Sex Files

October 25 2019

SPOTLITE ON DEPRAVITY

National Spotlite gives readers a Halloween fright.

Another colorful National Spotlite cover, another set of wild stories to go along with it. In this one, published today in 1971, a couple of alleged New York models named Joan Goddard and Ursula Daniels expound upon the joys of same-sex love. These stories get explicit. How explicit? See if this doesn’t make you sit up and take notice: “Her tongue quivered inside my sheath, licking its moistness and crawling up to flick and toy with my love-button. Then she sucked in the lips of my sex, taking my entire vagina in her warm mouth, scratching the delicate folds of flesh with her teeth and licking it all with her marvelous tongue.”

Written by a guy, don’t you think? We can’t confirm that. We can’t—shall we say—put a finger on it, but it’s a strong suspicion. Know why? Because generally these magazines were put together by balding forty-somethings in smoky offices as they burned through caffeine by the cup and anti-hemorrhoid cream by the tube. In any case, you see once again that these ’70s tabs were just sleaze literature in disguise, and in this case the goal was to titillate male readers, but also leave them disconcerted about being left out of potential woman sandwiches. If women were no longer sexually interested in men, surely the world was going to hell in a handbasket.

Lesbian models are fine as far getting male readers hot and bothered, but the story that’s really meant to blow minds is “Sexual Witch Cults, U.S.A.” Again, more sleaze in disguise: “In the name of Beelzebub our Lord and Master, I consecrate thee. In this act we join with His Satanic Majesty in recognizing his power over our bodies and minds.” And the fucking begins. A naked man, his penis jutting solid from his thighs (!), strides up to the slim, dark girl on the altar and slides his full length into her waiting triangle.

The idea here is sexual devil cults—filled with men whose penises jut directly from their thighs—are spreading across the U.S. like hellfire. After two full pages of sexual detail that would make even a confessional priest blush, expert mystic Paul Rashau is wheeled out to admonish readers that, despite all the multiple orgasms and red hot sexual ecstasy, the cultists are “monkeying with forces they don’t understand, and will surely destroy themselves.” Hmm… Scary, but even so, we might take the multiple orgasms now and worry about burning in hell later. But that’s just us. See extensive scans from Spotlite here, here, here, and here.

National Spotlite, Paul Rashau, tabloid, lgbt

Sex Files

June 28 2018

CRUISING FOR A BRUISING

Take National Spotlite's dating advice and you might end up black and blue like its cover.

Looking at this cover of National Spotlite published today in 1971 teaches us one thing—black ink is cheap. The magazine has Austrian actress Marisa Mell on the cover in a nice shot we’ve never seen before. Also on the cover, editors promise you can learn to be a modern Don Juan, and inside they share “sure fire seduction methods.” We know you’re dying to learn these, so for all you single boys out there we’ll skip right to the actionable intel.

The thing to watch are a woman’s thighs, the way she sits and moves. If she’s squirming around in her seat a lot and crossing and uncrossing her thighs it probably indicates a lot of beneath-the-surface sexual tension. On the other hand, if she’s sitting there calmly smiling at you it could mean she’s a tease, trying to get you to come on to her so she can put you down.

And:

There aren’t many women who want to be picked up in an elevator at 8 o’clock in the morning. On the other hand, there aren’t many women sitting alone in bars who don’t want to be picked up. Walk up, buy her a drink, sit down and enjoy the entertainment. When she’s finished her drink, take her by the arm and guide her outside. After that you’ve got it made.

Wow, to us this seems like terrible advice, particularly the part about grabbing a woman by the arm and leading her outside. That sounds like a quick shortcut to a swift knee in the nuts. But the advice doesn’t end there. After all, the real point of every cheapie tabloid article about dating is to veer into graphic sleaze fiction. That’s no less the case here:

To help with the satisfaction part guys of the ’70s should use tools of the ’70s. I never let a woman go the first night without a little treatment from the vibrator. I mean, there’s a limit to what you can do with penis, fingers, tongue, and so forth. (edit. “and so forth?”) Take a vibrator and start working it around her breasts. Watch her nipples rise and swell. When [you use it] on her clitoris and vaginal lips, let the tips of your fingers dip into her nest.

We’ll stop there, before the climax, so to speak. We aren’t sure if National Spotlite is trying to create Don Juans or increase the number of restraining orders. We also find their prototypical stud—this guy below wearing a bowler hat and a carnation in his lapel—of questionable use as a role model. As far as we’re concerned Spotlite reinforces the same old lesson—never take sex advice from a tabloid.

National Spotlite, Marisa Mell, tabloid

Mondo Bizarro

April 27 2018

BEAUTY AND BRAINS

Everything you want in a woman—and more.

