Vintage Pulp

February 10 2016

BEHIND LOCKED DOORS

Keyhole takes readers places they probably shouldn't go.

In early 1972 Keyhole was searching for a visual identity. It hadn’t yet hit upon the colorful motif it would adopt by the end of year, but had moved on from the utilitarian designs of the 1960s. This is one of those in between issues. Inside it’s what you have come to expect—pure raunch, with stories flaunting every taboo of the period. A father performing oral sex on his daughters? Wow. Keyhole is truly conscienceless. Of special note is the story on the discovery of a sex pill to help men keep it up. This was purely from the editors’ imaginations—Viagra wasn’t even invented until the 1990s. Keyhole attributes its erection pill to Dr. William Krone, and tells readers, “And for you ladies, well, pure sexual bliss, it seems, is on the way. No more will you be left high and dry as hubby or love has a quick jollies party before rolling over to snore away. ’Tis truly a time to rejoice.” We don’t need a pill to rejoice. For us it’s like Christmas every time we post a sleazy ’70s tabloid. You can find our past shares here, and sixteen scans from today’s below.

Keyhole, tabloid, nudity

Vintage Pulp

December 28 2015

THROUGH THE KEYHOLE

Can you really teach an old dog new tricks?

Above is another issue of the NYC based tabloid Keyhole, this one published today in 1972, and it’s the fifth we’ve scanned and shared. British model Susan Shaw, a constant presence in 1970s tabs, puts in another appearance here along with centerfold Barbara Stand. So how does one pick up younger women when one is over forty, as the cover asks? Various experts agree—don’t try to act like a kid, be self-confident, and aim for women around age thirty because they’re often willing to look at guys ten years or more older. Seems reasonable enough. But on the other hand, if you can’t figure those things out without a cheapie tabloid’s help we suspect you’re destined to screw up in myriad other ways. See more from Keyhole at our tabloid index, located here.

New York City, Keyhole, Susan Shaw, Barbara Stand, tabloid

Vintage Pulp

February 22 2015

FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Seventeen ways to end up in serious legal trouble.

Above, the cover and many scans from Keyhole magazine published today in 1973. The editors push the envelope a bit in this issue with their glorification of under-17 sex, but as always, the content is just fiction spiced up with photos of a few semi-famous glamour models—all well into adulthood—including Susan Shaw, who was a regular in Keyhole’s pages. We have several more issues of thus unique publication and you can find them in our handy tabloid index by following this link.

Keyhole, Susan Shaw, tabloid

Vintage Pulp

January 11 2015

NO HOLES BARRED

Keyhole warms the winter months with its special brand of shameless sleaze.

The uniquely sleazy ’70s tabloid Keyhole returns to our website with this issue that hit newsstands today in 1973, filled as always with x-rated fiction in the guise of investigative journalism, and just in time to warm the cockles of male readers’ winter-chilled hearts. Do you know when you’ve got a good tabloid on your hands? When your girlfriend takes a look at the cover, says, “Mouth master, huh?” rolls her eyes, and walks away. Yes, Keyhole has the aforementioned ninja of oral arts Vicci Labist, who wistfully describes embarking on her journey to fellative expertise when she was required—for a gang initiation, no less—to go down on nineteen guys at once.

Later in the issue we meet a group of radicals that have developed an orgy bomb (in gas form, amusingly), we’re introduced to resident seer Ixion and his Love-O-Scope, we get to know a hooker who demands that her customers get their penises tattooed with her name, and we hear from a stewardess whose last Middle Eastern layover involved a horny sheik and a pliant slave boy. And that’s the tame stuff. We have some scans below and more coming from Keyhole later. If you’re interested in the issues we’ve already posted (or in any of hundreds of tabloids), click over to our handy index at this link. Just remember that looking through Keyhole is bad for your eyesight.

Keyhole, tabloid

Vintage Pulp

December 21 2014

SHLOCK AND KEY

Unlocking the door to all your darkest and dirtiest thoughts.

Keyhole’s slogan is “for mature adults.” We think it’s more for horny high schoolers, but there’s no doubt it’s a bold tabloid. This issue published today in 1972 has everything from swinging sex safaris (“Make sure your gun is loaded for bare”) to gay frat houses (“They don’t swallow goldfish anymore”). None of it’s real, of course. The frat house story is a firsthand account of a new pledge at a Harvard fraternity who doesn’t discover the members dress in drag until he goes under the skirt of a blonde lovely and gets a handful of nutsack. The article features a photo of a bearish model with a volume of Shakespeare over his willie. The sex safari story features British model Susan Shaw in what could easily be someone’s unweeded back garden. But while the stories are phony, they’re at least funny—not on their merits so much, but because people actually got paid to write them. Quite a way to make a living. What’s even funnier? People bought Keyhole. We have a few scans below, and sharp-eyed readers may recognize American glamour model Sylvia Bayo, aka Lucienne Camille as the Keyhole Cutie for the month.

