Pulp International

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

HAIR APPARENT

Here's a Miranda warning—you have the right to remain shocked.

In a fun follow-up to our recent post of Erskine Caldwell’s Tobacco Road, this 1941 Twentieth Century Fox promotional photo shows dancer-actress Carmen Miranda and partner Cesar Romero while the two were making the musical comedy Week-End in Havana.

The shot is one of the more famous promos in Hollywood history because Miranda is wearing nothing under her skirt. We’ve zoomed, but not too much (various data companies already label Pulp Intl. a porn site, so we’ll not give such unimaginative people any more easy evidence).

The Fox promotional department probably was made up of photographers, editors, publicists, and a hovering studio exec or two. The fact that nobody noticed (or did they?) that Miranda was ventilating her sugar cookie is perplexing. Not noticing is incompetence. On the other hand, noticing and letting the photo out anyway is subversiveness. Either way, it’s a notable piece of Hollywood history.

Twentieth Century Fox, Week-End In Havana, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero, poster art, cinema

MATERIAL GIRL

Diamonds are a jewel thief's best friends.

We weren’t particularly drawn by this photo-illustrated poster for the cheapie crime mystery Girl in 313, but when we learned that it had a fifty-five minute running time we figured, “Yeah, we can squeeze that in.” It opens with a jewelry model fainting at a showing and, in the confusion, someone snatching a $50,000 brooch from around her neck. Insurance investigator Kent Taylor thinks it was Florence Rice, and sets out to retreieve the item. The two are drawn to each other, and during their flirtatious cat and mouse encounters become closer, even as Taylor keeps trying to secure the brooch. But does Rice really have it? She’s strangely untroubled for a jewel thief who has an investigator on her trail.

We liked this movie, but at less than an hour you should go into it with modest expectations. There isn’t time for major subplots or deep character development. You do get a bit of misdirection, which every mystery needs, no matter how short. Both Taylor and Rice are fine in their roles, which is no surprise—Taylor, though only thirty-four, had already appeared in more than sixty films, including the fascinating White Woman, and Rice, no amateur either, had featured in more than thirty. When you add to their shared experience a workable script and solid direction, a decent result is almost pre-ordained, even if it’s just a b-production.

What’s never pre-ordained in vintage cinema are the surprising and illuminating sights to which you’re occasionally treated—oftentimes things you could never have imagined. In this case, the leader of a rumba orchestra plays the jawbone of a horse with a stick. Or maybe it’s a donkey. Hard to tell the difference when it comes to jaws. We learned that the instrument is a quijada, it’s a donkey jaw, and it’s traditional in Mexico and Peru, though it originated in Africa, where zebras were the unlucky providers. We’d never seen an instrument like it, but next time we go to Mexico we’ll keep an eye out. Girl in 313, bones and all, premiered today in 1940.

Twentieth Century Fox, Girl in 313, Florence Rice, Kent Taylor, Lionel Atwill, Katharine Aldridge, Elyse Knox, poster art, cinema, movie review

TOTALLY DREAMY

Excellent, Carole! Now let's do some profile shots. Carole? Um, are you still with us?

It’s been a long time since we visited with Hollywood legend Carole Lombard. Above you see her in a particularly lovely shot, emphasizing her arctic pale eyes, possibly focused on someplace far beyond the confines of the photographer’s studio. While she appeared in a few pulp-style movies, she made her name in screwball comedies such as Big News, Twentieth Century, and My Man Godfrey. Those choices certainly worked. At the time of her early death in 1941 she was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. 

Big News, Twentieth Century Fox, My Man Godfrey, Carole Lombard

COMBINATION PLATTER

Twentieth Century Fox offers up a mix of Monroe's most famous tunes.

Above: the front and rear sleeves of a 1962 Twentieth Century Fox album featuring the brightest star in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, performing musical numbers from three films—River of No Return, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and There’s No Business Like Show Business. Inside you get a “ready to frame” Monroe photo, which is the cover shot unaltered. It’s a nice image indeed. The full list of songs is as follows:

“Heat Wave,” “Lazy,” “After You Get What You Want You Don’t Want It,” “River of No Return,” “One Silver Dollar,” “I’m Going To File My Claim,” “A Little Girl from Little Rock,” (with Eileen Wilson), “When Love Goes Wrong,” (also with Eileen Wilson), “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” and “Bye Bye Baby.”

You can hear most of the tunes by looking around YouTube, if you’re curious.
River of No Return, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, There's No Business Like Show Business, Twentieth Century Fox, Marilyn Monroe, album art

LEGS UP TO THERE

I just insured them for a million dollars. You think I'm actually going stand on things that valuable?

