Pulp International

vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news

TABLOID TONGUE TWISTERS

Rampage editors weren't exactly the most cunning linguists.

Tabloid editors were masters of unique turns of phrase and invented vocabulary. You know you’re reading a cheapie tabloid when you come across words like “hubby” and “gal,” and phrases like “boudoir bouncings.” This issue of Rampage published today in 1973 gleefully introduces readers to the word “glorch.” What is glorch? We bet you already know deep down. According to Rampage it’s what lesbians do to each other, in terms of sexual practices. The editors couldn’t even be consistent. In the story by Dan Bennett the word is glorch, but on the cover it’s “blorch.”

Again, we consider tabloids to be an adjunct of pulp literature. Affairs, blackmail, and Hollywood are pulp and tabloid staples. Many vintage crime novels mention tabloids, or even have characters that work for them. Of course, those were supposed to be high-budget tabloids along the lines of Confidential, but in the real world the tabloid market quickly expanded to include no-budget iterations such as National Informer, Spotlite Extra, and Rampage. These brands simply sold sex as reportage, thus were obssessed with lesbians, and described in exhaustive detail the imagined bedroom encounters between such pairs:

Before long Grace was so excited that her mouth found the whiet [sic] girl’s vagina and her tongue snaked into the tawny haired cunt to find Peggy’s erected clitty.

Okay. We won’t get into that other than to suggest Rampage needed a woman on the editorial team. When this is the level of writing it’s difficult to take these tabloids seriously, even at their most offensive. They can’t even reconcile glorch and blorch, so you have to laugh. Well, correction—we have to laugh. We encounter so much offensiveness in vintage material we just shake our heads, focus on its good aspects, and move on. You don’t have to do that, nor are you wrong for not seeing any humor in this junior high level fetishization of lesbianism. But if Rampage is offensive to you, take heart in this at least—culture eventually passed it by.

Rampage, nudity, tabloid, lgbt

RAMPAGE NOTES

Keeping readers up to date with all the most important news.

America’s self-proclaimed top satire and humor weekly is back. We’ve now shared an even dozen issues of this tabloid. We’re proud to have enriched your life. Or at least given you a few smiles. This issue was published today in 1973, and promises to take readers “inside a whore,” reveal how to “make it with a ski bunny,” and use its daily horoscope to make better lovers.

All these stories are dumb as hell, though the prostitute story—featuring a Hamburg professional allegedly named Hilda Repp—tries to be serious. Rampage journo Heine Heinrich (sure, sure) discusses government regulations within the industry, details the workings of brothels where women are employed, and reveals that Hilda’s fee is the equivalent of $30 for sex, $20 for oral only.

Rampage also treats readers to a profile of Elizabeth Taylor, who had split from Richard Burton and was dating singer Tom Jones. The editors detail every relationship she ever had, then wish her luck with Jones. She married a total of eight times, so maybe the editors’ wishes had the opposite effect. We have more than a dozen scans below.

West Germany, Hamburg, Rampage, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Tom Jones, tabloid, prostitution, nudity

SLURPING BEAUTIES

They slurp, you slurp, we all slurp in Rampage.

It’s always fun to see which direction Rampage goes in each ridiculous centerspread, and in an issue published today in 1973 they highlight a mother and daughter who lick houseguests. This stuff is priceless. It’s reported by “Karl Peabody,” who visits a Los Angeles businessman who runs his home “Burmese style,” whatever that is, with a compliant wife and daughter required to entertain guests. Soon comes the licking, and we bet you can guess which part of this pseudonymous reporter gets licked. Rampage claims on its front cover that it’s America’s “top satire and humor weekly.” We’re not so sure about the humor part of the formula, but the satire is certainly there.

