Criminous-All Things Vintage Crime

A Tumblr blog of all things vintage crime, both real and fictional. Rare volumes, book covers, reviews, biographies, and the true crimes of days long forgotten.

[screengoddess]

Happy Birthday Gene Tierney

(November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) 

[tkdsgn]

seal of approval.

@ terakawa ramen

new york | new york | united states

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Oh god I love Japanese Ramen.

[littlebunnysunshine]

“A Stroll In The Garden”

https://society6.com/product/a-stroll-in-the-gardens_print#1=45

Little Bunny Sunshine

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Boss.

[librarianproblems]

WHAT MY FRIENDS/FAMILY HEARD WHEN I SAID I WANTED TO BE A LIBRARIAN

[criminous]

I wonder what that makes me. A spinsman?

[francavillarts]

BATGIRL Art by Francesco Francavilla

In loving memory of the late, great Yvonne Craig.

We’ll miss you, Yvonne.

FF

[criminous]

Great piece.

[todaysdocument]

Actress Yvonne Craig, best known as television’s Batgirl, passed away earlier this week.

She’s featured in this 1973 Public Service Announcement in which Batgirl explains the concept of “equal pay for equal work” to Batman and Robin as she rescues the dynamic duo from an “untimely” fate.

via The Unwritten Record » Holy Act of Congress, Batman! Equal Pay for Equal Work!

Batman, ca. 1973  Series: Moving Images Relating to Employment Standards, ca. 1960 - 1992. Record Group 448: General Records of the Employment Standards Administration, 1977 - 1994

[beyondvictoriana]

Review: ‘Hamilton,’ Young Rebels Changing History and Theater

In its move to Broadway, the show about America’s founding fathers is proof that the musical is not only surviving but evolving in ways that should allow it to thrive.

I really want to see this show:

“But these guys don’t exactly look like the marble statues of the men they’re portraying. For one thing, they’re black or Hispanic. And when they open their mouths, the words that tumble out are a fervid mix of contemporary street talk, wild and florid declarations of ambition and, oh yes, elegant phrases from momentous political documents you studied in school, like Washington’s Farewell Address. And you never doubt for a second that these eclectic words don’t belong in proximity to one another. In mixing a broad range of references and rhythms in one percolating style, Mr. Miranda — who wrote the book, music and lyrics of “Hamilton,” which was inspired by Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography — does what rap artists have been doing for years. It’s the immoderate language of youth, ravenous and ambitious, wanting to claim and initial everything in reach as their own.”

[vintagemarlene]

sin planner, 1969

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I can get one of those at the Franklin-Covey store, right?

[criminous]

Vintage Mystery Mini-Review: The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett (1934).

Plot: Hammett's husband-and-wife team of Nick and Nora Charles team up to investigate murder, mysterious disappearances, and money. While partying and drinking.  A lot.  Pretty much non-stop, in fact.

Review: This was the only novel of Hammett's which features the convivial and thoroughly saturated Charles'.  In fact, the Charles' drink so much you have to remind yourself that the novel takes place during Prohibition.  It's light in tone, with witty dialogue and generally harmless situations, even when violence comes into play; one can see why it was the starting point to the successful series of movies that borrowed its title.  It's not his best work, but it would have been interesting to see where he might have taken the couple in subsequent adventures.

Availability: Paperback, everywhere

Score: 3.5 blood-encrusted daggers out of five

[arcaneimages]

Head of mummy of Pharaoh Ramesses III

[criminous]

In what would have been a great true crime thriller, Ramsses III was murdered by a conspiracy involving one of his wives in an effort to put her son on the throne. Upwards of 38 conspirators were tried & executed, including several members of the Pharaoh's harem, but not before they'd tried to seduce the judges.

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"It's not difficult to get a Double 0 number if you're prepared to kill people. That's all the meaning it has. It's nothing to be particularly proud of. I've got the corpses of a Japanese cipher expert in New York and a Norwegian double agent in Stockholm to thank for being a Double 0. Probably quite decent people...It's a confusing business; but if it's one's profession one does what one's told. How do you like the grated egg with your caviar?" Bond, to Vesper Lynd, in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, 1954.

[starfishpaws]

Chicago’s Police Department’s first female officers, 1913 The starting salary of a policewoman in 1913 was $75 a month, and each officer was assigned an area to patrol—often a beach, park, bus terminal, railroad station, or dancehall. Their duties included protecting girls from unsavory types who might lure them into danger and arresting girls for wearing questionable swimming costumes at the local beaches. via Chicago History Museum

[criminous]

Lovely ladies of the law.

[vintageanchorbooks]

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Vintage Mystery Mini-Review: The Mad Hatter Mystery, by John Dickson Carr (1933).

Plot: Carr's rotund detective Gideon Fell must wrestle with two strange crimes: the theft of notable citizens' hats and their re-appearances on notable London landmarks, and the death of a young newspaperman at the Tower of London itself.  What's the connection between these two odd cases?  How can someone be murdered at London's most famous attraction without anyone noticing?  And what does any of this have to do with a recently discovered manuscript by one Edgar Allan Poe?

Review: Carr's mystery works well in the buildup, but less successfully in the delivery.  Carr's work (at least to me) often seems to use the mystery genre almost as an academic exercise, and his occasionally laborious and technical explanations of the crime distract from the flow and suspense of the narrative.  I liked a lot of the pieces of this puzzle, and much of the ending, but there's something about his writing I find strangely...bloodless. 

Availability: Paperbacks, in used bookstores

Score: 3.0 blood-encrusted daggers out of five

[arcaneimages]

Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in between filming “Double Indemnity” 1944 via William F

[criminous]

Great classic crime film.  Note, however, that Fred, who is supposed to be a lone wolf insurance salesman on the make, is wearing his wedding ring, which he wore throughout filming.

[vintagemarlene]

ellen woodman at 11 years old was convicted of theft in newcastle, 1873 and sentenced to 7 days hard labour. (www.retronaut.com)

[criminous]

She seems small for eleven, perhaps that's why she stole--to eat.  And one wonders exactly what kind of 'hard labor' the authorities expected from a malnourished child.  My daughter will be 11 soon--perhaps I'll point Ellen out to her the next time she complains about how difficult her life is.

[criminous]

One by one the illuminated windows in the other houses visible to us became dull; then lived again as mirrors for the pallid moon.

Sax Rohmer, The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, 1916.