Title: Professional Lover
Author: Maysie Greig
Cover artist: "Front cover photograph by Halleck (!?) Finley"
Condition: 6/10
Value: $4-7
[Another book from the recently acquired Larry D Collection]
Best things about this cover:
- I know it's a weird place to start, but her top is *amazing*. Zebra stampede!
- The perfect horizontal line from the top her head to the tip ofer her elbow, also amazing.
- I know "Making love to women is his job" sounds saucy, but it's 1948 so ... not so much (it just means he's a heartthrob movie star, sorry to disappoint).
- Dude is a dead ringer for Rock Hudson. I mean, if you ignore the rubberized hair piece, what the hell...
- I wonder how long they had to hold this pose. So much close breathing. Plus, his (giant!) hand looks like it's really working.
- The couch / wall color combo is particularly unappetizing.
Best things about this back cover:
- Dang, his lips are really going to town, maybe this will be hotter than I thought
- Rex Brandon, I buy. Starr Thayle, I buy less.
- Cover copy writers still using clunky phrases like "had been accorded," that's how you know you're still in the '40s. Although "crashing climax" and "flaming tale" (!!) show promise.
- Halleck? That's a fish, not a name.
Page 123~
All afternoon they had been taking and retaking a couple of scenes on the yacht. Rex couldn't get them to Stephen's satisfaction. Almost as though Stephen derived a grim satisfaction in making the great Rex Brandon go over and over a certain take.
I would love to have a funny take here, but once again the editor in me is like "Why are there two 'satisfaction's in here? Do you not hear the repetition? Does it not jar your eardrums?" Copywriter: "Well, if my writing is not to your satisf-" Me: "Stop." Copywriter: "It's just that satisf-" Me: "Say 'Satisfaction' Again, M*****F*****! I dare you."
~RP
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4 comments:
I first read her name as Starr Temple, which is an even worst name.
I didn't realize this was a photograph at first. Old Halleck went to a lot of trouble to get these people posed just right. The line of her face and arm, as you note, but also the fall of her hair.
I see Rock Hudson, but also Elvis (who would be way too young at this point). Heck, it could be Hudson. His first movie role was in 48; he could have been doing modelling work to make some cash. As for his hair, this is a guy who decided that if a little dab'll do him, half the tube would be better. He's got a week's worth of Brylcreem in there.
The airbrushing is so heavy-duty it looks as though the Brylcreem is smeared all over the lens.
For a moment there, I thought the critters on her blouse were Tigger and Eeyore — which, you've got to admit, would make even more sense than a herd of zebras.
Starr Temple could get work as Starr Temple, for sure. What kind of work, I'll leave to your imagination.
Elvis? Sure, OK.
Her right hand ... what must that hair feel like!?
~RP
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