Saucy Movie Tales – 06/36: Adventure House Presents: by John P. Gunnison

Saucy Movie Tales – 06/36: Adventure House Presents: Reviews

• 
  James Crawford

  This is one of the Adventure House pulp reprints. Notice that this is a 1936 issue, fully five years before the U.S. entered World War II, yet the cover shows the story “Yellow Peril in Hollywood,” and shows some Japanese attacking, one of them ripping off the woman's clothing. (Note that a Japanese flag is shown, also.)
  
  
  The table of contents page, as usual, has numerous drawings of topless women.
  
  
  Starlight: “Events such as these behind Casting Office doors would give the cinema city a black eye!” A woman is trying to become an actress and goes for an interview. She's wearing an outfit which hugs her breasts, and emphasizes her nipples. After the would-be actress leaves, George from the casting office has sex with his secretary.
  
  
  There's a drawing of the woman posing for the camera and showing both her breasts nude (although her face isn't drawn that well, I think). There's sort of a confusing bit about George getting a black eye, though nothing seemed to indicate how. He's really attracted to his secretary.
  
  
  Yellow Peril in Hollywood: An Oriental invasion! Hollywood beauties in danger, and 'Satan' Devlin to the rescue!” [Note that his is being written in 1936, fully five years before the actual start of WWII, at least for the U.S.]
  
  
  Devlin is a photographer and trouble-shooter for Phoenix Films. He starts off by watching a Hollywood actress (with concentration on describing her breasts and rear end). The woman is Grace Darling, and her escort is Rangoff Dunn.
  
  
  Devlin is told that Okada Huma, naval leader of the Japanese Militarist Party, has escaped. Devlin talks to Darling later, trying to get her away from Dunn who is some kind of sleazy character.
  
  
  Devlin goes to Dunn's place to get some incriminating photos he has of Darling. He finds the pictures he's looking for, but he also finds out that Dunn is a spy for Japan.
  
  
  One of the documents talks about a planned Japanese invasion of the West Coast.
  
  An actual fear by many on the West Coast, and a good part of the reason that persons of Japanese ancestry were sent to the interment camps.]
  
  
  They are already moving on Los Angeles, and plan to take the starlets as their “playmates”. [A concept that later emerged as “comfort women.” This also puts the entire story into race-hate category, since one of the arguments at the time was that the “yellow man” would go after white women. There's even a direct line on that: “Southern chivalry was again out to save its white women.”]
  
  Los Angeles surrenders, and orders the white women gathered up. The Japanese attack across various places in the U.S., threaten Canada, bomb the Panama Canal, and take over all of California.
  
  
  Devlin has invented a machine which the government produces, a machine centered on color and able to kill Japanese since their skin is yellow. The Japanese troops are routed.
  
  
  G-Man Hoover Likes Movies (factual)
  
  
  Retake for Romance: “A romantic story of the poor little country girl who 'made good' out in Hollywood.” A woman wins a beauty contest and goes to Hollywood, thinking she'll become a star. Matters prove very difficult, and the story has a twist ending.
  
  
  Marcia of the Movies: two pages of cartoon panels.
  
  
  The Wasp: “Clipped for a thousand dollars by a Hollywood siren-but it couldn't buy real love!” Madeline Wasp is a woman who has great disdain for the women who come to Hollywood and use the casting couch method to advance. She's really a gold digger and nasty. A story that has one thinking “why did they use it?”
  
  
  S.O.S. Hollywood: “No place is too far, no town too small-Hollywood stars must be had-at all costs!” A guy goes to South America, encounters a woman he's attracted to, is attacked by the bar's proprietor, defeats him and takes the girl.
  
  
  It Happened in Hollywood: “Loyalty to her film company came first-after her husband. A clever story with a surprise ending.” Has one of the stranger descriptions of a woman's breasts: “Her hard, conical breasts, like toothsome pears with bulbous tips...” A woman has to try to get a Frenchman to sign a contract with a picture company, but she not only does that but ends up with him as her husband.
  
  
  Hollywood Love Shift: “Tim Boardman falls for an attractive blonde and incidentally assists in apprehending a criminal.” A garage mechanic falls for a beautiful woman. It turns out she's FBI, after a guy who murdered her sister. The mechanic finds out there's another crook in the garage who tries to kill him.
  
  The Broken Record: “Was it the 'voice of the other woman' that came to Marie's ears in the chill of a northwest winter?” A rather dumb story.
  
  
  Tropical Intrigue: “A local feud breaks up the 'action' of an 'on location' picture colony.” A murder mystery.
  
  
  “Talkies” of Criminals: Discusses the idea of having motion pictures of criminals talking and then, if they were in trouble, such pictures could be shown in theaters and to policeman to help them identify and apprehend the crooks. This is sort of the grand-daddy of present-day shows about criminals, America's Most Wanted, those types of things.
  
  The last page consists of cartoon panels about a woman using the “casting couch” to become famous.