Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The P. Morrison Donations #10: Tickets for Death / Brett Halliday (Dell 8884)

The P. Morrison Donations #10

Dell 8884 (1st ptg, 1965)

Title: Tickets for Death
Author: Brett Halliday
Cover artist: Robert McGinnis


Dell8884.TixDeath

Best things about this cover:
  • "Tickets for Death ... I mean Raffle! Tickets for Raffle. Forget what I said about Death. We are raffling off this lovely couch. You like?"
  • When throw pillows attack!
  • What is that amorphous green splotch in the right foreground? Another throw pillow (suspended in mid-air)? A very very puffy ottoman? The back of a man who is doubled-over and heaving on the carpet (head toward the center, out of frame)?
  • I love how she was clearly painted nude and then some purple came along and hopped on as a kind of afterthought. It's a rare evening gown that allows you to see every contour of the navel area.


Dell8884bc.TixDeath
Best things about this back cover:
  • So is that MAME or MAMIE, pronunciation-wise?
  • "This racket, she is encrusted with diamonds and rubies. You like?"
  • "But with a girl like Mayme, you just want her to shut the hell up and do the sex."

Page 123~

His belly shivered gently, like a protuberant bowl of jelly, each time he breathed.

A nice hard-boiled riff on "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

4 comments:

Random White Guy said...

OMG, that's my mother's couch! That's not my mother, but that's definitely her couch.

DemetriosX said...

I'm pretty sure that's exactly the same woman as on Blood on the Stars. She sure likes dangly earrings.

A said...

McGinnis sure knew how to make unappealing covers.

Love the
Twas the Night Before Christmas' reference. Now we know what Santa is up to the other 364 days.

Deb said...

Susan Lucci--the early years.