Vintage Pulp

March 1 2025

SINK FAST

Sinatra gets into deep and deadly water in Lady in Cement.

Above is a Japanese poster for Lady in Cement starring Frank Sinatra and Raquel Welch. We mentioned the movie a long time ago and shared a Japanese soundtrack sleeve, then later also shared the covers of the source novels featuring the title character Tony Rome. The movie’s Japanese title セメントの女 means “cement lady,” which doesn’t have the same ring as the original, but okay, since it had Frankie it’s worth a watch. Or rewatch, actually. We saw it on DVD years ago during a movie night with friends. We’ll get around to rewatching it at some point, and share our thoughts. But preliminarily, since we don’t remember it very well, we either got hammered that movie night or weren’t impressed with the film. We shall see. Lady in Cement premiered in New York City in during the fall of 1968, and reached Japan today in 1969.

Japan, Lady in Cement, Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, poster art, cinema

Hollywoodland

July 2 2021

LEADER OF THE PACK

Let me be frank with you. Actually, that's unavoidable, isn't it? Instead I'll be deadly fucking blunt.

Frank Sinatra uses his ole blue eyes for a steely glare in this Twentieth Century Fox promo photo made for the 1968 thriller Lady in Cement. We last saw the movie on television when we were kids and don’t remember much about it. Specifically, we don’t remember who Sinatra is aiming at, but whoever it is had better pull up a chair and a whiskey glass, because the head of the Rat Pack does not drink alone. We figure this movie is worth a fresh look, so we’re going screen it and report back.

Twentieth Century Fox, Lady in Cement, Frank Sinatra

Vintage Pulp

September 16 2015

MIAMI HEAT

A history of Rome in three volumes.

We watched Frank Sinatra’s 1967 detective movie Tony Rome last week and, except for some nice Miami exteriors and the presence of Jill St. John, it was strictly average. But it did give us the idea of digging up the source material, so above you see the covers of the three popular books in the literary series, published in 1960, ’61, and ’62. In an attempt to make readers think the tales were real-life adventures they’re credited to Anthony Rome, but they were actually written by veteran author Marvin H. Albert, who churned out more than one hundred books in the western, mystery, spy, and history categories. In addition to writing as Rome, he published as Albert Conroy, Al Conroy, Nick Quarry, Ian MacAlister, and J. D. Christilian. The cover art above is by, top to bottom, George Porter, Bob Abbett, and Victor Kalin. A while back we published a rare promo image from the film version of Lady in Cement and you can see that rather unusual shot here.

Lady in Cement, Tony Rome, Anthony Rome, Marvin H. Albert, George Porter, Victor Kalin, Bob Abbett, Frank Sinatra, Albert Conroy, Al Conroy, Nick Quarry, Ian MacAlister, J. D. Christilian, cover art, literature

Intl. Notebook, Musiquarium

April 7 2010

CONCRETE BLONDE

Of all the actresses whose debut was playing a corpse, Christine Todd’s was among the most memorable.

Here’s something that immediately caught our eye—a rare film still of Christine Todd as the titular corpse from 1968’s Lady in Cement. Todd’s appearance is during the film’s first few minutes, as Sinatra’s detective character Tony Rome is scuba diving off the coast of Florida and finds her anchored in a block of cement. We’ve only seen the movie on network television, and Todd’s nude state was merely implied, which is why finding this unobstructed view was such a surprise. We guess the theatrical version was more revealing. We have a similar shot from a Japanese soundtrack sleeve, below, with a different superimposed shark. As memorable as Ms. Todd was in her debut, it was, sadly, her only movie role.

Japan, Florida, Miami, Lady in Cement, Christine Todd, Frank Sinatra, cinema, album art, nudity

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

April 19

1927—Mae West Sentenced to Jail

American actress and playwright Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for the content of her play Sex. The trial occurred even though the play had run for a year and had been seen by 325,000 people. However West’s considerable popularity, already based on her risque image, only increased due to the controversy.

April 19

1971—Manson Sentenced to Death

In the U.S, cult leader Charles Manson is sentenced to death for inciting the murders of Sharon Tate and several other people. Three accomplices, who had actually done the killing, were also sentenced to death, but the state of California abolished capital punishment in 1972 and neither they nor Manson were ever actually executed.

April 18

1923—Yankee Stadium Opens

In New York City, Yankee Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, opens with the Yankees beating their eternal rivals the Boston Red Sox 4 to 1. The stadium, which is nicknamed The House that Ruth Built, sees the Yankees become the most successful franchise in baseball history. It is eventually replaced by a new Yankee Stadium and closes in September 2008.

April 17

1961—Bay of Pigs Invasion Is Launched

A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. However, the invasion fails badly and the result is embarrassment for U.S. president John F. Kennedy and a major boost in popularity for Fidel Castro, and also has the effect of pushing him toward the Soviet Union for protection.

April 16

1943—First LSD Trip Takes Place

Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, while working at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, accidentally absorbs lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD, and thus discovers its psychedelic properties. He had first synthesized the substance five years earlier but hadn’t been aware of its effects. He goes on to write scores of articles and books about his creation.