Lucynka

@lucynka.bsky.social

440 Followers 36 Following

Of the blog “Lucynka Reviews Obscure Bullshit.” Girls don’t want boys, girls want feminist analyses of Cornell Woolrich stories. Currently also reviewing stories from the romance pulps. lucynka.wordpress.com Newsletter: https://lucynka-staron.beehiiv.com

The "is this a pigeon?" anime meme, but the guy is pointing to the modern erotic romance TAKEN HOSTAGE BY KINKY BANK ROBBERS (by Annika Martin), and the text below reads, "Is this THE LOVE PAWN by Hortense McRaven?"
[An excerpt from Laurie Powers' QUEEN OF THE PULPS, featuring transcribed bits from Bacon's (assumed to be drunken) typewriter rant.] According to her [Bacon], Amita Fairgrieve considered Daisy a particular thorn in her side, either because of the press that Daisy received or because of LOVE STORY's dominance of the market. "One time I asked jane Littell why Miss Fairgrieve hated me so, she followed me all the time and did what I did and so on and jane said it's because you're in her air and she can't get u out...." Daisy notes that Fairgrieve passed along untruths about Daisy. "Miss Fairgrieve is always saying don't take this story to Daisy she wouldn't buy becuz she only buys stories about rich girls...." Daisy was also peeved that her office was frequently the subject of gossip. "They know in other offices when a pin drops in mine." She also spills the beans on a few strategies used by other rivals. "Editors all get together and they say this and they say that for a formula ... they influence each other to get all their magazines alike ... a magazine is a personality that's true." It is obvious these notes were for the interviewer to follow a script carefully supervised by Daisy. "You've got to tell the picture rite that every time a new publishing house starts they always put out a competitor and they always say I'm gonna have competition at last, and then!!! During depression there was only one left ... we have 10 times the circulation of nearest competitor (All Story)!!!"
Helen MacVichie is the new editor of SWEETHEART STORIES. You may remember her when she was editor of CUPID'S DIARY. Although the safe was pretty well stocked when she took over the magazine recently, she has arranged to use the old material gradually and to buy new stories right along. The lengths needed run from 5,000 to 7,000 words at present. And Miss MacVichie makes these suggestions about new material: Stories must be stronger in type than before—verging on the sexy but not vulgar, and the heroine must keep her virtue. Thoroughly modern situations are wanted, not just the sweet, old, worn-out ones. Stories must be highly emotional, told from the girl's viewpoint, must move swiftly, and the struggle must be an emotional one. Above all, they must be sincere. Miss MacVichie says [continued in next]
"I'll Love You Always" What was the frightening secret of the old Selkirk mansion—the secret that threatened to forever keep apart two ardent lovers who would have preferred death to separation? That question had an answer, and pert little Molly Flynn was determined to find it. What if French Selkirk had allowed the ancient mystery to haunt him since he was a child—she wasn't going to let it shatter HER life—their life together!
[An excerpt from part 4 of "Enemy Husband."] "If you refuse to obey my command, I have a certain claim on your gratitude," he remarked quietly. "You mean because of last night?" "Perhaps." There was another pause, and when she spoke, she chose each word carefully. [continued in next]
[From THE AUTHOR & JOURNALIST, November 1942.] The following statement was made by Jane Littell on taking over ALL STORY LOVE MAGAZINE, now at 205 E. 42nd St., New York: "I am not going to use any of the confession and sex stories that the magazine has been using lately; I want to make it as near like the old ALL STORY Miss Fairgrieve used to get out as I can. That means love stories with as much drama and plot as possible, and human interest well coated with glamour. Most of our heroes will have to be in uniform, so that means love stories that cover the situations a girl faces today. I want an occasional story of young married love. But for the most part I want stories that concern themselves with two people in love who find an obstacle in the way of their marriage, the surmounting of which makes the story."
"Upstairs In Hitler's House," a "story of a wife's love so great she yielded to the Nazis to save her husband's life." The photographic cover shows a white blonde woman in a sexy French maid outfit, being sexually harassed by a dime-store Hitler. The costumes might as well have come from Spirit Halloween, that's how cheap everything looks.
