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

Hudson Marquez Artist and Art

Hudson Marquez Artist and Art (Originally posted on the original Vintage Sleaze Blog by Jim Linderman 2013)

I believe Hudson Marquez is the first participant in the Vintage Sleaze Contemporary series to have been voted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame, but I first knew of his work without even knowing it…through familiarity with the Cadillac Ranch and the work of the Ant Farm Collective.  Cadillac Ranch is off the scale as far as environmental art goes…one of the most famous art installations in history, and one which makes the late windbag Christo seem as profound as Leroy Neiman.  There are plenty of contemporary artists making large scale environmental sculpture and installations, but the Cadillac Ranch is the effing mother tailfin of them all.

Which is why we are thrilled not only to have Mr. Marquez as a fan of Vintage Sleaze, but now a willing participant in the series.  As is the case of most notables, Hudson is modest and self-effacing.   Following is his entire autobiography, dutifully pecked into his cellphone especially for us on request.

 "Hudson Marquez Was born in New Orleans Louisiana. He got out as soon as possible.  His travels finally led him to San Francisco where he helped found the Ant Farm, and arts collective that was very active in the late 60s early 70s. He became addicted to video and in 1972 Started the video group TVTV. This group of small format video pioneers had a great run, Producing a number of award winning documentaries for PBS. In 74 he created the Cadillac Ranch sculpture in Amarillo, Texas. Now living in Los Angeles, ex- pornographer Marquez splits his time between writing and painting pictures of cars and girls."
 
Well, with all respect, we can do better than that.

Marquez has been a provocateur his entire life.  A story teller as much as a person who lived to tell the tales… and considerable tales there are.  Like being with Led Zeppelin tales.  Like meeting Charlie Manson tales.  Like Canned Heat (look them up. listen and learn kids) tales and, well…pussy tails.  Hudson likes women and it shows.  He also once said all women should drive in high heels, a quote not only tailor made for this site, but one which could be pondered and debated in many circles.

Anyone who makes it through the decades as active, as political, as involved and as talented as Mr. Marquez deserves kudos.  That he has survived it with a glorious sense of humor and irony is admirable.  Trust it was not easy for smart people to live through the 1960s and 1970s.  Hudson is cracker-smack smart and he survived it.

A mere dip into the world of Hudson Marquez is to have the major cultural high and low points of several decades circle you like a tornado.

Mr. Marquez has work showing now at the La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles. 

Hudson's work is Acrylic and Ink on canvas now.  Big ones. With big roots from New Orleans.  Hudson is one of the few folks around who can put Professor Longhair across the table from Jayne Mansfield and make it work.  Hudson knows without Ike Turner, Tina would still be Anna Mae Bullock from Nutbush, Tennessee and if he were looking over my shoulder as I write,  I would proudly tell him I saw Ike and Tina from the first row in a gymnasium in 1971 blowing smoke right up the Ikettes skirts the entire show.  In fact, I love Hudson so much, I am putting a teeny cribbed photo of my vantage just for him.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the post here OR Hudson, but I think he'll like it.

Although above, Hudson says he was glad to get out of New Orleans, it stayed with him.  There is nothing more valuable for a contemporary artist to have in his blood than some New Orleans, and the ghosts of the city meet an amazing crew of icons in his paintings.

A fabulous, essential, hilarious interview with Hudson Marquez is HERE


Essential reading on Cadilac Ranch is HERE

Popular Culture Perceptions of the ARTIST Studio tour of Vintage Sleaze Paperbacks with Depictions of an Artist

Over the years while collecting obscure Vintage Sleaze paperbacks for a project, I accumulated a whole pallette of cruddy books based on the public perception of the passionate pleasures available to painters. Here are a few from the 1950s and 1960s...Share them all with your artist friends! See available books and affordable ebooks by Jim Linderman on BLURB.COM

Artists and their Models. Painters paint Vintage Sleaze Paperbacks

Representations of painters on paperbacks from the 1950s and 1960s. The most recognized artist in America was Norman Rockwell at the time.  These ain't him.

Here Comes TOKEY WEDGE !!! The Diminutive Hard-boiled Dick from Novel Books (Chicago) Vintage Sleaze Paperbacks

Here comes Tokey, buzzing out of the pages of pulp history from the back cover of TORRID TWINS, just one of the capers solved with his tiny fists and subtly implied detective dong  pounding. Tokey's secret weapon other than his quick wit was his manhood.  You want sex and hardboiled action in your reading?  Put down that limp "best reading" from the New York Times Book Review and grab yourself a big deep toke...of TOKEY!

