Detective Book Magazine Fall 1941 - The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee

  

A blonde in sheer blacks from George Gross adorns the cover Detective Book Magazine from Fall of 1941.  You can get the full issue scan here or read it online or download alternate formats at the Internet Archive here. 

A notorious bit of mid-century fiction laid bare for your amusement today, burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee's The G-String Murders in pulp form.  First published in hardcover in 1941, the novel would be next published in the pulps in Fiction House's Detective Book Magazine.  Publishing a book en toto, Detective Book was like later paperbacks in the ability to offer a recent publication at a much cheaper cost than the hardcover.  And with naughty and sensational pictures to boot.

I take it that Gypsy's novel was an instant talk of the town. And Gypsy no doubt enjoyed the spotlight.

 

Immediately there was the assumption that persisted for decades that Gypsy's book had been ghostwritten (by the excellent Craig Rice aka Mary Randolph Craig), but that myth has been dispelled in looking at Gypsy's correspondence with her publisher and between the two ladies themselves.  

My verdict: this stripper (respectfully) can write. It's not the mystery itself that is what's best about the novel, (though it passes well enough with plenty of suspects, red herrings, and mayhem to keep you guessing). it's Gypsy's dialogue and dialect, delivered in catty exchanges among the girls of the opera house who share a strong camaraderie as well as a strong and catty sense of competition amongst themselves for top billing.  Secrets of the craft are revealed along with descriptions of occupational hazards like handsy men and cops on the offense at the behest of the offended do-gooders of society.  Gypsy keeps the comedy and one-liners coming but also provides believable menace.  Sex and violence are strange but common bedfellows, and frustrated and aroused men along with many another a jealousy and motive among the stars, their boyfriends, and the men behind the scenes make for a lively setting.

SPOILER ALERT - of a sort - I'm going to post some of the art from the pulp from Maxwell Elkan who I think did an excellent job picking and capturing some key moments of the story.

 

 

 

 

There is a sequel to The G-String Murders I haven't read yet but plan to which was also later published in Detective Book that continues with the same characters (I assume), Mother Finds a Body.

 

I did watch the film version of The G-String Murders, Lady of Burlesque, from Director William Wellman in 1943 which I enjoyed but in a different way from the novel.  A footnote here is that Craig Rice actually did assist with the script for the movie.  The setting and characters seem sanitized and scenes are omitted (like the excellent jail scene), but Barbara Stanwyck does captivate.  The film is public domain, so you can find it out there on YouTube very easily, but beware as it fell in the PD so early that it wasn't ever properly released (since there was no proprietary money in it) so there are many versions out there with bad video and audio.