Vintage Pulp

October 20 2024

UNREAL ESTATE

She might as well make herself at home, because she'll never be leaving.

A few years ago we shared a collection of movie posters painted by the great Hungarian artist Karoly Grosz. Among them was a promo for The Old Dark House. We’ve brought the poster back today because we just watched the film. Based on a J.B Priestly novel, the movie opens during a stormy night somewhere in Wales as five people, among them Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, and Lilian Bond, are stranded in the rain and entreat the occupants of a creepy old manse for shelter. The occupants are the Femm family and their facially scarred butler, played by Boris Karloff. Any sane person would do a one-eighty after getting a gander at him, but this is a horror movie, so they waltz happily through the front door.

As the night wears on and the house is buffeted by wind and rain, the guests begin to realize the Femms are not just a little strange, but seriously disturbed, and that there are more people in the house than at first appearance. It’s Karloff the horror specialist—of course—who eventually looses chaos upon the stranded travelers. He’s quite a creation, scowling and grumbling his way craggily through the film, and his performance is one of several reasons it’s interesting to watch an old chiller like this. When we say chiller, be forewarned that the movie isn’t really scary, but it’s atmospheric and worth a watch for fans of horror to see the building blocks of the genre. The Old Dark House premiered today in 1932.

Wales, Hungary, The Old Dark House, Boris Karloff, Melvin Douglas, Gloria Stuart, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond, Lillian Bond, J.B. Priestly, Karoly Grosz, poster art, cinema, horror, movie review

Femmes Fatales

January 3 2023

CLOTHES ENCOUNTERS

Greetings, Earthling. Take me to your leading purveyor of glitter.

This promo photo features Hungarian actress Catherine Schell, and it was made for the cheeseball British television series Space: 1999, about the trials and troubles of the inhabitants of a moon colony after a massive explosion blows the moon out of Earth’s orbit. As the survivors hurtle through space they encounter strange phenomena and new lifeforms. Schell played an alien named Maya from the planet Psychon, and could transform herself into anything organic, including, seemingly, an aficionado of intricate beadwork. She played Maya for twenty-five episodes, and is also well known for appearances in films such as On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Moon Zero Two. This shot is from 1975.

Britain, Hungary, Space: 1999, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Moon Zero Two, Catherine Schell, sci-fi, television

Femmes Fatales

July 15 2022

DROP DEAD GABORGEOUS

I'm not just pretty—I have relatively positive feelings toward the institution of marriage.

This nice shot shows Hungarian actress, singer, and socialite Eva Gabor. She was not quite as famous as her older sister Zsa Zsa, and she also wasn’t nearly as as fickle—by which we mean she only married five times, as opposed to Zsa Zsa’s nine trips down the aisle. Marriages ran in the family. The oldest Gabor sister, Magda, had six husbands. But two of them died on her, so technically she finished third in the marital grand prix. You’re probably wondering if the sisters shared any husbands. Yes, lucky George Sanders married both Magda and Zsa Zsa. That must have made for some fun Christmas dinners.

Eva appeared in numerous films, including Pacific Blackout, Love Island, Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl, Paris Model, and The Last Time I Saw Paris. On television her most popular role was as Lisa Douglas on Green Acres. The Gabor genes didn’t just provide talent and beauty—they bestowed longevity. Eva’s mother died at 100, and both her sisters reached 99. You have to figure Eva would have gotten there too, but a bathtub fall followed by pneumonia did her in two decades early, aged seventy-six. The above photo shows her in 1941, when she was a tender twenty-two.

Hungary, Pacific Blackout, Love Island, Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl, Paris Model, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Green Acres, Eva Gabor

Femmes Fatales

April 12 2022

THE OTHER AVA

When I'm a really big star there'll be a photo retoucher to make sure I have perfect armpits.

