Vintage Pulp

February 13 2025

A STORMY MARRIAGE

Okay! I promise to stop telling you to grow up and get rid of your pointlessly huge collection of Superboy comics! Now save me!

Storms and disasters. We’re always drawn to this style of covers. Too many to point to today. But two that have almost this exact theme are here and here. My Bride in the Storm came from Theodore Pratt for Avon Publications in 1950, and had been originally published as The Big Blow in 1936. It’s about a Florida a farmer who, after all his many travails, is wiped out by a hurricane but finds redemption in the tragedy. Or some such. The novel was made into a 1938 Broadway play with Edwin Cooper, Kendall Clark, Dorothy Raymond, and Kate Cloud, so it must have been pretty good. We’re not surprised. Pratt has already delivered for us twice—with Tropical Disturbance (man loves big winds), and The Big Bubble.

Florida, Broadway, Avon Publications, Theodore Pratt, Edwin Cooper, Kendall Clark, Dorothy Raymond, Kate Cloud, cover art, literature

Femmes Fatales

January 25 2025

TESTER OUT

She also makes killer shadow animals.

Broadway singer and dancer Ruth Tester demonstrates a fun dance to perk up your day in this promo image made of her on stage at the Lyric Theater in New York City. Tester appeared in a handful of productions beginning in 1924, and logged one silver screen appearance in 1929’s Makers of Melody. In this shot she’s doing the Black Bottom Dance, which was a pre-Jazz Age invention that originated in the New Orleans black community, and during the 1920s filtered from segregated dance halls into wider culture. If you have any swing dancing friends they may know all about this. You can see the Black Bottom several places online. Here’s one link to the popular version, and here’s an alternative link to the alleged real dance.

New York City, New Orleans, Broadway, Lyric Theater, Makers of Melody, Ruth Tester

Femmes Fatales

September 12 2022

JANET FLAIR

A little of the old razzmatazz.

U.S. actress Janet Blair does the top hat and cane routine in this promo image made for her 1942 movie Broadway. It was one of her early roles, and she starred opposite George Raft, who portrayed himself in the film. Blair went on to amass many screen credits, but for our money her best effort is I Love Trouble, which we discussed a couple of years ago. You can read about it here.

Broadway, I Love Trouble, Janet Blair, George Raft

Femmes Fatales

January 23 2022

SOTHERN CLIMATE

Bartender, give me another. And put a shot of optimism in this one.

Above: a promo shot of Ann Sothern made when she was filming the interestingly named 1942 flick Panama Hattie, which was based on a Broadway production of the same name. She plays a saloon keeper, which is sort of pulp, but it’s a musical romance, which ain’t pulp. That’s probably why she looks so sad.

Panama, Broadway, Panama Hattie, Ann Sothern

Femmes Fatales

September 3 2020

ADELE YOU CAN’T REFUSE

She barely stomached Hollywood.

Adele Jergens, who appeared in I Love Trouble, The Corpse Came C.O.D., The Dark Path, and numerous other films, got her start in show business, like so many actresses of her era, when she won the a beauty contest—Miss World’s Fairest, at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Later, as one of the famed Rockettes dancing troupe, she was named the number one showgirl in New York City. This led to her serving as understudy to burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee in the Broadway production Star and Garter, and from there Jergens never looked back. That’s probably why she forgot half of her sweater. These fun images of her with bare midriff were made in Los Angeles in 1946, by the pool at the famed Town House Hotel, a locale we’ve talked about more than once. Find out why by clicking its keywords below and scrolling through those posts, and you can do the same with Jergens if you want to see what else we’ve posted about her.

New York City, Los Angeles, Broadway, Town House Hotel, Star and Garter, I Love Trouble, The Corpse Came C.O.D., The Dark Path, Adele Jergens, Gypsy Rose Lee, burlesque

Femmes Fatales

July 19 2020

WHEN ENLIGHTENING STRIKES

Okay, class, now let's see if you think math is boring.

This photo shows U.S. actress Janis Paige wearing a swimsuit covered with lightning bolts, which we can only assume was made by someone who forgot that water and lightning can be a lethal mix. Paige also has a nifty lightning bolt pointer which she’s using to highlight equations having to do with gamma rays. We doubt they’re legit, but what actually was legit is Paige’s career. It spanned six decades and included several notable films, but her star shone brightest on Broadway, where she was a huge hit in Remains To Be Seen, The Pajama Game, and other extravaganzas. We don’t have a date on this photo, but figure around 1950. See another here.

Broadway, Remains To Be Seen, The Pajama Game, Janis Paige, Donna Mae Tjaden

Femmes Fatales

May 31 2020

CONTROL Z

Nobody ever said finding the right balance in life was easy.

Above is a striking image of German-born Norwegian ballerina and actress Vera Zorina holding a very difficult pose. We know it’s difficult because when we tried it we smashed a coffee table and crippled a cat. Just kidding. The table turned out to be fine. Zorina was born Eva Hartwig, a name that probably sounds beautiful to the German ear, but when she went to the U.S. most people she introduced herself to probably went, “You’ve a heart what?” So she changed her name to something more mellifluous and proceeded to showcase her dance skills throughout the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s in eight films and seven Broadway productions, some choreographed by her husband, the legendary George Balanchine. This photo was shot at their home in Beverly Hills in 1941.

