Lethal Dose

Once Upon a Mattress

2012-02-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my old pal J, who's starting to scan his massive collection.

The Running of the Bulls

2012-02-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

Call waiting

2012-02-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

Halo of Loveliness

2012-02-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

It's Been One Of Those Weeks...

2012-02-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

Making Up

2012-02-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

from the wonderful Pathe archive

FLY the Friendly Skies

2012-01-31T16:55:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Pan-Am! I'd like one of those Benzedrine Inhalers you used to offer, please. I supposed they are a "service item." (Although that wasn't their slogan - theirs was "The World's Most Experienced Airline, and I supposed with offering Bennie Inhalers on their menu, it was.)

via

Dowagers on the Loose!

2012-01-31T16:42:00.000-08:00

Lady Hermine has gotten into the new Bayer's product again.

Archie and Jughead go Straight to Hell.

2012-01-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

I Hate a Hot Date

2012-01-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

Jon is jealous.

Viva Rebecca!

2012-01-25T09:59:00.000-08:00

I was hanging out at my galpal Rebecca's the other day. When you're at Rebecca's, things like Gene Simmons' codpiece are on the wall and there are signed thank-you photos of Raquel Welch. But that's not why I like going there. Rebecca is the only other person I know besides my pal Marky who has the same sick Baby Huey obesssion! When I spotted her HarveyToons lunchbox I nearly screamed.

When you are at Rebecca's, heavy metal rock stars come by needing their leather pants tailored. I don't know who they are and have to ask her while they are changing in the bathroom.

(This is another example of Rebecca's work, as I will not embarrass myself or rock star)

Here she is! I wrote her up as one of my LA Girls a few months back, too.

I Am Filled With Shame.

2012-01-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

courtesy Miguel N.

Bobbie likes the finer things

2012-01-24T03:01:00.000-08:00

Fur Robbery Suspect. 11: Left to Right: Deputy Joan Ficuccia, Suspect Bobbie Blanche Privett, Deputy Owen Packer. 12/13: Suspect Bobbie Blanche Privett."

via

Miss Cleo

2012-01-22T21:56:00.000-08:00

Date: 1956-06-19. Reporter: Swaim. Assignment: robbery suspects. Cleo Joan Kasper, 21

via USC

Lily Missed Out

2012-01-20T19:41:00.000-08:00

After her recent black eye, she had several fashion options, but foolishly ignored the bombardment treatment:

even after our own Doctor Snidley offered to treat her for free!

Source

Joansmacked

2012-01-18T10:18:00.001-08:00

Modern Men

2012-01-17T04:56:00.000-08:00

Have you not found the man of your dreams? Maybe you need a Modern Man! Popcards has the MAN for you! They have a fine selection to choose from...

Maybe you need a businessman who works all day crunching numbers, Mad-Man style?

Or perhaps he is busy, taking important phone calls from high-ranking officials? Maybe he tells you these details, although he's really not supposed to?

Or you want the dashing life of a spy's girlfriend...as he goes through secret files!

You've been there and done all that. You want to settle down in the countryside with a man who can bring home the bacon and grind the wheat himself:

Maybe you're over it altogether. You've had it. Why not adopt a few smoking fish?

Marabou Feathers and Dead Things

2012-01-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

My pal Scott Michaels just topped by with Jayne Mansfield's suitcase! It was in the trunk during her fatal accident and is dented. It contained a few marabou feathers (!) and he let me keep one which I put in a little treasure box. Inside was a gold chip from Gus Stevens' Supper Club which gave me chills.

Scott stopped by to borrow my copy of The Wild, Wild World of Jayne and I also gave him Skidoo and Boom! since I thought he should be watching more movies with exclamation points. He was kind enough to give the new 2012 - The Year in Death Calendar which everyone should get right away!

Guess Again is Right!

