| Vintage Pulp | Oct 17 2022 |
Is this an example of that pulp stuff you read all the time? Geez, it scared the pants right off me.
Above: an unknown model stars on a Technicolor lithograph titled “Solid Comfort,” which we think was printed around 1950. This has happened with the Pulp Intl. girlfriends a few times when we left an interesting book sitting around, but now they don't open them because they assume someone will be betrayed or murdered in short order. We'll try to get them to read David Dodge's To Catch a Thief. If there's such a thing as gateway drugs for crime fiction that's certainly one of them.In another case of vintage art being shoddily repurposed for modern usage, we found this litho for sale on a few websites as a poster, which you see above. The reproduction is absolute crap, but “so many books, so little time” is a sentiment we can get behind. A book definitely makes an afternoon more enjoyable, and we'd add that a nice glass of wine is a further improvement. Which is why we always have (at least) one close by when we read. We have a lot more Technicolor lithos in the website, so just click the keywords and have a look if you're curious.
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 4 2022 |
It's a woman's prerogative to change her backdrop.
Above are two Technicolor lithos of popular model Terry Higgins, who we also saw years ago in the Goodtime Weekly Calendar of 1963. You've noticed that these two shots are from the same session, but that the background color has miraculously changed. That was common with pin-up lithographs. We suspect they did it in pre-press, rather than in the photography studio with lighting, but either way it's a neat trick. Higgins made appearances on the covers of men's magazines such as Adam (U.S.A.), Candid, Tip Top, Folies de Paris et de Hollywood, and many others. She also starred in some nudie loops and had an uncredited appearance in 1963's The Nutty Professor. The above shots are by famed lensman Ron Vogel, and date from around 1960.
| Femmes Fatales | Aug 24 2022 |
I'm not devious or Machiavellian in the least. But a Machiavellian person would say that, wouldn't they?
Fifteenth century philosopher and diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli popularized the belief that powerful men—and particularly politicians—are often amoral, and perhaps should be that way, an idea that gave rise to the term Machiavellian. Amazingly, some of his genes funneled down the centuries directly into the person you see above, Italian actress Nicoletta Machiavelli. She earned—or deviously maneuvered—her way into more than thirty films, including Se tutte le donne del mondo... (Operazione Paradiso), aka Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, Matchless, Navajo Joe, and Les seins de glace, aka Someone Is Bleeding.
The photo was shot by Angelo Frontoni, and comes from 1965. Below you see a couple of unretouched alternate frames Frontoni made during the same session, but with Machiavelli showing an impressive treasure trail. Will those ever come back, you think? No? Well, they should. About her famous ancestor Machiavelli once said that she was proud to be his descendant, and quipped that she was, “Machiavellian in the cradle.” She also claimed that to her, at least, the term didn't mean to behave deviously or sociopathically at all. But then she would say that.
ItalySe tutte le donne del mondo... (Operazione Paradiso)Kiss the Girls and Make Them DieMatchlessLes seins de glaceSomeone Is BleedingNavajo JoeNicoletta MachiavelliNiccolò MachiavelliAngelo Frontoni
| Vintage Pulp | May 15 2022 |
You ever get the feeling the game is rigged?
Above is a 1950s Technicolor lithograph with an unknown model losing her shirt and more in a poker game. The litho is titled “Out of Luck,” and it came from the company KLM. There are about eighty of these in the site, but we have a few favorites. See if this selection doesn't grab you: here, here, and here.
| Femmes Fatales | Feb 26 2022 |
Bang bang, lovelies—there's a fab new sheriff in town.
Helga Liné's last name has an accent, which means it's pronounced not “line” but “lee-nay.” She was born in Germany as Helga Stern in 1932, but her family fled nazism and she grew up in Portugal, where her first exposure to show business was as a dancer and circus acrobat. It was after moving to Spain in 1960 that her film career took off. She appeared in many giallo, spaghetti western, and horror films, among them All'ombra di una colt, aka In a Colt's Shadow, Pánico en el Transiberiano, aka Horror Express, and Amanti d’Oltretomba, aka Nightmare Castle. The promo above is not one we can identify as from a particular film, but we do know the date—it was part of a session that produced a cover for the Spanish magazine Dígame in July 1965.
