Femmes Fatales

July 7 2023

A LITTLE MERMAID

This version is not for kids.

This unusual photo shows Italian star Gina Lollobrigida paired with an aquatic foreground painting, and was made for a 1963 cover of the New York City based arts magazine Show. We took the liberty of removing the magazine’s logo so you could enjoy 100% pure Lollo, and we think you’ll agree it was worth the effort. This is a very cool idea for a promo image. We especially like the baffled expressions on all the fish. We’re baffled too when it comes to mermaids. How in hell do they..? Well, never mind.

Italy, New York City, Show Magazine, Gina Lollobrigida

Intl. Notebook

September 14 2022

BEAUTY AND TALENT

Cancans de Paris is always uncanny.

Above: a few pages from the French burlesque publication Cancans de Paris, the seventh time we’ve taken a look at this mag, with this example dating from September 1965. As always there are mainstream celebrities mixed in with the peelers, including Carroll Baker, Brigitte Bardot, Elke Sommer, Kim Novak, Sean Connery, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, and French born ballerina Ludmilla Tchérina. At the top of panel two there’s also a minor Raymond Brenot illustration. See some major ones here, and just click the Cancans keywords below if you want to see more issues.

France, Paris, Cancans de Paris, Carroll Baker, Peter Sellers, Brigitte Bardot, Elke Sommer, Kim Novak, Ludmilla Tchérina, Sean Connery, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Raymond Brenot, Carols, burlesque

Vintage Pulp

March 25 2020

LEADING LIGHTS

Can you name the five stars in the constellation Ludlow the Genius?

Above you see five pin-up paintings that came from the brush of Mike Ludlow, an artist we featured the first time only recently. He rose from humble beginnings in Buffalo, New York, to become an acclaimed figure that at his zenith painted portraits of major actresses for Esquire magazine. That’s where all these pieces were originally published, and if you haven’t identified them all, they are, top to bottom, Anita Ekberg, Gina Lollobrigida, Virginia Mayo, Denise Darcel, and Betsy von Furstenberg. All these stars have been featured on Pulp Intl., and you can see interesting posts on them at the following links: Ekberg, Lollobrigida, Mayo, Darcel, von Furstenberg.

Buffalo, Esquire Magazine, Mike Ludlow, Anita Ekberg, Gina Lollobrigida, Virginia Mayo, Denise Darcel, Betsy von Furstenberg

Vintage Pulp

November 24 2019

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world it was an adventure film.

Above, a beautiful poster for John Huston’s love-it-or-hate-it comedic African film Beat the Devil, which premiered in the U.S. today in 1954 and starred Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lollobrigida, Jennifer Jones, and Peter Lorre. This poster, while cool, is completely misleading. Beat the Devil is not an adventure. When it was made there was no category for it, but today such movies are called “camp.” Only over time have audiences come to understand it. We wrote about it awhile ago and shared a Belgian poster, here.

Beat the Devil, John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lollobrigida, Jennifer Jones, Peter Lorre, poster art, cinema

Hollywoodland

April 11 2016

GREAT SHAKES

La Lollo gives a child's toy a grown up workout.

The UPI photo above was shot today in 1959 and shows Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida hula hooping between takes on the set of United Artists’ biblical epic Solomon and Sheba. La Lollo was apparently a big fan of the hula hoop—according to the info on the back of the photo she owned this one and brought it from her home in Rome. Interestingly, she was costumed almost exactly like this—in a glittery bra and skirt while showing a bare midriff—in 1950’s Vita di cani, 1952’s Les belles de nuit, and wore a circus performer’s outfit of very similar style in 1956’s Trapeze. Her most famous physical trait was her hair (lollo rosso lettuce is so named because it resembles the curly ‘do she wore for much of her career), but it seems producers preferred her navel. Can’t say we blame them.

Italy, United Artists, Solomon and Sheba, Vita di cani, Les belles de nuit, Trapeze, Gina Lollobrigida, poster art, cinema

Hollywoodland

October 30 2015

PERFECT TIMING

Sørensen throws Playboy fans off her trail.