We often wonder why people who bought Rampage didn’t just go full porn and buy Playboy or whatever. But maybe Rampage and its ilk were displayed more openly at newsstands, and possibly as checkout line items in drugstores and the like, leading to impulse purchases. We figure the average buyer would read the paper twice—once out of curiosity, and again to make sure it was as dumb as it seemed the first time. With tens of millions of newsstand browsers every week, even a miniscule purchase rate would probably keep a tabloid afloat. Of course, we’ve bought dozens of these gonzo newspapers, so who are we to talk? Therefore we humbly submit for your perusal a selection of choice Rampage imagery.
Rampage, nudity, tabloid

WORDS WITH FRIENDS

Introducing the official Pulp Intl. Cheapie Tabloid Drinking Game™.


Cheapie tabloids are such a joy to read. The vocabulary alone. Some choice words from this issue of Rampage published today in 1973: buttsters, hiney, clitty, throasts [sic], goosey, and more. The photos are nice too. Contemporary glamour models or erotic actresses tend to appear, and this one has Lillian Parker, who was both. Rampage uses her image for a story called “Sisters Admit They Have Perfect Sex Lives.” By perfect the editors mean they like to swap, which is another word you see basically only in old tabloids. It gave us an inspiration. We have a large stack of these bad mags, and we decided to create a drinking game. Here’s how it works. You simply read stories aloud and take a drink every time these words occur (singularly or in the plural).

ball (verb form only)
broad (noun form only)
chick
exclusive
nookie
JFK
nympho (or nymphomaniac)
orgasm (as verb or noun)
prostie (prostitute doesn’t count)
repairman
babysitter
Sinatra (Ole Blue Eyes is also acceptable)
swollen

And down an entire shot if any of these phrases come up:

after school/after class/after church
lonely divorcée
high and firm
firm and proud
knocked up
swallowed eagerly
throbbing member
my wife’s sister

Modify the rules as you see fit. Playing the game using two or three typical thirty-two page cheapie tabs like Rampage should get you fucked beyond repair—and ironically “repairman” might be what does you in, because in two tabloids we checked it came up seven times. But the real fun with this should be reading the insane stories. The drinks are merely a bonus.

Rampage, Lillian Parker, nudity, tabloid

MASSAGE RECEIVED

New Yorkers get their kinks worked out.

Rampage is shocked—shocked, they tell us—to find that sexual shenanigans are going on in New York City massage parlors. They bravely delve into the matter, telling readers, “Authorities evidently realized that the parlors were nothing more than cathouses operating under the guise of massage parlors. Now, where there once were about 200 parlors, only about five are left.” You have to wonder‚ why were any left? Well, police need a little deep tissue action once in a while too. We’re big fans of puns and we have to give Rampage credit for this one: “But according to the owners of the joint, business is throbbing.”

Resident seer Mark Travis graces this issue with another installment of “I Predict.” We love these—there’s nothing like reading predictions when you already know whether they came true. Since these were all published today in 1973 it’s safe to say we know the outcomes. Among Travis’s gems: “I predict a series of savage sex slayings in an eastern city will be solved with the arrest and confession of the slayer—an 11 year-old boy!” Here’s another good one: “I predict the birth of quintuplets to a famous—or infamous—porno star.”

Of course, Travis isn’t always wrong. Here’s one he nailed: “I predict videotape cassettes will soon become as common as phonograph records and that these cassettes will be the most common form of entertainment in American homes.” To put this in perspective, consider that the Betamax tape wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1975, and the VHS tape didn’t arrive until 1977. Spooooky.

Rampage also gives readers advice for making it with ski bunnies, offers an in depth examination of the lives of prostitutes, reports that a Nigerian farmer fed his child who had died of starvation to the rest of his family, and tells the story of a man who had an eye cut out over a one dollar debt. We have a dozen scans below and many more issues of Rampage in the website. All you have to do check our handy alphabetical tabloid index.

Nigeria, New York City, Rampage, Mark Travis, nudity, tabloid

BACK ROAD RAMPAGE

Tabloid goes where only goats will dare.

Bet it’s been a long time since you heard the term “Hershey highway.” Well, Rampage, which bills itself as “America’s top satire and humor weekly,” fixes that on this cover from today in 1973 with a story about the utility of anal sex for birth control. The cover features a curious photo of a girl with her tongue out. We showed it to the Pulp Intl. girlfriends and here’s an actual reaction: “Sure. Laaaaaa—I want dick in my butt. Sorry. Not having anal sex with you.” It wasn’t a hint—we just wanted a good quote. Mission fully accomplished.

