Sunday, May 28, 2023

Paperback 1066: Anton York, Immortal / Eando Binder (Belmont B50-627)

Paperback 1066: Belmont B50-627 (1st ptg, 1965)

Title: Anton York, Immortal
Author: Eando Binder (pseud. of Otto Binder)
Cover artist: Uncredited

Condition :7/10
Value: $5-10

Best things about this cover:
  • When your space nurse comes to give you your space shot ...
  • Look out, space Indiana Jones! The space boulder! Behind you!
  • Anton York, Lord of the Sparkle Wands!
  • I love how everyone who designed anything in the '60s was high as fuck
  • If "Eando Binder" seems an improbable name, get this: even more improbably, it was the pseudonym of two entirely different Binders: Earl Binder (born Hungary, 1904) and Otto Binder (born Michigan, 1911). Today, Otto's our guy.
Best things about this back cover:
  • This is the future version of that Uncle Sam poster: "I Want You ... to be Immortal"
  • OK, this is just the round part of the front cover art, boo, seen it, boo!
  • What the hell is a "man of tomorrow"? When are "the dim future ages"? Why must this "man-made God" die? I guess I could read the book, but somehow the continuing adventures of Anton York, Space Dork are not tempting me
Page 123~

He was the living zombie of the hypno-beast.

If that's not the opening line of a '60s psychedelic rock song (or a '60s novelty song), I don't know what is

~RP

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Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Paperback 1065: Move Over, Darling / Marvin H. Albert (Dell 5859)

Paperback 1065: Dell 5859 (PBO, 1963)

Title: Move Over, Darling
Author: Marvin H. Albert
Cover artist: TERPNING (no, really) [Howard Terpning—thanks to reader Jeff for the reference]

Condition: 7/10
Value: $8-10


Best things about this cover:
  • Look, Doris Day's hair stylists did her no favors for a good chunk of the '60s but she is never not adorable and frankly that outfit is straight-up hot. I mean, your tastes may not run to the prim and purple, but that's your problem.
  • James Garner, also the dreamiest, but this cover isn't really designed to showcase that.
  • I hate how '60s paperback covers tend to emphasize text and often drive the art right off the page, but this cover has a nice, whimsical font, and frankly the artist gets a lot out of small details (DD's smile, her contemplative hand gesture, her dangly right shoe...)
  • I love this idea that in the '60s, it was every guy's dream to have not one but two wives. "What a setup!" This runs contrary to most wife-related comedy I've heard over the years. Something about taking wives... please.

Best things about this back cover:
  • See, text. It's awful.
  • This is basically the plot of My Favorite Wife (Grant/Dunne, 1940). Since that is one of my favorite movies of all time, and since I have a crush on both of the actors on the cover of this book, I'm willing to give this movie a shot.
  • See, TERPNING, I wasn't kidding. That's the cover artist's name. Not sure how that's a real name, but ... there it is! As I understand it, TERP is short for "terrapin," a kind of turtle. I would see a turtle-horror film called "The Terpning"!
Page 123~
"I was very excited by the island vegetation. I'm afraid I spent so much time on research that I was not very good company for your wife."
Heyyyyy, this *is* the plot of My Favorite Wife!!! Nick's first wife, Ellen, is shipwrecked for years on an island with a Johnny Weissmuller-type hunk (Adam) as her only companion. In order to keep Nick from getting jealous, she tries to pass off some ordinary-looking shoe clerk as Adam. Misunderstanding, tomfoolery, and hijinks ensue. Annnnyway, Move Over, Darling appears to be a faithful remake of My Favorite Wife, so now I'm definitely going to see it. Possibly right now. 

~RP

P.S. OMG the entire movie is summarized in just four pages of photo stills from the movie (please enjoy my leering marginal illustration):





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