this Page shot mid-1950s, and if anyone has an exact year feel free to inform us.

Bettie Page

TO BANG OR NOT TO BANG

She was one trip to the hairdresser away from international fame.

This nice image starring none other than Bettie Page was printed by its photographer, who whose name—Blackthorn—you see at lower left on the full scan. This is exceedingly rare, thus there’s little information about it, or the photographer. We can tell you, though, that it’s an early Page image, which we deduce from the fact that she’s not wearing her trademark straight hair and bangs, a look which became so famous that wigs of it are still sold today. Legend goes that she went for bangs because a photographer told her she needed to hide her shiny forehead. We think Page looks better without the bangs, and we don’t think there’s a thing wrong with her forehead. Because of the hairstyle, if we had to guess, we’d say this shot is from 1949 or 1950, just before her memorable transformation. We have a few interesting Page items in the website, but for our money, the best is here.

Bettie Page, nudity

ALL BETTIE

When you choose an inspiration choose the best.


Above you see a cover from Beacon Signal books, circa 1960, for All Woman by Matt Harding. The woman in this case is the legendary Bettie Page, rendered by illustrator Jack Faragasso. Page appeared on vintage book covers several times, either in photo or painted form. We’ve shown you examples of both types here and here, and you’ll notice one of those covers is also by Faragasso. Clearly he had an affinity for Page, and there’s a reason. When he was attending the Art Students League of New York in 1951 he shot nude photos of her. This was before she was well known. Faragasso later published those images in a book, but as far as using them as inspiration for paperback covers, he did it only twice. We’ll keep an eye out for more Page covers. For that matter, we’ll keep an eye out for more Faragasso covers too.

New York City, Art Students League of New York, Beacon Signal, Matt Harding, Bettie Page, Jack Faragasso, cover art, literature

MIDDLE AGED DELINQUENT

Dude, your mom is, like, totally babesville.


We mentioned last week that Bettie Page often starred on book covers, and here she is again on Alan Bennett’s Savage Delinquents, published in 1959 by Bedside Books. This one is juviesploitation, and it deals with a disaffected seventeen-year-old girl named Lissa who falls in with a gang and soon learns it’s like, nowhere, man. Page was thirty-six the year this was published, with the photo dating from a bit earlier, but still it speaks to her popularity that her image could sell this book when she was old enough to be the main character’s mom. See more Page paperback art here.
Bedtime Books, Alan Bennett, Bettie Page, cover art, literature

A SURE BETTIE

Paperback publishers double down on a legendary model.


Bettie Page has long been an inspiration in multiple media, and you can include paperback art on the list. These two covers for authors Day Keene and Jack Moore, published in 1959 and 1962 respectively, use Page’s instantly recognizable form to draw the eyes of newsstand browsers, a tactic we assume was a wild success. We love both of these, especially the top image by Jack Faragasso. There are even others from the period. The artist on the bottom cover is the legendary Unknown, by far the most prolific mid-century paperback illustrator of all time. We’ll doubtless run across more from the same genius later. 

Zenith Books, Tuxedo Books, Day Keene, Jack Moore, Bettie Page, Jack Faragasso, cover art, literature

FANTASY BASEBALL

I guess in baseball terms I'd be called a free swinger.


Generally we like to share femme fatale images that haven’t been seen around the internet much, if at all. Many of our images are original scans. This cute shot of Bettie Page is an exception. It’s been all over the web, but we’re using it because we want to stick with baseball today.
 
We can actually tell you a little about the shot, which other sites don’t bother with. It was first published as a gatefold in a July 1957 issue of Swagger, a minor men’s magazine that churned along for about a decade before folding. The issue also featured a few other shots of Page, and devoted the rear cover to her, which you see below.
 

If you hope to buy the issue, you can probably forget it. We’ve seen it going to more than $100. That might be worth it for some Page aficionados, but for that price we’d skip the mag and just go to a few baseball games. Well, we would if we lived in the U.S. Streaming is the best we can do over here. Enjoy baseball season, everyone. It seems to last forever, but somehow, it’s over all too soon.

Swagger, Bettie Page, nudity

A MISSING PAGE

It's okay to bend me a little but please don't fold or crease me.

We’ve had a lot of Bettie Page on Pulp Intl., but there’s no such thing as too much, so today on the anniversary of her death eight years ago we thought we’d share a favorite shot of her. She was easily one of the most photographed models of her era. Marilyn Monroe and perhaps a few others surpassed her for sheer volume of images. Despite those thousands of Page shots, this photo has an especially joyful quality we think sets it apart. You can see plenty more of Bettie Page in the website, including a couple of sets of images we were the first to put online, like here and here.