2012-01-16T10:53:00.000-08:00

from modern mechanix

My Magic Inset

2012-01-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

courtesy MouffetFatale

Stoned in Church

2012-01-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

You'd have Abandoment Issues, too, if you'd been Left Behind at the Rapture! Click on (scary) image above to read the conclusion of Donna's and Lily's penetrating interview with Christian Nightmares!

Interview with a Nightmare

2012-01-11T06:19:00.001-08:00

Lily shivering through a Nightmare of Cold in D.W. Griffith's Way Down East

Check out Donna's and Lily's Interview with a Nightmare at Cold Dirt Press by clicking the still above!

Elizabeth Arden on Posture

2012-01-10T06:52:00.001-08:00

Jayne

2012-01-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

EraserJayne

2012-01-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Polish Jayne Mansfield? When David Lynch met Jayne Mansfield in some netherworld?

thanks Virginia Plain!

Carroll Baker

2012-01-04T03:02:00.000-08:00

Our New Year's weekend was spent trying not to get too upset by the arsonist while watching Carroll Baker giallo films. In Baba Yaga (Devil Witch), CB plays a lesbian witch who nearly runs over fashion designer Valentina in her black Rolls while walking home in Milan at 3am in fur coat and silver platform shoes. She stalks her, giving her an S&M doll that comes to life and putting a curse on her camera that causes it to kill her models, and one annoying hippie protester. I'd like a camera that kills hippies. In the meantime, Valentina has dreams about Nazis that strip her naked and whip her. The eyelashes in this movie are fab.

The Cat Man

2012-01-03T04:04:00.000-08:00

Daphne Goddess

2012-01-01T19:52:00.001-08:00

No New Year's Resolutions for Me.

2012-01-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

(found on etsy)

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T14:13:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve at 7th and Broadway, Los Angeles, 1951.

I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet

2011-12-26T10:05:00.000-08:00

The V&A is one of my favorite places on earth. Today, while reading my dear friend Eve Golden's Queen of the Dead column, one of her obits was of Major Henry Herbert Kitchener, 3^rd Earl Kitchener which brings me to I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet. As a young pre-punk lass, I pored over any account I could get of the Rolling Stones (Pops Lethal was a Beatles fan - they were my nursery rhymes) and was always fascinated by mention of this store. From the V&A website interview with owner/founder Robert Orbach:

I'm sitting there one morning and in walked John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Cynthia Lennon. And I didn't know whether I was hallucinating… but it was real. And Mick Jagger bought a red Grenadier guardsman drummer's jacket, probably for about £4-5. They all came from Moss Bros and British Army Surplus. In 1966 it was only fifty or so years from Victorian times, when we had an empire. We used to buy fur coats by the bale… we had to throw quite a lot away.

So Mick Jagger bought this tunic and wore it on Ready Steady Go when the Stones closed the show by performing Paint it Black. The next morning there was a line of about 100 people wanting to buy this tunic… and we sold everything in the shop by lunchtime.

More here.

Right down Santa Claus Lane

2011-12-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

Poor Anita Ekberg.

2011-12-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

She has no money and is in the hospital.

Note to All Boys and Girls:

2011-12-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

Never, ever date Santa Claus. EVER. No matter what he promises you.

I'm not really sure what this means. It dates from 1895, and I found it at the NYPL.

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

2011-12-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

Photograph of a group of women posing with a man dressed as Santa Claus on a beach, [s.d.]. A tall Christmas tree can be seen at center and it is decorated with bells and tinsel. The man dressed as Santa is sitting cross-legged at center and has a thick beard, a fur-trimmed jacket, and a fur-trimmed hat. He is wearing shorts. Thirteen women dressed in tanktops or bathing suits can be seen sitting or standing around Santa Claus. The ground is sandy, and several small buildings can be seen on a hill in the background at left. The ocean is faintly visible in the distance at right.
via

The Alexandria Hotel, Los Angeles

2011-12-16T03:02:00.000-08:00

Photograph of an interior view of the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles showing a choir and a Christmas tree, ca.1900-1909. The large tree can be seen at left and is decorated with lights and ornaments. A choir made up mostly of children can be seen standing near the base of the tree. People can be seen watching from behind the choir and from a balcony on the second floor.

via Here is the Alexandria today.

