vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
The above photo of U.S. actress Ellen Drew was made when she was filming her 1940 western Texas Rangers Ride Again, which is a surprise, because she’s isn’t dressed Old West style, with her leg-exposing skirt and open toed shoes. We guess even cowgirls get the blues—when it comes to wearing those hoop skirts and corsets. This is Drew’s third femme fatale appearance. You can see the other two here and here.
This cool 1941 photo shows U.S. actress Ellen Drew, who appeared in the film noir Johnny O’Clock, as well as the titles Strange Confession, Night Plane from Chungking, The Crooked Way, and dozens of other films between 1936 and 1957. Here she has all the Halloween accoutrements—black cat, jack-o’-lantern, and a witchy cape, as she awaits the arrival of the Great Pumpkin. Psst—he’s behind you.
Ellen Drew, née Esther Loretta Ray, was only 5’3”, which means she probably needed help getting onto and off of these rings, but she looks pretty comfy up there, and joins other gymnastic femmes fatales we’ve featured. Drew debuted onscreen in 1936 and made scores of movies, including Johnny O’Clock and The Crooked Way. She actually acted under her birth name for twenty-five films, but switched to Ellen Drew in 1938 and sustained her career into the early 1960s. This shot of her risking a broken head or tailbone was made around 1940. If you want to see other classic celebs performing aerial gymnastics, check here for Danielle Darrieux, here for Sophie Hardy, and here for the goddess Joey Heatherton.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The newspaper Pravda is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles living in Vienna. The name means “truth” and the paper serves as an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.
An obscenity trial brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of the counterculture City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, reaches its conclusion when Judge Clayton Horn rules that Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection Howl is not obscene.
After a long trial watched by millions of people worldwide, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson subsequently loses a civil suit and is ordered to pay millions in damages.
