vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
Above: a fun cover in the cheaters who got caught category for Whit Harrison’s, aka Harry Whittington’s, Body and Passion, 1952, from Original Novels, with cover art by an unknown. Some sources say this was also published as Dear Deadly Past, but other sources say it was published as Satan’s Widow. The confusion may derive from Whittington’s U.S. Wikipedia page versus his French Wikipedia page. Hopefully that’ll get sorted out.
Above: the front and rear covers of Whit Harrison’s Girl on Parole, for Venus Books. We would’ve bought this, but the seller was asking more than three… Excuse us for second—Hahahahahaha..! *wiping tears away* Sorry, he was asking more than three-hundred dollars. We buy a lot of books but you know our rule—never pay more than it costs for a train to Paris. Remember, we live in Spain, so we’re talking thirty euros. We’ve gone as high as forty a few times, but that’s our absolute ceiling for a single paperback. Nine times out of ten we pay seven or less. Anyway, Girl on Parole is from 1953 and the art is uncredited, but it’s probably by Herb Tauss, who was painting for Venus during the period and whose style is a perfect match. Check what we mean here and here.
Would the global sex-for-pay industry even survive without the military? We seriously doubt it. If you’re partnered up with a military man, just know he’s done the above, multiple times, no matter what he may tell you. Whit Harrison’s 1952 novel Sailor’s Weekend deals with three navy guys set loose in San Francisco, which was an entirely more lawless place back then as far as the sex industry goes. The art on this is by Herb Tauss, who we did a small feature on a long while back. You can check that out here.
The hicks keep on coming. Above is another entry in the always fertile farmer sleaze genre, Shanty Road, by Whit Harrison, aka Harry Whittington. A hot hayseed named Amy inspires jealousy and desire among the locals, and things get interesting when a handsome young city doctor comes along and likes what he sees. In order to win Amy he’ll have to beat back rivals and earn trust. You may remember Whittington also wrote the rural novels Shack Road and Backwoods Shack, and he authored others we haven’t discussed. By now you’ve probably realized he was the king of this genre, and in fact he gave the niche its name—“backwoods novels.” This one doesn’t have a backwoods price, though. Vendors are asking $175 and up for it. 1954 copyright.
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.
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.
After being sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in the resort town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
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.
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.
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.
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.