The February 1942 cover of ALL-STORY LOVE, showing Gene Tierney in a promotional shot for the film SUNDOWN. The story "Pagan Honeymoon" is also advertised.
Miss Amita Fairgrieve, editor of ALL-STORY [LOVE], 280 Broadway, New York, writes to a correspondent: "Men hardly ever land in our magazine. They don't know how to write from the girl's point of view, you see. And after all, why should they? It's hard enough to understand girls when you've been one yourself."
A two-page illustration from the fourth part of "Enemy Husband." On this first page, the heroine sits at one end of a long table during a dinner party attended by various important German and Japanese (a few of them in uniform, so clearly part of the military). The caption reads, "It might be possible to learn something of viral military importance from the Governor, and it was Ruth's duty to take advantage of it, wasn't it?"
The cover for ALL-STORY LOVE, September 1944 (artist unknown). A white woman holds a model ship and stares off into the distance with a dead-eyed smile on her face, while a white man in a naval uniform smiles (unsuspectingly) down at her from over her shoulder. Karen Cookson's story "You Are My Past" is advertised on the left, and it's like, well, if he isn't already her past, he soon WILL be, with that look. 👀
The table of contents, including (among other things) Hope Campbell's "A Kiss Between Friends" and Margaret Wallace's "The Blonde That Got Away." The blurb for this installment of "Enemy Husband" reads, "When a girl is forced into a marriage with an enemy of her country, does she owe him her loyalty and her love?"
The cover of the issue (artist unknown), showing a white, black-haired woman in uniform, sitting in a Western Union office, seemingly composing a letter/message. She's holding her pen thoughtfully against her cheek and smiling off into the distance. Vina Lawrence's "Wings For the Bride" is advertised on the left.
"Marriage of Inconvenience" - Hope Campbell (ALL-STORY LOVE, January 1943) Illustrator: Unknown Secretary Elida is fed up with the way her overbearing (if incredibly charming) boss Mac has taken over her life, and the last straw is when he arranges for her to be his live-in house-sitter while he's away on war work—only her sense of patriotism keeps her from quitting on the spot. When his handsome, playboy friend Jerry shows up one night, the two concoct a fake-dating scheme to finally make Mac jealous—but will Elida's pride lead to her marrying the wrong man? Ends a little chauvinistically, but the screwball tone and snappy dialogue helps it go down. Overall, recommended.
A quote from Cornell Woolrich's 1939 novella, "The Book That Squealed" (highly recommended, btw), set against a modern picture of books on a bookshelf. It reads: Her library experience had taught her that what is called a "man's book" will often be read by women, but a "woman's book" is absolutely never, and there are few exceptions to this rule, read by men.
The writers of love stories fail just as notably. Pulp or slick, people read love stories because a good love story arouses a definite emotion in the reader; the reader is conscious of a warm, suffused glow in the region of the heart when he finishes a really good love story. When the "clinch" scene of an otherwise good love story is short-circuited, there is no emotional reaction in the reader. The Big Moment which he has been tacitly promised, which he has scented from afar and on the trail of which he has been for lo, these many words, is tossed at him hastily. He had no time to savor the thing; the writer makes him bolt down the scene as a starving wolf takes a gobbet of meat. There is no art, and no relish, in the proceeding.
From THE AUTHOR& JOURNALIST, October 1939. There's a small black-and-white portrait of "Frances L. McKenna, 1st Prize Winner, May, 1938" (as the caption reads)—she's a white woman in her late '30s, with short, seemingly blonde hair and a rather square face. The accompanying text to the right reads, "Under the pen names of Frances Lake and Margot McKay, this writer is rated 'tops' by all of the editors in her field. Since I launched her last year, she had registered 26 times on novelets alone."
Jane Littell is now editor of ALL-STORY LOVE. Her first issue will be dated January, and go on sale December 9th. This magazine is to continue as a monthly for the present, at ten cents, but in the old familiar pulp format. Here's the editor's direct word on what she wants: "I am not going to use any of the confession and sex stories, that the magazine has been using lately. I want to make it as nearly like the old ALL-STORY Miss [Amita] Fairgrieve used to get out as I can. That means love stories with as much drama and plot as possible, and human interest well coated with glamour.
