Friday, June 17, 2016

Paperback 951: Skin and Bones / Thorne Smith (Pocket Books 490)

Paperback 951: Pocket Books 490 (3rd ptg, 1948)

Title: Skin and Bones
Author: Thorne Smith
Cover artist (and illus.): [Herbert Roese]

Estimated value: $not a lot
Condition: 3/10

PB490
Best things about this cover:
  • Dang. I'm sure there's an innocent enough explanation for whatever is happening here, but for a late '40s cover, this is pretty ... saucy. It's like she's looking over her shoulder going, "Well, get on with it, then..." and he's trying to figure out how one removes these bloody stocking contraptions.
  • I love that when I was tagging this post, the category of "all fours" already existed.
  • Thorne Smith was a very big deal in the mid-century "humor" game.

PB490bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Frankly, this sounds amazing.
  • "Hoarse, gamy laughter" is what I just emitted upon reading that phrase.
  • I never noticed that the kangaroo, in this incarnation of the Pocket Books logo, kinda looks like he (!?) has a giant book erection.

Page 123~

"Sure," said the drunken mortician, growing a little tired of the Rev. Watts.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

1 comment:

Pete said...

While I sympathize with Q. Blandy McBland about the trouble with getting stockings off, I have to wonder - Why bother in this case? Decorum doesn't seem to be an issue, nor does foreplay.