High Sierra by W.R. Burnett
Actually got some work done this summer.
Came across a treasure trove of collectable books at an estate sale in June. Lots of naughty gossip books. Dishy star bios. A few first editions. . . .and this beauty. Don’t know if this was ever read. Barely any shelf wear. High Sierra was the second novel of W.R. Burnett’s to be made three times*. Besides the idolized Huston/Bogart version, High Sierra was made into a western in 1949, Colorado Territory . Jack Palance and Shelley Winters starred in the darker and grittier I Died a Thousand Times in 1955. The third version also ups the sleaze factor with gang boy performances by Lee Marvin, Earl Holliman and Dennis Hopper. More on this film, like later, since it is in my poster stash.
The Original, first edition of this novel in Primo condition (published by Alfred. A. Knopt in 1940) sells for several hundred bucks. This version looks very similar, but it is published by Sun Dial Press in 1943. And it is so much cheaper.
Condition:
Fine in Very Fine jacket. First edition thus. Book is fine, no markings or bookplates. The dust jakcet if very good plus to near fine. Exceptional in this condition..
Please email editor@morenoirposters.com for price information
*Iron Man was filmed three times.
The Big Heat, Half Sheet
No matter what the role — gang moll, vapid sexpot, drunken whore, pill-popping nympho, man-crazed slut, enlightened hooker, gun-slinging adulterous wacko — Gloria Grahame managed to give her characters real heat. Few could hold a candle to her on the big screen.
But her private life was en feugo. The real life antics of Britney Spears, Madonna, and Michael Jackson have nothing on this Noir Super vixen. Multiple marriages, affairs and botched plastic surgeries aside, few scandals can top the star’s affair with her then 13-year-old stepson with Nicholas Ray (Director of Rebel Without a Cause, In a Lonely Place, Johnny Guitar. To top it off, she married him 7 years later when she was 37 and the marriage produced two more children. Her career took a dive and never recovered. If it were 2010, she’d probably
Gloria Grahame
knock the Kardashians off the covers of all the mags with a three picture deal and executive producing credits to boot.
Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin’s boiling coffee scene in The Big Heat remains one of the most famous in noir history. As a kid it made quite an impression on me. But something else made an even bigger impression on me. Later in the film, Gloria went out for revenge packing heat and wearing a full length mink. Now that’s killer style.
CONDITION: Mint. Never used. White background. No Fading. No pinholes. Not Folded. Kept in archival sleeves.
