 ….then he ate their livers. Anyway, I think he went that way. You check it out and I'll light your way from back here. 
First rule of dark places: make sure you never go in first. Jean Salvetti paints a sinister scene on this cover for 1953's Des clous! by Robert Tachet, which is about crime, smuggling, and espionage in Perpignan on the French/Spanish border. The title, pronounced like “clue,” means “nails,” or maybe “spikes.” In the least surprising revelation imaginable, Tachet was a pseudonym for André Héléna. Why is that no surprise? Because Héléna was a pseudonym machine who also published as—ready?—Noël Vexin, Andy Ellen, Andy Helen, Buddy Wesson, Maureen Sullivan, Herbert Smally, Jean Zerbibe, Kathy Woodfield, Sznolock Lazslo, Clark Corrados, Peter Colombo, Alex Cadourcy, Joseph Benoist, Lemmy West, and C. Cailleaux. He was not only prolific, but was also one of the few mid-century writers to have his books translated into English from another language. Salvetti was prolific too. We have a few more examples of his brushwork if you're interested. Check here, here, here, here, and here.
 She knows the best way to a man's heart—ballistically speaking. 
It's been a couple of years since we had a cover by French illustrator Jean Salvetti, so here's one for Dorothy ouvre le bal, or “Dorothy opens the ball,” published in 1952 by Paris based Éditions le Trotteur and written by Oscar Montgomery, aka José del Valle. There were three books in the Dorothy series, with this one coming first. Short synopsis: Dorothy goes to Egypt, hurts a bunch of bad men. As you can see, Salvetti signed his work Salva. More Salva here, here and here.
 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.
 The shape of bad things to come. 
Above and below are assorted covers featuring yet another fun mid-century paperback art motif—the looming or threatening shadow. The covers are by the usual suspects—Rader, Phillips, Gross, Caroselli, Nik, as well as by artists whose work you see less often, such as Tony Carter’s brilliant cover for And Turned to Clay. That's actually a dust jacket, rather than a paperback front, but we couldn't leave it out. You’ll also notice French publishers really liked this theme. We’ll doubtless come across more, and as we do we’ll add to the collection. This is true of all our cover collections. For instance, our post featuring the Eiffel Tower has grown from fifteen to twenty-two examples, and our group of fronts with syringes has swelled from thirteen to twenty-six images. We have twenty-four twenty-six—see what we mean?—more shadow covers below, and thanks to all original uploaders.
                             
 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
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
2011—Elizabeth Taylor Dies
American actress Elizabeth Taylor, whose career began at age 12 when she starred in National Velvet, and who would eventually be nominated for five Academy Awards as best actress and win for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, dies of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles. During her life she had been hospitalized more than 70 times. 1963—Profumo Denies Affair
In England, the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, denies any impropriety with showgirl Christine Keeler and threatens to sue anyone repeating the allegations. The accusations involve not just infidelity, but the possibility acquaintances of Keeler might be trying to ply Profumo for nuclear secrets. In June, Profumo finally resigns from the government after confessing his sexual involvement with Keeler and admitting he lied to parliament. 1978—Karl Wallenda Falls to His Death
World famous German daredevil and high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, founder of the acrobatic troupe The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death attempting to walk on a cable strung between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Wallenda is seventy-three years old at the time, but it is a 30 mph wind, rather than age, that is generally blamed for sending him from the wire. 2006—Swedish Spy Stig Wennerstrom Dies
Swedish air force colonel Stig Wennerström, who had been convicted in the 1970s of passing Swedish, U.S. and NATO secrets to the Soviet Union over the course of fifteen years, dies in an old age home at the age of ninety-nine. The Wennerström affair, as some called it, was at the time one of the biggest scandals of the Cold War. 1963—Alcatraz Closes
The federal penitentiary located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay closes. The island had been home to a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison over the years. In 1972, it would become a national recreation area open to tourists, and it would receive national landmark designations in 1976 and 1986.
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