Vixen Books of the 1950s. Vintage Sleaze from Greenwich Village and Gil Fox. (en excerpt from Times Square Smut by Jim Linderman)

Vixen Press founder Gilbert (Gil) Fox was a Greenwich Village denizen. Mr. Fox had quite a circle of friends. Perhaps no one has paid attention to the Vixen books because they are hardbacks, and the only hardcovers here. Most of the vintage sleaze action is in lurid paperbacks, but this line of spicy stories certainly qualify.Though hardcovers, they are still cheap,tawdry and one hundred percent grade-A certified sleaze. They are also (when and if you can find them) quite affordable since no one cares. Al are now nearly 60 years old, and even harder to find in their book jackets. Gil Fox was one of the most prolific of sleaze writers. From his early books around 1950 to a massive output of Midwood books in the 1960s. He had pseudonyms such as Kim Savage, Peter Willow, Leda Starr, Kimberly Kemp, Dallas Mayo, Paul Russo, Violet Loring and more. Paperback book scholar Lynn Monroe interviewed Gil once, and I hope there are more chats coming. He certainly has stories to share. The interview is essential for any scholar interested in popular culture of the 1950s. Fox was born in 1917, served in the Air Force during the WW2 and married a female swinger whose swing went both ways. Next thing you know, he is living in Greenwich Village and itis 1950. At some point Gil met John Willie (real name was John Alexander Scott Coutts) who published the Bizarre series digests. Willie had his drawings published by Robert Harrison and is even rumored to have been responsible for asking Bettie Page to pose in bondage get-ups. Apocryphal tale, I think. Not long after meeting Willie, Gil Fox began writing his own books for Woodford Press. Fox also wrote for Stanley Malkan. Some time around 1953, Gil set up Vixen Press at 125 Christopher Street in New York City. 125 Christopher Street was also the location of the Alfred Hitchcock's film Rear Window(!) At least before they changed the address to 125 West the Street in the movie. There is an understanding in the film business that murder films use phony addresses for the same reason every big screen telephone number starts with 555.There is no 125 West 9th Street, but Gil's place still sits at 125 Christopher. Today apartments in the building rent for several thousand dollars a month and it remains a pre-war 6-story residential building. You can find real-estate listings online if you would like to relive the glory days of Greenwich Village... but it looks to me like they re-did the floors and I don't see any of Gil's ink stains.It is,however, nice to think of Gil typing while peering into same courtyard as James Stewart and Grace Kelly. Vixen Books was an apartment operation and an outlet for writers other than Gil. Barry Devlin, one of the most prolific Vixen writers, was selling work which was published as Beacon paperbacks at the same time. Another was the mysterious Justin Kent, the pseudonym of a writer who testified against mobster Edward Mishkin in an obscenity case. They apparently put out a book a month. They were likely distributed in the Times Square bookshops, but they were also distributed by Associated Booksellers in Westport, CT. and at least one other outside of the Tri- state area. Several of the copies here have stickers from "Capitol Book Store" in Indiana, so they got out to the Midwest too. No wonder New York City has a bad reputation. The cover price was $2.50. Each title, regardless of who receives credit for writing, has a hoity-toity quote from Shakespeare or an ancient learned philosopher following the title page, and each is dedicated to a dame or a couple. Hmmm. As you would imagine from the titles and covers, the Vixen line was not noted for fine literature. All the books were written as soft-core pornography. Limp-core. The characters drank and had torrid sexual adventures, even if they acted like soap opera scripts of the day. Remember, these were written in the early 1950s. Some have girl on girl action at a time it was most taboo. Plenty of lingerie too, and being taken off slowly. Some of the original Vixen titles were subsequently published as paperbacks with new titles. Moon-kissed by Barry Devlin came out under the title Forbidden Pleasures as a Berkley book. Kim Savage also had a paperback titled Helen's House published by Beacon. Mark Tryon's The Fire That Burns came out as a paperback with the byline "Girls who pose for anything" on the cover. It is more than possible others were republished in paper with entirely new titles and authors credited. For that matter, and for all I know, AL of them were written by Fox, but in particular I have seen a reference somewhere that Kim Savage was Gil Fox, though I am not sure. File under speculation. In the notes to Girls Lie Back Everywhere: The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius by Edward de Grazia (1972) one Vixen book (Sweeter Than Life by Mark Tryon) was called "the forerunner of the sex pulp novels so numerous in the sixties; It contained a prominent lesbian theme and it seems to have had no appreciable literary value. (The book) is described in some detail in Felice Flannery Lewis, Literature, Obscenity and Law (1976) 180-181." Fair enough. There WAS an obscenity case brought against Gil Fox...U.S vs. Gilbert Fox, Vixen Press et al, involving four of the titles. I am not sure the outcome, nor do I know if Mr. Fox spent any time in pokey. I certainly hope not. The list of Vixen books following is the first one compiled as far as I know. The sleeve they came wrapped in is worth as much as the book. Which reminds me..the jacket illustrations are credited to NJD, de Persis, Patrika, Don Rico, who follows, and sometimes nobody. (An excerpt from the book TIMES SQUARE SMUT by Jim Linderman available from Blurb.com Helena's House Kim Savage 1960 Madame Big Barry Devlin 1953 Chains of Silk Barry Devlin 1954 Golf Widow ? 1953 Boss Lady Rick Lucas 1954 No Holds Barred Barry Devlin Carnal Cargo Barry Devlin 1952 Baby Makes Three Kim Savage (Gil Fox?) 1953 Desolate Sands Michael Norday 1955 The Sinning Lens Mark Tryon 1953 Joanne Scott Stone 1955 Mask of Night Michael Norday 1954 Dreamboat Rick Lucas 1955 Lazylegs Kim Savage 1953 Gold-plated Sin Barry Devlin 1953 Fire and Ice Barry Devlin 1952 Complex Mother Rick Lucas 1955 Take tI Off! Mark Tryon 1953 Fast Curve Justin Kent 1953 Bent to Evil Kim Savage 1952 Weekend Kim Savage 1952 Rogues and Riches Rick Lucas 1954 Blaze Scott Stone 1954 Sweet and Twenty Don Morro 1955 The Fire that Burns Mark Tryon 1954 Devil's Web Scott Stone 1955 Other Loves Barry Devlin 1955 Countess Margo Scott Stone 1955 This Paris Barry Devlin 1955 Sweeter than Life Mark Tryon Acapulco Nocturne Barry Devlin 1952 Mavis Justin Kent 1953 Dark Magic Michael Norday 1954 Strange Journey Rick Lucas 1954 On with the Dance Michael Norday 1954 Gold-plated Sin Barry Devlin 1953 Lovers and Madmen Barry Devlin 1953 Hellion Kim Savage 1951 Moon-kissed Barry Devlin 1953