The Lass from Mass

2011-12-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

fine art by my pal Mel Neuhaus. Want some Lethal Tales? Click here.

Miss Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

Miss Christmas Tree, 21 December 1951. Diane Dearborn -- 24 years ("Miss Christmas Tree of 1951")

via

Her Name Was Leona Gage.

2011-12-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

Picked this up last night. Her name was instantly familiar because I had read her obit last year.

"Sex? What's That?" and "My Gay Experience" I can't wait to dig in! Here's a great interview done by The Baltimore Sun in 2005.

Lazy

2011-12-08T05:06:00.000-08:00

Uh, why...no.

2011-12-07T04:48:00.000-08:00

via

Abides.

2011-12-06T04:04:00.000-08:00

From Stagmags.

Holiday Style

2011-12-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

via Popcards.

Before I Drop A House on YOU!

2011-12-02T12:05:00.000-08:00

Girls fight at Charley Foys' Supper Club (Sherman Oaks) (Toni Carroll and Abigail Adams), 4 June 1952. Toni Carroll (show girl had dress torn)

There's a crazy broad who has sent me repeated friend requests on FB. She has never spoken to me nor commented on my wall. Yet, she posts things eerily similar to mine (photos taken from the same crime series from the LA Herald Examiner, that sort of thing.) She never credits the paper nor the photographer and people fawn all over her "fabulous finds." Aside from that, she posts hundreds of bizarre and upsetting self-portraits and videos. I have unfriended her for the third time. Why?
Remember my picture of Errol Flynn a few months ago? Why, Little Miss Narcissist just...happened...to post one from the same series. Coincidence? Possibly. Credit the Examiner? Certainly not. Rude? Definitely. Bananas? CERTAINLY. Needed? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Correction: My Flynn post was on my Tumblr, where she regularly trolls, not here.

"Latest Fad"

2011-12-01T06:22:00.000-08:00

Modern Mechanix, May 1932:

Many decades later, popularized by Lindsay "no cell can hold me" Lohan in a misspelled profane version for courtroom wear.

Now THAT'S a great idea.

2011-11-30T04:19:00.000-08:00

Well, if you had told me sticking chicken cutlet shaped sacs of saline in your tits would be a good idea, I probably wouldn't have believed you either.

Do I look like Tinkerbell now?

2011-11-29T04:15:00.000-08:00

Ladies! Some Makeup Advice, PLEASE!

2011-11-28T06:19:00.001-08:00

This shiner is the result of pure clumsiness, not battery!

I haven't posted anything here in way too long because I've been building an empire over on Cold Dirt Press. But I need some beauty advice I can only get on Lethal Dose! I have a big Country Club dance coming up, and this black eye (which resulted from contact with a really cold hard steel dolly) is going have everyone looking at me — and my husband — in askance. My question: Should I spackle on some kind of make-up, or just wear a lot of diamonds to distract attention? Thank you!

Dame Sally Markham

2011-11-27T18:15:00.001-08:00

an inspiration to writers everywhere!

Pray!

2011-11-23T20:11:00.001-08:00

for Rosemary's Baby!

thanks to Phil X Milstein for turning us all on to this tune.

Dowager Quarterly: The New Issue!

2011-11-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

Bless Cookie.

Hear it Lethally!

2011-11-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

Here's an interview with me on WICN.

The Don

2011-11-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

Gay for Goulet

2011-11-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

Stinky

2011-11-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

So much for the "baby" fetish. There was a man dressed as a giant sissy baby on mainstream television in the 1950s and everyone acted as it were the most normal thing in the world. How frightening is Stinky?!

Etiquette of the Day

2011-11-11T04:34:00.000-08:00

Well...

2011-11-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

The Guest from Hell

2011-11-09T04:16:00.000-08:00

Note to self: "Guest room full."

