Above: another promo image of June Havoc from 1947’s Intrigue. This one might be even nicer than the last one we shared. What we need to do now is watch the film. We’re working on that.
vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
Above: another promo image of June Havoc from 1947’s Intrigue. This one might be even nicer than the last one we shared. What we need to do now is watch the film. We’re working on that.
Above is a nice photo of Canadian actress June Havoc made for her 1947 drama Intrigue. We were intrigued by her name, an obvious pseudonym, but it turns out it wasn’t far off from her real name—Hovick. She was born Ellen Evangeline Hovick. In our opinion there’s a missed opportunity there. Her stage name should have been Helen Havoc. Or even Hellen Havoc. You can see a couple more shots of her here and here. And while you’re doing that we’ll be playing Scrabble. Don’t know why, but we’re suddenly in the mood for a game or two.
Update: We received an e-mail from Herman, who helps us with celebrity and model identifications: “Please tell me you know that June Havoc is Gypsy Rose Lee’s sister. You’ve posted information about her without mentioning so, and it made me wonder.”
Wonder no longer. We had no idea. Or if we did, we forgot. We also forgot to get back to Gypsy’s second crime novel, something we said more than a year ago we’d do. So your message has killed two birds with one stone. Thanks, as always.
The Soviet space probe Luna 3 transmits the first photographs of the far side of the moon. The photos generate great interest, and scientists are surprised to see mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two seas, which the Soviets name Mare Moscovrae (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire).
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.