Two items referring to LOVE STORY, as edited by Daisy Bacon. The first is from THE AUTHOR & JOURNALIST, March 1942, and reads: LOVE STORY MAGAZINE will continue pretty much as heretofore with little more than casual reference to the war. War stories as such will not be sought but it will probably be necessary to take the war into consideration through mention of war facts, civilian and military service, etc. If an author has a love story to write, the developments in the war will show him or her how to take care of it. The second is from WRITER'S DIGEST, April 1942, and reads: Miss Daisy Bacon tells me she is getting too many war stories for LOVE STORY. It is all right to bring in the war, since stories are of current times. But don't do it unless this is essential to your plot. The best length is 5,000 words. But the market is also open for 6,000. Address—79 Seventh Avenue.
The cover of ALL-STORY LOVE, April 1943 (artist unknown). It advertises Vina Lawrence's "Wings For the Bride," and shows a black-haired white woman in uniform, sitting at a table/desk with a yellow piece of paper in front of her. She holds a pen thoughtfully to her face and smiles off in the distance.
A preview stub from the LINCOLN EVENING JOURNAL, July 19, 1946. What little is available reads: Hope Campbell Wed in Rock[…] To George Gerald [sic] Sylvestre Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Campbell announce the marriage of their daughter, Miss Hope Campbell, to George Gerard Sylvestre of Washington, D. C. which took […] years in the n[…] officer. Mr. and Mrs. […] take a delayed […] the west coast […] to visit Mr. an[…] in Lincoln […]
A VERY low-res black-and-white portrait of Hope Campbell, looking (as far as one can tell) much like her 1930 photo. Her hair reads more light brown than blonde here.
An image advertising the featured tropes, but done a bit facetiously. The front cover is in the middle (featuring a mysterious white woman seemingly stealing some jewels), against a dark blue background, with a whimsical text around it. It reads: INSIDE YOU'LL FIND: Jewel theft! WWI intrigue! TWO romantic subplots! (both HEAs!) Working class woman clearly wants to punch her Karen of an employer in the face Dead girls and their living doppelgängers (is there a connection?) Hot riding instructors Is your dad's male secretary secretly in love with you? Diverse cast! (relative to the era) Originally published in 1918and never before collected in book form!
C. Campbell, Prominent Lawyer, Dies Clinton J. Campbell, 70, of 1976 A, prominent Lincoln attorney, died Saturday. Mr. Campbell was an active participant in the auditorium site dispute as a friend of the Supreme Court. He was admitted to the Nebraska bar in 1913 after being admitted to the South Dakota bar two years before. He received his AB Degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law. He also attended the College of Law at South Dakota University. [A small portrait of "Mr. Campbell" is included. It's rough, but he appears to be a tall, lean white man, and is smiling broadly.]
The cover of the 1978 Avon romance novel POPPY, by True Summers. A red-headed, buxom white lass looks slyly off in the distance while a dark-haired white man man bends down to kiss her shoulder. She's dressed very fancy, and her red-toned gown kind of abstractly takes over the bottom half of the image. The artist is unknown, and the font is that flourishy, Art Nouveau-ish type that was popular at the time. (The tagline reads, "Only to love's kiss would her lips say yes.")
An item from THE LINCOLN STAR, July 26, 1929. It reads: Miss Hope Campbell Is Injured When Car Overturns in Gravel Overturning in loose gravel one mile south of Nehawka late Thursday afternoon, a car driven by Hope Campbell, 19, 1940 South Twenty-sixth street, was wrecked and Miss Campbell sustained a fractured collar bone. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clinton J. Campbell and is being attended at the Lincoln General hospital by Dr. J. E. M. Thomson.
The headstone for Clinton Jesse Campbell, Jr., as found in Wyuka Cemetery, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The dates read, "Mar.7-Mar.8.1921."
