Vintage Pulp

November 1 2023

NO RELIEF IN SIGHT

It's lovely out here, but the serenity and quiet just magnify everything about each other we dislike.

Barye Phillips handled the cover chores for Ted Stratton’s 1954 novel Wild Breed, and as you can see by looking at the original reproduction we’ve included, the piece he produced was fine art adjacent. At least it looks that way to us. Compared to much of his other work, the detail here suggests a different frame of mind in execution, if not even a planned usage outside the realm of paperback covers for the finished piece. Its dimensions normally would have required that the work be radically cropped, but Fawcett Publications solved that by placing a solid rectangle at top to hold the text and Gold Medal logo, reducing the required trimming to a minimum. The editors knew quality when they saw it.

Fawcett Publications, Gold Medal Books, Ted Stratton, Barye Phillips, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

December 2 2015

WICKED WAYS

It’s true I’m a little devil. But by morning you’ll say I made you see God.

Above is a nice George Gross cover for Nora’s No Angel by Tom Stone, aka Florence Stonebraker, aka Ted Stratton. This came in digest format from Rainbow Books and you can see that Gross has his femme fatale dressed in the same style of off-the-shoulder drawstring blouse we pointed out before. We own the book, but our cover is a little jacked, so we borrowed one from online and touched it up a bit. Below, though, you see two interior pages we scanned (shots posed by models are common with these digests), plus the rear cover. We’ll update this post when we get around to actually reading the book. It’s 1951 copyright.

Right, so we’re writing in 2021 now, and here’s your update. The surprise with this novel that took us years to finally read is that it’s not the light sleaze you’d suspect, but a detective yarn starring a private dick named J. Gordon Ivers—Gordy to his pals. He takes a case for a rich woman who wants her son’s tawdry affair broken up, but the girlfriend turns up dead and Ivers figures he needs to solve the murder in order to have an alibi. The Nora of the title doesn’t appear until several chapters in, and indeed, the thrice divorced bombshell is no angel. This is a standard crime novel from Stonebraker, nothing special, but in branching away from sleazy romances she now seems like an author worth more exploration. We’ll do that at the earliest opportunity.

Rainbow Books, Tom Stone, Florence Stonebraker, Ted Stratton, George Gross, cover art, literature

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 11

1976—China Coup Thwarted

The new head of the Chinese Communist Party, Hua Goufeng, snuffs out a coup led by Chairman Mao’s widow Jiang Qing and three other party members. They become known as the Gang of Four, and are tried, found guilty of treason, and receive death sentences that are later commuted to lengthy prison terms.

October 11

1987—Loch Ness Expedition Ends

A sonar exploration of Scotland’s Loch Ness, called Operation Deepscan, ends after a week without finding evidence that the legendary Loch Ness Monster exists. While the flotilla of boats had picked up three sonar contacts indicating something large in the waters, these are considered to be detections of salmon schools or possibly seals.

October 10

1971—London Bridge Goes Up

After being sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in the resort town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

October 10

1975—Burton and Taylor Marry Again

British actor Richard Burton and American screen star Elizabeth Taylor secretly remarry sixteen months after their divorce, then jet away to a second honeymoon in Chobe Game Park in Botswana.

October 9

1967—ChÃ© Executed in Bolivia

A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed in Bolivia. In an attempt to make it appear as though he had been killed resisting Bolivian troops, the executioner shoots Guevara with a machine gun, wounding him nine times in the legs, arm, shoulder, throat, and chest.

October 8

1918—Sgt. York Becomes a Hero

During World War I, in the Argonne Forest in France, America Corporal Alvin C. York leads an attack on a German machine gun nest that kills 25 and captures 132. He is a corporal during the event, but is promoted to sergeant as a result. He also earns Medal of Honor from the U.S., the Croix de Guerre from the French Republic, and the Croce di Guerra from Italy and Montenegro. Stateside, he is celebrated as a hero, and Hollywood even makes a movie entitled Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper.

October 8

1956—Larsen Pitches Perfect Game

The New York Yankees’ Don Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series against hated rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is the only perfect game in World Series history, as well as the only no-hitter.