This cover for Dominique Napier’s 1961 novel House Party, a striking piece of art, was painted by Edward Moritz. We think the woman depicted looks a little like exactly like Diana Dors. The main character Betsy is actually a brunette, but this may be one of those paintings that was made independently of the book. Said book is a pretty well written sexual awakening tale about a woman whose husband doesn’t ring her bell, and who blames herself. But during a weekend mansion party on the tony Connecticut seashore a longtime crush makes her ladyparts tingle, and she realizes she’s not as cold as she thought. She has misgivings about cheating, of course, but for various reasons the idea of getting a piece of side action starts to sound good. Napier’s aspirations are F. Scott Fiztgerald-ish, but the literary heft is lacking. If the erotic amperage had been doubled or tripled we think it would have been a much better book, but still, it was reasonably fun.
Edit: Correction, this looks a lot like Diana Dors. Check the second photo here. Moritz made his painting’s nose thinner, but it’s undoubtedly Dors. We had the photo in our website all along, but forgot. That’s what happens when you have many thousands of posts.