LIGHT YEARS AHEAD

Can humanity make it to the 41st century? Maybe, if it looks like this.

Two thoughts here. First, we really wish we could go back in time and have the job of making 1960s prop sci-fi guns. They’re so fun. No need to look practical at all. A beam of light added by the efx department and you’re good. We’d love to have this example on a shelf. Second, a good thing about this site is that it makes us seek out films beyond the obvious ones. Jane Fonda is best known for Barbarella, Klute, On Golden Pond, and maybe 9 to 5, but she was a staple in cinemas, and we’ve gotten to appreciate her choices and range over the years. Everything from Les félins to Coming Home to They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? to Youth were interesting at a minimum, and great often. Oh, and a third thing: Fonda was one of the hottest phenomena on Earth or in space around the time she made this photo in 1968. See more Barbarella shots here, here, here, and here. Why so many? Because the movie is like a costume design orgy, which makes every promo image worth seeing.

Barbarella, Klute, On Golden Pond, 9 to 5, Les félins, They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, Coming Home, Youth, Jane Fonda, sci-fi

Femmes Fatales

November 9 2021

SMOKE AND FIRE

Hepburn brings a special kind of style to Hollywood.

We don’t smoke, but Katherine Hepburn sure makes smoking look good in this RKO promo photo shot by Ernest Bachrach in 1935. Though she had a long and storied career, this early shot is pretty much her iconic image. Prints of it are even sold on Wal-Mart’s website. Hepburn is incomparable. Her must-watch films include Bringing Up Baby, Adam’s Rib, The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, Long Day’s Journey into Night, The Lion in Winter, the groundbreaking Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (which inspired an excellent reggae song by Black Uhuru), and On Golden Pond.

You can sum up Hepburn’s output by saying she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar twelve times and won a quartet, the most ever. The Oscar has failed to stay as relevant as it could have over recent decades, and the Academy has made some embarrassing Best Picture choices (Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction—really?), but it’s always been a reliable measure of acting quality, so Hepburn’s four wins are meaningful. The one thing she didn’t do was make a lot of pulp style movies. One that looks as if it qualifies is the 1946 drama Undercurrent. We’ll circle back to that and the divine Miss H. in a bit.

RKO Radio Pictures, Bringing Up Baby, Adam's Rib, The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, Long Day's Journey into Night, The Lion in Winter, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, On Golden Pond, Undercurrent, Suddenly, Last Summer, Keeper of the Flame, Academy Award, Katherine Hepburn, Ernest Bachrach

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

March 15

1937—H.P. Lovecraft Dies

American sci-fi/horror author Howard Phillips Lovecraft dies of intestinal cancer in Providence, Rhode Island at age 46. Lovecraft died nearly destitute, but would become the most influential horror writer of all time. His imaginary universe of malign gods and degenerate cults was influenced by his explicitly racist views, but his detailed and procedural style of writing, which usually pitted men of science or academia against indescribable monsters, remains as effective today as ever.

March 15

2011—Illustrator Michel Gourdon Dies

French pulp artist Michel Gourdon, who was the less famous brother of Alain Gourdon, aka Aslan, dies in Coudray, France aged eighty-five. He is known mainly for the covers he painted for the imprint Flueve Noir, but worked for many companies and produced nearly 3,500 book fronts during his career.

March 14

1964—Ruby Found Guilty of Murder

In the U.S. a Dallas jury finds nightclub owner and organized crime fringe-dweller Jack Ruby guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruby had shot Oswald with a handgun at Dallas Police Headquarters in full view of multiple witnesses and photographers. Allegations that he committed the crime to prevent Oswald from exposing a conspiracy in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have never been proven.

March 13

1925—Scopes Monkey Trial Ends

In Tennessee, the case of Scopes vs. the State of Tennessee, involving the prosecution of a school teacher for instructing his students in evolution, ends with a conviction of the teacher and establishment of a new law definitively prohibiting the teaching of evolution. The opposing lawyers in the case, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, both earn lasting fame for their participation in what was a contentious and sensational trial.

March 12

1933—Roosevelt Addresses Nation

Franklin D. Roosevelt uses the medium of radio to address the people of the United States for the first time as President, in a tradition that would become known as his “fireside chats”. These chats were enormously successful from a participation standpoint, with multi-millions tuning in to listen. In total Roosevelt would make thirty broadcasts over the course of eleven years.

BABE IN THE WOODS

This idyllic scene for Folco Romano’s 1958 novel Quand la chair s’éveille was painted by Alain Gourdon, aka Aslan. You'd never suspect a book with a cover this pretty was banned in France, but it was.

PERMANENT VACATION