Tuesday, February 24, 2015

World Bartender Day: February 24

Is she shaking up a Tornado or a Hurricane?  Either way our Bolls girl is displaying some serious mixology chops, though you're probably not focusing on her skills with the Boston shaker. This punchy cover hails from 1934, the year Bolles returned to Spicy Stories after it had undergone a change in ownership. 
 
 
Cast your eyes more closely on that shock of lilac crinoline. Doesn't it look like our man Enoch has hidden a message in it, not that I've had any luck decoding it. I'm reminded of the longstanding rumor that if you fold the covers of some pulp magazine just so, they end up revealing something extra. Not that Bolles' covers aren't already extra special.



Monday, February 2, 2015

World Ukulele Day

 
 
Some sweet strumming courtesy of our man Enoch. Both of these images were completed in 1931, a year which was not his strongest for Film Fun. It was during a period when Bolles' wife was slowly recovering from a serious illness and he was also dealing hard times brought on by the depression, casting far and wide for additional work.  But he struck gold with the alluring image of Sally Eilers for the movie Bad Girl. 
 
Yet as successful as this image was (it was used in the promotion campaign and even blown up to billboard size) it was perhaps his last assignment for Fox Pictures, a studio he was associated with beginning in 1923.  Unfortunately Bolles didn't get plucked by other studios, perhaps because so many had already pulled up stakes and moved to California.  If only Enoch had strung along with them!