Sunday, September 6, 2009

Paperback 288: Bianca in Black / Elizabeth Sax Rohmer (Airmont M3)

Paperback 288: Airmont Books M3 (1st ptg, 1962)

Title: Bianca in Black
Author: Elizabeth Sax Rohmer
Cover artist: uncredited

Yours for: not for sale (gift of Doug Peterson)


Best things about this cover:
  • First of all, if the cover is to be believed, then the bride wore navy. Second, it appears the bride also wore a wig the color of pink lemonade.
  • If Elisabeth Sanxay Holding and Sax Rohmer and Cornell Woolrich wrote a book together, it would be this book. In fact, I'm not convinced "Elizabeth Sax Rohmer" is a real person. Who gives his first name to his daughter as a middle name? Elisabeth Sanxay Holding was very big at the time this pb was published, and many of her book covers have this rain-streaked, pseudo-gothic look to them. Cornell Woolrich wrote "The Bride Wore Black," a great revenge story (though his greatest was probably Rendezvous in Black, one of my favoritest works of crime fiction of all time).
  • "Bianca" means "white" in Italian. Cute.
  • God, her neck is a hot mess. Looks like a colorful, irregular UPC (i.e. barcode).
  • Doug Peterson gave me a bunch of campy old paperbacks when I saw him at a recent crossword tournament I attended. I'll be showcasing them all week. This is the first of four.

Best things about this back cover:
  • Now they're just patently, blatantly, shamelessly ripping off Cornell Woolrich (who wrote "The Bride Wore Black")
  • "Internationally famous mannequin"!? More famous than that chick from the movie "Mannequin?"
  • I wish the front cover had more "daring black swimsuit" and less "startling red-gold hair."

Page 123~

"Normally, Natalie has a very good brain."

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

9 comments:

DemetriosX said...

Well, Sax wasn't even really his name. I don't know if it was a nickname or a pen name or what. Near as I can tell, the only other thing she ever wrote was as the co-author of a biography of her father.

There is so much wrong with the woman, it's hard to say where to begin. Her neck is way too long and straight. Almost like her head is connected to her body by a thick wooden dowel. Her lipstick clashes with her hair.

It could be that the blue color of her dress is the result of a bad printing process or maybe fading. That could explain the other colors, too. I also think she looks rather like Catherine Schell (or possibly my high school German teacher).

Tulse said...

I'm confused -- did Bruce marry her almost immediately after she had been widowed for a second time? Did he leave a decent interval before proposing? What the heck is the timeline here?

JamiSings said...

Not only is she more famous then the chick from "Mannequin" she's even twice as famous as the chick from "Mannequin 2: On The Move."

Unknown said...

I'm not following here... She's gets up from an altar ... wearing a cape ... with a swimsuit underneath. Is she at wedding no. 3, which is also a pool party? Is it a Goth/black mass themed bikini fashion parade? Does the cape imply some sort of hobbit/vampire connection? What's going on?

Unknown said...

I read the last line of the blurb as "-waiting with a gift of sudden, violet death...", and I couldn't help but think that it would go nicely with her hyper-pink hair.

Schatzi said...

If you ignore the mood lipstick, she's seriously hot. But then, I'm a sucker for that color of hair and the dramatic eye makeup.

Unknown said...

I think that Elizabeth Sax Rohmer was Sax Rohmer's wife.

Victoria said...

Who gives his first name to his daughter as a middle name? Murder victim Andrew Borden, who named his daughter/probable murderer Lizzie Andrew Borden.

Who gives his first name to his daughter as a FIRST name? Barack Obama's grandfather, Stanley Armour Dunham, who named his daughter/Barack Obama's future mother Stanley Ann Dunham.

Victoria said...

It says on the book that Elizabeth Sax Rohmer was Sax Rohmer's daughter.