Rampage‘s anal sex story is told in first person and goes into astonishing detail. Here’s a snippet: “He holds on to the cheeks of my ass, keeping them spread wide while his manhood rams me like a goat. I reach back with one hand and alternately massage my clitoris and his balls.” You get the picture. The author basically makes this a primer on back door loving, from beginning to end, so to speak, stopping just short of discussing how to avoid santorum problems. In fact, the story is so positive about the practice maybe we’ll ask the girls to read it and tell them it is a hint.

This is classic Rampage—sleaze dressed up as journalism, written from the point-of-view of a sexually precocious sixteen-year-old, but doubtless penned by a thirty-something aspiring Faulkner. Did any of these hacks go on to write novels? Who can say? It’s always a fun game uncovering the respectable authors behind sex fiction, but in the case of tabloids the undoubtedly informal nature of commissioning the articles would make tracing their provenance an impossible task. The authors would have to admit it themselves. And why on earth would they do that? Eleven scans below.

Rampage, tabloid, nudity

RUNNING WILD

A Rampage of epic proportions.

Lots of skin this week. Don’t blame us. It’s all a matter of publishing randomness. You know we like to share items on the date they originally appeared, and it seems the stars have aligned for a naked mid-November. Above you have a Rampage published today in 1973, with rare photos of German actress Alice Arno and men’s mag fave Joyce Gibson. The monster referenced on the cover is Dean Corll, a serial killer who abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered at least 28 boys in and around Houston, Texas, from 1970 to 1973. He had been killed two months earlier by his accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley during a showdown over two potential victims, and terrifying details of the crimes had been laid bare for the American public, which was still trying to wrap its head around the concept of serial killers. We may get into the Corll murders a bit later. This is our eighth issue of Rampage, and you can see the others at our trusty tabloid index. 

Poland, Texas, Houston, Rampage, Alice Arno, Joyce Gibson, Dean Corll, Elmer Wayne Henley, murder, tabloid

HEAD OF STATE

A presidential brain goes missing—it was the first of many.

Rampage finally gets one right on the cover of this issue that appeared on newsstands today in 1973—John F. Kennedy’s brain really did go missing. It happened in 1966. Well, better to be right late than never. To this day there’s no official explanation for what happened to JFK’s brain, which had been stored at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. after his autopsy. The most credible theories center on family members ordering it taken to conceal evidence that Kennedy was sick or on medication. Amazingly, later presidential brain removals occurred while their hosts were still alive. No signs of cognition were present in these men, yet they walked, talked, and in zombielike trances signed laws written by corporations and billionaires.

Something else that’s missing is a chunk of this Rampage. Where did it go? We have no idea, but we roundly reject theories one person was the culprit—it was clearly a group that committed the deed. Though it’s a partial paper, we bought it anyway because it was only a dollar. And it was worth it. Inside, we learned that kissing won’t spread colds, but does shorten life spans; we were introduced to ambitious stripper Sandy O’Hara, who may be the first of her profession to debut in tabloids and later achieve her ambition of appearing in movies; and we learn Cher is on the verge of jettisoning Sonny. Scans below, and more from Rampage in our tabloid index.

Washington D.C., Rampage, John F. Kennedy, Cher, Sonny & Cher, Sandy O’Hara, tabloid

COLLATERAL RAMPAGE

Nobody is safe when the tabloids are on the loose.

This Rampage published today in 1968 offers stories on radical advances in the science of birth control, tips on how to steal other men’s wives, and insights about teenaged leather fetishists. It also has a great photo of actress-now-felon Victoria Vetri swimming with a dead fish in her mouth. We shared the same ridiculous shot a while back and it brings a smile to our faces each time we see it. Probably the most interesting aspect of this particular Rampage is the fact the editors go after the U.S. armed forces with one story calling military schools havens of homosexuality, and another claiming soldiers are terrible in bed. This type of pointed satire would not go over well today, we suspect, in a country where the pendulum has swung from Vietnam-era suspicion of the military to post-Trade Center conformist worship, but it is an interesting reminder that perhaps the healthiest attitude lies somewhere in the middle. We have many more issues of Rampage. Just click its keyword below.

