 Okay, losers. Each of you compliment my très chic pinstriped suit. The least convincing one gets pistol whipped. 
Très chic is a good way to describe not only pin-striped suits on femmes fatales, but covers painted by Jean Salvetti for Éditions le Condor's and George Maxwell's Môme Double-Shot crime novel collection. We've shared five or six, and they're magnifique, including this one for 1952's San bauvures. Maxwell's star character in these was Hope Travers, and hope is exactly what she denies her enemies. She even once put out a cigarette on a guy's face. You can see that cover and others by clicking the keywords Éditions le Condor below.
 For you this is just a light, but for me it's the beginning of a toxic sexual obsession and eventual restraining order. 
We're going to do one more entry on France before we head to other countries. Once we have time to do some intensive scanning you'll see the bulk of our Paris treasures. Paris, by the way, is a city where strangers often ask you for a light, which is why we thought of the above subhead. If we actually smoked it would be a great way to meet people, but since we never have an actual light all interaction ends there. So while we learn how to smoke, above you see a cover for Elle ne perd pas son temps, by George Maxwell, aka Georges Esposito, for Presses Mondiales and its series Les grands romans dessinés, published in 1953. These were comic books adapted from the series La Môme Double-Shot, specifically 1952's La belle se joue à deux, which you can see here. Elle ne perd pas son temps translates to “She doesn't waste her time,” and neither did the artist Jacques Thibésart, aka Mik, when he painted this nice cover. If you're inclined you can see examples from him here, here, and here, and you can certainly expect more in the future.
 If you think this is painful wait until I tell you all the kinky things I did with your husband. 
T'as triché marquise was written by the pseudonymous author George Maxwell and published in 1953 as part of Editions le Condor's collection La Môme Double-Shot. This is one of the more violent entries in the series and the cover art reflects that. What we like best about it is how effortless the blonde makes her submission hold on the brunette look. Not a single golden hair has moved. Many of these Double Shot covers were painted by Jean Salvetti, but this one is by Jacques Thibésart, also known as Nik, or more likely Mik (we're still avoiding changing all those old posts but we'll get around to it). In any case, fine work.
 Secondhand smoke is the least of his problems. 
Above is another entry from Éditions le Condor’s collection Môme Double-Shot, Pas de salade, j’en vends!, appearing in 1953, with badass heroine Hope Travers showing how useful a lit cigarette can be. The cover art is by Jean Salvetti, and you can see other covers of his from this series here, here, and here.
 She’s one red hot môme.  
We’ve shared several examples from Éditions le Condor’s collection Môme Double-Shot, which as we’ve discussed was written by George Maxwell, aka Georges Esposito, and deals with the adventures of gun-toting heroine Hope Travers. Today we thought we’d share two more. Above you see covers for La belle se joue à deux and J’peux pas l'encadrer, both with art by Jean Salvetti, aka Salva. We love these. Besides the art being so striking, there’s a lot of charm added by the haphazard freehand lettering. If you want to see more from this series, just dig around our site. They’re in here somewhere.
 Big trouble in little Chinatown. 
Du Sang dans le Champagne translates in English to Blood in the Champagne, and that's always something to avoid. This paperback dates from 1953 and is part of Éditions le Condor’s collection La Môme “Double Shot,” a series you shoud be getting to know pretty well, since we've recently shown you two other examples. George Maxwell wrote twenty-two books in this franchise in two years, which is simply amazing output, quality notwithstanding. In this one murder and mystery takes the hero Hope Travers to L.A.’s Chinatown, where she goes up against a shadowy organized crime sect. The cover art is by Salva, aka Jean Salvetti, as usual. See the other Double Shot covers by clicking the keywords Éditions le Condor just below.
 I warned you two I could keep this up forever. 
We shared an example from Éditions Le Condor’s series La Môme “Double Shot” back in September and today we have another—1953’s Les squelettes ne jouent pas au poker by George Maxwell. The translation of the title is rather funny—“skeletons don’t play poker.” The art, by Jean Salvetti once again, would seem to suggest otherwise.
