Saturday, May 31, 2014

Paperback 782: Hearse Class Male / Frank Kane (Dell 3528)

Paperback 782: Dell 3528 (PBO, 1963)

Title: Hearse Class Male
Author: Frank Kane
Cover artist: Ron Lesser

Yours for: $7

Dell3528

Best things about this cover:
  • "No 'intimate touch' til you take those drapes off, kid. You look nuts."
  • "Johnny, I'll do anything—" "Don't bother me, kid. Can't you see I'm smoking? Why don't you go dress up like Mrs. Claus and wait for me, alright?"
  • I believe this to be the only paperback I own with a mystery torero on the cover.
  • I am very pro- the little "Johnny Liddell" man icon. I strike that pose as often as possible.


Dell3528bc

Best things about this back cover:
  • "An expert in his field—modernist poetry, surprisingly."
  • Whole lotta nothing here.
  • Lopez looks really weird in the possessive.

Page 123~

The fat man nodded complacently. "Agreed, sir."

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

3 comments:

Karl said...

I think she meant to say "You know -- the personal touch," since "You know -- the intimate touch" is not a thing that any human being anywhere on this planet has ever said, ever. (And a google search proves it!)

Also, isn't it a rule with puns that they sound like some common phrase, and also make some kind of sense in their own right? I'm afraid "Hearse Class Male" kind of fails clause #1, and totally fails clause #2

DemetriosX said...

The torero is actually not that hard to explain. Bullfighting kitsch was sort of in in the early 60s. Probably through the last swan song of Tijuana respectability and border TV broadcasts. Think Herb Alpert and black velvet paintings.

I'm bothered by the lighting on her hair. It's much too strong.

@Karl
I think the pun does fit your point 1. First class mail was still a thing when this was published. Your point 2 stands, though.

Anonymous said...

Considering how ubiquitous he is on these old paperbacks, I'd suggest adding "Steve Holland sighting!" to your list of recurring motifs like "fear hand" and "side boob".

Pretty nice cover, this one. One of Lesser's best in his faux-McGinnis mode.