This scan made from a 35-millimeter slide shows Hungary born actress Ava Norring, who had exactly one credited role—that of Beatrice in 1952’s The Snows of Kilimajaro, in which she appeared with her more famous namesake Ava Gardner. She later was featured in an eight page Esquire photo essay published in July 1955, but stardom was not to be. We love this shot, underarm razor burn and all. We haven’t seen The Snows of Kilimajaro, but we’re curious about it. The 1936 Ernest Hemingway work upon which it’s loosely based is a short story (touching on standard Hemingway themes we discussed a while back), and it’s always interesting to see how filmmakers flesh out something so slight. We’ll get to the movie at some point, see both Avas in action, and probably report back.

Hungary, Esquire Magazine, The Snows of Kilimajaro, Ava Norring, Ava Gardner, Ernest Hemingway

Femmes Fatales

December 11 2021

HA HA GABOR

Why so serious, darlings? I'm on my third divorce, and if I can laugh so can you.

The above photo from the mid-1950s shows Hungarian star Zsa Zsa Gabor, whose films included Moulin Rouge, Death of a Scoundrel, Drop Dead Darling, Touch of Evil, and of course, Queen of Outer Space, which we talked about here. What was really funny about Gabor is that she would eventually total seven divorces. It could be a Hollywood record.

*checking internet*

Nope. Lana Turner beat her with eight divorces, and Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney both tied her with seven too. Well, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream, and considering Gabor lived to be ninety-nine, maybe she knew more than all of us. You see her below from the same shoot, contemplating another marriage proposal.

Hungary, Queen of Outer Space, Moulin Rouge, Moulin Rouge, Drop Dead Darling, Death of a Scoundrel, Touch of Evil, Zsa Zsa Gabor

Vintage Pulp

October 31 2021

NOTHING TO SEE HERE

The artist is almost as mysterious as his posters.

You can see immediately that this Universal Pictures teaser poster for 1933’s The Invisible Man is special. You’ll find out how special in a minute. It was painted by Hungarian born artist Karoly Grosz, whose work is highly sought after. With this dark portrait he captured the essence of the film’s insane central character Dr. Jack Griffin, who accidentally discovers invisibility and decides, what the hell, he’ll use it to take over the world. An original of this poster went up for auction a few years back and pulled in $275,000. That’s about as special as vintage art gets.

Halloween is today, so we thought we’d share more horror posters. Since Grosz specialized in that genre, we were able to focus solely on him and his work for Universal. Though he’s a collectible legend, his bio is a bit sketchy. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1901 as a child, was naturalized as a citizen, and grew up to live and work in New York City. His output came mainly between 1920 and 1938, and he died young sometime after that (nobody is sure when, but most sources say he was in his early forties). At least he left behind these beautiful gifts to cinematic art. You can see another piece from him in this post from a while back, the one with the green-eyed cat.

Hungary, New York City, Universal Pictures, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, Dracula's Daughter, Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, Karoly Grosz, poster art, cinema, horror

Vintage Pulp

August 16 2021

STRANGER DANGER

Don't mess with the man upstairs.

Stranger on the Third Floor is sometimes cited as a proto film noir, coming a year before the first official noir, 1941’s The Maltese Falcon. In this day and age, any vintage crime film is called a film noir on crowdsourced websites like IMDB, so depending on where you look film noir isn’t as pure a cycle as it used to be. But in this case the debate is fair. The film is about newspaper journalist John McGuire, who serves as a witness at a sensational murder trial, while his fiancée Margaret Tallichet frets about the impact of recognition on their lives. The two of them are planning to move out of their boarding houses and find a place together, but McGuire’s building has lately been haunted by a mysterious stranger played by Hungarian actor Peter Lorre. Who is he? Why is he hanging around? Is he somehow connected to the murder?

Gene D. Phillips, in his book Out of the Shadows: Expanding the Canon of Film Noir, cites Stranger on the Third Floor as a film that “codified the visual conventions of film noir.” It has flashbacks, a brilliant nightmare sequence, a sense of growing dread, a false accusation (or possibly two), a narration (though not of the hard-boiled variety), and a usage of angles and shadows that is extravagant. Where it differs from film noir is in its general lack of cynicism and world weariness. In fact, it’s the opposite. McGuire ponders whether doing his civic duty by testifying will have consequences, but at no point does he feel like a sucker for doing so. He believes in society and its basic functions. The Maltese Falcon, by contrast, offers civic duty as an option, but Sam Spade acts as he does because of his personal code. Duty is secondary, and ultimately, so is love.