Trivia time, vintage Hollywood fans. Our subhead tells you all you need to identify the person in this photo, even though she’s upside down. Give up? It’s Betty Grable, whose famous gams were allegedly insured with Lloyd’s of London for a cool milly. It’s was her studio Twentieth Century Fox’s doing, though some say it was a publicity stunt. Either way it worked. The free ink the insurance (or insurance fairytale) produced was priceless. It continues even today, obviously, as nearly everyone who writes about Grable mentions the policy. Grable once said, “I became a star for two reasons, and I’m standing on them.” But not in this photo.

Twentieth Century Fox, Betty Grable

HIGH REVOLTAGE

Touch a hot Stover and you'll get burned.


Above is a promo poster made for the Jane Russell drama The Revolt of Mamie Stover, which premiered in Honolulu today in 1956, and was sourced from William Bradford Huie’s novel, a book we discussed at length some months back. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh of Casablanca fame. He’s properly credited on the above art, but for some reason on the second poster, which you’ll find below, his name appears as Walsh Raoul. It’s a weird mistake to get past so many studio eyes, but things like that happen, we guess. The U.S. art is uncredited, but the third poster, also below, was made for the film’s British release and that was painted by Jock Hinchcliffe. He wasn’t a noted stylist whose work is especially sought after today, but he did paint numerous posters, and he signed the piece below. Anyone who did that gets singled out here, because so few artists were credited by the studios.

Regarding the movie, needless to say, the challenging themes of Huie’s novel were turned on their head by Hollywood. Mamie is no longer a racist toward Hawaiian islanders—in fact, the one islander character who gets to speak is bigoted against her. And she’s no longer a prostitute but a hostess who induces men who frequent Honolulu’s Bungalow Club to buy more booze and pay extra for private time. That private time takes place in a rattan decorated sideroom, but there’s no bed evident. Instead there’s a table and two chairs, so apparently men pay just to chat with Mamie, and the other women at the club. There’s a sexual implication, but of the barest sort, because obviously Twentieth Century Fox could not have made a movie about Jane Russell prostituting herself 51,840 times—the exact number given in the book.

The Revolt of Mamie Stover is another example of suppressed sexual themes during the mid-century era, which is a big reason why we extend our purview at Pulp Intl. into erotic films and imagery—because in our era the previously unshown can be shown and openly examined. We’ve discussed this before. If you watch the movie, it’s interesting to ponder the presumed maturity of book readers, who were asked point blank to consider a prolific prostitute the protagonist of the story, as opposed to cinemagoers, who were never presented with the possibility. In any case, the screen version of Stover, while not a sex worker, is at least a very knowing character, and Russell certainly has the sneer needed to pull off portraying a romantically cynical money worshipper determined to reach the top tax bracket no matter what it costs—her or others.

We figure anyone who has what it takes to get rich for simply, er, chatting with men deserves wealth, and indeed Mamie gets her money. That’s not a spoiler, because it’s never in doubt. It’s part of the revolt—her resistance against forced membership in the underclass. The question is whether she can retain her newly gained higher status, and whether she can preserve the love she’s stumbled upon along the way, because in American cinema moneyseeking characters must choose between their fortunes and their souls. That choice is supposed to supply the drama, but we think the movie is more interesting for its proto-feminist feel and class discussion. It’s pretty good on all fronts, though, except that co-star Richard Egan is a bit of an empty shell. But he doesn’t ruin it. How can he? He has Russell to carry him the entire ninety-three minutes.
Hawaii, Honolulu, Twentieth Century Fox, The Revolt of Mamie Stover, Jane Russell, Richard Egan, Joan Leslie, Agnes Moorehead, Raoul Walsh, Walsh Raoul, Jock Hinchcliffe, poster art, cinema, movie review

PROSPECTING FOR GOLD

I have to dig around in this dank cavern under Twentieth Century Fox to find good scripts, but I always manage.

The golden age film studios didn’t take kindly to actresses who wanted input into their own careers. U.S. star Jean Peters, who you see above in 1954, had pretty firm opinions about the types of roles she wanted to play. These led to her withdrawing from her planned debut in I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now, being suspended by Twentieth Century Fox for refusing to appear in Sand, and later Yellow Sky, being replaced in Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, being suspended again for refusing The View from Pompey’s Head, and refusing to play sexy roles of any type after her turn as a vixen in the film noir Pickup on South Street.

Yes, Peters was particular, but her hits were notable. Pickup on South Street was spectacular, Forever Amber was a star making turn, and Three Coins in the Fountain was a major success. In 1957 she married Howard Hughes and didn’t act again until after divorcing him in the early 1970s. Correlation is not causation, or something like that, but it’s too bad she lost those years because she chose to wed a kook. She had a good career by any measure, though. She may have hated playing sexpots but we think she was at her best as the smoldering Candy from Pickup on South Street. Watch it and see if you don’t agree.

