HONEY IN THE HIVE

Beautiful detective gets into a sticky mess in Los Angeles.

Even if you haven’t read Honey West we bet you’ve heard of her. This Girl for Hire is the first novel starring one of the first female private eyes in popular literature. It was originally published in 1957, spawned ten sequels, a 1965 television show, and even a 2013 graphic novel. All of that began with This Girl for Hire, so we read it, and it’s pretty bad. Not every published book—even popular ones—possess style or merit, and this one’s buzz is undeserved. The plot is a bore, the humor is obvious, the dialogue needs a serious polish, and the sexiness so boldly touted in the rear cover blurb simply doesn’t materialize. And finally—the cardinal sin—we don’t get the impression matters improve in later novels. For better along these lines we recommend Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise adventures. They deliver eroticism and action and most of them are actually pretty good. In fact, This Girl for Hire made us immediately retreat to our Blaise stash just to remind ourselves this concept could be done well. See below.

Pyramid Books, Honey West, G.G. Fickling, Gloria Fickling, Forest Fickling, Anne Francis, cover art, literature

Femmes Fatales

October 3 2016

ANNE FRANKLY

Her intentions are abundantly clear.

American actress Anne Francis appears here in a Four Star Productions promo photo made for her television series Honey West, which ran for one season on the network ABC. Francis was a television iron woman, appearing on scores of shows, but she also made a mark in feature films such as Forbidden Planet and Bad Day at Black Rock. This confident shot is from 1965 and shows her looking beautiful in her mid-thirties. About a dozen years earlier, near the beginning of her career, she still looked good but also very different.

Four Star Productions, Honey West, Forbidden Planet, Bad Day at Black Rock, Anne Francis, television

Femmes Fatales

March 26 2015

PRINCESS ANNE

You can't go home again—and sometimes you don't want to even if you could.

Anne Francis, née Anne Marvak, was born in the prison town of Ossining, New York—location of Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Once she made her escape to Hollywood she became known for her role opposite Leslie Nielsen in the sci-fi film Forbidden Planet, but other notable credits include Bad Day at Black Rock, Rogue Cop, and the television series Honey West, all of which are well worth a gander. This dynamic shot is from the early 1950s.

New York, Ossining, Sing Sing, Forbidden Planet, Honey West, Bad Day at Black Rock, Rogue Cop, Anne Francis, Anne Marvak, Leslie Nielsen, cinema, television

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 16

1964—China Detonates Nuke

At the Lop Nur test site located between the Taklamakan and Kuruktag deserts, the People’s Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon, codenamed 596 after the month of June 1959, which is when the program was initiated.

October 16

1996—Handgun Ban in the UK

In response to a mass shooting in Dunblane, Scotland that kills 16 children, the British Conservative government announces a law to ban all handguns, with the exception .22 caliber target pistols. When Labor takes power several months later, they extend the ban to all handguns.

October 15

1945—Laval Executed

Pierre Laval, who was the premier of Vichy, France, which had collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, is shot by a firing squad for treason. In subsequent years it emerges that Laval may have considered himself a patriot whose goal was to publicly submit to the Germans while doing everything possible behind the scenes to thwart them. In at least one respect he may have succeeded: fifty percent of French Jews survived the war, whereas in other territories about ninety percent perished.

October 15

1966—Black Panthers Form

In the U.S., in Oakland, California, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale form the Black Panther political party. The Panthers are active in American politics throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but eventually legal troubles combined with a schism over the direction of the party lead to its dissolution.

October 14

1962—Cuban Missile Crisis Begins

A U-2 spy plane flight over the island of Cuba produces photographs of Soviet nuclear missiles being installed. Though American missiles have been installed near Russia, the U.S. decides that no such weapons will be tolerated in Cuba. The resultant standoff brings the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of war. The crisis finally ends with a secret deal in which the U.S. removes its missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviets removing the Cuban weapons.

October 13

1970—Angela Davis Arrested

After two months of evading police and federal authorities, Angela Davis is arrested in New York City by the FBI. She had been sought in connection with a kidnapping and murder because one of the guns used in the crime had been bought under her name. But after a trial a jury agreed that owning the weapon did not automatically make her complicit in the crimes.