 The deadliest shot in Tinseltown. 
Above, the cover of Calibre 45… et culottes de soie, by George Maxwell for Éditions le Condor’s collection La Môme Double Shot. The English title of this would be something like “Calibre .45 and silk panties,” and if you’re thinking only a Frenchman could come up with something like that you’d be right, because Maxwell was, of course, a pseudonym. It was inhabited by numerous writers, but in this case was used by Georges Esposito to pen a story set in Hollywood and starring the character Hope Travers, whose skill with a sidearm makes her someone not to be trifled with—hence “Kid Double Shot.” There were twenty-two books in the series. The cover art on this one and most of the others is by Salva, aka Jean Salvetti, who we’ll have more from later. The book appeared in 1953
 What do you call forty dead men? A good start. 
Two years ago we shared five covers of women standing over men they had just killed and mentioned that there were many examples in vintage cover art of that particular theme. Today we’ve decided to revisit the idea in order to reiterate just how often women in pulp are the movers and shakers—and shooters and stabbers and clubbers and poisoners and scissorers. Now if they do this about a billion more times they’ll really be making a difference that counts. French publishers, interestingly, were unusually fond of this theme—so egalitarian of them. That’s why many of the covers here are from France, including one—for which we admit we bent the rules of the collection a bit, because the victim isn’t dead quite yet—of a woman actually machine gunning some hapless dude. But what a great cover. We also have a couple of Spanish killer femmes, and a Dutch example or two. Because we wanted to be comprehensive, the collection is large and some of the fronts are quite famous, but a good portion are also probably new to you. Art is by the usual suspects—Robert Maguire, Barye Phillips, Alex Piñon, Robert Bonfils, Robert McGinnis, Rudolph Belarski, et al. Enjoy.                                      
 Lady with a Luger (and later a Colt).  
Above, the covers for George Maxwell’s Tirez à vue! and Colt en main!, aka Shoot on Sight and Colt in Hand. Maxwell is a bit of a mystery. He was born Edmond Georges Marius Esposito, wrote as Maxwell, Erynx Applegate, and perhaps other pseudonyms. These books were published by Éditions le Pont Neuf’s for their Miss Luger Collection, 1958, a series consisting only of these two entries, actually. Cover art is by unknown. These French pulp writers and artists... always so impénétrable.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1958—Plane Crash Kills 8 Man U Players
British European Airways Flight 609 crashes attempting to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane is the Manchester United football team, along with a number of supporters and journalists. 20 of the 44 people on board die in the crash. 1919—United Artists Is Launched
Actors Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, along with director D.W. Griffith, launch United Artists. Each holds a twenty percent stake, with the remaining percentage held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. The company struggles for years, with Griffith soon dropping out, but eventually more partners are brought in and UA becomes a Hollywood powerhouse. 1958—U.S. Loses H-Bomb
A 7,600 pound nuclear weapon that comes to be known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the U.S. Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, near Tybee Island. The bomb was jettisoned to save the aircrew during a practice exercise after the B-47 bomber carrying it collided in midair with an F-86 fighter plane. Following several unsuccessful searches, the bomb was presumed lost, and remains so today. 1906—NYPD Begins Use of Fingerprint ID
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Joseph A. Faurot begins using French police officer Alphonse Bertillon's fingerprint system to identify suspected criminals. The use of prints for contractual endorsement (as opposed to signatures) had begun in India thirty years earlier, and print usage for police work had been adopted in India, France, Argentina and other countries by 1900, but NYPD usage represented the beginning of complete acceptance of the process in America. To date, of the billions of fingerprints taken, no two have ever been found to be identical. 1974—Patty Hearst Is Kidnapped
In Berkeley, California, an organization calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps heiress Patty Hearst. The next time Hearst is seen is in a San Francisco bank, helping to rob it with a machine gun. When she is finally captured her lawyer F. Lee Bailey argues that she had been brainwashed into committing the crime, but she is convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to 35 years imprisonment, a term which is later commuted. |
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