Dilmus Hall Yard Art Sculpture "The Drunkard"

Remnants of "The Devil and the Drunkard" in the yard of Georgia artist Dilmus Hall early 1990s. Original photo by Jim Linderman.

old time religion Jesus Saves from FIRE

old time religion Jesus Saves from FIRE.  Original photograph Jim Linderman.  Circa 1995.

Jim Linderman Profile in Ursula Magazine from Hauser and Wirth 2019

 
Excerpt and Film HERE  
By Cassie Packard
Photographs by Oresti Tsonopoulos   
Ursula Magazine from Hauser and Wirth

Basil Merrett Outsider Art The Religious Series c. 1950 Collection Jim Linderman

Basil Merrett Outsider Art The Religious Series c. 1950 Collection Jim Linderman.  Each drawn (while institutionalized) on hand-cut 4" x 5" cardboard. See also the book Eccentric Folk Art Drawings by Jim Linderman

Antique Folk Art Wax Figure of a Seated Woman

Antique Folk Art Wax Figure of a Seated Woman.  Collection Jim Linderman

How to Cook with Spirits Vernacular Photograph

How to Cook with Spirits Rotary Club Gaggle of Goblins
1946 
Books and Affordable Ebooks by the author of Dull Tool Dim Bulb HERE

Outsider Art African American Yard Show Sculpture Alabama c. 1990 Photographs by Jim Linderman Television in the Driveway

Outsider Art African American Yard Show Sculpture Alabama c. 1990 Photographs by Jim Linderman Television in the Driveway high atop a pole.  See also the BOOK and EBOOK by Jim Linderman In-Situ: American Folk and Outsider Art in Place available HERE.

