Vintage Pulp

January 10 2013

BRUNETTE AMBITION

She won’t quit till she’s a star on Broadway.

This issue of The National Police Gazette published this month in 1947 has a really nice cover starring a beaming Jean Palmer, billed here as a beautiful and promising songstress making her Broadway debut. We found nothing on her, so it’s possible that debut was a flop. Then again, it’s equally possible she took the Great White Way by storm. Since she was a Broadway performer, we bet there’s at least some info about her in New York City, but if it hasn’t been put online that info might as well be on the dark side of the Moon. We live in a state of semi-reality, all of us on our computers, with access only to what has been uploaded into the continuum. Anyway, if we ever run across any Palmer info, we’ll be sure to share it.

The Gazette is filled with other personalities whose existence we were able to confirm, such as wrestler Mildred Burke, 1946 Mrs. America Beauty Pageant co-winners Connie Spradlin and Kay Kiefer, famed model/socialite Gregg Sherwood, and actresses Marilyn Maxwell, Angela Green, Mary Meade, and Marion Davis. All of those pages are below, along with a few others of interest. And to see our entire collection of Gazette covers and interiors, which is the most extensive on the internet, click its keyword at the bottom of this post.

Police Gazette, Gregg Sherwood, Mildred Burke, Marilyn Maxwell, Angela Green, Mary Meade, Marion Davis, Connie Spradlin, Kay Kiefer, Jean Palmer, tabloid

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

April 12

1945—Franklin Roosevelt Dies

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage while sitting for a portrait in the White House. After a White House funeral on April 14, Roosevelt’s body is transported by train to his hometown of Hyde Park, New York, and on April 15 he is buried in the rose garden of the Roosevelt family home.

April 11

1916—Richard Harding Davis Dies

American journalist, playwright, and author Richard Harding Davis dies of a heart attack at home in Philadelphia. Not widely known now, Davis was one of the most important and influential war correspondents ever, establishing his reputation by reporting on the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and World War I, as well as his general travels to exotic lands.

April 10

1919—Zapata Is Killed

In Mexico, revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata is shot dead by government forces in the state of Morelos, after a carefully planned ambush. Following the killing, Zapata’s revolutionary movement and his Liberation Army of the South slowly fall apart, but his political influence lasts in Mexico to the present day.

April 10

1925—Great Gatsby Is Published

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is published in New York City by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Though Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s best known book today, it was not a success upon publication, and at the time of his death in 1940, Fitzgerald was mostly forgotten as a writer and considered himself to be a failure.

April 9

1968—Martin Luther King Buried

American clergyman and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., is buried five days after being shot dead on a Memphis, Tennessee motel balcony. April 7th had been declared a national day of mourning by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and King’s funeral on the 9th is attended by thousands of supporters, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

BRAZIL UNDERGROUND

Edições de Ouro and Editora Tecnoprint published U.S. crime novels for the Brazilian market, with excellent reworked cover art to appeal to local sensibilities. We have a small collection worth seeing.

FLUENT IN VIOLENCE

Walter Popp cover art for Richard Powell's 1954 crime novel Say It with Bullets.

IN HOT WATER

There have been some serious injuries on pulp covers. This one is probably the most severe—at least in our imagination. It was painted for Stanley Morton's 1952 novel Yankee Trader.