vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
Above are two versions of a piece of Alain Gourdon art first used on Yann R. Patrick’s Vénus des neiges by Éditions de l’Arabesque in 1955, then repurposed by Antwerp based Uitgeverij Eros for Mickey Spencer’s Geen tijd voor Kusjes. Everyone’s an aka here. Gourdon painted under the moniker Aslan, Patrick was really Jacques-Henri Juillet, and Spencer is an obvious pseudonym, though we don’t for whom. Whether dark or light, this is lovely work.
This beautiful cover was painted for Éditions le Trotteur’s popular collection Espions et Agents Secrets by Nik, aka Jacques Thibésart, and illustrates Yannick Williams’, aka Jacques-Henri Juillet’s 1953 thriller Mademoiselle “Chauve Souris”, aka Miss “Bat”. That’s a lot of aka’s, and here comes one more. In French souris means “mouse,” chauve means bald, and the two words together mean “bat”—literally “bald mouse.” French paperback titles can get a little slangy, though. Souris by itself—a mouse—is also a word for a pretty woman. So there could be another aka happening here in the form of a pun. We don’t know. Jo, where are you? We need you on this one.
Oh, and there’s one more thing, also aka related. Thibésart has an unusual signature—not visible on this cover but viewable here—in which the “N” could be read as a stylized “M.” Just lately, online experts are beginning to wonder if his signature should be read “Mik” instead of “Nik.” Thibésart is still around, but in classic French fashion refuses to discuss any of this despite several queries being floated his way. So for now we’ll stick with Nik. Also, we don’t want to change all our previous posts on this guy. We will update later if needed.
Update: it was needed.
Above, the cover of Lewis Simford’s Mon cœur est à moi from Éditions Les Presses de la Nuit’s Collection Les 4 Vents de l’Amour, or 4 Winds of Love Collection, 1958. Simford was an alias used by Jacques-Henri Juillet. But of course the reason we’re sharing this is because of the art from the always brilliant Aslan, aka Alain Gourdon. See more from him here.
Above, a great piece from Aslan, aka Alain Gourdon, fronting Le pays de l’amour perdu, aka Country of Lost Love, written by Y. Patrick for France Euro Presse’s series Le Roman de Minuit. Y. Patrick was in reality Jacques-Henri Juillet, and he was aka Roland Yann Patrick, Henri Chamelet, Carol Paterson, and others. Basically, you’re nobody in French pulp if you don’t write under an entire phone book of pseudonyms. 1959 is the publication year on this.
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.
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.
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.
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.