A man's man and a women's dream, Tokey raced around the twirling paperback racks when the top presidential philanderer of all time, Jack Kennedy was in the White House.  Did Jack care if his "arranged" girlfriend Judith Exner was usually in bed with mobster Sam Giancana and reported back to the wise guy after every presidential performance?  HELL NO! Because Jack was a MAN'S man, just like Tokey Wedge.  Screw that, and screw THAT, organized crime.  No wonder (and no coincidence) Tokey gets involved with some  anti-Castro gun runners in BROAD BAIT...just like big Sam!   

So Tokey had a buzzcutt instead of Kennedy's Nantucket tousle...when you are racing to action in your midget muscle-car, there is no time to brush anything out of your eyes.  Here comes Tokey, nostrils flared...nay SMOKING.  Never mind that Tokey was actually no taller than 5' 4"...he was big where it mattered.  One book adds an inch to his frame...but does not specify if he had bought some lifts.

Jack Lynn wrote the Tokey Wedge novels.  Who was Jack Lynn?  WHO CARES!  This isn't about some fussy, anonymous, elite font prissy with an underwood, it's about Tokey Wedge.  The paperback community speculates who Jack was and you are more then welcome to browse around to speculate while REAL men just read the novels (from Novel Press) a sleazy Chicago outfit with questionable organized crime ties but outstandingly bad fiction! 

There were at least twenty one books by Jack and all of them had a serious problem with inaccurate perspective and unrealistic rendering on the covers.  So the real question is not who wrote this stuff, but who the hell did the art?  Check out the Torrid Twins Tokey is running down.  Not only are they twins, their burning breasts have exactly the same flame pattern!  Tokey had a thing for twins...witness Mary and Beth in another split zygote thriller "Double Seduction" which is no problem for Tokey.  He loves them and leaves them...looking exactly the same.  And yet AGAIN...there are twins in the later Desire in Duplicate...in which a $5000 a night hooker charges that much because she is...a twin! So the price is really $2500 each.  Does Tokey get a discount?  You have to ASK?

Other Jack Lynn books are listed below, but not all feature the diminutive dick Tokey.  In fact, one of them introduces a far taller character, a Danny Thomas look-a-like who actually towers over the dames who moan his name!

Tokey Wedge fears nothing as he solves the case of Nympho Lodge.  In another, Tokey struggles with a trio of "women loving women"  In Wild Women.  AS you can see, another cover with burning dames for Tokey to struggle through. 

Clearly Tokey's biggest challenge was Ten Shockingest (sic) Seductions, in which he has do do just that...seduce them all to determine which were guilty of murder and which were guilty of lesbianism.  There is only one man for the job...look down.

It's TOKEY.

Obverse and Reverse Will You Sleep With Me Jac? Please?

Vintage Sleaze the Blog comes and goes without warning.  It is currently on hiatus, but this couldn't wait. Original watercolor circa 1940 and reverse Will You Sleep with me Jac? Please? Collection Jim Linderman  Stay tuned to Dull Tool Dim Bulb the Blog for upcoming projects.  Thanks. Also of interest, The Birth of Rock and Roll is available from Amazon HERE and Dust to Digital HERE.

In the Doghouse (Misanthropic Misogyny Version) Early 20th Century Sexism and the Idiom Vernacular Photograph

In the Doghouse (Misanthropic Version)  Early 20th Century Sexism and the Idiom Vernacular Photograph

In the Doghouse is an idiom.  In the case above, a particularly misanthropic mysogynistic representation of dominant male culture of the 1930s or so.  I presume it was all in good fun…but we'll never know.  An astounding snapshot.  You can see the real dog being entertained in the background, the filthy cur.  Well, it wasn't his fault.  Only a human can treat a human like a dog.  As I write a companion blog called Vintage Sleaze, that a woman from the early 20th century would be posed like this comes as no surprise at all.  Still, it seems to me an iconic snapshot depicting sexist mores, and believe me, they persist.  The BBC has been running a series on Sexual Violence worldwide, and it has been gruesome.  The planet certainly has a long, long way to go.     One source traces the phrase origin to the book Peter Pan (!) in 1911,  when author J. M. Barrie put the father Mr. Darling in the doghouse for not protecting his kids.  At least he was a guy.

Anonymous Snapshot circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman (Thanks and a tip "o" the hat to LL)
BOOKS AND $5.99 Ebooks by the author available HERE.

