BURNETT AFTER READING

Sometimes a single adaptation won’t get the job done.

In February we showed you a very cool art deco style cover by Edna Reindel for W.R. Burnett’s 1930 novel Iron Man. Here they’re paired again for Burnett’s Saint Johnson, also published in 1930, because the guy wrote hella fast. The book was turned into a movie called Law and Order in 1932, co-scripted by a young John Huston and starring his dad Walter Huston. It was also filmed that same year as The Beast of the City, and that one also starred Walter Huston. Apparently neither version was quite good enough, because it was made into a movie again in 1937 called Wild West Day, and in 1940, called once again Law and Order, and once more in 1953, yet again called Law and Order. For those who think Hollywood has run out of ideas and just makes the same movies over and over, well, it’s always been that way. So what is this amazing book that needed five film versions about? Maybe the cover character’s crazy eyes and bushy mustache can offer a hint. Give up? He’s supposed to be Wyatt Earp. Anyway, the cover has Reindel’s trademark art deco style, which mixes with the standard Old West tableau of a gunman at a card table and ends up looking a bit like Mexican folk art. We love it. See the other Reindel cover here.

Saint Johnson, Law and Order, The Beast of the City, Wild West Day, W.R. Burnett, Edna M. Reindel, cover art, literature

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

May 21

1924—Leopold and Loeb Murder Bobby Franks

Two wealthy University of Chicago students named Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks, motivated by no other reason than to prove their intellectual superiority by committing a perfect crime. But the duo are caught and sentenced to life in prison. Their crime becomes known as a “thrill killing”, and their story later inspires various works of art, including the 1929 play Rope by Patrick Hamilton, and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film of the same name.

May 20

1916—Rockwell's First Post Cover Appears

The Saturday Evening Post publishes Norman Rockwell’s painting “Boy with Baby Carriage”, marking the first time his work appears on the cover of that magazine. Rockwell would go to paint many covers for the Post, becoming indelibly linked with the publication. During his long career Rockwell would eventually paint more than four thousand pieces, the vast majority of which are not on public display due to private ownership and destruction by fire.

May 19

1962—Marilyn Monroe Sings to John F. Kennedy

A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe’s breathy rendition of “Happy Birthday,” which does more to fuel speculation that the two were sexually involved than any actual evidence.

May 18

1926—Aimee Semple McPherson Disappears

In the U.S., Canadian born evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears from Venice Beach, California in the middle of the afternoon. She is initially thought to have drowned, but on June 23, McPherson stumbles out of the desert in Agua Prieta, a Mexican town across the border from Douglas, Arizona, claiming to have been kidnapped, drugged, tortured and held for ransom in a shack by two people named Steve and Mexicali Rose. However, it soon becomes clear that McPherson’s tale is fabricated, though to this day the reasons behind it remain unknown.

May 18

1964—Mods and Rockers Jailed After Riots

In Britain, scores of youths are jailed following a weekend of violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers in Brighton and other south coast resorts. Mods listened to ska music and The Who, wore suits and rode Italian scooters, while Rockers listened to Elvis and Gene Vincent, and rode motorcycles. These differences triggered the violence.

BENEDETTO AT HIS BEST

Italian illustrator Benedetto Caroselli was a top talent in the realm of cover art. We have several examples of his best work from novels published by Grandi Edizioni Internazionali and other companies.

MEAN STREETS