Thursday, November 14, 2024

Born on this day – Dorothy Wilson:


Dorothy Wilson


Actress

November 14, 1909 – January 7, 1998

Credits:

8 Girls in a Boat (1934); Above the Clouds (1933); Bad Boy (1935); Before Dawn (1933); Circus Shadows (1935); Craig's Wife (1936); His Greatest Gamble (1934); Hollywood Boulevard (1936); Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933); Hollywood on Parade No. B-7 (1934); In Old Kentucky (1935); Lucky Devils (1933); Men of America (1932); One in a Million (1935); Scarlet River (1933); Speed to Spare (1937); The Age of Consent (1932); The Last Days of Pompeii (1935); The Merry Widow (1934); The Milky Way (1936); The White Parade (1934); When a Man's a Man (1935); Whistling in Brooklyn (1943).

Born on this day – Louise Brooks:


Louise Brooks


Actress

Dancer

Writer

Painter

November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985

Credits:

A Girl in Every Port (1928); A Social Celebrity (1926); Beggars of Life (1928); Diary of a Lost Girl (1929); Empty Saddles (1936); Evening Clothes (1927); God's Gift to Women (1931); It Pays to Advertise (1931); It's the Old Army Game (1926); Just Another Blonde (1926); King of Gamblers (1937); Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926); Now We're in the Air (1927); Overland Stage Raiders (1938); Pandora's Box (1929); Prix de beauté (Miss Europe) (1930); Rolled Stockings (1927); The American Venus (1926); The Canary Murder Case (1929); The City Gone Wild (1927); The Show-Off (1926); The Street of Forgotten Men (1925); When You're in Love (1937); Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1931).

Recommended reading - The Art of Robert E. McGinnis (2014):


The Art of Robert E. McGinnis

By Robert E. McGinnis and Art Scott.

Published by Titan Books.
Illustrated edition.
Published 2014.
Hardcover.
ISBN-10: 1781162174
ISBN-13: 978-1781162170

Description:

A Modern Master.

Robert E. McGinnis began his career in 1947 as a cartoonist, and produced his first cover illustrations for 1956 issues of the magazines True Detective and Master Detective. Then in 1958, he painted his first paperback book cover, and from that day forward his work was in demand.

The emergence of the “McGinnis Woman” – long-legged, intelligent, alluring, and enigmatic – established him as the go-to artist for detective novels. His work appeared on Mike Shayne titles and the Perry Mason series, and he produced 100 paintings for the Carter Brown adventures. Yet McGinnis became famous for his work in other genres as well: espionage, romance, historicals, gothics, and Westerns.

McGinnis’s first major magazine assignments were for The Saturday Evening Post, and his work has graced the pages of Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, Good Housekeeping, Guideposts, and others. McGinnis women frequently cropped up in the men’s magazines of the ’60s and ’70s.

His first movie poster was for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with an iconic rendering of Audrey Hepburn. Almost instantly, his poster artwork could be seen everywhere – in theaters, on billboards, in newspapers, and even on soundtrack albums. His work for Hollywood became a who’s-who, with posters for James Bond, The Odd Couple, Woody Allen, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and many more.

Some of his most ambitious works have been his gallery paintings, often depicting stunning American landscapes, vast Western vistas, and of course, beautiful women. The Art of Robert E. McGinnis collection reveals the full scope and beauty of the work of a true American master – one whose legacy continues today.

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels (1986):


The Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels

Edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg.

Published 1986.
Published by Robinson Publishing.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 0948164212
ISBN-13: 978-0948164217

Description:

Complete and Unabridged.

12 Short Crime Novels by the masters of suspense:

The Lawless Lady, by Leslie Charteris.
Simon Templar, alias the Saint, pits his skills against an ingenious group of thieves.

Introducing Susan Dare, by Mignon Eberhart.
Meet detective Susan Dare in her first appearance, solving the murder of a fellow houseguest.

Nightmare, by Cornell Woolrich.
A murder mystery full of psychological terror in the tradition of Poe.

Death’s Eye View, by John D. MacDonald.
A chilling tale of attempted murder off the Florida coast.

The Murder Machine, by Hugh Pentecost.
Sabotage and murder set the scene at a quarry in rural Pennsylvania.

Death Rides a Boxcar, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Lost purses, bribery, sabotage and train yards at midnight contribute to a thrilling tale of espionage.

The Bearded Lady, by Ross MacDonald.
Private eye Lew Archer sets out to solve the theft of a painting and gets involved in a double murder.

Murder Set to Music, by Fredric Brown.
Would you buy a used car from this man. Salesman and musician – but is that all he is?

The Zero Clue, by Rex Stout.
The famous Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, help a stumped New York police department solve a murder.

Storm, by Ed McBain.
A ski weekend in New England turns into a double murder for 87th Precinct Detective Cotton Hawes.

Don’t Look Now, by Daphne Du Maurier.
A classic tale of psychic events in Venice.

Booktaker, by Bill Pronzini.
Meet the most inventive thief in San Francisco – can you work out how he does it?

Kurt Vonnegut, on reading and writing:


I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found.
By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history,
we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well.
This to me is a miracle.

– Kurt Vonnegut.