Norway, Germany, Beverly Hills, Broadway, Vera Zorina, Eva Hartwig, George Balanchine

Femmes Fatales

March 2 2018

SHARP SHOOTER

Hello—I'll be your fashionably dressed assailant today.

U.S. actress Julie Haydon, née Donatella Donaldson, gives the camera a steely-eyed look in this promo for her film Come On, Danger, in which she played a suspected murderess. Her film credits are extensive, with most of them accrued during the 1930s, and she also starred in quite a few Broadway productions, with most of those coming during the ’40s. This stylish photo of her dates from 1932.

Broadway, Come On Danger, Julie Haydon, Donatella Donaldson, cinema

Femmes Fatales

October 18 2017

FANNY HA HA

She was the original funny girl but her life was not all laughs.

U.S. born Fanny Brice, née Fania Borach, was a theater, radio, and film actress mainly remembered today as the creator and star of the radio comedy series The Baby Snooks Show. For a time she was one of the most popular performers in America. What makes Brice pulp worthy? She fell in love with her second husband Nicky Arnstein while he was serving time in Sing Sing prison for wiretapping. After his release she lived with him for six years before finally marrying him in 1919. In 1924 Arnstein was charged in connection with a Wall Street bond theft, and Brice used much of her wealth on a failed legal defense that ended with him going to Leavenworth Prison. After he got out three years later he disappeared and left Brice to care for their two children. A decade after Brice died in 1951 Barbra Streisand portrayed her in the Broadway musical Funny Girl, later adapted to cinema. Both the musical and movie portray Brice life events a bit lighter than they must have been in reality, but both were huge hits and brought Brice’s name back into the mainstream—right where she would have wanted it. The racy photo you see here is from around 1915.

Funny Girl, The Baby Snooks Show, Fanny Brice, Fania Borach, Barbra Streisand, Broadway, Nicky Arnstein, cinema

Femmes Fatales

August 5 2015

FIGHTING IRISH

She may not be a champion of the ring, but she’s a winner just the same.

This photo of Elsie Connor looked to us as if it had been Photoshopped in a very interesting way but it wasn’t—we found a version on Getty Images and it was identical to what you see above. The image and the fact that she’s identified as an Irish boxing champion on various websites made us curious about her career, but after a bit of digging we discovered that she was actually a dancer and chorus girl, and appeared in the 1930 musical Earl Carroll’s Sketch Book, the 1929 shows Fioretta and Earl Carroll’s Vanities, and the 1928 production Here’s Howe. That’s a pretty short career, and one that lacked any starring roles, but thanks to the internet she’s famous again, looking like a real world beater. The only thing is, we doubt she was ever a boxer. We can’t be 100% sure, but with no evidence that she ever stepped into a ring, as well as a very clear understanding of how often the world wide web is world wide wrong, we suspect this is just a very, er, striking publicity photo. It dates from 1931.

Ireland, Earl Carroll's Sketch Book, Fioretta, Earl Carroll’s Vanities, Here’s Howe, Elsie Connor, Broadway, boxing

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

February 17

1933—Blaine Act Passes

The Blaine Act, a congressional bill sponsored by Wisconsin senator John J. Blaine, is passed by the U.S. Senate and officially repeals the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, aka the Volstead Act, aka Prohibition. The repeal is formally adopted as the 21st Amendment to the Constitution on December 5, 1933.

February 17

1947—Voice of America Begins Broadcasting into U.S.S.R.

The state radio channel known as Voice of America and controlled by the U.S. State Department, begins broadcasting into the Soviet Union in Russian with the intent of countering Soviet radio programming directed against American leaders and policies. The Soviet Union responds by initiating electronic jamming of VOA broadcasts.

February 16

1937—Carothers Patents Nylon

Wallace H. Carothers, an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont Corporation, receives a patent for a silk substitute fabric called nylon. Carothers was a depressive who for years carried a cyanide capsule on a watch chain in case he wanted to commit suicide, but his genius helped produce other polymers such as neoprene and polyester. He eventually did take cyanideâ€”not in pill form, but dissolved in lemon juiceâ€”resulting in his death in late 1937.

February 15

1933—Franklin Roosevelt Survives Assassination Attempt

In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to shoot President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but is restrained by a crowd and, in the course of firing five wild shots, hits five people, including Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds three weeks later. Zangara is quickly tried and sentenced to eighty years in jail for attempted murder, but is later convicted of murder when Cermak dies. Zangara is sentenced to death and executed in Florida’s electric chair.

February 14

1929—Seven Men Shot Dead in Chicago

Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s South Side gang, are machine gunned to death in Chicago, Illinois, in an event that would become known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Because two of the shooters were dressed as police officers, it was initially thought that police might have been responsible, but an investigation soon proved the killings were gang related. The slaughter exceeded anything yet seen in the United States at that time.