Femmes Fatales

April 3 2023

CAT LADY

But enough about why I did my entire house in leopard. What type of feline-inspired design do you have in your house?

This fun image stars French actress Danièle Gaubert, who we recently saw in La louve solitaire, aka The Golden Claws of the Cat Girl, and who also appeared in Snow Job, Camille 2000, and more than a dozen other films. This is from the French magazine Moi and was first published in 1969. Gaubert is another actress who hooked up with a dictator, or a dictator’s son. In 1963 she married Leonidas Trujillo Martínez, son of Dominican Republic strongman Rafael Trujillo, a guy who killed tens of thousands of his fellow citizens. Could you imagine an actress linking herself to a dictatorship in 2023? Back before the social media age such romances occurred often (which is why you have to especially respect those who refused to do it). There are, of course, women involved with dictators today—sadly authoritarians get to reproduce too—but those women aren’t global film stars. Gaubert was divorced from Trujillo Martinez by 1968, made several more movies, and was out of show business by 1972.

France, Dominican Republic, Moi Magazine, La louve solitaire, The Golden Claws of the Cat Girl, Camille 2000, Snow Job, Danièle Gaubert, Leonidas Trujillo Martínez, Rafael Trujillo

Vintage Pulp

February 9 2023

LOUVE STORY

She's one cool cat burglar.

We have bit of tasty French style for you with this poster for La louve solitaire, a film that premiered today in 1968 and starred Danièle Gaubert. The movie is sourced from a series of novels by Albert Saine-Aube, and plotwise Gaubert plays a Parisian real estate agent by day/leotard wearing cat burglar by night. When she’s caught in the act of a robbery by two government agents who’ve been lying in wait for her, she’s blackmailed into working for them. The government duo want her to make a daring theft that will help bring down an international drug smuggling network. She’s assigned a helper in the form of Michel Duchaussoy, so the movie becomes a sort of partners-in-crime adventure with a side of romantic tension. Gaubert, of course, finds herself in more danger than she expected, and after the caper the crooks she’s robbed are hellbent on revenge.

Just looking at the poster, which you may have noticed is actually a French- and Dutch-language promo from Belgium, you can tell that the movie provides high style in a similar vein as cult flicks such as Danger: Diabolik and Modesty Blaise. Like those films, La louve solitaire features nice outfits, hip lingo, and nightclub scenes, plus Gaubert rolling around in a blood-red Pontiac Firebird that qualifies as pure car porn. Also like those other movies, La louve solitaire isn’t fully successful from an execution standpoint, however because it’s among a group that was at the forefront of portraying women as physically dangerous ass-kickers with specialized skills (Gaubert’s thief character is a trapeze artist), it’s worth seeing for historical perspective alone.

France, Belgium, Paris, La louve solitaire, De stoutmoedige dievegge, The Golden Claws of the Cat Girl, Danièle Gaubert, Michel Duchaussoy, Albert Saine-Aube, poster art, cinema, movie review

Sex Files

June 15 2016

SPOTLITE DANCE

National Spotlite illuminates the war in Vietnam.

This National Spotlite published today in 1970 features Dida Cahn, Donna Darling, American actresses Karen Thomas and French actress Danièle Gaubert. The real centerpiece of the issue, at least for us, is George Davis’s piece explaining that the U.S. was losing the war in Vietnam because the soldiers were having too much sex. A few choice quotes: “Even a visit to the barber is a sexual experience. While soldiers get their hair trimmed they are provided marijuana to smoke and a girl who performs orally while the customer sits in the barber’s chair.” And: “Every building in Sin City [Saigon] is a brothel.” And this: “White females account for a sizable portion of the sex action in Saigon and the army camps as well [snip] particularly Red Cross girls serving in Vietnam.” As always, tabloid stories are a blend of fact and fiction meant to entertain, outrage, titillate, and even—on certain occasions—inform. Spotlite gets the job done. Many scans below and more tabloids to come.

Vietnam, National Spotlite, Danièle Gaubert, Dida Cahn, Donna Darling, Sandra Montes, tabloid, nudity

Intl. Notebook

May 26 2016

CINEMONDE VERITE

Lifestyles of the French and famous.

Does this image of Karin Dor look familiar? Possibly because it’s the same one we used in a femme fatale post on her late last year. It was made to promote the film You Only Live Twice, and appeared in many places, here for example on the cover of the French magazine Cinémonde. Focusing pretty much exclusively on movies and movie stars, Cinémonde launched in 1928 and lasted until 1971, with seven years of dormancy from 1940 to 1946, and another two in 1969 and 1970. The examples you see here are all from the mid- to late-1960s, when director Maurice Bessy moved toward less conservative graphics than in the past. Generally Cinémonde cover stars were women, often French, but every once in a while a guy made the cut, such as the fronts with Marlon Brando and Gérard Philipe below. We’ll get to the interiors of Cinémonde a bit later.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

December 13

1944—Velez Commits Suicide

Mexican actress Lupe Velez, who was considered one of the great beauties of her day, commits suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. In her note, Velez says she did it to avoid bringing shame on her unborn child by giving birth to him out of wedlock, but many Hollywood historians believe bipolar disorder was the actual cause. The event inspired a 1965 Andy Warhol film entitled Lupe.

December 13

1958—Gordo the Monkey Lost After Space Flight

After a fifteen minute flight into space on a Jupiter AM-13 rocket, a monkey named Gordo splashes down in the South Pacific but is lost after his capsule sinks. The incident sparks angry protests from the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but NASA says animals are needed for such tests.

December 12

1968—Tallulah Bankhead Dies

American actress, talk show host, and party girl Tallulah Bankhead, who was fond of turning cartwheels in a dress without underwear and once made an entrance to a party without a stitch of clothing on, dies in St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City of double pneumonia complicated by emphysema.

December 11

1962—Canada Has Last Execution

The last executions in Canada occur when Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin, both of whom are Americans who had been extradited north after committing separate murders in Canada, are hanged at Don Jail in Toronto. When Turpin is told that he and Lucas will probably be the last people hanged in Canada, he replies, â€œSome consolation.â€

December 11

1964—Guevara Speaks at U.N.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, representing the nation of Cuba, speaks at the 19th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. His speech calls for wholesale changes in policies between rich nations and poor ones, as well as five demands of the United States, none of which are met.

December 11

2008—Legendary Pin-Up Bettie Page Dies

After suffering a heart attack several days before, erotic model Bettie Page, who in the 1950s became known as the Queen of Pin-ups, dies when she is removed from life support machinery. Thanks to the unique style she displayed in thousands of photos and film loops, Page is considered one of the most influential beauties who ever lived.

December 10

1935—Downtown Athletic Club Awards First Trophy

The Downtown Athletic Club in New York City awards its first trophy for athletic achievement to University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger. The prize is later renamed the Heisman Trophy, and becomes the most prestigious award in college athletics.