Bettie Page, nudism, naturist

A FAREWELL TO ARMIES

You guys keep fighting back there! I'm going to... uh... go for reinforcements!

Above, scans from a September 1955 issue of Man’s Illustrated, a magazine published by Hanro Corp. of New York City. The cover art is uncredited, although possibly by Rico Tomaso, in any case very interesting, featuring a soldier paying what we consider less than recommended attention to a battle taking place to his rear. Maybe he’s using his binoculars to look for a hiding place. Actually, the illustration is for Reuben Kaplan’s “Border Clash,” about fighting in Gaza, and nobody runs away. Elsewhere inside the magazine is fiction from Si Podolin and a short photo feature on Bettie Page, which makes this a worthwhile purchase. Not that we paid much. It was part of a group of twenty mags that averaged out to five bucks each, even when international shipping was included. Score.

Gaza, New York City, Hanro Corp., Man's Illustrated, Bettie Page, Si Podolin, Reuben Kaplan, Rico Tomaso, magazine art, literature

STATE OF AROUSA

She's a real Bettie—no mistake about it.

This tattered but still attractive Lebanese magazine is called Al Arousa, which means “the bride,” we think, and it dates from 1957. The seller says that’s Spanish actress Isabel Mestres on the front cover, which shows what he knows—the star of this photo-illustration is obviously American model Bettie Page. There she is wearing the same ensemble at right.

Page used the outfit in a burlesque loop known on the internet as simply, “Harem,” which features her being introduced by an emcee and doing a little hip swaying on a sound stage. It’s a short, non-nude performance—two facts that may disappoint some—but if you want to check it out try here. We’re thrilled to have come across this magazine cover, and we’ll mark it down as our second best Bettie Page discovery.

Lebanon, Al Arousa, Bettie Page, Isabel Mestres
Femme Fatale Image

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1925—Mein Kampf Published

While serving time in prison for his role in a failed coup, Adolf Hitler dictaes and publishes volume 1 of his manifesto Mein Kampf (in English My Struggle or My Battle), the book that outlines his theories of racial purity, his belief in a Jewish conspiracy to control the world, and his plans to lead Germany to militarily acquire more land at the expense of Russia via eastward expansion.

1955—Disneyland Begins Operations

The amusement park Disneyland opens in Orange County, California for 6,000 invitation-only guests, before opening to the general public the following day.

1959—Holiday Dies Broke

Legendary singer Billie Holiday, who possessed one of the most unique voices in the history of jazz, dies in the hospital of cirrhosis of the liver. She had lost her earnings to swindlers over the years, and upon her death her bank account contains seventy cents.

1941—DiMaggio Hit Streak Reaches 56

New York Yankees outfielder Joe DiMaggio gets a hit in his fifty-sixth consecutive game. The streak would end the next game, against the Cleveland Indians, but the mark DiMaggio set still stands, and in fact has never been seriously threatened. It is generally thought to be one of the few truly unbreakable baseball records.

1939—Adams Completes Around-the-World Air Journey

American Clara Adams becomes the first woman passenger to complete an around the world air journey. Her voyage began and ended in New York City, with stops in Lisbon, Marseilles, Leipzig, Athens, Basra, Jodhpur, Rangoon, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Wake Island, Honolulu, and San Francisco.

1955—Nobel Prize Winners Unite Against Nukes

Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, which reads in part: “We think it is a delusion if governments believe that they can avoid war for a long time through the fear of [nuclear] weapons. Fear and tension have often engendered wars. Similarly it seems to us a delusion to believe that small conflicts could in the future always be decided by traditional weapons. In extreme danger no nation will deny itself the use of any weapon that scientific technology can produce.”

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TRICK SHOT ARTIST

Uncredited art for Poker de blondes by Oscar Montgomery, aka José del Valle, from the French publisher Éditions le Trotteur in 1953.

DON’T RIDE THE WHITE HORSE

Rafael DeSoto painted this excellent cover for David Hulburd's 1954 drug scare novel H Is for Heroin. We also have the original art without text.

BARN GIRLS

Two Spanish language digest novels from Argentine publishers Malinca Debora and Malinca Nueva Pandora.
Argentine publishers Malinca Debora reprinted numerous English language crime thrillers in Spanish. This example uses George Gross art borrowed from U.S. imprint Rainbow Books.

LOVES OF A BLONDE

Uncredited cover art for Orrie Hitt's 1954 novel Tawny. Hitt was a master of sleazy literature and published more than one hundred fifty novels.

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