Rampage, Victoria Vetri, tabloid

A RAMPAGE FROM HISTORY

Cheapie tabloid offers priceless advice to American males.

Remember when Midnight explained that virgins make lousy wives? Not to be outdone, this issue of Rampage published yesterday in 1971 reveals what type of women make the best wives. Can you guess? Give up? The answer is—wait for it—prostitutes. The magazine’s reasons are many, but the one we agree with unreservedly is this: “They’ve already seen the worst men have to offer.”

Elsewhere, the editors tout a cure for inverted nipples, reveal “lezzies slurping over female bodies,” and tell the tale of a woman talked into smuggling heroin in her vagina from Istanbul to New York City. Because this is a tabloid, after all, there’s an actual heroin stuffed dildo involved that the amateur smuggler secrets inside her lady parts for two days of air travel. Quote: “I felt full down there, like I was being perpetually screwed by a guy with a really big dick. It was a funny feeling, but sexy. I may have had an orgasm on the plane.” Everybody who thinks that was written by a dude raise your hands. Yep, we’re unanimously agreed.

We also get America’s most popular seer the (not so) Amazing Criswell (on loan from his regular gig at National Informer), who drops this nugget: “I predict a lawsuit will reveal that one of our top glamour girls has a wooden hand!” Rampage is a gift that keeps on giving and we have about ten more issues we’re going to share. We know you can hardly wait. Scans below.

Turkey, Istanbul, New York City, Rampage, The Great Criswell, The Amazing Criswell, tabloid, nudity
Femme Fatale Image

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

  • CATEGORIES

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1989—Anti-Feminist Gunman Kills 14

In Montreal, Canada, at the École Polytechnique, a gunman shoots twenty-eight young women with a semi-automatic rifle, killing fourteen. The gunman claimed to be fighting feminism, which he believed had ruined his life. After the killings he turns the gun on himself and commits suicide.

1933—Prohibition Ends in United States

Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to overturn the 18th Amendment which had made the sale of alcohol illegal. But the criminal gangs that had gained power during Prohibition are now firmly established, and maintain an influence that continues unabated for decades.

1945—Flight 19 Vanishes without a Trace

During an overwater navigation training flight from Fort Lauderdale, five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger torpedo-bombers lose radio contact with their base and vanish. The disappearance takes place in what is popularly known as the Bermuda Triangle.

1918—Wilson Goes to Europe

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails to Europe for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, France, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.

1921—Arbuckle Manslaughter Trial Ends

In the U.S., a manslaughter trial against actor/director Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle ends with the jury deadlocked as to whether he had killed aspiring actress Virginia Rappe during rape and sodomy. Arbuckle was finally cleared of all wrongdoing after two more trials, but the scandal ruined his career and personal life.

1964—Mass Student Arrests in U.S.

In California, Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building in protest at the UC Regents’ decision to forbid protests on university property.

1968—U.S. Unemployment Hits Low

Unemployment figures are released revealing that the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 3.3 percent, the lowest rate for almost fifteen years. Going forward all the way to the current day, the figure never reaches this low level again.

  • FEATUREd PULP

WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT

Cover art by the great Sandro Symeoni for Peter Cheyney's mystery He Walked in her Sleep, from Ace Books in 1949.

PARIS BLEUS

The mysterious artist who signed his or her work as F. Harf produced this beautiful cover in 1956 for the French publisher S.E.P.I.A.

RAISE EM UP

Aslan art was borrowed for many covers by Dutch publisher Uitgeverij A.B.C. for its Collection Vamp. The piece used on Mike Splane's Nachtkatje is a good example.

VINTAGE ADVERTISING

Things you'd love to buy but can't anymore

Vintage Ad Image

Around the web