Femmes Fatales | Jun 27 2022 |
Above you see U.S. actress Joan Delaney in a promo image made for the 1967 film The President's Analyst. The movie deals with the president's shrink getting fed up and running away, leading to foreign spy agencies attempting to capture him and harvest his valuable knowledge. It's a clever premise. James Coburn plays the analyst, and Delaney plays his sweet girlfriend—until she isn't sweet anymore. It was her first role, one of only five film appearances she made, along with a sprinkling of television credits.
Hollywoodland | May 22 2021 |
And finally, Laurence Harvey dares to lay hands on the perfect Kim Novak in Of Human Bondage.
Femmes Fatales | Nov 26 2019 |
Vintage Pulp | Oct 23 2019 |
Hollywoodland | Oct 14 2017 |
We're back to National Spotlite with a cover published today in 1968. The photo is of actress Carolyn Haynes, and a headline goes to actress Caroline Lee, who says she makes men crawl for her sexual favors. The money quote: “If women use their bodies the right way they can be the most powerful people on Earth.” A quote like that sounds suspiciously like it was fabricated by a man, and in fact while several Caroline Lees appear on IMDB, none fit the profile required to have done this interview—i.e. born sometime in the 1940s or possibly in 1950. National Spotlite is busted again. The editors simply could never have imagined a globally accessible actor database. We also did a search on Haynes and likewise learned she never existed
But some of the celebs are real. In Spotlite's “Dateline: The World” feature readers are treated to a photo of Chris Noel. It's been a long time since we've seen her—eight years to be exact. Spotlite tells us she smashed a vase over the head of a nightclub employee when he tried to force his way into her dressing room in Sydney one night. “The man attempted to romance her but she spurned every overture he made. When he tried to use violence to get his way she spilt open his skull.” We found no mention of the incident in any other source, but we like the story for how it turns out. If her assailant had known anything at all about Chris Noel he'd have rememberd her publicity tours of Vietnam and realized she was one tough celeb.
“Dateline: The World” next regales readers with a tale out of Africa. "Cary Grant arrived in Nairobi to join a hunting safari and has been escorting two six-foot dark-skinned native girls to whatever cafes in town they can get into, and has caused quite a bit of controversy by doing so. Grant traded punches with a man in one spot when the gent took offense at Cary's dates. Cary flattened the man, but the stranger rose to his feet flashing a knife and only the quick efforts of the bartender and cafe owner averted further trouble for the star. Cary and the girls fled while the others were subduing the knife wielder."
Paris: "Juliette Prowse was detained the other night after she threw a make-up case through the window of a drug store. She had purchased some cosmetics at the American Drug on the Champs-Élysées, but brought the order back the same night. She claimed that she'd made a mistake and didn't need the cosmetics. The salesman explained that he would exchange the merchandise or give Prowse credit, but no cash refund. Juliette roared out of the place. Outside she hurled her make-up case through the store's front window. Two policemen saw her smash the window and nabbed her on the spot."
Beirut: "David Niven and wife Hjordis ran into an embarrassing situation in a night spot while making the cafe rounds in this Lebanese city. A belly dancer took such a fancy to David that she did her act for him alone. She even sat on his lap. The patrons objected to her performing for just one man and began to throw things at her and at Niven. David and Hjordis ran for the exits after he pushed the girl off his lap."
Capri: "Noel Coward is nursing bruises on his face. He says he was attacked by two young men while he was out strolling one night. The muggers made off with a pair of cuff links given to him by Raquel Welch and a watch from Greta Garbo. Coward was found half-conscious and bleeding."
You get the gist—celebs in trouble. Back during the heyday of tabloids Confidential had bellhops, bartenders, chauffeurs, maîtres d'hôtel, and cops by the hundreds phoning in hot tips, but Spotlite was never more than a second tier rag and could not have had the resources to uncover the above stories. Therefore the editors either made them up or lifted them from other tabloids. We suspect the latter—with the stories ginned up for entertainment value. Cary Grant in Nairobi with two Kenyan escorts? We'll buy it. Grant risking his million dollar mug in a fistfight? Improbable. But the stories sure are fun. See more from National Spotlite by clicking here.
Femmes Fatales | Jun 11 2017 |
Elvire Audray was one of the more faces famous in 1980s Italian b-cinema, appearing films such as Lys, Nosferatu a Venezia, and the cannibal movie White Slave, which we discussed a while back. Here she gets her day off to a good start in a few photos made around 1985.
Femmes Fatales | May 1 2015 |
Raffaella Carrà is famous enough today to be known in many countries as simply la Carrà, and in Latin America as merely Raffaella. The above photo shows her pre-superstardom, when she was an up-and-coming actress and singer in her native Italy. Back then she was big in sword & sandal epics, among them 1961’s Atlas Against the Cyclops, and 1962’s Ulysses Against Hercules and Caesar the Conqueror. The photo comes from a British magazine called King and it dates from 1968
Vintage Pulp | Nov 17 2011 |
When we first saw this poster for 1971’s The Godson, we were of course struck by its brutal nature. Then our realty filter kicked in and we realized that, though the art is a photo-illustration, an actress (Orita de Chadwick) probably wouldn’t sign up for that kind of abuse. Thankfully, our assumption was confirmed. The film frame used on the poster has been slightly but crucially altered to achieve a more violent effect. The reasons why an instance of sexual violence would be made to look even worse on a promo poster raises some disturbing marketing-related questions, but we’ll leave those for another time.
Moving on to the actual film, The Godson is just a sexploitation flick with bad direction (William Rotsler), bad scripting (William Rotsler), bad editing (William Rotsler), and astoundingly bad acting (everyone). It’s the story of an ambitious mafia thug played by Jason Yukon trying to succeed in his godfather’s organization, and it all goes wrong in the end and everyone dies. Is that giving away too much? Well, at least we saved you 90 minutes. We'll say this much for Rotsler, though—he did nothing halfway, as a visit to his website will illustrate.
Perhaps we should note that Uschi Digard and the awesomely beautiful Lois Mitchell appear in this film, super hot Debbie McGuire from Black Starlet and Supervixens gets a bit of screen time, and legendary sci-fi writer and firebrand Harlan Ellison pops up briefly (copping a feel of Mitchell, just below). Also, some of the film was shot at Ellison's bachelor pad. Does any of that make it worth watching? No. Besides, why bother when we've uploaded all the best parts for you? The Godson premiered in Japan today in 1972.
Vintage Pulp | Jul 29 2011 |
Below, a July 1939 issue of the American cinema magazine Film Fun, with cover art by Enoch Bolles and interior images of Sylvia Sidney, Lya Lys, Paulette Goddard, and many others. Click keywords “Film Fun” at the bottom of the post to see more.
Vintage Pulp | Jan 11 2011 |
Above we have the cover and a few interior pages from an October 1950 issue of Neue Wiener Melange, which is a German celeb and erotic magazine that takes its name from the phrase “Viennese blend”, a type of coffee with milk. We have to admit, the contents are a bit stimulating. You get some deft art, some demure studio nudes, and Austrian actress Vera Molnar, who starred in 1951’s A Tale of Five Cities and 1954’s Ulysses, the latter with Kirk Douglas. We have another of these and if we don’t have a lazy day we’ll scan the whole thing and post it.