Large Group of 19th Century Folk Art Drawings found in a scrapbook collection Jim Linderman

Large Group of 19th Century Folk Art Drawings discovered underneath clippings in a scrapbook (!) Each original is 11" x 13"  collection Jim Linderman
See ALSO the book Eccentric Folk Art Drawings of the 19th and 20th Centuries available for preview and ordering HERE

Outsider Art Fair 2017 Bonus Post Alabama Early 1990's

Outsider Art Fair 2017 Bonus Post Vernon, Alabama Early 1990's  
Photographs by Jim Linderman

Free preview and purchas the book IN SITU: American Folk Art in Place by the author HERE

An Early Panel Comic Strip drawn by Elizabeth Stohn Associated Art Studios Correspondence School for Cartoonists 1918

 

Continues Below

While this early, drawn by hand "comic" strip (or graphic novel if you like) is nearly 100 years old, the young woman who drew it had little to base her format on.  Dating to 1918 or so, there seems to have been only some 20 major published newspaper strips at the time being told in panels.  The Katzenjammer Kids, which appeared in 1897,  is credited as the first strip with a story told in panels.  Mutt and Jeff  came along ten years later.  The third major strip of the era, Krazy Kat, appeared in 1913. The character had been part of "The Dingbat Family" a few years before it appeared as a spin-off.

The other characteristic defining a comic strip is the use of "balloons" to carry conversations.  This has that as well.

 

Substantial strips of the early 20th century are far better known today than when they first appeared.  Research and compilations have documented them to an audience far larger than those who saw the original work on a regular basis. 

The artist here is a young woman named Elizabeth Stohn of Newburgh, New York.  This work was found with several sketchbooks filled with single drawings as well as an 88 page graphic novel drawn in 1921.  She had progressed, and some of the work from that book are shown below.

It appears her maturation was due to a correspondence school of art.  in 1924 she received somewhat persnickety  feedback from the Associated Art Studios in New York City.  Specifically from Mort Burger, who was director of the school of cartooning then located in the Flatiron Building.  Mr. Burger was a cartoonist himself, though maybe not much of one.  Comic historian Allan Holtz writes "Mort was a producer of small panel cartoons which peppered the daily papers of New York and other cities in the 1900s and 1910s. These mini-cartoons fell out of favor in the mid-teens and Burger turned to other cartooning pursuits like this school."  Well…I always wondered why artists taught art instead of making art.  Mort did both, but seems to have been slightly more successful teaching.  He tried performing on stage as well.  As also found by Allan Holtz, Mort was killed in an automobile accident just 6 months after the artist here received his letter of criticism!  It is not known how many working cartoonists the school turned out.  One can find numerous examples of the advertisements he placed in magazines, but little about any successful graduates.

Ms. Stohn seems to have seen her share of misery by an early age…and in fact "comic" strip is a misnomer.  Her strip works are lurid.  The earliest comic strips were often far from funny.  As David Kunzle writes "the early (pre-19th-century) strip was seldom comic either in form or in content, and many contemporary strips are in no sense primarily humorous. The terms comics and comic strip became established about 1900 in the United States, when all strips were indeed comic."   Still, if anything characterizes her strip work, it is perils of a young woman.  This and the larger book work are filled with abuse and violence. One hopes it was not autobiographical. But she was ahead of her time.

There is a Hedwig Stohn from Newburgh, NY listed as being born in 1880.  Father of Elizabeth?  Husband?  There is an Elizabeth Stohn born nearby in 1910, which would make the artist a child while doing the works shown here, and only 14 at the time of enrolling in the Associated Art Studios.  Possible but unlikely?  She passed in 1988, and could be our artist, if a precocious one. In an earlier post on Dull Tool Dim Bulb a drawing by the artist was shown requesting further information.  As yet, no response.  Should additional information be forthcoming, it would be nice to see the entire 88 page graphic novel  "From Poverty to Luxary" (sic) published!

Works by Elizabeth Stohn 1918 - 1924 Collection Jim Linderman
(You may also be interested in the BOOK Eccentric Folk Art Drawings by the Author.
available from Blurb.

Original Vintage Photographs Reverend John D. Ruth Bible Garden Georgia Folk Art by Jim Linderman

Original Vintage Photographs Reverend John D. Ruth Bible Garden Georgia Folk Art by Jim Linderman 1995 © Dull Tool Dim Bulb
See also IN SITU: FOLK ART IN PLACE by Jim Linderman Free Preview and Orders HERE