Pulp International

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

MOORE ALL THE TIME

American femme fatale turns up down Rio way.

Okay, let’s try this again. Last week we posted this book and thought it had Peggy Cummins on the cover, but after having a short nap we awoke and saw that this was clearly not Cummins. Thanks for the e-mails, by the way, but we beat you to it. Hah! Anyway, you know by now one of our favorite ways to highlight Hollywood actresses is to note their usage on foreign paperback covers.

This cool example from Brazil’s Edições de Ouro was made for Irving Le Roy’s Berlim: Os Pecados de Bárbara, and that’s none other than Cleo Moore—not Peggy Cummins—having a smoke and a look around. The image comes from her classic 1953 film noir One Girl’s Confession, a movie we talked about a while ago.

This book was first published in France as Aventure Est-Ouest by Éditions Fleuve Noir in 1956, so it represents a cross-pollination of a different type—we’ve seen material move from the U.S. to many countries, but from France to Brazil is a new one for us. Le Roy, by the way, was aka Robert Georges Debeurre, and we’ve shown you one of his books before, here. The above image came from the Brazilian Facebook page we pointed out not long ago.

Brazil, France, One Girl's Confession, Edições de Ouro e Editora Tecnoprint, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Irving Le Roy, Robert Georges Debeurre, Cleo Moore, cover art, literature, cinema

MARIE IN THE FIRST DEGREE

I shot the director. But I didn't shoot the D.O.P.


A DOP, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the Director of Photography, the director’s creative right hand on a movie set. J. P. Ferrière’s Marie-meurtre, which is entry #573 in Editions Fleuve Noir’s long-running Spécial Police series, is about a woman whose visiting brother dies in her home of a heart attack, and whose demise is immediately followed by the arrival of a Parisian gangster looking for a cache of stolen jewels. This would normally be a disconcerting development, but Marie has an enemy and the gangster’s presence turns into an opportunity for long sought revenge. The book was published in 1967 and it has Michel Gourdon artwork, possibly only tangentially related to the actual content. Since our French is bare bones at best we couldn’t pore over the book to find the connection to the cover art. But when you come up with a good caption you just have to run with it. 

France, Éditions Fleuve Noir, J. P. Ferrière, Michel Gourdon, cover art, literature

FEMININE PERSUASION

Well, if that's the way you feel about it, fine—I'll go to the damn grocery store with you.

Here’s how food shopping works around here. When we go to the market we buy only enough for a day or two because we want to prevent food from going over, but when the Pulp Intl. girlfriends go they buy more than they can carry. Therefore, when we go alone we never get everything they want, and when they go alone they never have the help they need. We’re thinking of buying them a donkey to solve that problem.

Paul Kenny’s Consigne impitoyable has nothing to do with any of that. It’s an espionage thriller featuring the long-running character Francis Coplan, aka FX 18, who works for SDECE (Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage). The series, which was credited to Kenny as a pseudonym but written by Belgian authors Gaston Van den Panhuyse and Jean Libert, was immensely popular and sold tens of millions of copies globally.

As you can see, Consigne impitoyable had two nearly identical covers, presumably representing two nearly identical occasions when extra persuasion was needed to get Coplan off his ass to help with the shopping. He may need to buy a donkey too. Both editions had Michel Gourdon cover art and appeared in 1958.

France, Belgium, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Paul Kenny, Michel Gourdon, Jean Libert, Gaston Van den Panhuyse, cover art, literature

RODE TO PERDITION

She's not out of the woods yet.


This is your regular reminder that Michel Gourdon was a top notch illustrator, though his brother Alain was the one who attained legendary status. Michel was more of a workhorse, though, painting many hundreds of paperback fronts, which probably contributed to him producing the occasional less-than-stellar effort. But this piece for Pierre Courcel’s, aka Roger Jean Tribot’s La haine qui rôde, aka The Hatred that Lurks, is Michel at his best. The sports car and female figure are nice, but the background of trees and sunlight is particularly beautiful, we think. It’s from 1965 for Editions Fleuve Noir, entry #483 in its long-running Collection Spécial-Police. 

France, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Michel Gourdon, Pierre Courcel, Roger Jean Tribot, cover art, literature

SHOE ENOUGH

Man, he had tiny feet. Suddenly it's hard to remember why I thought he was so dangerous.


Above, a Michel Gourdon cover for Serge LaForest’s Les mains propres, aka Clean Hands, for Collection Special Police from French publisher Fleuve Noir. LaForest was a pseudonym used by Serge Arcouet, who wrote 140 novels as LaForest, Russ Rasher, Tony Stewart, and—we love this one—John Lee Silver. Actually, he shared Silver with two other French writers Pierre Aryaud and Léo Malet. Remember those trips to France we took? These Fleuve Noir paperbacks are staples in every secondhand bookstore you find, probably because very close to a billion have been printed and sold from 1949 until today. Les mains propres is from 1960 

France, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Les mains propres, Serge LaForest, Russ Rasher, Tony Stewart, John Lee Silver, Pierre Ayraud, Leo Malet, Michel Gourdon, cover art, literature

DIVINE INSPIRATION

He might have broken the law, but he had a higher calling.


