vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
Japanese beauty Rino Katase began acting in the late 1970s, hit her stride during the eighties, and hasn’t looked back since. Some of her nearly one hundred credited roles include performances in such films as 1987’s Yoshiwara enjô, aka Tokyo Bordello, 1986’s Gokudô no onna-tachi, aka Yakuza Ladies (plus seven sequels), and 2022’s Bad City. This hot shot of her goes to back to before her first acting roles. We found it in an issue of Weekly Playboy from 1976.
Japanese actress Maria Mari poses with a fancy Nishizawa recurved archery bow, which like the arrow she shot nobody is bothering to pay an iota of attention to. It’s understandable. Mari looks quite beautiful and slender here in this photo from 1980. The image is part of a series of seven published in Weekly Playboy featuring different actresses posed with sports and recreation gear. You’ll be seeing the other shots as the months roll onward. In the meantime you can see a bit more Mari here and here.
This photo from an issue of Weekly Playboy features Japanese model Yuko Sugiyama looking a bit witchy, which fits for this time of year, if you happen to celebrate Halloween. Normally we only feature shots of actresses, which she never was as far as we know, but we like the image so much we thought we’d use it anyway. It’s from 1968.
Japanese actress Izumi Shima strikes a nice seaside pose in a 1978 issue of the men’s magazine Weekly Playboy. In text we’ve cropped out, the image mentions two of her upcoming movies—Kyoshi mejika, aka Teacher Deer, and Danchizuma: Futari dake no yoru, aka Apartment Wife: Night by Ourselves, and gives a mailing address for fans to write “love letters” to her at Nikkatsu Studios in Tokyo. The mail must have arrived by the cartload. We have more Shima shots from this session that we’ll share later.
We’ve come to the last page in Reiko Ike’s 1972 Weekly Playboy calendar—this fun shot for December where she seems to be having a party of one at home. But we imagine her heading to the hottest club in town. Having been to several of the better discos in the western hemisphere, we think this outfit will get her past even the most jaded doormen. Of course, nobody can really trust our opinon. We’ve also been arbitrarily refused entry to some of the better discos in the western hemisphere—Pacha! Pacha! Excuse us. Little touch of cold coming on.
Anyway, it’s been a pretty nice year of Reiko images, and we’re happy to have uploaded them for all of you to enjoy. She’s outpaced her competitors to become the most featured vintage actress on Pulp Intl., ahead of Marilyn Monroe (if we don’t count tabloid appearances), Pam Grier, Christina Lindberg, and a few others. We’ll have even more shots of Japan’s greatest cinematic girl gangster at some point, so look for those down the line.
We’ve been sharing Reiko Ike images via her 1972 Weekly Playboy calendar, posting one shot each month, but a few times the magazine used a photo for two months at once, which leaves us to find imagery to fill in the gaps. October was one of those months, so above are a couple of replacement images for November. They’re also from Weekly Playboy, just not from her calendar. The text says Reiko-kun was due to turn twenty in May 1972, and she announces, with the wisdom of her advanced years, “It’s too late for me to be nude.” And of course she reversed course on that crazy notion pretty quick, as her many subsequent unclothed photos prove. Here’s the thing: It’s never too late to be nude. Not for her, not for us, not for anybody.
The Reiko Ike Weekly Playboy calendar is in its last quarter—in its autumn you might even say. Above you see the magazine’s entry for October and November 1972, featuring Reiko in a groovy fringed vest—yet another look from that era we think needs to return. And under the vest she’s wearing, well, herself. Always her best look. Obviously, since this shot encompasses November we’ll need to dig up an image from elsewhere for the first of next month, but luckily, we have plenty. Stay tuned.
One can’t help but stare at least a little at this promo shot of Hitomi Kozue where the text says in English and Japanese not to do it. It came from a 1975 issue of Weekly Playboy in which the popular actress talks about her interests and hobbies. Among them: drinking. Literally, it says that. We like Kozue better the more we learn about her.
We continue adding to our set of rare Reiko Ike promo images with this September page from her 1972 Weekly Playboy calendar. For some reason we couldn’t get a smooth scan of this, a sometime problem we think is related to vagaries of the electricity in our place. We may try this one again a bit later, but Reiko looks good smooth, grainy, blurry, and all other ways. More from her soon.
Mexican actress Lupe Velez, who was considered one of the great beauties of her day, commits suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. In her note, Velez says she did it to avoid bringing shame on her unborn child by giving birth to him out of wedlock, but many Hollywood historians believe bipolar disorder was the actual cause. The event inspired a 1965 Andy Warhol film entitled Lupe.
After a fifteen minute flight into space on a Jupiter AM-13 rocket, a monkey named Gordo splashes down in the South Pacific but is lost after his capsule sinks. The incident sparks angry protests from the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but NASA says animals are needed for such tests.
American actress, talk show host, and party girl Tallulah Bankhead, who was fond of turning cartwheels in a dress without underwear and once made an entrance to a party without a stitch of clothing on, dies in St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City of double pneumonia complicated by emphysema.
The last executions in Canada occur when Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin, both of whom are Americans who had been extradited north after committing separate murders in Canada, are hanged at Don Jail in Toronto. When Turpin is told that he and Lucas will probably be the last people hanged in Canada, he replies, “Some consolation.â€
Ernesto “Che” Guevara, representing the nation of Cuba, speaks at the 19th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. His speech calls for wholesale changes in policies between rich nations and poor ones, as well as five demands of the United States, none of which are met.
After suffering a heart attack several days before, erotic model Bettie Page, who in the 1950s became known as the Queen of Pin-ups, dies when she is removed from life support machinery. Thanks to the unique style she displayed in thousands of photos and film loops, Page is considered one of the most influential beauties who ever lived.
The Downtown Athletic Club in New York City awards its first trophy for athletic achievement to University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger. The prize is later renamed the Heisman Trophy, and becomes the most prestigious award in college athletics.