A newspaper item, titled "Goes Abroad to Study," featuring a large portrait of Hope Campbell, very grainy from the microfilm/digitalization. Still, she looks very similar to her 1930 yearbook photo, only she's now giving a somewhat sly, closed-mouth smile and looking slightly past the camera. The text underneath reads: —Photo by Hauck-Skoglund. Miss Hope Campbell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs Cinton J Campbell, sails August 28 from New York City on the Coronia, for England, where she will specialize in economics and journalism at the University of London this winter. Miss Campbell and Mr. Campbell leave Lincoln for the east Sunday evening. Miss Campbell, who received her degree from the university this summer, is the third generation to graduate from the University of Nebraska, her grandfather, Dr. Jesse J Campbell of Ogallala, and her father being alumni of the same institution. Miss Campbell attended the university for three years, and has received all her preparatory education in the Lincoln public schools, except for one semester at Whitton-Carlyle, and another at Lindenwood college.
Following the Campbell trali [sic] it was learned that Miss Hope Campbell is in New York City doing some writing and confering [sic] with her agent. Miss Campbell has taken an apartment in the same building with Miss Dorothy Thomas, who as you already know has gained distinction in literary circles. Other former Nebraskans in the same apartment house are Mr. and Mrs. Loren Eisley [sic]—Mrs. Eisley [sic] was formerly Miss Mabel Langdon.
A low-res black-and-white portrait of Hope Campbell, from when she would have been about 20. She's a white woman with short, seemingly blonde hair (slightly wavy in texture), a long neck, and a lean face. She's giving a very slight smile directly to camera.
NEXT MONTH A Doctor Needs a Wife And who would make a better wife for a doctor than a nurse who had fought death by his side night after night and day after day? In the quiet watches of the night, when they drew on all their strength, all their skill, to save a life, there were no barriers between them, no pretenses. Sarah Budd loved the man Dr. Timothy Cheever was, but she worshipped the doctor, too.. And taking her place beside him was all she asked of life. But the whole nursing staff loved Timothy, worshipped him as Buddy did for his humaneness, his tenderness with the small patients in the children's ward, his rare skill. And Valerie Dorland was no exception in that. She was an exception only in her selfishness. Nursing was not a holy crusade with her, as it was to Buddy and to all the sincere nurses in the hospital. Nursing was a happy hunting ground for husband material, and she had found the husband she wanted in Doctor Timothy Cheever. Did it matter to Valerie that the small patient in bed Sixty-Three was running an alarming temperature on the evening when she had a date with Timothy? It did not. She did not even report it to him. And their rivalry for Timothy's heart came to open war when Buddy discovered that Valerie was going to let Timothy leave the hospital without even reporting to him that Sixty-Three was facing a crisis. Buddy knew what Valerie was, but would a man who loved her believe it? Buddy couldn't let a doctor lose a patient through neglect, either. She won that battle, and together she and Timothy saved the child's life, but even that didn't open Timothy's eyes to Valerie's unworthiness. It took another emergency, with a child screaming in terror at the sight of Valerie, to do that, and to give Buddy her chance to win the heart of the man she adored. This story was worth waiting for. It is the first we have ever been privileged to buy— By Hope Hale
A screenshot from my Pulp Romance Story Catalog. It reads: "The Bride Wore Black" - Marcia Ray (All-Story Love, September 10+17, 1938) Illustrator: Xena Wright Ugly-duckling Fagan is a young woman working her way through college, who finally gets a glow-up and catches the attention of handsome, popular Lane. After a whirlwind courtship, they marry, but disaster strikes when Lane's rich, controlling father learns of the marriage and seeks to break it up. Thankfully, broody football coach with a dark past, Matt (who Fagan accidentally barged in on earlier), is there to help, but things go even further awry when she gets mistaken as MATT'S wife. Will Fagan ever sort things out and get her happy ending with Lane? Recommended, despite how (highlight for spoiler)
The cover (artist unknown). It advertises Doris Knight's "Love On a Merry-Go-Round," and shows a white woman in a red skirt-suit riding a merry-go-round goat, while a white man in a black suit stands next to her, one hand affectionately over hers as it rests in her lap. The overall background is a sort of teal/aqua.
