Pulp International - Marilyn+Maxwell

Jul 17 2021

Ready, aim, when the concession manager bends over we all nail him in the ass.

Today in 1955 the soon-to-be global tourist attraction Disneyland debuted to 28,000 invited guests, media, and assorted celebrities on hand to lend a bit of glitz to the kitsch. Stars who were present included Eddie Fisher, who hosted the festivities, Debbie Reynolds, Danny Thomas, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Art Linkletter, Irene Dunne, Jeff Chandler, Eve Arden, Marilyn Maxwell, George Gobel, Margaret Whiting, Gale Storm, Charlton Heston, and many more. The above photo shows, left to right, Adelle August, Steve Rowland, and Kathleen Case enjoying the air rifle attraction, and Case in particular must have been a hell of a shot, firing away from the hard-to-master seated position. No word on whether any of the trio won a prize, but we doubt it. On the other hand, considering the congestion and the mess 28,000 people can make maybe the prize was being allowed to the front of every line and having a celebrity potty watched over by a furry mascot wielding a mop and bucket. We aren't sure how long Case and Co. hung around—it was 101 degrees Fahrenheit that day and the water fountains weren't functioning—but it looks like they went above and beyond the call of publicity. If we had to guess, though, we'd say they left immediately after Case felt the monkey's warm anus on her bare shoulder.

Hollywoodland

Sep 6 2018

Mess with the tiger and you get the claws.

Ever have a really bad idea? We all have. At Pulp. Intl. we have them several times a week. But sometimes a really bad idea turns into a really bad reality, and when the realization hits that trouble has manifested in the physical world and is about to land on you with all its weight, time slows to a crawl and there's a long moment inside your head when your inner voice goes, “Ohhhhh noooooo.” U.S. actress Marilyn Maxwell is experiencing that in the photo at top, which was published in an issue of Life magazine today in 1954. Just look at the close-up her face below. That's an oh-no face if ever there was one.

Why she made that face is a story exactly along the lines you'd expect from seeing the first photo. Maxwell was booked at the Last Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, where someone had the idea for her to perform with a tiger. The show was a flop because the tiger, whose name was Britches, refused to move. Turns out he had been fed sixteen pounds of horse meat earlier and wasn't feeling very spry. He'd been given the meal so he'd be tired, thus pliant, but it backfired—he was immobile. Note to Maxwell: when your co-star needs a wheelbarrow of raw meat to be safe enough to work with you're caught in the middle of a really bad idea.

The next day Life magazine wanted to stage a photo op—Maxwell was to swim with the tiger. But Britches didn't want to get in the pool. Maybe he was holding a grudge from being relentlessly poked and prodded the night before. Maybe he just didn't like pools. He was forcibly dragged into the water, at which point he thrashed and fretted—and clawed Maxwell on the foot. She actually escaped with only a minor gash, but Life played up the incident as though she'd almost died. And maybe in a sense the magazine was right. That same claw could have caught her in the face or eye and we'd be telling a totally different story today.

Below we have a couple more photos of Maxwell's pool misadventure, and we also have a few photos of poor Britches being dragged across the Last Frontier stage by his neck when all he wants to do is digest his horse. Britches, though blameless, could have ended up in serious trouble for his clawing of Maxwell, but he was considered valuable, which means he didn't end up a rug splayed in front of Hugh Hefner's fireplace. Instead he was relieved of his showbiz duties. Maxwell commented to the Hollywood press, “We’re sending him back to his compound in Thousand Oaks. He’s stealing the show.”

Las Vegas Thousand Oaks Last Frontier Hotel Marilyn Maxwell

Vintage Pulp

Jan 10 2013

She won’t quit till she’s a star on Broadway.

This issue of The National Police Gazette published this month in 1947 has a really nice cover starring a beaming Jean Palmer, billed here as a beautiful and promising songstress making her Broadway debut. We found nothing on her, so it’s possible that debut was a flop. Then again, it’s equally possible she took the Great White Way by storm. Since she was a Broadway performer, we bet there’s at least some info about her in New York City, but if it hasn’t been put online that info might as well be on the dark side of the Moon. We live in a state of semi-reality, all of us on our computers, with access only to what has been uploaded into the continuum. Anyway, if we ever run across any Palmer info, we’ll be sure to share it. The Gazette is filled with other personalities whose existence we were able to confirm, such as wrestler Mildred Burke, 1946 Mrs. America Beauty Pageant co-winners Connie Spradlin and Kay Kiefer, famed model/socialite Gregg Sherwood, and actresses Marilyn Maxwell, Angela Green, Mary Meade, and Marion Davis. All of those pages are below, along with a few others of interest. And to see our entire collection of Gazette covers and interiors, which is the most extensive on the internet, click its keyword at the bottom of this post.

Police Gazette Gregg Sherwood Mildred Burke Marilyn Maxwell Angela Green Mary Meade Marion Davis Connie Spradlin Kay Kiefer Jean Palmer tabloid