Theme Thursday: Gossip

Sometimes when I see a Theme Thursday theme, something leaps instantly to mind. This week however was not one of those weeks. Gossip has never been one of my strong points (or weaknesses). I'm nearly always the last to know what's going on in the office. My music and postcard collections did not come to the rescue this week either, but I did manage to find something in my vintage magazine collection which almost fits the bill. It's a section in 1 1945 edition of Picturegoer magazine called, 'Between You and Me by The Editor', and is probably the nearest thing to gossip I can lay my hands on.

Note to self - must try harder next week.

More vintage magazines and vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage Picturegoer magazine - Alan Ladd, c.1943

Down to my last few of these Picturegoer magazine covers to share on Sepia Saturday, and this week's coverstar is US filmstar Alan Ladd. Once again this is not an actor with whom I'm familiar, but I have at least heard of a couple of his films, with his leading role in 1953's Shane probably being the most well known.

Picturegoer magazine, 10th July 1943 - front cover

Picturegoer magazine, 10th July 1943 - inside cover

Regular readers may wonder why I've used adverts from the inside cover rather than the back cover ... well, it seems that someone has cut out one of the adverts, or perhaps some sort of coupon, from this one. What struck me about the advertisements in this edition is that they seem in sharp contrast to each other, with government sanctioned adverts for war time austerity measures sat next to adverts for beauty products. But perhaps this is not hugely different from today when insurance adverts pop up during the breaks in kids' TV programmes.

More vintage magazines can be found on my web site

Vintage Cult TV Paperback - The Persuaders / Tony Curtis

Having decided to stay with the theme of 1960's and 1970's Cult TV classics, my blog entry was an easy choice following this week's sad news of the death of Tony Curtis. I have probably seen most, if not all, of the Persuaders TV series, but I only have one Persuaders paperback. It wasn't however until I read a few of his obituaries that I realised quite how many films he'd starred in, and also that he was an established artist whose paintings sold for thousands.

What I particularly liked about The Persuaders was the interplay between Roger Moore, the artistocratic englishman, and Curtis, the Brooklyn wannabe playboy, and the cheesy, but constant, humour - they must have had a blast filimg it. The semi-exotic Riviera locations add a further sense of the bizarre as the two jet-setting playboys get themselves into all sorts of trouble. Hopefully over the next few weeks there will be some Tony Curtis documentaries and films shown on TV.

The Persuaders! Book One, by Frederick E. Smith, c.1971

Back cover of the first Persuaders paperback

 

 More vintage books and magazines and also vintage postcards can be found on my web site

Vintage Cult TV Paperbacks - The Avengers

Hello everyone! This is my first entry in my new blog. Having had a blog dedicated to vintage postcards for a while now, I decided it was time to branch out and share some of my other vintage interests, particularly (but not exclusively) vintage magazines and vintage books. For my first post I thought I'd feature some paperback books from the great 1960's and 1970's cult TV programmes, The Avengers and The New Avengers.

I'll start with The Avengers as this show was, and probably still is, one of my favourite 1960's TV shows. I wasn't old enough to remember the originals with Cathy Steel, Emma Peel and Tara King, but thanks to regular TV re-showings I think I've seen pretty much all of them now.

I'm also fascinated by what's often referred to as Avengerland, which is basically the area covering the locations of much of the filming. It's on my list of places to visit - just need to find the time.

The Avengers, The Magnetic Man, c.1968 (front cover)

Curiously the front cover seems to feature both Tara King and Emma Peel. As far as I recall they were only in one episode together which was when Emma left and Tara entered, and it wasn't this episode.

The Avengers, The Magnetic Man, c.1968 (back cover)

This is alas my only Avengers paperback, and quite late in the series, but I do have several New Avengers ones which of course feature Joanna Lumley. Although I prefer The Avengers to the The New Avengers, the latter will always have a fond place in my memory as they were my first exposure to the world of John Steed.

The New Avengers - House of Cards, by Peter Cave, c.1976

House of Cards was the first New Avengers paperback and for some reason I have two copies, so if anyone has a copy of number 2 (The Eagle's Nest) or number 4 (Fighting Men) they'd like to trade, please get in touch. I've only just noticed that only Steed and Purdey appear on the cover.

The New Avengers - To Catch a Rat, by Walter Harris, c.1976

This was the 3rd paperback released, this time with Gambit also featuring on the cover.

The Cybernauts - A New Avengers novel by Peter Cave, c.1977

This was the 5th paperback to be released. This was of course not the first time the Avengers came across the Cybernauts, as they made an appearance in the one of the Emma Peel episodes. This book is actually called The Last of the Cybernauts, but I guess that was perhaps a bit lengthy to show on the cover.

So, I'll finish the first entry of my new blog here. Would love to know what you think so please feel free to leave a comment. I'll be back with further updates over the course of the next few weeks, probably covering The Man From Uncle, The Saint, U.F.O and others. I'll also be sharing some of my vintage motor magazines and vintage photogtaphy magazines which are interesting just for the adverts alone.

More vintage books and magazines and also vintage postcards can be found on my web site