Soylent Green, Paperback
Vintage Paperback
For those of you of a certain age, Charlton Heston was the uber anti-hero of the 1970′s. You could always count on the scantily clad Heston kept the world safe from creepy apes, natural disasters, and various plane and submarine malfunctions. Prior to this, of course, Heston served as a model/actor for largely inaccurate religious soap docudramas in the 50′s and early 60′s.
Some hail the Ten Commandments as Heston’s career pinnacle; still others, Ben Hur or the Planet of the Apes series. But, for me Soylent Green wins out on sheer sophistication, cheap creeps, and eerie prophetic moments.
Edward G. Robinson the old scamp, actually manipulated Heston into a good performance in this film. Soylent Green was to be Robinson’s 109th and final film and he knew it. The movies were his life and there was no way he was going to let ANYTHING screw up his denouement. Fittingly, Robinson’s last big scene was a deathbed scene in which he reminisces about the way the world used to be and what was to become of it in the future. Prior to filming, Robinson shared with his old Ten Commandments comrade that he was dying of cancer. When the scene was filmed Heston could barely contain his shaking sobs. Viola! Movie magic at it’s best.
Read this book, watch the movie (if you can find it) and see why this is still considered after 30 years a sci fi great — and not for the kiddies.
Condition: Good. Light tanning. Reading copy.
In 1920 women got the right to vote. Some states allowed women to vote prior to that, but that year it became a right. All hell broke loose. Literally. Women’s literature once so full of tragic romance and noble nurses became downright salacious. Vina Delmar, aka Alvina Croter, was the Jacqueline Susanne of the 1920′s. Her books were scandalous. Bad Girl was the fifth best selling novel of 1928. Here’s a really notorious passage after Dot “surpasses Eddie’s expectations”:
Bad Girl, Avon 81
“I wish everybody didn’t think it was wrong,” said Dot, …
“I guess other people have wished that.” He sighed heavily.
“Don’t you suppose,” Dot asked, “that somewhere there are nice people who would think it was all right?”
“Maybe in France,” Eddie replied, doubtfully. “Even the high-toned people over there are kind of loose, I’ve heard.”
Oh those saucy French. Coquette* is french for ____t, oui? You see in the 1920′s American ladies could read about being bad, but if they actually were bad (aka “surpassing expectations”) the choices dwindled to a quickie marriage or moving to a place where they were unknown. Swell.
In Bad Girl, Dot lucks out in a 1920′s universe. In century 21, we may be left scratching our heads by the time we get to the last page. eeeek!
The next generation of literature’s bad girls, the femme fatales, would be spared this type of conundrum. Until then Vina Delmar would continue to titillate the intrepid trendsetters of the late twenties with Loose Ladies, Kept Woman, and Dance Hall, until she hit pay dirt with her screenplay The Awful Truth in 1938.
Condition
Good to Very Good. Bad Girl by Vina DelMar. Avon 81. 1946. Assumed First printing. Light wear on cover. Tight binding. Light tanning.
*ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: French, feminine of coquet ‘wanton,’ diminutive of coq ‘cock.’
Death Is Like That by John Spain
I truly believe that trash is an art form. But how do you know if what you have is collectable trash or just junk?
Referencing his seminal work Magnificent Obsession, the Director Douglas Sirk explained la difference:
“..There is a very short difference between high art and trash, and trash that contains the element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art.”
. . .Hence Jeff Koons.
This week I’d like to present one of the masters of trash art — Rudolph Belarski.
Belarski’s covers glow and simmer with color, intensity and a touch of the bizarre. Usually the action radiates outward from a specific point on the girls “fleshy” torso–a Belarski girl NEVER wears a bra. Men are so obvious sometimes.