It Happened To Zsa Zsa

2011-11-08T04:01:00.000-08:00

I remember when my friend's father brought hom ea box of these for her chubby older sister and left them on the table. We excitedly (well, not the sister) dug in, only to be met by gummy, waxy, sticky, non-chocolatey...un-candy.

Princess Perfect!

2011-11-06T13:58:00.000-08:00

I had this as a child. I had an urge to search for it on etsy and imagine my shock and horror when it turned up. Rabbit fur muff, with a little string so you can wear it around your neck. No wonder I'm such a David Lynch fan.

Don't Be So Cavalier About It

2011-11-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

Because Errol Flynn owns that word.

via

Fabulous

2011-11-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

Whenever anyone knocks Sharon Stone, I say one word: "Casino."

via

Pussy

2011-11-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

Galore. And how!

via

Cobina

2011-10-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

Cobina Wright, Jr. passed away. The Telegraph, naturally, does her far better justice than I ever could.

Cobina in a Tony Duquette designed room, which seems far too small a word.

Don't Let This Be You on Halloween!

2011-10-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

via

Happy Birthday!

2011-10-29T20:17:00.001-07:00

To me!

mindblowing

A Gabor, you mean!

2011-10-27T21:07:00.001-07:00

The Christine Jorgensen Card Company...

The Sisters Bennett

2011-10-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

I have a deep love of all things Bennett.

Saint Constance of, not only because (I think) she got the first million dollar divorce and loved to gamble (usually winning!), there was Connie's breezy comedy style-see Topper... but most of all, there is this:

The birthright of every woman.

Joan really had three careers and they're fascinating. One as a blonde, one as a hardboiled noir brunette (if you haven't seen Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street, do so!) and finally as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, matriarch on Dark Shadows, paving the way for respected actresses on daytime soaps.

Sister Barbara declined the stage and instead became a stage wife, marrying singer Morton Downey (yes, you read that right and you can figure out the rest.)

Put To Better Use!

2011-10-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

Family Albums

2011-10-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, there were two album covers that belonged to my aunt and uncle that I stared at endlessly:

Now, my aunt was a fan of HUGE hair and eyeliner herself and had her own beauty salon! It was very Lipstick Beauty Salon.

My Dad owned this album and I was fascinated by Mary Wells' hair on the back cover, which was a fabulous shade of blonde.

(Image courtesy Wah Lee via Flickr)

Look At Me.

2011-10-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm Taking Them Wrong...

2011-10-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

Etiquette of the Day

2011-10-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

Don't Be Left Out!

2011-10-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

The Subversive Department Store

2011-10-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Look out!

2011-10-12T18:42:00.001-07:00

The Telephone Book

2011-10-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

Have I ever shown you this?!

Lethal Mailbox

2011-10-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

Mrs Muddle Strikes Back!

2011-10-09T22:59:00.001-07:00

Do you know my friend Butch Tuffington? If not, you should. He makes the wildest videos.

Ella vs Miriam

2011-10-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

Caption: Furniture feud, June 4, 1951. Patio furniture of actress Ella Raines, which was borrowed by actress Miriam Hopkins, starting a feud between the two.

oh you want this chair, do you?

i'm the lounge queen!

Patio photo appeared originally in the LA Herald-Examiner.

Gentlemen Prefer Bronze

2011-10-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

I've been wrist-deep in this little gem by my smut-lovin'-and I say that in the highest regard-pal Jim Linderman since it arrived a few days ago. Tackling (ahem) a sadly disregarded subject with zeal, careful history (What? SI didn't put a black model on the cover until Tyra Banks in 1996? And you thought times had changed, really.) and marvelous photography, you'll delight in this. I love Jim's books, and this one is a special treat.

Secret History of the Black Pin Up: Women of Color from Pin Up to Porn

can be previewed here.

Photo from the book and used with Jim's permission.

What Do YOU Do After An Arrest?

2011-10-05T04:10:00.000-07:00

Why, play gin rummy, of course!