Keyhole, Harvard University, Susan Shaw, Lucienne Camille, Sylvia Bayo, tabloid

Sex Files

August 21 2014

A HOLE LOT MORE

One peek through this Keyhole and you may never want to look again.

Aside from the fact that it alone among all its competitors printed covers (and centerfolds) in full color, Keyhole Confidential represents close to the rock bottom of seventies newsprint tabloids. It’s an amalgam of stories so perverted it’s a wonder every surviving issue hasn’t been gathered up and hurled into an industrial incinerator. From its contention that Spanish equestriennes have sex with their horses to the ruminations of “Dr. Dyke,” this thing is toxic from front to back.

Its parent company, Keyhole Publishing Corp., churned this out after its first paper Keyhole became a moderate success. Though the publications were basically the same, Keyhole ran for years where Keyhole Confidential seems to have died almost immediately. We’ll see if we can find out more, but it may be difficult because at the moment plugging the name into search engines brings up only one hit—Pulp Intl. Seems we’re the only people silly enough to have ever bought and scanned an issue. Well, now we’ve done it twice. We have fourteen images below, another issue here, and an issue of Keyhole at this link.

Keyhole Confidential, Keyhole, tabloid, nudity

Vintage Pulp

September 28 2011

KEYHOLE CURIOSITIES

Sometimes it’s better not to look.

Today we have another addition to our massive collection of tabloids. It’s called Keyhole and it’s the parent publication of Keyhole Confidential, which we shared a while back. This issue appeared today in 1972, and some of it is just cringe-inducing to read. For instance, in the cover story “Man Rapes Own Wife” we’re told a married man wanted to have one last fling before settling down and being a good husband. So he decided to rape a random beautiful woman, but in a dark alley mistakenly attacked his own wife. We’re supposed to chortle over this mix-up after having equated the concept “fling” with the act “rape”. That just ain’t right. Yet Keyhole sold well for years—at least nine, if the designation vol. 9, issue 24 is any indication. Can you imagine what the typical Keyhole reader was like? Actually, let’s not go down that road—the image is just too frightening. Fourteen interior scans below, and oh so many more tabloids coming.

Keyhole, tabloid

Intl. Notebook

November 15 2009

INSIDE OUTED

Have we got News for you.

Inside News was yet another low rent, late-’60s/early-’70s tabloid, like the National Examiner, Keyhole, Midnight and others, that basically printed fiction in the guise of investigative journalism. In a race to the bottom of the market, Inside News focused on sex, the outrage of homosexuality, the outrage of sex associated with drug use, the outrage of sex between whites and blacks, and rape—which they presented not as an outrage, but as titillation. The example above, published today in 1970, is typical. She was raped, but she was a stripper, therefore here she is in a bikini, and boy howdy, it’s pretty easy to see why she was raped, isn’t it? Of course, the report is 100% fabricated, and it’s possible some readers of Inside News even suspected as much. But since it was ideas being sold, rather than literal truth, we can see with the clarity of years that what we have here is a magazine catering to a readership fearful about the direction of the times—i.e. sexual liberation and racial equality. We have two or three more issues of Inside News, but we’re searching for more. We’ll share them as we find them.

Inside News, Keyhole, Midnight, National Examiner, tabloid

Intl. Notebook

March 22 2009

PEEP SHOW

Love is the drug I'm thinking of.

Keyhole billed itself as America’s original sexposé newspaper. That’s debatable, but it was undoubtedly one of America’s lowest rent tabloids. This issue wtih its “love drug” cover was published forty-three years ago today.

Keyhole, drugs, tabloid

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 15

1945—Laval Executed

Pierre Laval, who was the premier of Vichy, France, which had collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, is shot by a firing squad for treason. In subsequent years it emerges that Laval may have considered himself a patriot whose goal was to publicly submit to the Germans while doing everything possible behind the scenes to thwart them. In at least one respect he may have succeeded: fifty percent of French Jews survived the war, whereas in other territories about ninety percent perished.

October 15

1966—Black Panthers Form

In the U.S., in Oakland, California, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale form the Black Panther political party. The Panthers are active in American politics throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but eventually legal troubles combined with a schism over the direction of the party lead to its dissolution.

October 14

1962—Cuban Missile Crisis Begins

A U-2 spy plane flight over the island of Cuba produces photographs of Soviet nuclear missiles being installed. Though American missiles have been installed near Russia, the U.S. decides that no such weapons will be tolerated in Cuba. The resultant standoff brings the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of war. The crisis finally ends with a secret deal in which the U.S. removes its missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviets removing the Cuban weapons.

October 13

1970—Angela Davis Arrested

After two months of evading police and federal authorities, Angela Davis is arrested in New York City by the FBI. She had been sought in connection with a kidnapping and murder because one of the guns used in the crime had been bought under her name. But after a trial a jury agreed that owning the weapon did not automatically make her complicit in the crimes.

October 12

1978—Sid Vicious Arrested for Murder

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.

October 12

1979—Adams Publishes First Hitchhiker's Book

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.