Several months ago we shared some covers of the Japanese cinema/celeb magazine Movie Information/Movie Pictorial. It was a publication that in aiming at both a Western and local audience uniquely offered simultaneous billing to Western and Japanese cover stars by putting one each on the front and back of every issue. But really, that’s a misnomer, because there was no back of the magazine. Because English and Japanese are read from opposite directions, both of the above covers could be considered the front. The magazine even seemed to have two names. In English it was Movie Pictorial, but the Japanese characters on the opposite face translate as “Movie Information.” These issues are from 1955 and 1956, and you can see scans of more colorful 1970s issues here.

Generally, when you see a mention of Betsy von Furstenberg on the internet it refers to her as a countess. Other sources, with a more authoritative tone, call her a baroness. But inherited status is pure silliness anyway, so we’ll just call her what she is—a German actress who appeared in movies and on Broadway. Here you see her in Santa Monica, California, in two summery photos by Joseph Jasgur in the year 1950.

Above, a mix of ten covers of F.B.I. and F.B.I. Selecciones, published by two Spanish companies, Bruguera and Ediciones Rollán, during the 1960s and early 1970s. Art is by Prieto Muriana and others. Also, you may notice that cover three is modeled after a famous portrait of James Dean, and, though we aren't 100% sure, cover ten, just above, looks like it was based on Monica Vitti. 

Here's an amazing cover of Master Detective published this month in 1962 featuring a woman being menaced by a giant disembodied head. Design-wise, we think this is inspired stuff. There are more than one hundred true crime magazine covers inside Pulp Int., and you can see them in chronological order by clicking here.

A few years ago we shared a collection of pulp covers featuring women holding smoking guns. Most of them, but not all, were standing over dead victims. Today we decided to revisit the idea, but this time feature only women standing over men they’ve just gunned down. We found many examples, but these are five of the best. Kind thanks to the original uploaders.

You know what’s so fascinating about the American dream car designs of the 1950s? They imagined a completely different future than the one that actually came. Our present is one of potholes, car alarms, finger print recognition, panic buttons, failing bridges, and roads built with public money being sold by corrupt politicians to private cabals of carpetbaggers. Their future is one of smooth sailing, bright horizons, and flat tarmac upon which purring dreamboats carry everyone into an opportunity-filled, non-AGW-constrained future. Consider the bubble-topped floral delivery car above. You think the driver is worried about break-ins? Probably not. That design was conceived in a world practically devoid of teen brats that key cars for thrills or guys who wash your windshield at red lights just to survive. It’s a world in which cops that stop you for traffic violations do so without a hand on their sidearms while eyeballing your interior for probable cause. And it was certainly designed before we acknowledged the prevalence of drunken rollover accidents or the fact that petroleum can’t come out of the ground without either wars or environmental destruction. Yes, reality bites. But even if we have to live in reality, we can imagine the perfect world of these cars designed by Ford, Cadillac, and other companies.

Some of these images came the great forum jalopyjournal.com, and you can see more if you click over there.

These two shots by famed Italian photographer Angelo Frontoni show dancer and actress Gloria Paul, who was born in London but was of Italian extraction and spent most of her career in Italy. She worked steadily beginning in 1961, and appeared in such films as The Intelligence Men, For a Few Dollars Less, and Darling Lili. In 1996 she was the victim of an accident in which a water tank in her home fell through the roof of her shower and broke her back. After time in a wheelchair she eventually regained the ability to walk, but her dancing career was over.

We’re back to the West German publication Illustrierte Film-Bühne today, supplementing our post from two months ago. These examples are all from American dramas or films noir produced during the 1940s and early 1950s, but which premiered in West Germany later, typically 1954 or after. You can see the earlier IFB collection here.