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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4 comments:
Yep, that would be Terpning, Howard Terpning--still alive at age 95.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Terpning
Cheers,
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff
The placement of the line breaks and the justification of the back cover text make it look like it's supposed to be poetry. Really, really bad blank verse, I guess.
First of all, delighted to see you back!
Second, yes, this is a straight up official remake of His Favorite Wife. In fact this was the second attempt to remake it in the early 60s; the first was the ill-fated Something’s Got To Give, the unfinished last movie of Marilyn Monroe. (Those often-seen photos of Marilyn in a backyard swimming pool are from that movie.)
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