An advertisement for RANGELAND ROMANCES, and specifically Thomas Calvert's story, "A Girl To Tame a Texan." It reads: TWO GIRLS AND A ROMANTIC GUNMAN Up from the wild, lonely trails of Texas he rode—a man's man and a challenge to all women who thought they could break him to harness. One made her bid with moonlight and music, another with flame and bullets. But his heart could only belong to the girl who dared break the Pandora seal of his past—with selfless love and brave, reckless kisses… You'll want to read this stirring romantic novel in this month's RANGELAND ROMANCES: A GIRL TO TAME A TEXAN by THOMAS CALVERT Many exciting hours of reading pleasure await you in the January issue, with numerous stories, long and short, by Isabel Stewart Way, Lloyd Eric Reeve, Agnes Best and other leading writers of dashing Western love fiction. [To the side, there's also a small illustration of a white cowboy (gunman?) with his arms around a white woman from behind. She's in an off-the-shoulder dress, looking at him over her shoulder, and they look about to kiss. Artist unknown.]
Mac waited until he disappeared and then turned to Elida, chuckling. "How do you like being jilted?" Elida's eyes flashed. "I don't," she cried furiously. "Now you get out. Managing my life. Breaking my engagements!" "Slow down," Mac drawled. "You know I've been falling in love with you for a year and you with me. Why the fireworks?" "I'm tired of being slowed down." "So am I," Mac said, grinning one-sidedly. "It won't be so good, me in Washington and you here, but we'll have week-ends. I guess you'll have to marry me that way and like it." Elida's eyes narrowed. "It's customary to ask the bride."
Elida looked at him warily. "Mac, I know you far too well to think this is a proposition. But what is it?" "A favor to me," Mac said soothingly. "I'm stuck in Washington indefinitely and I don't want to close up this place or sublet. So it's yours." "Say that again, slowly." "In words of one syllable, as you say, you live here now and pay me just what you paid at the club." Elida gasped. She was a secretary, not a de luxe caretaker. Was Mac trying to ruin her reputation? The idea was too absurd to deserve a serious answer.
"There's Cal Winston," Mac said, marshalling a mental list. "I don't know about Jerry, but Mike Mattern's a good guy." Elida hardly heard him. Little bubbles of anger were creeping up her spine. Censoring her nail polish and hats and apart-ment had been bad enough, but nobody could pick out her men. Elida's pointed chin set. All she needed to tell Mac off was to get mad enough. "That's enough, Mac," Elida said, her eyes blazing greenishly. "I'm your secretary from nine to five. What I do after five is none of your business. You've bullied me for a year and I'm fed up." "You're just tired. It's late," Mac said soothingly. That was the final straw. The little bubbles of anger formed one big bubble and burst. Elida never had been so [continued in next]
If I had the spine of a caterpillar, I'd tell that sheep in wolf's clothing where to get off, Elida decided. Mac came striding back through the crowd. "Ready?" "I've been ready for months. Only how does a caterpillar get up enough nerve to say 'Boo' to a sheep?" "You've been drinking, Elida." "No. But maybe you have something there." Mac's bronzed face stiffened. He firmly guided Elida out to a taxi, and then seated himself beside her, silent, as if considering what to say. All I need to really finish this night off, Elida thought resignedly, is a temperance lecture from Mac. But the taxi driver will probably get the wrong idea if I scream.
The listing/description of the story from the table of contents. The blurb reads, "Mac thought breaking up a marriage was a legitimate way to keep a perfect secretary."
The last page of "Enemy Husband" (ending with "Continued next month"). The bottom half of the page is the Margaret Wallace/LOVE BOOK advertisement. The included story synopsis for "Tall, Dark—and Dangerous" reads as follows: When Kay pretended to be a victim of amnesia she didn't expect to be identified as the wife of a wealthy foreign nobleman. But how can a girl without a memory deny anything? There was nothing she could do when the police handed her over to Paul, Count du Fresne, but go home with him, to his secluded Long Island mansion, as his wife. Romance was the last thing Kay expected to find at Paul's sinister country home, but there seemed to be no way to stop herself from falling madly in love with a man whom she suspected of being a Nazi spy! With her heart and her freedom in jeopardy Kay had to find a way to escape from Paul's home. The solution of this story is one you never will forget. See the January issue of LOVE BOOK MAGAZINE.