Despite these differences between Stranger on the Third Floor and canonical film noir, casting the net wide enough to include this movie makes sense. It definitely gets its influences from the same places as film noir, particularly in German Expressionist cinema of the early 1900s. Interestingly, Lorre would feature prominently in The Maltese Falcon, as would Elisha Cook, Jr., who plays the defendant at the trial. So the connection between Stranger on the Third Floor and film noir is concrete on that level at least. All that said, does our opinion matter? Watch Stranger on the Third Floor and debate whether it’s a film noir yourself. You’ll see a visual masterwork regardless of which cinematic bin you stick it in. It premiered in the U.S. today in 1940.

Hungary, Stranger on the Third Floor, Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet, Elisha Cook Jr., poster art, cinema, film noir, movie review

Vintage Pulp

May 24 2020

TWO COUNTS OF MURDER

Sun, sand, and an unusually high homicide rate.

Of all the covers we’ve posted on Pulp Intl., these two—the first from U.S. publisher Dell, and the second from British publisher Consul—are among the most interesting. Both illustrate books called Murder in Majorca, both feature a female figure partly obscured by foreground blinds, and both have in the background the lower legs of a man walking into the room. But Michael Bryan and Paul Tabori are different authors, and these are different tales. Is that not weird as hell? We’ve always wanted to read these books because Majorca, aka Mallorca, is one of the great garden spots on Earth. We’ve been several times and it always recalibrates us perfectly. Also, there isn’t much murder there, despite the titles of these books, which is a nice add-on to the sun, sand, food, bars, architecture and beautiful people.

Michael Bryan was in reality Brian Moore, and also wrote as Bernard Mara. His Murder in Majorca appeared in 1957. Paul Tabori was in reality Hungarian author Pál Tábori, and his Murder in Majorca came in 1961. How did these two uncredited covers get to be virtually identical? No idea. Sometimes when a book was reprinted overseas a second artist was commissioned to do a riff on the original cover, such as here. So maybe the second piece was for a re-issue, but it fell through, and the art was lying around when Tabori wrote his book. That’s a wild-ass guess that has very little chance of being correct, but we just know these two fronts can’t be similar by coincidence, so that’s all we’ve got by way of explanation. Maybe you have a better deduction, or even the facts. If so, we’d love to know.

Hungary, Spain, Majorca, Mallorca, Dell Publications, Consul Nooks, Michael Bryan, Brian Moore, Bernard Mara, Paul Tabori, Pál Tábori, cover art, literature

Hollywoodland

June 19 2018

BRONZE STAR

The statue was for the public. The photos were strictly private.

Hungarian artist Sepy Dobronyi puts the finsihing touches on what was for a while possibly the most famous statue in the world—his stylized sculpture of Swedish sex bomb Anita Ekberg. Dobronyi made it by using nude reference photos he’d shot of his subject, and it was those photos, more than the statue, that interested the public. Ekberg was one of the world’s biggest stars at the time and the idea that nude shots existed was flogged by the tabloids and helped burnish Dobronyi’s reputation as a sort of jetsetting artist. His depiction of her became known as the Ekberg Bronze. He went on to sculpt Brigitte Bardot, Ava Gardner, Beverly Aadland, and Jayne Mansfield, though as far as we know no nude photographs were involved in those efforts.

Dobronyi sold and collected many works and used his fame and fortune to become a traveller and adventurer, visiting nearly ninety countries and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Actually, he’s probably worthy of a book or movie at some point, but then so are dozens of nearly forgotten Hollywood figures. He died in 2010 and as far as we know his Ekberg reference nudes never turned up, though we imagine they’d be worth plenty. But Dobronyi was a gentleman—other Ekberg nudes appeared over the years but he never revealed his and may have destroyed them at some point. We talked a bit about the Ekberg Bronze previously, which means you can learn a few more details of the story by clicking this link.

