Intl. Notebook | Jul 24 2018 |
One person's misfortune is another's opportunity—not to mention hilarity. This photo shows Miss New Zealand—Moana Manley—passed out during the 1954 Miss Universe Pageant, staged today that year in Long Beach, California. Manley fainted during an outdoor photo session. Some accounts say heat exhaustion got her, but it was not especially hot that day—about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, or 22 Celsius. It was more likely stress. She was, after all, not only the first woman from her country to compete at Miss Universe, but the first woman of Maori descent to win the title of Miss New Zealand. That'll apply a bit of pressure. You'll often see the photo labeled as a 1957 shot, but that's incorrect. There was no representative from New Zealand in the pageant that year. No, the shot is definitely from 1954, and the winner was ultimately Miss U.S.A., Miriam Stevenson, who was probably like, “Yup, when that Kiwi hit the ground I knew I had it in the bag.”
Vintage Pulp | Nov 20 2012 |
Mort Kunstler nicely captures the chaos of a storm hitting the beaches of northern France on this D-Day-themed cover of Stag from November 1964. Kunstler was a master at this sort of sprawling composition, and Stag in particular published many similar pieces of his. Today Kunstler bills himself as America’s Artist and paints U.S. Civil War scenes that sell as limited editions. To say that his reputation as an artist is assured is an understatement. He has had countless exhibitions, been added to the permanent collections of numerous museums, and been profiled in the New York Times.
Below are some interior scans from Stag, including more Kunstler, as well as a spread from Walter Popp. Kunstler’s illustration for George Raffey’s “House of the Pleasure Dolls” is a brilliant bit of adolescent sexual fantasy, with its naked girl holding off a group of armed men. That probably never happened in the entire history of the world (despite the “True Book Bonus” label on the story), but it’s just another day in the pages of a vintage men’s magazine. Also in this issue you get a few photos of 1961 Miss Universe semi-finalist, Scottish model Susan Jones. More Kunstler here.