Tempo was a pocket-sized celeb and pop culture magazine published bi-weekly out of Atlanta and New York City by Sports Report, Inc. We don’t know how long it lasted—this one is vol. 7, issue 9—but we know we’ve never seen one dated before 1953 or after 1958. When Dane Arden appeared on the cover of this one from today in 1956, she was already famous thanks to her appearance as Playboy’s centerfold just the previous month. But she had posed under her real name Elsa Sørensen, and back then that may have kept most Playboy readers from realizing Sørensen and Arden were the same person. It’s curious. We have no idea if that was her intention, or why she’d have wanted to do it.

If we had to guess, we’d say that Playboy wanted an exclusive association with her Sørensen identity, and pressed her to choose a new name for future modeling. Or perhaps she thought of magazines like Tempo as lower class, and didn’t want to diminish her Playboy image. Or maybe she thought Elsa Sørensen was a little too Danish sounding for Hollywood. But there’s no evidence she ever had an interest in movies, and if she did wouldn’t she have been sacrificing much of the useful recognition she’d gained as a Playboy centerfold? All we can say is it’s one of history’s little mysteries. Hmm… that has a nice ring. Think we’ll claim that one—History’s Little Mysteries™. More Dane/Elsa below, plus Brigitte Bardot, Shirley Falls, Erroll Garner, Sabrina, the Cleveland Browns, Anita Ekberg, et al.

Intl. Notebook

October 10 2015

PARIS KICKS

And it's aiming right for your crotch.

We were going to post nothing today, but even a fine red wine, twenty pages of good fiction, and the attentions of the wonderful Pulp Intl. girlfriends occupy only so many Saturday hours, so above and below you see the cover and contents of the French burlesque and entertainment magazine Cancans de Paris, named after the high-kicking stage dance of 19th-century Montparnasse music halls. This issue appeared this month in 1965 and features Gina Lollobrigida, Verna Lisi, Sandra Dee, ballerina Ludmilla Tchérina, and others.

France, Folies Bergère, Cancans de Paris, Gina Lollobrigida, Verna Lisi, Sandra Dee, Ludmilla Tchérina, burlesque

Femmes Fatales

October 31 2014

DOMINANT GINA

The one nature selects above all others.

This is the first time a reader of the site has sent us a celebrity photo, but that’s fine, because what a nice image it is. Anonymous Italian uncovered this shot of Gina Lollobrigida (and dozens of other pulp-related images) and zapped it over to us a few days ago. We think it’s a colorized version of a black and white shot and it’s probably from 1955, right around the beginning of her box office dominance in international cinema. Thanks AI.

Italy, Gina Lollobrigida, cinema

Vintage Pulp

October 28 2014

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

La Vie Parisenne offers readers an enticing mix of cinema, illustration and photography.

Above, La Vie Parisienne #202 of October 1967—more than one hundred years into its existence by this point—with an uncredited cover star, and interior photos of Gina Lollobrigida, Dany Carrel, Terry Martine, Jane Fonda, Slovenian actress Sceila Rozin, aka Spela Rozin, and other celebs. There’s also a shot of Talitha Pol from Barbarella, and some of you may remember she married the fast living John Paul Getty, Jr. (he of the kidnapped son, though not Pol’s) and later died of a heroin overdose. You also get some truly excellent ink illustrations by the diverse James Hodges, not to be mistaken for contemporary artist Jim Hodges. James Hodges was a French pin-up artist of the 1960s who also became a magician and illustrated magic books, painted playing cards, and designed stage sets. See more from La Vie Parisienne here.

Vintage Pulp

August 15 2014

MONROE ITALIAN STYLE

Non ci siamo già visti prima Marilyn mia cara?

Then French call it déjà vu, but in Italian it would be già visto. But while it may seem like you just saw this cover a few days ago, it’s actually entirely different. The Italian magazine Epoca loved Marilyn Monroe, and she was the star of many issues. The last one we shared was from the first anniversary of her death, give or take a few days. This one was published 15 August 1954, eleven years before she died, and again features an extensive set of rare photos. And just to show they weren’t giving short shrift to homegrown talent, Epoca editors also offer a very nice shot of Italian superstar Gina Lollobrigida. Scans below.

Italy, Epoca, Marilyn Monroe, Gina Lollobrigida, cinema

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 6

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.

October 5

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.

October 4

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.

October 4

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.

October 3

1908—Pravda Founded

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.

October 3

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

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.

October 3

1995—Simpson Acquitted

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.