Left to Right: 4/53/54: Melinda Short, 25, curvaceous blonde secretary, and Kim Evans, 26, brunette entertainer, play gin rummy after arrest on suspicion of whoring at 1700 West boulevard."

source: USC/Herald Examiner.

When You've Forgotten Your Contraceptive...

2011-10-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

and it's four years later...

courtesy the Bonkers Institute.

Spare My Nerves!

2011-10-03T04:45:00.000-07:00

Hussy!

2011-10-02T04:01:00.000-07:00

Citizen's arrest (woman kisses man against his will), 30 November 1955. Marian Kim (Defendant).
Caption slip reads: "Photographer: Brunk. Date: 1955-11-30. Assignment: Citizen's Arrest, As Woman Kisses Man Against His Consent. B31: Marian Kim, defendant".

Check my tumblr this week for other fun arrests.

It's No Use

2011-10-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks Thombeau

Let Me Out!

2011-09-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

Caption: "World's Fair 1939. Restroom Matron Locking Stall."

photo from the NYPL.

Is That a Bad Thing?

2011-09-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

Don't Be Obvious About It

2011-09-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

Uh...

2011-09-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

Oh, do you now?

2011-09-27T04:15:00.000-07:00

Lyle Talbot, Dream Man

2011-09-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

Men

2011-09-24T04:58:00.000-07:00

The Doctor Is In.

2011-09-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

Really, you can call me "Mrs. Drug" from now on, if you'd like.

Take Me to the Bridge

2011-09-22T04:23:00.000-07:00

or perhaps you need some sun...

Most Any Part Of The Body With

2011-09-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

CAN'T SLEEP

Other Lethal Scribblings

2011-09-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

When I try and be serious, I fail. But in my secret heart of hearts, I really wish I was a stunt driver or a beauty editor, and the LA Beat is where I get to live out my beauty editor dreams. I write a regular column called "LA Girl" where I ask a local what makes her the beauty she is. Age not a factor.
Since I live in LA, the stunt driver dream is taken care of.

My soul sister number one, Nicca Ray, and I collaborate on the Scorchy Girls poetry blog. The title is in honor of the Connie Stevens movie. We both love her. (I once told her how much I loved it and she told me three things: she did her own stunts, she still owned the white 'vette and "it's very popular in prisons!") Nicca and I are planning on doing a little book with art by Jesse McCloskey. Nicca has a poem coming out in this book soon...wild, huh?

Miss Lily Duschene started The Cold Dirt Press one day after being hungover on Lemon Satin and unable to get Ugly Pie and visions of Tricia Nixon out of her head. That's where my longer stories are.

Sick of me yet? Then here's some fab sites with other people:
The Hair Hall of Fame, PCL Link Dump, Celluloid Slammer, my Tumblr. Most of these don't get the time and attention they should from me, but luckily that's hardly noticeable.

And I hope you know that Dowager Quarterly has a very lively facebook group. Please look for us if you haven't already, but naturally one must ask to be admitted. My book has one, too.

Jackie and Lee

2011-09-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

As a little Lethal, on Saturdays in my aunt's beauty salon, the gossip rags had four couples: Sonny and Cher, Elvis and Priscilla (or Priscilla and Mike/Elvis and Linda), Mick and Bianca, and Jackie and Ari. I was baffled by Jackie being married to a man that looked like a frog, or why she was always in a trenchcoat with huge glasses. Especially because we all had JFK memorabilia in our homes. I mean, his memorial program was in our family photo album! But Jackie's hair was another entity. I could stare at it for hours, like Priscilla's, and often did.

Run, don't walk, over to my pal In Curlers' blog to see this amazing feature:

Wrath

2011-09-17T04:57:00.000-07:00

of Khan.

Envy

2011-09-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

In the greatest film ever, and in the greatest film on the Seven Deadly Sins,

Envy is played by Barry Humphries.

Sound familiar?

screengrab courtesy of wearysloth.