STIRRING IT UP

Rub-a-dub-dub, a girl and her tub…

By now you know we’re really into these promos for Japanese ama movies, so at top is a poster for Kuikomi ama: Midare-gai, aka Marked Ama: Stirred Up Shell. This is the first one we’ve seen that offers a good look at one of the ama’s most important tools. No, not that, silly. We mean her wooden tub, which floats on the water’s surface attached to its owner by a rope. Typically they’re a bit larger than the one pictured, and are used to hold whatever she finds. One source said they were used as buoys that she clung to in order to rest between dives, but we aren’t too sure on that. By chance we ran across some black and white ama photographs from the 1950s and we’ll put those up soon.

But getting back to the movie, basically you get Ryoko Watanabe headlining the standard plot of illicit sex in a small fishing village. Everything is pretty good natured until a new arrival upsets the delicate local equilibrium, triggering jealousy and revenge. As with other ama movies, this one is played for both laughs and drama, and ultimately the purpose is to show lots of skin. Since you’ll have a hard time tracking this down, we’ve provided some of Ryoko’s below in a cool series that runs from day to night. She made about a dozen films, but we don’t know if they’re available outside Japan. We hope to run across her again. Kuikomi ama: Midare-gai premiered in Japan today in 1982.

Update: As promised, those vintage ama photographs.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Kuikomi ama: Midare-gai, Marked Ama: Stirred Up Shell, Ryoko Watanabe, Atsushi Fujiura, poster art, roman porno, nudity, cinema, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

January 25

1949—First Emmy Awards Are Presented

At the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles, California, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presents the first Emmy Awards. The name Emmy was chosen as a feminization of “immy”, a nickname used for the image orthicon tubes that were common in early television cameras.

January 25

1971—Manson Family Found Guilty

Charles Manson and three female members of his “family” are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, which Manson orchestrated in hopes of bringing about Helter Skelter, an apocalyptic war he believed would arise between blacks and whites.

January 24

1961—Plane Carrying Nuclear Bombs Crashes

A B-52 Stratofortress carrying two H-bombs experiences trouble during a refueling operation, and in the midst of an emergency descent breaks up in mid-air over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Five of the six arming devices on one of the bombs somehow activate before it lands via parachute in a wooded region where it is later recovered. The other bomb does not deploy its chute and crashes into muddy ground at 700 mph, disintegrating while driving its radioactive core fifty feet into the earth.

January 23

1912—International Opium Convention Signed

The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague, Netherlands, and is the first international drug control treaty. The agreement was signed by Germany, the U.S., China, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam.

January 22

1946—CIA Forerunner Created

U.S. president Harry S. Truman establishes the Central Intelligence Group or CIG, an interim authority that lasts until the Central Intelligence Agency is established in September of 1947.

January 22

1957—George Metesky Is Arrested

The New York City “Mad Bomber,” a man named George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and charged with planting more than 30 bombs. Metesky was angry about events surrounding a workplace injury suffered years earlier. Of the thirty-three known bombs he planted, twenty-two exploded, injuring fifteen people. He was apprehended based on an early use of offender profiling and because of clues given in letters he wrote to a newspaper. At trial he was found legally insane and committed to a state mental hospital.

KISS AND TELL STORIES

We can't really say, but there are probably thousands of kisses on mid-century paperback covers. Here's a small collection of some good ones.

INCLEMENT WEATHER

Two Spanish covers from Ediciones G.P. for Peter Cheyney's Huracan en las Bahamas, better known as Dark Bahama.

DON GIOVANNI

Giovanni Benvenuti was one of Italy's most prolific paperback cover artists. His unique style is on display in multiple collections within our website.