Max and Larabee in the Chief's office. Max wears a light grey suit (possibly his subtle plaid one?), a pale yellow shirt, and a paisley tie in floral colors (rose, purple, green, etc.). Larabee wears a dark grey suit, white shirt, and a red-and-black tie, and holds the trophy he won from the walking marathon. (Fun fact: Robert Karvelas, Larabee's actor, was Don Adams' real-life cousin, and once you know this, you can totally see the family resemblance.)
She said the words that had been on the tip of her tongue since she had met him. "You are not Kurt Reuter." "No." His voice was impatient. "At least, I am not the Kurt Reuter you knew." "Who are you?" She saw his eyes narrow, his lips set. "As far as you are concerned, I am Kurt Reuter." "But that's fantastic! How can you be Kurt Reuter as far as I am concerned? Why, I was expected to marry Kurt Reuter." "And you don't fancy me as a substitute?" He must be joking, but suddenly she felt this was not the time to joke, and the very thought that he could joke in these circumstances angered her. "Don't be ridiculous. What has happened to Kurt?" She felt him look hard at her for a moment, then he said shortly, "Does that matter?" "Yes, I think it does." "Of course, you were going to marry him." There was a pause, then he asked more gently, "Were you in love with Reuter?" She felt her face grow hot under his keen scrutiny. She was angry with him [continued in next]
The first part of a two-page spread. Heroine Ruth sits tensely on a patio with her German stepfather, looking over at…
[An excerpt from "Enemy Husband."] "Darling," he said, "we've got to act quickly. There is no time to be lost. We must be married at once, so that you can come with me." "Married at once, Len?" Her voice was faint, happiness struggling with doubts and fears. To be married to Len, to go back to America with him, it was like a dream. But would her stepfather consent? And then there was her mother. She voiced both these fears aloud, but he said sharply: "Don't talk nonsense, darling! He'll have to let you go. You want to come with me, don't you?" "Want to come with you, Len?" But the very thought that she might not was so ridiculous she laughed aloud in a choked way.
The table of contents, with Jane Littell listed as editor. The blurb for "Enemy Husband" reads, "Ruth's only chance to escape being a plaything of the Japanese soldiery in Tokyo was to marry a German secret agent. Then her problem was to keep herself from falling in love with her enemy husband, whom she was sworn to betray." Curtis's "See You In the Headlines" reads, "Jimmy didn't need a barrage of cameras when he proposed." Campbell's "Marriage of Inconvenience" reads, "Mac thought breaking up a marriage was a legitimate way to keep a perfect secretary." (Other included authors are Phyllis Gordon Demarest, Nancy Crosby, Anne Fowler Hill, and Margery Woods.)
The cover (artist unknown). It shows a white man with his arm around the shoulders of a white woman (both of them in uniform). His other hand holds one of hers, and they're looking at each other as if they're about to kiss. (It's actually a really great war-time clinch cover, and the issue itself is in surprisingly good shape.) "Enemy Husband" is advertised at the bottom.
From s5ep9. Max is transporting baddie Big Eddie Little under the guise of a marathon—they're both acting as participants, but are linked together by a short chain between two handcuffs. Both are in sleeveless exercise shirts—Max's is yellow and of course this clown (affectionate) has "86" as his marathon number; Eddie's is red. For some bizarre reason, Max (and only Max) is really WORKING his walk. (Other CONTROL agents are in their midst, including the Chief, slightly behind them, who's in a red sleeveless shirt and white shorts.)
An advertisement for Baby Ruth candy bars, saying, "No one can resist Cookies made with BABY RUTH Candy." Above that, an illustration (artist unknown) shows a white male pastor—wearing glasses, carrying what I presume to be a bible—looking up at a plate of cookies cooling on a window sill. He's clearly thinking of snitching one.
"And that WONDERFUL old servant," Aunt Cleo added. "He does EVERYTHING for her. Looks after her, waits on her as though she were a child. Madame de Revenau," she added, "plans to sell the château and move to a villa in Normandy which she has inherited from an aunt. The old butler will go with her, of course."
