vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
Did you know that generally lions were tranquilized for photo ops like this? This particular lion, though, tucked its tranq between its cheek and gum and spit it out when nobody was looking. Later it’s going to eat human flesh for the first time, in this case embodied by Nat Pendleton, wrestler, actor, animal lover. He made this promo in 1936 when he was filming The Great Ziegfeld, and it’s part of a series that includes this shot showing him and the lion on better terms.
Nat Pendleton was a former Olympic and professional wrestler who parlayed recognition from his silver medal and pro touring into a film career during which he appeared in more than one hundred productions. Mostly he played big dopes and criminal goons, acting opposite such stars as Humphrey Bogart, the Marx Brothers, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Zazu Pitts. These photos of him with a curly hair-do—an unusual look for him—was made to promote his role as the strongman Sandow in The Great Ziegfeld and they date from 1936.
In Basel, Switzerland, at the Sandoz Laboratories, chemist Albert Hofmann creates the psychedelic compound Lysergic acid diethylamide, aka LSD, from a grain fungus.
In a secret program codenamed Operation Paperclip, the United States Army admits 88 German scientists and engineers into the U.S. to help with the development of rocket technology. President Harry Truman ordered that Paperclip exclude members of the Nazi party, but in practice many Nazis who had been officially classified as dangerous were also brought to the U.S. after their backgrounds were whitewashed by Army officials.
The first assembly of the League of Nations, the multi-governmental organization formed as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, is held in Geneva, Switzerland. The League begins to fall apart less than fifteen years later when Germany withdraws. By the onset of World War II it is clear that the League has failed completely.
Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family are murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith. The events would be used by author Truman Capote for his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, which is considered a pioneering work of true crime writing. The book is later adapted into a film starring Robert Blake.
Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia, which features eight animated segments set to classical music, is first seen by the public in New York City at the Broadway Theatre. Though appreciated by critics, the movie fails to make a profit due to World War II cutting off European revenues. However it remains popular and is re-released several times, including in 1963 when, with the approval of Walt Disney himself, certain racially insulting scenes were removed. Today Fantasia is considered one of Disney’s greatest achievements and an essential experience for movie lovers.
