Vintage Pulp

November 15 2023

SWEDISH CLASSIC

Life-Size Co. reproduces cinema giant.

Above is Swedish star Anita Ekberg posed for the last of the posters published during the mid-1950s by the Life-Size company of Redstone, New Hampshire. As the company’s name suggests, it was human sized, sixty-two inches. Well, more like small human-sized—five feet, two inches. That’s several inches short of Ekberg’s height, but not enough to disturb any fantasies. See the rest of the lithographs (Marilyn Monroe, Pat Hall, Lili St. Cyr, Madeline Castle, and Joanne Arnold) by clicking here and following the subsequent links.

Sweden, New Hampshire, Redstone, Anita Ekberg

Intl. Notebook

August 23 2023

TALL, BLONDE, AND LUMINOUS

Pat Hall, Pat bedroom, Pat bathroom. She worked fine wherever people wanted to hang her.

Once again we have for you a life-sized pin-up poster from the New Hampshire based company called—appropriately—Life-Size. This one, the fifth we’ve shown you, printed in 1953, features U.S. model and actress Pat Hall, though “actress” is barely applicable in this case. Also, she should not be mistaken for the nude model of the same name active around the same time. No, non-nude Hall appeared in only one film—1964’s Kiss Me Quick! She modeled quite a bit during the 1950s, though, and we’ve confirmably seen her in a pin-up photo dating as far back as 1948. Life-Size may have used an old image to make this litho. You can see the other four brilliant pin-ups in this series—of Monroe, St. Cyr, Madeline Castle, and Joanne Arnold.

New Hampshire, Kiss me Quick!, Pat Hall

Intl. Notebook

September 19 2022

EVERYTHING BUT THE DRESS

Do you see a woman half naked or half clothed?

We’ve seen a lot of Joanne Arnold and here she is again starring on a 1955 pin-up poster, one of at least six published by the New Hampshire based company Life-Size. She’s got almost everything here: fishnets, garter, corsage, bouqet, fur-accented high-heeled slippers—which are our favorite part—and opera gloves. Or maybe the opera gloves are our favorite. Regardless, she’s missing whatever would go around her middle. That’s fine, though. She doesn’t need it, and her many memorable photo shoots as a nude model prove it. The Life-Size company’s name was both a brand and a description—this item is sixty-two inches tall, only a couple of inches shorter than Arnold herself. You figure no woman would buy this and hang it, so it was a men’s item, surely single men, those who never had to worry about dates coming by and seeing Joanne on the backside of the bedroom door. Or possibly other places. No need to be unimaginative. She could go in the kitchen. Bathroom too. Or, even expanding the bedroom possibilities, on the ceiling. That’s the ticket. The other pin-ups in this Life-Size set that we’ve posted so far are here, here, and here. We say so far because we’ll share more later. Meanwhile, you can see Arnold again here, here, and here.

New Hampshire, Joanne Arnold

Intl. Notebook

March 6 2021

REDSTONE CASTLE

She's an architectural marvel.

This long tall pin-up stars famed 1950s model Madeline Castle and was printed by an outfit based in Redstone, New Hampshire that called itself Life-Size. They were just Life-Size—no Inc. or Co., as far as we can tell. It’s the same operation that printed a rare life-sized Marilyn Monroe pin-up we showed you a while back. We didn’t mention then that we had located more, but we had, and we’ll show you those later, including a life-sized Anita Ekberg we know you’ll enjoy. In the meantime you can see more from Miss Castle here, here, and here.

New Hampshire, Redstone, Madeline Castle

Femmes Fatales

November 23 2019

NO BULL

Lili St. Cyr immeasurably improves ancient Spanish tradition.

We recently showed you two Marilyn Monroe life-sized posters from 1953. That same year a poster was published by the New Hampshire based company Life-Size featuring burlesque performer Lili St. Cyr. The matador theme is cool, and also fitting, because she often wore similar costumes on stage. Most images of St. Cyr are black and white, so this one bursting with color is a rarity.

New Hampshire, Lili St. Cyr, burlesque

Intl. Notebook

October 29 2019

MARILYN AND HER EVIL TWIN

The girl next door has a mentally unbalanced doppelganger.

These rare Marilyn Monroe pin-up posters, which are life-sized and were advertised in magazines as something to hang on a bedroom or closet door, appeared in 1953. Two different companies made these. At least we assume so, because they have different street addresses printed on them where the curious could write for info. On the platinum poster it’s Pin-Ups, Dept. K, Box 86, Boston, Mass. That pretty much guarantees only single men could buy them. “Honey, what’s this letter you’ve stamped that’s addressed to Pin-Ups?” The other address works better for the partnered up: Life-Size, Dept. X, Redstone, New Hampshire. “Honey, what is this life-size place you’re sending a letter to? Life-size what?” Okay, maybe that one doesn’t work either.

Monroe started her career as a girl-next-door type, but had become a star, gone platinum, and gotten her famed poodle hair-do by 1953. The two pin-up companies—assuming they were separate—both somehow had the identical negative from earlier in Monroe’s career. One was content to print her as she was, but the folks in Boston decided on a platinum makeover. It was a canny move, except the re-do is different enough in an almost subliminal way to make her look like a psychopath who’s smiling because she’s about to devour a human kidney. Maybe not the best thing to have staring from your closet door after midnight. At least she’s wearing blue. It’s well known to be the sanest color.

It’s possible one company was responsible for both of these pieces, and it simply had two addresses at some point during 1953, but we’re sticking with the two printer theory. What isn’t a theory is that Monroe is a consummate work of art. Even when she’s terrifying. We have an absolute pile of Monroe material in the website, and if you click her keywords below you’ll be set upon a path that could keep you busy for a large part of your day. But focusing only on sheer pin-up awesomeness, even though the above examples are great, we prefer the one at this link. If it’s not her best it’s close.

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Boston, Redstone, Marilyn Monroe

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

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.

April 15

1912—The Titanic Sinks

Two and a half hours after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean on its maiden voyage, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks, dragging 1,517 people to their deaths. The number of dead amount to more than fifty percent of the passengers, due mainly to the fact the liner was not equipped with enough lifeboats.

April 15

1947—Robinson Breaks Color Line

African-American baseball player Jackie Robinson officially breaks Major League Baseball’s color line when he debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Several dark skinned men had played professional baseball around the beginning of the twentieth century, but Robinson was the first to overcome the official segregation policy called—ironically, in retrospect—the “gentleman’s agreement.”

April 14

1935—Dust Storm Strikes U.S.

Exacerbated by a long drought combined with poor conservation techniques that caused excessive soil erosion on farmlands, a huge dust storm known as Black Sunday rages across Texas, Oklahoma, and several other states, literally turning day to night and redistributing an estimated 300,000 tons of topsoil.