GermanyPortugalSpainAll'ombra di una coltaka In a Colt's ShadowPánico en el TransiberianoHorror ExpressAmanti d’OltretombaNightmare CastleDígameHelga Liné
| Vintage Pulp | Feb 21 2022 |
I asked for a double room so we can use one bed for action, and the other for recovery.
Above is a 1960 Technicolor lithograph starring Jayne Mansfield. It's called, “Good Morning,” which we suppose it might be if you woke up with her. The shot originated from 1956 and was first used on a cover of Cabaret Quarterly. It was later used on Modern Man in 1960, Beau magazine in 1966, and even—with the background changed to pink—Mark Gabor's 1984's Illustrated History of Girlie Magazines. It probably showed up elsewhere too, and why not? It's one of Mansfield's best shots.
It's been a while since we shared one of these Technicolor lithos, so as a reminder we'll mention that they were made as a potential market replacement for the painted pin-ups of earlier years, such as those produced by Gil Elvgren, Art Frahm, and Zoe Mozert. That's why these have such painterly compositions. You can see for yourself, because we have a bunch of examples going back years, and some of them are amazing. Just click here and scroll.
| Intl. Notebook | Feb 21 2022 |
Swiss bank receives long deserved exposure thanks to data leak.
We're occasionally asked why we don't do modern true crime write-ups as often as we once did. There are a couple of reasons. We actually have jobs, and the research on crime stories is time consuming. But secondly, modern day swindles, scams, and corruption are out of control to the extent that writing about them seems redundant. But we're making an exception today because one of our previous subjects, who we wrote about way back in 2009, has popped up in the news again. That would be Hisham Talaat Moustafa, who was sentenced to death for hiring out the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Lebanese pop star Suzanne Tamim. His was one of thousands of names just revealed in a massive financial data leak from Credit Suisse, one of the most prestigious banks in Switzerland, which hides money for the richest people in the world.
We think everyone knows Swiss banks are corrupt, right? Their first secrecy laws were adopted in 1713. It's safe to say they've been corrupt for almost that long. Over the years Credit Suisse's clients have included Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, who stole $10 billion from the Philippine treasury, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Panamanian drug lord and CIA informant Manuel Noriega, thousands of Nazis who were hiding their expropriations, and countless shady shell companies. One can insert the usual objections about taxes here, but the point is that regular
people must pay them, yet the rich and powerful somehow always manage to avoid their fair share, even when they've generated their loot through illegal or even genocidal means. As with many morally rudderless institutions and people, what Swiss banks do is perfectly legal, but “perfectly legal” is the phrase uttered by people who know they're willfully engaged in behavior that obviously should be illegal—and in fact is illegal for everyone but the rich and connected.
people must pay them, yet the rich and powerful somehow always manage to avoid their fair share, even when they've generated their loot through illegal or even genocidal means. As with many morally rudderless institutions and people, what Swiss banks do is perfectly legal, but “perfectly legal” is the phrase uttered by people who know they're willfully engaged in behavior that obviously should be illegal—and in fact is illegal for everyone but the rich and connected.Credit Suisse is trying to pretend that the leak reveals old accounts from before the bank cleaned up its practices (which it never substantially did), but the spin won't be effective because the data reveals that the bank is currently holding money for human traffickers, drug lords, oligarchs, stock cheats, treasury looters, mafia kingpins and—in the case of Hisham Moustafa—murderers. Correction—pardoned murderers, since he was released thanks to presidential decree in 2017. The information on all this corruption was originally passed to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung via an anonymous whistleblower, and the odds are good that in a matter of weeks or months that currently unknown person will be outed and have to make a full time job of trying to avoid the total destruction of his or her life and a prison sentence—no pardon pending.
Tax and corruption problems have exploded globally as elite greed has grown, the profits from criminality have soared, digital technology has created previously-unheard-of fortunes, offshoring of profits has become standard practice, deregulation and the de-facto dissolving of anti-trust laws have allowed corporations to grow more powerful than countries, and austerity has shrunk or eliminated the enforcement mechanisms of public institutions. In fact, in addition to funneling money from regular people to corporations and the rich, the other point of austerity is to shrink government to prevent it prying into the affairs of corporations and the rich. Libertarians rejoice. Insider trading, commodities fraud, and money laundering are all now rampant, and there's nothing people can do about it because the government institutions meant to be centers of oversight were taken over by the rich decades ago.