Hungary, Sweden, Tanzania, Anita Ekberg, Sepy Dobronyi, Brigitte Bardot, Ava Gardner, Beverly Aadland, Jayne Mansfield

Vintage Pulp

May 21 2017

REFUGEE CRISIS

The thrill of the Chasse.

This promo poster from Colombia Pictures was made to promote the Belgian run of the film noir Chasse à l’homme, better known as The Glass Wall. This is an interesting one. Starring Vittorio Gassman and Gloria Grahame, the movie is set at the end of World War II and tells the story of a Hungarian refugee who arrives in New York harbor as a stowaway on a ship.

Onboard immigration cops catch him, but he eludes them and jumps ship to search for a war buddy who can prove he has the right to legal residency under a special exemption for those who aided Allied soldiers. He must find this friend who can prove his bona fides, and do it within twenty four hours or be permanently barred from the U.S. A photo in the morning paper alerts the public and Chasse à l’homme becomes a double manhunt—the hero’s search for his buddy, and the cops’ search for the hero.

The film is obviously a piece of light propaganda concerning the desirability of life in the U.S., but as a noir it also shows a darker side to American society, such as when Gloria Grahame is under threat of eviction, and when the landlady’s son tries to force himself on her. Gassman was an experienced actor by this point, and Grahame, as noted on the poster, had already won an Academy Award for The Bad and the Beautiful. Both do solid work here. The movie opened in the U.S. in March of 1953 and reached Brussels, Belgium today in 1954.

Hungary, Belgium, Brussels, World War II, Academy Award, Chasse à l'homme, The Glass Wall, Vittorio Gassman, Gloria Grahame, poster art, cinema, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

November 6

1935—Parker Brothers Buys Monopoly

The board game company Parker Brothers acquires the forerunner patents for Monopoly from Elizabeth Magie, who had designed the game (originally called The Landlord’s Game) to demonstrate the economic ill effects of land monopolism and the use of land value tax as a remedy for them. Parker Brothers quickly turns Monopoly into the biggest selling board game in America.

November 6

1991—Gene Tierney Passes Away

American actress Gene Tierney, one of the great beauties in Hollywood history and star of the seminal film noir Laura, dies in Houston, Texas of emphysema. Tierney had begun smoking while young as a way to help lower her high voice, and was hooked on cigarettes the rest of her life.

November 5

1937—Hitler Reveals His Plans for Lebensraum

Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting with Nazi officials and states his intention to acquire “lebensraum,” or living space for Germany. An old German concept that dated from 1901, Hitler had written of it in Mein Kampf, and now possessed the power to implement it. Basically the idea, as Hitler saw it, was for the Nazis to kill, deport, or enslave the Polish, Russian and other Slavic populations to the east, whom they considered inferior, and to repopulate those lands with a Germanic upper class.

November 5

1991—Fred MacMurray Dies

American actor Fred MacMurray dies of pneumonia related to leukemia. While most remember him as a television actor, earlier in his career he starred in 1944’s Double Indemnity, one of the greatest films noir ever made.

November 4

1955—Cy Young Dies

American baseball player Cy Young, who had amassed 511 wins pitching for five different teams from 1890 to 1911, dies at the age of 88. Today Major League Baseball’s yearly award given to the best pitcher of each season is named after Young.

November 4

1970—Feral Child Found in Los Angeles

A thirteen year-old child who had been kept locked in a room for her entire life is found in the Los Angeles house of her parents. The child, named Genie, could only speak twenty words and was not able even to walk normally because she had spent her life strapped to a potty chair during the day and bound in a sleeping bag at night. Genie ended up in a series of foster homes and was given language training but after years of effort by various benefactors never reached a point where she could interact normally in society.

November 3

1957—Soviets Launch Dog into Space

The Soviet Union launches the first ever living creature into the cosmos when it blasts a stray dog named Laika into orbit aboard the capsule Sputnik II. Laika is fitted with various monitoring devices that provide information about the effects of launch and weightlessness on a living creature. Urban myth has it that Laika starved to death after a few days in space, but she actually died of heat stress just a few hours into the journey. Today a small monument to her stands in Moscow.