Guest Post by Natalie M. Curley Antique Dealer

Natalie Curley is one of the rare breed doing the heavy lifting for collectors.   All these objects have to come from somewhere, and the folks who find, save, protect, share and sell them to others are how I connect with the past.  Natalie is a little like me…she has to own an object to understand it, and that unending search to learn is what keeps her going.  Anyone can sell an object, that's what Craig's list is for.  But it takes a special person to find it, figure it out, treat it with respect and pass it along at a very small mark up to other collectors.  I own things with Natalie M. Curley provenance and so do many others.  It's time to share a favorite source.  I asked Ms. Curley to discuss a few of her finds with us and to explain what gets her up in the morning.  Ms. Curley has a splendid website, sells on eBay, restores and frames objects and hits the road early to find great stuff.  See what Natalie has available at CURLEY'S ANTIQUES and on her eBay listings.  Stay up to date with Natalie's travels on her Facebook page.

Because Ms. Curley's interests are wide, we are posting two versions of this piece.  One here, the other on Vintage Sleaze the Blog. 

"Prior to the hipster “heritage,” and crafty “repurposing” revolutions born of reality television so many years ago, the only context the public really had for the artifacts of their collective history not stored in struggling museums seen only on childhood school trips were the legions of condescending retirees smelling vaguely of lilac and rambling about “book values” running prissy but dusty antique shops in vacation towns. I rightly cannot fault y’all for not finding those very accessible or worthy of your precious free weekend hours. But for folks like me, weirdos ooking for points of connection in an uncomfortable world, the very idea of “forgotten” makes our hearts race and we think you’re crazy to resist! An abandoned parking lot or the field of an underutilized historic landmark in need of the funding, completely uncatalogued piles of every single thing ever possibly made by man or machine before this very day with no answers and not many hints, likely beginning an hour before dawn and potentially slogging through mud or 90 degrees, sounds better than sex! Its a never ending number of too crazy to be imagined stories, lives lived, lost achievements, personalities and insights all silenced by the years and the graves just waiting to wake up and chat. The age and construction of a thing, the society that produced it, the intent (folk art is ALL intent) of the maker, the make-do necessity of the materials used, how its aged and how its been damaged all tell the story. I can become aware of things I never imagined and with the context I piece together, so can the new owner. In the process, we all learn something about ourselves. Theres nothing better than that discovery and I’ve made ALL my professional choices in this life so that I can afford to run away to this circus every-day."

 

Art Deco Figural Electric Holy Religious Crown Antique Prop Remnant
Handmade and electrified by the same tiny hobby light bulbs any early train set would use, but a mystery past that. The imagination runs wild, part of some odd religious revival or stage play? Carnival prop or weird advertising? No idea, but its all patina and sculpture now!

 

1920s Post Toasties General Grocery Store Advertising Work Apron
The early 20thc American economy was not only moving rural to city, self reliant to national, but was unknowingly writing the rules of a modern global economy at the time. Like so many of our most insightful antiques, who would expect this apron to survive nearly 100 years? It dates to pretty much the moment when BRANDS made family owned General Stores into competitive groceries, first launching invasive campaigns into our collective conscious. The lucky laborer to wear this one got to wear a sign on his chest and advertise the day’s specials!

1919 Ruth Law Aviatrix Vintage Pilot Plane Barnstormer Antique Photo Pitch Card
Real historically relevancy is a rare treat, here is Ruth Law (Oliver) identified “Apollo Fair Mrs Oliver (married) on her frame stunt flier, August 8 1919” on reverse. Law bought her first Curtiss plane from Orville Wright in 1912 and in the next decade worked as a commercial pilot, dropped “baseballs” (grapefruits) from planes to Dodger catchers, set many flight records before being denied entry into WWI combat when we entered the War in 1917. Her passionate article “Let Women Fly” became canon for even decades later aviatrix.
 

Disturbing Wonderful 19thc Victorian Nursery Rhyme Playing Cards 
Antique paper should not be. It was only ever advertising, marketing or toys made cheaply and treated poorly. The quality of construction and carefully crafted graphics make so much of it timeless, when its lucky enough to survive the trash bin for a century. Much of it becomes unique by default and theres no research to be done, and such is the case here. These might have been made by a popular Victorian printing company McLoughlin Brothers, responsible for so many of our classic fairytale and nursery rhyme images, or maybe not.

Depression Era Make Do Feed Sack Window Screen Folk Art Bee Keepers Hat
Handmade things are usually born of necessity, but the art is in the spirit of survival and joy.  There is nothing new in the reuse of feed sacks during the Depression and Dust Bowl years, it was so common that Feed companies started to print patterns on the fabric for their customers. What shows spunk is taking a bit of window screen (itself a commodity at the time) and having sewn it loosely to two pieces of old feed sack charge into a beehive to get the family a little treat or sell the honey. That’s something, and that makes me smile.
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