| Femmes Fatales | Aug 1 2023 |
We showed these photos of U.S. actress Joan Vohs to PI-1 and PI-2—aka the Pulp Intl. girlfriends—and they were like, “What the hell is going on with that woman's boobs?” They're of the opinion that bras must have been designed by men. It's actually a French woman who gets credit for the first modern bra, but by the time mid-century fashion was in full swing we wouldn't be surprised if men had major input and/or final control. After all, the torpedo or bullet bra must have come from a man's brain, right? It must have.
This disaster of a bra Vohs is wearing is inexplicable. We won't even try to understand. We like to think her pain and humiliation were somewhat lessened by an excellent show business career. Her best known movies are probably 1954's Cry Venegance and Sabrina, but she was constantly employed from 1949 to 1969, which is no easy feat. Possibly, she had some custom bras made with her earnings. That's what we would've done. Wanna see an astounding example of a torpedo bra? Check here, but be careful, kid—you could put an eye out.
| Vintage Pulp | Jun 8 2014 |
We’ve featured Pic magazine only once before, but not because it was an unimportant publication. Quite the opposite—we’ve seen issues as early as 1936 and as late as 1958, making it both a Depression and World War II survivor, presumably no easy feat and certainly a run indicative of sustained popularity. Early issues seemed focused on sports, but it soon broadened to include celebrities. It was launched by Wagner Publications of New York City, and this issue appeared in June 1952 with a cover featuring actress Suzan Ball placing a crown on the head of Akton Miller, a man Pic had chosen as its Hot Rod King. Inside you get a raft of Hollywood stars, including photos of Yvonne De Carlo in Uruguay, Marilyn Monroe, Janet Leigh, and Joan Vohs, shots of New York Giants manager Leo Durocher and his beautiful actress wife Laraine Day, and some nice boxing pictures. There’s also an interesting feature on the day’s top vocalists (with African-Americans notably excluded), and a profile of crooner Tony Bennett.
It was then that her train to stardom jumped the tracks. She injured her leg performing a dance number in East of Sumatra, and later in the year had a car accident and hurt the leg again. Treatment for those two injuries led to the discovery of a cancerous tumor. Soon afterward she fell and broke the limb, and when doctors decided they couldn’t remove the tumor they instead took the entire the leg. That was in January 1954. Ball soldiered on in her show business career with an artificial leg, starring in Chief Crazy Horse, though she lost fifteen pounds during the production, and later playing nightclub dates and appearing on television shows. In July 1955 she collapsed while rehearsing for the show Climax, whereupon doctors discovered the cancer had metastasized and spread to her lungs. A month later she died at age twenty-one. We have about fifty scans below.
| Femmes Fatales | Dec 31 2010 |
Below are eighteen timeless Hollywood leading ladies, some well-known, some less so, but all gleamingly beautiful. They are, top to bottom, Mari Blanchard, Carmen Phillips, Grace Kelly, Jane Adams, Joan Vohs, Martha Hyer, Laurette Luez, Tippi Hedren, Marguerite Chapman, Janet Leigh, Venetia Stevenson, Annabella, Muriel Barr, Lana Turner, Kim Novak, Paula Drew, Ann-Margret, and Vera Miles. Happy New Year.