"I've told you repeatedly, Mama, he's an insolent old fool," Robert turned furiously to his mother. "This is the end. You must give him what wages we owe him and send him packing tomorrow." "Yes, Robert, yes, my son," the elderly woman whispered. But this time Shirley saw the tears in her eyes were more than a glimmer, they were running down her cheeks. She remembered that afternoon the Countess had called the butler "my friend" and with affection.
"Then it was Monsieur Reni himself who refused to accept the attaché case," Paul said slowly. He added sharply: "You've still got the case?" "Of course, it's in my private safe. I have the key here." "I wonder if you'd give me that key?" "GIVE YOU THE KEY? But, but why?" "Because I'm going along to have a little talk with the head of the police here; they call him the réfet. I've met him once or twice. He's a decent, understanding fellow." "But why should he or you want the key to my safe?" she stammered.
"I had two telegrams today," she said. For some reason she found herself passing them across to him. "Thank you." He read them both through, then handed them back to her. "Your aunt sounds a sport," he commented. "Oh she is! Whatever I did, she'd stand up for me." "Even if she didn't approve?" She smiled, for the first time naturally. "Aunt Cleo never disapproves. She's one of those people who having done outrageous things herself in her youth expects other people to do them. So many people who have done outrageous things turn moral and disapproving later on. But Aunt Cleo remembers."
"I thought you'd see what I meant," Helen said warmly. "It's odd too that no one ever calls him JACK. It's never been anything else but John. Even I, and I think I'm as close to him as any relative could be, would never dream of calling him Jack, or even Johnnie. He's so much shut in within himself."
A great part of the night she'd thought of that photograph of John lying on Robert's desk. Should she tell him that Robert knew who he was? But what business was it of hers? John had more or less intimated yesterday that nothing which concerned him was her business.
"But what?" she asked. Nothing of what he was telling her seemed to have much bearing on anything. "There was a fellow in there when I first looked in burning something in the furnace," he said when he'd righted the car. "He was pushing it into the furnace bit by bit, breaking it up with his hands before he fed it to the flames. I watched him because it seemed an odd thing to be doing." He broke off. There was no reason this time to break off. There were no parked trucks, no turns in the road. Her voice sounded hoarser than ever as she asked: "Why should it seem an odd thing to do?" "Why should you burn a Carnival mask?" he asked. "One of those big papier maché masks men carry on their shoulders?" "He was burning a mask like that? What sort of mask? I mean," her voice sounded faint, "did you see what the mask represented?"
Why didn't she tell him the story? Because she knew instinctively the man with the cat's head who had danced in the rain was the same man who'd come into her room?
The King and Queen of All Cosmos, from the KATAMARI DAMACY series. They are posing fabulously, and have little sparkles around them.
The last two floats, bigger than the others, were those of the King and Queen Carnival. King Carnival, that year, was mounted on a bicycle with an immense front wheel of the 1900 period. He looked excessively jovial but not excessively regal. He raised his hat and nodded his huge head genially. His Queen, on another float, was an immense figure of a Niçoise girl. Their courtiers, tiny figures in comparison, danced and sang around them. Certainly the court of King Carnival was a gay one.
In the hospital waiting room. Simon has just made 99's mom drop her payphone dimes (the third time someone has bumped into her and caused her them to fall all over the place), and she is PISSED. Simon (a very affable, innocent-looking middle-aged white man) is in a grey suit and cap, while 99's mom is in a fantastic magenta skirt-suit, with a vertically-striped green, magenta, and purple top on underneath. She also wears a black hat and a double strand of pearls around her neck. (Max is technically there, too, looking very rumpled in his brown suit, as he was just part of a brawl with some other KAOS agents.)
From s5ep8 (the second part of this two-parter). Max and 99 have accidentally ended up at the new KAOS headquarters, and gotten themselves locked in a broom closet as she's starting to go into labor. The closet has a trapdoor in the ceiling, so Max is climbing a shelf to reach it. 99 is helping to support him and has her hand directly on his ass, bless.