Twentieth Century Fox, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, Yellow Sky, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, The View from Pompey's Head, Pickup on South Street, Forever Amber, Three Coins in the Fountain, Jean Peters

LEADER OF THE PACK

Let me be frank with you. Actually, that's unavoidable, isn't it? Instead I'll be deadly fucking blunt.


Frank Sinatra uses his ole blue eyes for a steely glare in this Twentieth Century Fox promo photo made for the 1968 thriller Lady in Cement. We last saw the movie on television when we were kids and don’t remember much about it. Specifically, we don’t remember who Sinatra is aiming at, but whoever it is had better pull up a chair and a whiskey glass, because the head of the Rat Pack does not drink alone. We figure this movie is worth a fresh look, so we’re going screen it and report back. 

Twentieth Century Fox, Lady in Cement, Frank Sinatra

NATURALLY DE LEECIOUS

Answer me honestly. Do men actually like this kind of cumbersome lingerie? No? Me neither. Ahh... that's better.

For a couple of years we were mystified by the identity of the above model, but recently learned that she’s Virginia De Lee. There’s actually some information out there about her, some of it quite interesting. For example, in June 1957, according to Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson, she walked into his office dressed as a harem girl, accompanied by a “225-pound giant of a fellow and a four-foot [little person],” unrolled a rug, served him a cup of Egyptian coffee, and announced, “We are here to remind you that the Tyrone Power movie Suez will be on television tomorrow night. It’s the premiere performance of a series of Twentieth Century Fox movies on KTTV.”

That’s what’s called an old fashioned publicity stunt and as far as we know stuff like that doesn’t happen these days. De Lee also popped up in the press when famed Hungarian sculptor Sepy Dobronyi said she had a perfectly formed body, so it’s possible she modeled for him at some point. She obviously sought stardom, but her only movie role was a minor appearance as a stripper in the b-drama Hell Bound. Whatever fame she has these days mainly derives from the many collectible Technicolor lithographs in which she and that quirky right eyebrow of hers were featured. We showed you a few lithos already, and we have one or two more sitting around. You may see them later. 

Twentieth Century Fox, Hell Bound, Virginia De Lee, Tyrone Power, Sepy Dobronyi, Erskine Johnson, Technicolor pin-up, television, nudity

A HEAD OF HER TIME

Someone to watch over you.

Above, a Twentieth Century Fox promo item, a giant die-cut head of movie star Betty Grable made to promote her 1944 musical Pin Up Girl. That isn’t the type of movie we usually talk about here, but for her we’ll make an exception. This is the second time, actually, but we’re into any kind of vintage memorabilia, especially something this rare and interesting. Plus Grable is kind of fun, as any viewing of her movies will show. This is a very large scan, as you can by our zoom of her eye. See another fun Grable image on the cover of Paris-Hollywood magazine here.

Twentieth Century Fox, Pin-Up Girl, Betty Grable, cinema
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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1953—The Rosenbergs Are Executed

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted for conspiracy to commit espionage related to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet spies, are executed at Sing Sing prison, in New York.

1928—Earhart Crosses Atlantic Ocean

American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, riding as a passenger in a plane piloted by Wilmer Stutz and maintained by Lou Gordon. Earhart would four years later go on to complete a trans-Atlantic flight as a pilot, leaving from Newfoundland and landing in Ireland, accomplishing the feat solo without a co-pilot or mechanic.

1939—Eugen Weidmann Is Guillotined

In France, Eugen Weidmann is guillotined in the city of Versailles outside Saint-Pierre Prison for the crime of murder. He is the last person to be publicly beheaded in France, however executions by guillotine continue away from the public until September 10, 1977, when Hamida Djandoubi becomes the last person to receive the grisly punishment.

1972—Watergate Burglars Caught

In Washington, D.C., five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel. The botched burglary was an attempt by members of the Republican Party to illegally wiretap the opposition. The resulting scandal ultimately leads to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, and also results in the indictment and conviction of several administration officials.

1961—Rudolph Nureyev Defects from Soviet Union

Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects at Le Bourget airport in Paris. The western press reported that it was his love for Chilean heiress Clara Saint that triggered the event, but in reality Nuryev had been touring Europe with the Kirov Ballet and defected in order to avoid punishment for his continual refusal to abide by rules imposed upon the tour by Moscow.

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INSATIABLE APPETITE

George Gross art for Joan Sherman’s, aka Peggy Gaddis Dern’s 1950 novel Suzy Needs a Man.

TIT FOR TAT

Swapping literature was a major subset of midcentury publishing. Ten years ago we shared a good-sized collection of swapping paperbacks from assorted authors.

TO DIE FOR

Cover art by Italian illustrator Giovanni Benvenuti for the James Bond novel Vivi e lascia morire, better known as Live and Let Die.

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Uncredited cover art in comic book style for Harry Whittington's You'll Die Next!

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