Paperback 813: I Always Wanted to Be Somebody / Althea Gibson (Pyramid G478)

Paperback 813: Pyramid G478  (1st ptg, 1960)

Title: I Always Wanted to Be Somebody
Author: Althea Gibson (ed. Ed Fitzgerald)
Cover artist: Robert V. Engel (aka 'Engle' for some reason)

Yours for: $18


Best things about this cover:

• Not the most dynamic painting, but striking and endearing, as straight portrait painting goes. Rare, if not unique, in my collection for featuring (or even mentioning the existence of) a female black icon.
• I normally squirm at handwriting fonts, but this one is somehow lovely. Nice change of color on "Somebody."
• I wish this cover (or the back cover) featured more, uh, tennis.

Best things about this back cover:

• There's something at least a little insulting about a back cover photo that showcases the fucking queen, while the ostensible subject of the book is literally marginalized, with her back turned. Also, I resent the idea that shaking hands with the queen makes you "somebody." I want the triumphant, trophy-holding shot!
• This back cover actually makes the book sound fantastic. Minus the "jungle" / "Harlem" connection. That, I could do without. I realize "Asphalt Jungle" is a book / movie title, but still…
• Oooh, *hard* liquor! Wow, that *is* tough. No Bud Light Lime-a-Ritas for her!

Page 123~

CONGRATULATIONS. EDNA CRIED WITH JOY. I KNEW YOU'D DO IT. SUGAR RAY.

~RP

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Paperback 737: Duke / Hal Ellson (Popular Library 219)

Paperback 737: Popular Library 219 (5th ptg, 1950)

Title: Duke
Author: Hal Ellson
Cover artist: Rudolph Belarski

Yours for: $12


Best things about this cover:

• Her "whatever" face is the best.
• Black Joan Crawford could take you or leave you.
• Shoes! Why does everyone on old paperbacks look so damn cool. Even goofy people look cool. Even Flat-butt No Face here has a certain simple, shabby style I admire. 
• Juvenile delinquency! Dope! Smoking (literally) hot girls who could give a damn! This book has it all.
• The one word I think of when I see Belarski's artwork: creamy. 

Best things about this back cover:

• Love the advisory at the end there! "If you barf easy, or don't, like, care about important stuff, then fuck off already." This book has the same attitude as the lady on the cover.
• Marijuana. I like when books name their drugs. Even though this is a 5th printing, the great condition, the JD (juvenile delinquency) theme, and the drug references make it super-sweet / collectible. 
• "Cash before pleasure"? Come on, you gotta up your slang game if you're gonna run the streets. "Money before honeys"? "Dough before ho"? "Cheddar before girls in tight sweaters"? Something.

Page 123~

"You got any sticks on you?" Chink said.
"Yeah, I got some. You want one."
"I could use it."
I gave Chink one. I passed some around to the others. I lit one for myself. I needed that. We all got to be feeling gay then. 

Aw, yeah … [cue sexy music] …

~RP

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Paperback 704: Harlem Underground / Ed Lacy (Pyramid R-1220)

Paperback 704: Pyramid R-1220 (PBO, 1965)

Title: Harlem Underground
Author: Ed Lacy
Cover artist: Harry Schaare

Yours for: $13


Best things about this cover:

• Sleeper hold!
• Interesting variation on the noir street scene. You got your bar and your rain-slicked streets (or so I imagine), but apparently in Harlem there are brown/purple overtones, sliced through with neon red. Interesting effect.
• Not one but *two* floating heads. Highly unusual.
• I like how the big floating head appears to be looking down on some earlier version of himself, going "Damn, did I do that? That's cold."
• You can see Schaare's signature right under the big head's right eye. Unless that says "Espresso." It's pretty smudgy.

Best things about this back cover:

• Wait, *I*'m a rookie cop? But I already have ... OK, fuck it, sure, I'm in.
• As street names go, "Purple Eye" seems kind of limp.
• There's something quaint about how much terror the word "H-Bomb" apparently packed in 1965. Also, do H-Bombs have fuses? Serious question.

Page 123~

Breathing deeply I not only wanted to get out of Harlem, I wanted to take a rocket away from our mixed-up planet. 

Again with the cold war / space race fantasies. This book is adorable.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

57 Books from the University Book Sale: Book 14

Title: Down These Mean Streets (Signet 3471, 1968)
Author: Piri Thomas
Cover artist: photo

Yours for: Whatever

• A stirring tale of laundry!
• I got this only for the title, which comes from Raymond Chandler's "Simple Art of Murder": "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean ..."

• "Attempted Killer!?" As Sideshow Bob once famously said about "attempted murder": "Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel prize for attempted chemistry? Do they?"

Page 123:

I tried to dig myself.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]