What’s an illustrator to do when he doesn’t have a model? Borrow a celebrity. And if you’re going to use a celeb you might as well take inspiration from the best. French artist Michel Gourdon decided upon the era’s most celestial sex goddess Raquel Welch for his cover of M.G. Braun’s Sam et Sally—Le sang du ciel, published in 1972 by Editions Fleuve Noir as part of its Collection Spécial Police. This would not be the last time Gourdon used Welch as a model, but it’s probably the best example.
 
This sort of appropriation was not unique to Gourdon. During this same period Italian artist Mario De Berardinis used Playboy Playmate of the Year Cyndi Wood for his poster promoting the film Giro girotondo… con il sesso è bello il mondo, Sharon Tate was used for at least two late 1960s paperback covers, Lavar Burton was borrowed for the front of an ultraviolent Italian fumetto, Ornella Muti provided the physical basis for the main character of the vampire series Sukia, Beba and Fiona of the Pornostar comics were based on two showgirls from Striscia la notizia, and none other than Iggy Pop appeared on the cover of Elvifrance’s Wallestein.

All of these examples using celebrity images for profit would be violations of intellectual property laws today, we’re fairly certain, but we could be wrong about that. Were they illegal in the past? Not in Italy, apparently—Ornella Muti must have known her image was being borrowed, since she worked primarily in Italy and Sukia was published there. Same goes for the Striscia la notizia showgirls. Maybe they were flattered. If so, they should have looked inside the comics, where their characters were ripping throats out and shanking dudes in the groin. In any case, we love curiosities like these, and we’ll doubtless run across more later. 

France, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Sam et SallyLe sang du ciel, M.G Braun, Michel Gourdon, Raquel Welch, cover art, literature

GUERRILLA PULP

When vacation meets pulp we’re happy.
Must do this quickly. The Pulp Intl. girlfriends are away only for minutes. We’re basically cut off from civilization on some forgotten coastline, but in a nearby townlet we found an internet place that had some books, and amidst all the dreck and dross, presto!—uncovered an entire stack of Fleuve Noir thrillers with cover illustrations by Michel Gourdon. The Pulp Intl. girlfriends are always trying to get us to unplug, but we simply—*tented fingers*—can’t be stopped. 
France, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Michel Gourdon, cover art, literature

OFFENSIVE DRIVING

Okay, I'll put it in neutral and you push. On one, two, and—whoops, had it in reverse. You alright back there?

Here’s an interesting cover for Mario Ropp’s Celle des deux qui vivait, which means “which of the two lived.” If we had to guess, we’d say it was the driver. Following standard practice for French crime authors, Ropp was actually a pseudonym for someone named Marie-Anne Devillers who wrote for twenty-seven years under various names, including Dominique Dorn, Maia Walbert, Maia de Villers, and Michèle Vaudois. The art here is by Michel Gourdon and it certainly qualifies as one of his quirkier efforts. See more Gourdon here and here. 

France, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Celle des deux qui vivait, Mario Ropp, Michel Gourdon, cover art, literature

WEINER INSPECTION

Yep, it's caught in your zipper alright.

French artist Michel Gourdon was an accomplished illustrator, but if he could be said to have produced an unsuccessful effort, this would be it. Looking at the image, we understand this is supposed to be a head butt to the gut, but it looks more like an impending lip lock to the cock. Can you imagine Gourdon unveiling this for his colleagues at Fleuve Noir? Michel goes, “Et, voila!” And a roomful of people all give the same wtf reaction, except for one editor who just hangs his head, and the publisher, who finally goes, “Michel, mon dieu, est c’un blowjob!” Anyway, we picked this up in Bordeaux last week while pulp digging, and as you might imagine, it sort of leapt out of the bin at us. Our pleasure was orgasmic, and we hope you like it too. We have yet more Bordeaux stuff upcoming, so stay tuned. 

France, Bordeaux, Éditions Fleuve Noir, Coplan dans la fournaise, Paul Kenny, Michel Gourdon, cover art, literature
Femme Fatale Image

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

  • CATEGORIES

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1959—Dark Side of Moon Revealed

The Soviet space probe Luna 3 transmits the first photographs of the far side of the moon. The photos generate great interest, and scientists are surprised to see mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two seas, which the Soviets name Mare Moscovrae (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire).

1966—LSD Declared Illegal in U.S.

LSD, which was originally synthesized by a Swiss doctor and was later secretly used by the CIA on military personnel, prostitutes, the mentally ill, and members of the general public in a project code named MKULTRA, is designated a controlled substance in the United States.

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators becomes a riot at the gates of Warner Brothers Studios when strikers and replacement workers clash. The event helps bring about the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, prohibits unions from contributing to political campaigns and requires union leaders to affirm they are not supporters of the Communist Party.

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik I, which becomes the first artificial object to orbit the Earth. It orbits for two months and provides valuable information about the density of the upper atmosphere. It also panics the United States into a space race that eventually culminates in the U.S. moon landing.

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

American blues singer Janis Joplin is found dead on the floor of her motel room in Los Angeles. The cause of death is determined to be an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

  • FEATUREd PULP

BUTTERFACE

Classic science fiction from James Grazier with uncredited cover art.

COOL UNDER FIRE

Hammond Innes volcano tale features Italian intrigue and Mitchell Hooks cover art.

VINTAGE ADVERTISING

Things you'd love to buy but can't anymore

Vintage Ad Image

Around the web