Above we have another cover from the always entertaining National Spotlite. This one appeared today in 1970 and showcases model Tany Kominski. Not to body shame Tany, especially since according to the cover text she’s selling herself to the highest bidder, but she must have an enormous head under that mop. We’d go so far as to say impossibly huge, maybe even otherworldly. Hmm. Could it be the bouffant hairdo that was so trendy during the 1960s was invented by aliens trying to disguise their megacraniums?

We know, we know—there’s no proof whatsoever of alien visitation to this planet, but a disguise is the most logical explanation for Tany’s hairstyle. We’ve done a little retouching of the cover so you can see what her head probably looked like under that candyfloss, and just how wildly disproportionate it was. Convinced? Well, our mock-up isn’t conclusive, we’ll admit.

But it makes you think, doesn’t it? And we’re also convinced Tany wasn’t the only one of her kind here on our unsuspecting planet. Below are other possible interstellar visitors, including a malevolent Hayley Mills, Jean Shrimpton, Dolly Parton, and Priscilla Presley, who ruins her disguise somewhat with her psycho alien eyes. You’re asking yourself what these creatures want, right? Hey, they’re females—they don’t even know.

National Spotlite, Tany Kominski, Hayley Mills, Jackie Kennedy, Jean Shrimpton, Dolly Parton, Kitty Ting Hao, Priscilla Presley, Joan Collins, Sophia Loren, tabloid

Hollywoodland

October 14 2017

LEARNING TO CRAWL

Phantom actress puts men in their place.

We’re back to National Spotlite with a cover published today in 1968. The photo is of actress Carolyn Haynes, and a headline goes to actress Caroline Lee, who says she makes men crawl for her sexual favors. The money quote: “If women use their bodies the right way they can be the most powerful people on Earth.” A quote like that sounds suspiciously like it was fabricated by a man, and in fact while several Caroline Lees appear on IMDB, none fit the profile required to have done this interview—i.e. born sometime in the 1940s or possibly in 1950. National Spotlite is busted again. The editors simply could never have imagined a globally accessible actor database. We also did a search on Haynes and likewise learned she never existed

But some of the celebs are real. In Spotlite‘s “Dateline: The World” feature readers are treated to a photo of Chris Noel. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen her—eight years to be exact. Spotlite tells us she smashed a vase over the head of a nightclub employee when he tried to force his way into her dressing room in Sydney one night. “The man attempted to romance her but she spurned every overture he made. When he tried to use violence to get his way she spilt open his skull.” We found no mention of the incident in any other source, but we like the story for how it turns out. If her assailant had known anything at all about Chris Noel he’d have rememberd her publicity tours of Vietnam and realized she was one tough celeb.

“Dateline: The World” next regales readers with a tale out of Africa. “Cary Grant arrived in Nairobi to join a hunting safari and has been escorting two six-foot dark-skinned native girls to whatever cafes in town they can get into, and has caused quite a bit of controversy by doing so. Grant traded punches with a man in one spot when the gent took offense at Cary’s dates. Cary flattened the man, but the stranger rose to his feet flashing a knife and only the quick efforts of the bartender and cafe owner averted further trouble for the star. Cary and the girls fled while the others were subduing the knife wielder.”

Paris: “Juliette Prowse was detained the other night after she threw a make-up case through the window of a drug store. She had purchased some cosmetics at the American Drug on the Champs-Élysées, but brought the order back the same night. She claimed that she’d made a mistake and didn’t need the cosmetics. The salesman explained that he would exchange the merchandise or give Prowse credit, but no cash refund. Juliette roared out of the place. Outside she hurled her make-up case through the store’s front window. Two policemen saw her smash the window and nabbed her on the spot.“

Beirut: “David Niven and wife Hjordis ran into an embarrassing situation in a night spot while making the cafe rounds in this Lebanese city. A belly dancer took such a fancy to David that she did her act for him alone. She even sat on his lap. The patrons objected to her performing for just one man and began to throw things at her and at Niven. David and Hjordis ran for the exits after he pushed the girl off his lap.”

Capri: “Noel Coward is nursing bruises on his face. He says he was attacked by two young men while he was out strolling one night. The muggers made off with a pair of cuff links given to him by Raquel Welch and a watch from Greta Garbo. Coward was found half-conscious and bleeding.”

