Saturday, June 27, 2015

Paperback 895: Flame / Joan Ellis (Midwood 61)

Paperback 895: Midwood 61 (PBO, 1960)

Title: Flame
Author: Joan Ellis
Cover artist: [Paul Rader]

Estimated value: $17-20

Mid61
Best things about this cover:
  • I don't know what you're about to do with the cigarette, lady, but please stop.
  • She looks like if Lauren Bacall and Satan had a baby.
  • I am on fire with burning ambition and a smouldering need for CHAIR.
  • Font!
  • Heels!
  • Scare quotes!
  • This book is, like, the reddest thing I own.
  • I don't know if this is a Paul Rader cover, but it feels that way, so ... partial credit!

Mid61bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • HA ha, more scare quotes for all things "school"-related. We get it. It's a racket.
  • They're pushing this "FLAME" motif a little hard.
  • No cooked facts! Only raw! This is "Talent School," ladies!
  • If not a band, Hardened Harlots is at least a roller derby team name.

Page 123~

"Let 'em get all hot and bothered. Do 'em good," he insisted, sliding her robe into a heap on the floor, and then the bikini pajamas she wore underneath.

Google image search of "bikini pajamas" yields mostly ... well, neither bikinis nor pajamas. Is "bikini pajamas" what hep cats used to call "underwear"?

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

1 comment:

DemetriosX said...

She looks a lot like the way they're drawing Abby Spencer-Driver in Judge Parker these days.

I'm not too sure about the way they rotated the cover image for the back cover. It looks like the chair is tipping over and spilling her out, but she's paralyzed or just really good at holding a pose. I suppose they did it to get her feet out of the way of the text, but it's not well done.