Moustafa paid to have his girlfriend knifed to death. Unlike murderers able to hide behind the fig leaf of non-conviction, his guilt was established as a fact during a criminal court proceeding. He was sentenced to hanging but was retried and had his punishment reduced to a mere fifteen years. He spent, in total before his pardon, nine years in a country club prison, and all the while managed his wealth, built up his billions, and
came out of jail not disgraced and shunned, but welcomed, feted, and once again demanding and receiving VIP treatment, the best tables in the best restaurants, and the ear of the global elite. He threw a few coins to charity along the way to spit-shine his reputation, had his thriving conglomerate Talaat Moustafa Group donate some COVID vaccines, but still he's a murderer who wriggled loose from the hangman's noose, and today enjoys every privilege he ever enjoyed—while his victim is dead forever.
came out of jail not disgraced and shunned, but welcomed, feted, and once again demanding and receiving VIP treatment, the best tables in the best restaurants, and the ear of the global elite. He threw a few coins to charity along the way to spit-shine his reputation, had his thriving conglomerate Talaat Moustafa Group donate some COVID vaccines, but still he's a murderer who wriggled loose from the hangman's noose, and today enjoys every privilege he ever enjoyed—while his victim is dead forever.This is the place in which we find ourselves. We all understand, if we actually absorb factual information rather than apologist propaganda or fanciful myth, that the rich have fucked up this world, and the rest of us, as well as future generations, are going to pay to clean up the mess. If it can even be cleaned up, which is doubtful. And that's why we stopped writing about modern crime and corruption. It's pointless. It's banal. Writing about old crimes is an escape, a window into history and the mad hearts of men and women who are long, long gone. Writing about current crimes is self-flagellation. We'll still do it on occasion when the urge strikes, like today, but we're well aware that people tend to complain more as time goes by and we don't want to fall into that trap. We want Pulp Intl. to be a place of entertainment and wonder—by which we mean amazing art, exciting fiction, bizarre historical and Hollywood facts, and beautiful women.
GermanyEgyptLebanonRomaniaPanamaSwitzerlandPhilippinesSüddeutsche ZeitungCIAHisham Talaat MoustafaSuzanne TamimFerdinand MarcosImelda MarcosNicolae CeausescuManuel Noriega murdernazis
| Vintage Pulp | Jul 20 2021 |
I'm wearing Cartier jewels, a Borbonese fur, and Halston opera gloves. Am I mesmerizing or what?
Above, a 1955 Technicolor lithograph featuring an unknown but very beautiful model. A piece of well known fashion advice states that, in order to avoid overdressing, a woman should face away from a mirror, then turn quickly and see what catches her eye first. Remove that item and she's good to go. That must have been one garish blouse.
| Vintage Pulp | May 31 2021 |
We'll get to the bottom of this even if it takes forever.
Above you see a Technicolor lithograph titled “The Right Exposure.” We're still seeking the identity of this buttcrack flashing model, who we have on half a dozen lithos, including this one we posted back in 2014. Even more so than paperback cover artists, these lithos are our most difficult sleuthing jobs. We've had many successes and we won't quit until we put this model's case to bed too. Have any ideas? Let us know. But be forewarned, here's who she isn't—Marilyn Waltz. We mention that because a couple of readers have suggested this is her, but we're positive she isn't Waltz. We know because, like we said, we have six more images that remove any doubt, but of course we haven't shared those on the website because we're hoping to write posts on them. So you'll have to trust us that she's not Waltz. While you're ruminating over who she really is, consider clicking the keywords “Technicolor pin-up” below, and you'll be taken to see many more beautiful mid-century models.
| Vintage Pulp | Apr 20 2021 |
Since you obviously don't get the point of why I'm wearing this, it's not so we can go outside.
This Technicolor lithograph is entitled “Prepared,” but while the model is prepared for hot fun and games, her off-frame male friend seems to want to go for a wet walk. Well, men can be dense. Once, the Pulp Intl. girlfriends dressed up sexy and gave us homemade coupons that said “Tonight—redeemable for anything you want,” and we made them watch the NFL division championships with us. Not what they had in mind, but anyone could make that mistake. Circa 1960 on this litho.
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