vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
This squinty and displeased looking shot once again shows Wendy Barrie in a promo made for her drama I Am the Law. It’s one of more than fifty movies she made, along with 1932’s The Barton Mystery, 1934’s Murder at the Inn, 1936’s Indy 500 themed Speed with James Stewart, 1939’s The Witness Vanishes, et al. The shot dates from 1938 and follows one we shared a while back. You can see that one here.
Above: a promo image of Hong Kong born British actress Wendy Barrie made for the drama I Am the Law, in which she played a newspaper columnist with, shall we say, pliable ethics. She also appeared in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dead End, and Public Enemies, in which she played Bonnie Parker. The above shot is from 1938.
Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious is arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen is found in their room at New York City’s Chelsea Hotel. Vicious and Spungen had a famously stormy relationship, but Vicious proclaims he is innocent. He is released on bail and dies of a heroin overdose before a trial takes place.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in a series, is published by Douglas Adams. The novels follow on the heels of the tremendously successful British television series of the same name.
The new head of the Chinese Communist Party, Hua Goufeng, snuffs out a coup led by Chairman Mao’s widow Jiang Qing and three other party members. They become known as the Gang of Four, and are tried, found guilty of treason, and receive death sentences that are later commuted to lengthy prison terms.
A sonar exploration of Scotland’s Loch Ness, called Operation Deepscan, ends after a week without finding evidence that the legendary Loch Ness Monster exists. While the flotilla of boats had picked up three sonar contacts indicating something large in the waters, these are considered to be detections of salmon schools or possibly seals.
After being sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in the resort town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
British actor Richard Burton and American screen star Elizabeth Taylor secretly remarry sixteen months after their divorce, then jet away to a second honeymoon in Chobe Game Park in Botswana.
A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed in Bolivia. In an attempt to make it appear as though he had been killed resisting Bolivian troops, the executioner shoots Guevara with a machine gun, wounding him nine times in the legs, arm, shoulder, throat, and chest.