You get the gist—celebs in trouble. Back during the heyday of tabloids Confidential had bellhops, bartenders, chauffeurs, maîtres d’hôtel, and cops by the hundreds phoning in hot tips, but Spotlite was never more than a second tier rag and could not have had the resources to uncover the above stories. Therefore the editors either made them up or lifted them from other tabloids. We suspect the latter—with the stories ginned up for entertainment value. Cary Grant in Nairobi with two Kenyan escorts? We’ll buy it. Grant risking his million dollar mug in a fistfight? Improbable. But the stories sure are fun. See more from National Spotlite by clicking here.

Vintage Pulp

September 30 2017

DADDY ISSUE

National Spotlite goes where few tabloids dare to follow.

How far did cheapie tabloids go in their quest for continually more outrageous stories? Pretty damn far, as this issue of National Spotlite published today in 1968 shows. The editors give the cover to Gloria Wilmot, but it’s Eva Rast who brings the shocks by claiming that her father—in hands-on fashion—taught her about sex when she was thirteen. You know how this works by now. Eva Rast is supposedly one of “the top actresses in Europe,” but has no presence anywhere on the internet. Spotlite claims she starred in The Lotus Flower with Cliff Richard, but while that title is shared by several movies made in different eras, no film called Lotus Flower was made during the mid- to late-1960s, it doesn’t appear on Cliff Richard’s IMDB page, nor does the page list him as acting in anything between 1968 and 1973.

So what we have is a pretty detailed piece of fiction produced back when there was no handy internet to vet the claims proffered as facts. What does “Eva Rast” say about the event? About what you’d expect: “Mother was out. I asked dad where she had gone and he told me she went to my grandmother’s for a week. He said, ‘We’re on our own and we’ll have to make do.’ I was real happy about it because it seemed like an adventure that daddy and I were sharing.” And so forth. In the mid-century tabloid lowering-the-bar sweepstakes National Spotlite has taken pole position. Can it be outdone? We have about forty tabs left to look through, so we wouldn’t be surprised. We’ll report back. See more Spotlite here, and more tabloids at our index here.

National Spotlite, Gloria Wilmot, Cliff Richard, Eva Rast, tabloid, nudism

Sex Files

September 27 2017

LOVE POTION NO. 69

When a man gets desperate he'll spray the darndest things.

This issue of the U.S. tabloid National Spotlite was published today in 1971, and the highlight—or lowlight—is a story on chemist John Turner, an unattractive man who had no luck with women until he invented an aphrodisiac spray. According to journo Jack Friedman: “Armed with two spray cans of his unpatented aphrodisiac, Turner headed for Manhattan. Just out of the subway he saw lovely New York secretary Judy Dahlman walking in front of him. Ssssttttt… went the spray can. Mmmmm… went Judy, “Your place or mine.”

Turner ended up sticking either cock or tongue in one-hundred three women in seven days. But the big problem with the spray was that, while the women participated in sex enthusiastically, they weren’t thrilled about it once the aphrodisiac effects wore off. Assorted criminal complaints resulted, and Turner was arrested on multiple counts of rape. He managed to make victim one-hundred four the policewoman who showed up to arrest him, but eventually he was bestowed by a jury and judge some years in the state pen to think about the error of his ways.

We don’t have to tell you this story is a total fabrication, right? And we’ve already explained the process of using handout photos—usually modeling nudes—to inspire pieces of steamy sexploitation, then publishing them and pretending the fiction is fact. Elsewhere in the issue you get “Women Who Rape Men,” “I, a Lesbian,” “A Behind-the-Scenes Peek at the Porno Pictures Racket,” and more. All fake, but all fascinating, in a guilty-pleasure kind of way. We have hundreds more tabloids at our tabloid index. Just click here.

National Spotlite, tabloid

Intl. Notebook

June 22 2017

TIME IN THE SPOTLITE

National Spotlite gets right to the good parts.

This National Spotlite published today in 1970 knows its readers want to see boobs. It touts “the girl with the 50” bust,” and leaves a little space at bottom left for those boring witch cult sex orgies. Since Informer dealt with the boobs first, we’ll follow suit. The girl with the 50” bust is Suzanne Pritchard, who was a mid-level glamour model and sometime dancer, whose go-to move was squeezing said boobs together between her arms. You can see what we mean in the interior photos, and the first thing you’ll probably notice is that Suzanne Pritchard is not the woman pictured on the cover. No, that’s an unnamed beauty who probably had no idea she’d end up on the front of Spotlite. Cue sleazy agent: “Hey, I said I’d get you some exposure. What didja expect? Harper’s-fucking-Bazaar?”

