Lady, if you don't stop blocking my view I'm going to strangle you and leave you buried with the pharaohs.
We never go long without sharing art from French illustrator Jef de Wulf, and here he is again doing cover work for publisher Éditions de la Flamme d'Or and author Jacques Destier, whose Egyptian adventure Nioussia l'insaisissable was published in 1954. Destier was a pseudonym used by Jacques Thinus. If your French is rusty, Nioussia, l'insaisissable means “Nioussia, the elusive.” See de Wulf at his best here and here, and we'll have more from him a bit later.
… blah blah blah … free you from sin and save you … name of the lord ... amen. Okay, all done, guys. Cook him.
En deux manches et une belle... translates to, “In two sleeves and a beautiful..." offering us no idea of its actual meaning. Doubtless this is another French colloquialism. The author is Patrick Rock, an obvious pseudonym. These can be difficult to untangle, but in this case the main clue comes from the fact that the translator Louis Valgrand is listed on the cover. That sort of attribution is somewhat rare. And considering the fact that this book was almost certainly never actually written in English, but rather was part of the wave of French language imitations of American crime novels, we suspect Valgrand was the author. Probably the publishers Éditions Flamme d'Or wanted to Americanize the novel with an appropriate sounding pseudonym, but Valgrand couldn't forego seeing his name on the cover. Don't cite us on that. It's still just a guess, but one that makes sense. The cover art is by René Brantonne and the copyright is 1952.
Trouble is breathing down her neck. Above, an eyecatching piece of Jef de Wulf art fronting Le dragon vert, or The Green Dragon, written by Bob Arnal for Editions de la Flamme d'Or. Basically, it's Fu Manchu style Asian Peril fiction about a nefarious criminal organization known as Green Dragon, majorly uncool Chinese cocaine dealers planning to extend their long reach into Europe. 1953 copyright.
Finally, after a lifetime's work—the condiment that will revolutionize how the world eats greenery. Above, Drôle de salade written by Al Caussin, aka Alex Caussin de Perceval, Percy Wall, and Allan Blyth, published 1952 by France's Éditions de la Flamme d’Or, with awesome cover art from Jef de Wulf. Drôle de salade actually means “funny salad,” so you have to wonder what this book is about. In any case, what a bummer it’ll be for the main character when he finds out the term “French dressing” is already in use.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1939—Batman Debuts
In Detective Comics #27, DC Comics publishes its second major superhero, Batman, who becomes one of the most popular comic book characters of all time, and then a popular camp television series starring Adam West, and lastly a multi-million dollar movie franchise starring Michael Keaton, then George Clooney, and finally Christian Bale. 1953—Crick and Watson Publish DNA Results
British scientists James D Watson and Francis Crick publish an article detailing their discovery of the existence and structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, in Nature magazine. Their findings answer one of the oldest and most fundamental questions of biology, that of how living things reproduce themselves. 1967—First Space Program Casualty Occurs
Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when, during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere after more than ten successful orbits, the capsule's main parachute fails to deploy properly, and the backup chute becomes entangled in the first. The capsule's descent is slowed, but it still hits the ground at about 90 mph, at which point it bursts into flames. Komarov is the first human to die during a space mission. 1986—Otto Preminger Dies
Austro–Hungarian film director Otto Preminger, who directed such eternal classics as Laura, Anatomy of a Murder, Carmen Jones, The Man with the Golden Arm, and Stalag 17, and for his efforts earned a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, dies in New York City, aged 80, from cancer and Alzheimer's disease. 1998—James Earl Ray Dies
The convicted assassin of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., petty criminal James Earl Ray, dies in prison of hepatitis aged 70, protesting his innocence as he had for decades. Members of the King family who supported Ray's fight to clear his name believed the U.S. Government had been involved in Dr. King's killing, but with Ray's death such questions became moot.
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