Inside the issue there’s another familiar face besides Suzanne Pritchard’s. In a feature entitled “The Art of Taking a Bath” we see none other than German star Karin Schubert. Cue agent: “Hey, I said I’d get you some exposure. What didja expect? The cover? It was taken.” Actually, while the unnamed cover star doubtless knew of her turn in the Spotlite, in all likelihood Schubert had no clue. As we’ve mentioned before, we have a background in media, and her shot was undoubtedly what we used to call a handout photo—i.e. images given to magazines and newspapers for use in publicizing a celebrity. Agents back then kept tabs on how many photos were sent out and where, but didn’t monitor whether they were used months or years later. The process was a bit more structured by the time we worked at magazines, and today it may well be computerized.

Every tabloid has its focus. Some were oriented towards scandals, others sexual perversion, still others violence and gore. National Spotlite was eclectic, but this issue’s recurring theme is breasts. Schubert’s bath story has this line: “Women with large breasts should make sure the underside of their mammaries get a good scrubbing. The ideal method is to have someone else cup your breasts into the air while you scrub.” To us, that actually sounds like an incredibly inefficient way to wash one’s breasts, but that’s really beside the point, isn’t it? In sleazy tabloids, everything is foreplay and all roads lead to the bedroom. We have seventeen scans below, all of them designed to get you heated up and ready to perform.

National Spotlite, Nadine de Margitay, Suzanne Pritchard, Karin Schubert, Terry Trix, nudity, tabloid

Vintage Pulp

March 22 2017

X MARKS THE SPOTLITE

Tabloid gets blue inside and out.

Above is another cover from the famed blue period of National Spotlite. Actually, all the covers are blue. We’ve literally never seen one that wasn’t. The stories are predominantly blue, too, among them a piece by Jay Shanley titled “Girl Seduces Men for Homo Clients.” In addition to being sexual it’s of course offensive as hell toward the gay community, but as phony tabloid stories goes it’s more inventive than most. Shanley writes about a woman named Tina Conway who has a business seducing men for gay clients. She doesn’t actually have sex with them. “I just get them heated up so that they’ll take any form of sexing they can get.” Did this actually happen? We seriously doubt it, but Spotlite editors had to make sure they ticked the anti-gay box with each issue. For people who claimed to dispprove, they sure were obsessed. Just saying. This issue hit newsstands today in 1971.

National Spotlite, tabloid, lgbt

Vintage Pulp

February 12 2017

SPOTLITE ON TINSELTOWN

Wherever celebrities misbehave National Spotlite is on the scene.

This National Spotlite published today in 1968 features cover star Naemi Priegel, a West German television actress and singer who reached the height of her fame during the 1970s. Inside are many interesting Hollywood tidbits, including former child star Hayley Mills allegedly describing herself as a tigress in bed, Marlon Brando beating up two party crashers, Elvis Presley breaking the arm of someone to whom he was demonstrating a karate hold, Richard Burton being pursued by a chorus girl who claimed he fathered her child, Gene Tierney and her husband Howard Lee getting into a public spat, and John Wayne slugging an autograph seeker who mistook him for Robert Mitchum. Was any of this stuff true? We have no idea, but it sure is interesting reading. You can see more in the same vein at our tabloid index, located at this link.

West Germany, National Spotlite, Naemi Priegel, Hayley Mills, Freda Kaiser, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Gene Tierney, Howard Lee, tabloid

Sex Files

June 15 2016

SPOTLITE DANCE

National Spotlite illuminates the war in Vietnam.

This National Spotlite published today in 1970 features Dida Cahn, Donna Darling, American actresses Karen Thomas and French actress Danièle Gaubert. The real centerpiece of the issue, at least for us, is George Davis’s piece explaining that the U.S. was losing the war in Vietnam because the soldiers were having too much sex. A few choice quotes: “Even a visit to the barber is a sexual experience. While soldiers get their hair trimmed they are provided marijuana to smoke and a girl who performs orally while the customer sits in the barber’s chair.” And: “Every building in Sin City [Saigon] is a brothel.” And this: “White females account for a sizable portion of the sex action in Saigon and the army camps as well [snip] particularly Red Cross girls serving in Vietnam.” As always, tabloid stories are a blend of fact and fiction meant to entertain, outrage, titillate, and even—on certain occasions—inform. Spotlite gets the job done. Many scans below and more tabloids to come.

Vietnam, National Spotlite, Danièle Gaubert, Dida Cahn, Donna Darling, Sandra Montes, tabloid, nudity

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 5

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

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.

October 4

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

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.

October 4

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

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.

October 3

1908—Pravda Founded

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.

October 3

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

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.

October 3

1995—Simpson Acquitted

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.

October 2

1919—Wilson Suffers Stroke

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. He is confined to bed for weeks, but eventually resumes his duties, though his participation is little more than perfunctory. Wilson remains disabled throughout the remainder of his term in office, and the rest of his life.