Dear Ones, I'm afraid I'll be taking next week off for the Thanksgiving holiday. So, we won't get back together until Monday, December 1st. Meanwhile, let's head into next week in love's sweet embrace, courtesy of Boy Meets Girl #2:
And as the cover shows us, once the girl has the diamond, the boy isn't really an important part of the picture.
I also noticed that while this was a Comics Code compliant book, it's listed as "not for children." I admit I'm confused.
Although I have to admit that Elaine, the "Kiss and Tell Girl," is pretty frank about her encounters:
Every dude's worst nightmare right there, ladies. Although Elaine is a pretty free spirit for 1950. Then again, Grease is loaded with sexual content (all of which went over my head when I first saw it in the movie theater and bought the album because I'm a huge Sha Na Na fan), so maybe we're just seeing how it really was.
Anyway, Elaine is that girl that has to bag every guy around to prove that she is the top girl in the universe. Here she is luring poor Ted into her Web of Deception and Sexual Performance Critiques:
That exchange almost bordered on Fun with Out of Context Dialogue (tm!) if you read it in a breathy tone of voice.
... And by "cramming," I mean....
Oh. He meant studying. This is a 1950 book. They might have gotten the term "made love" past the Comics Code, but I guess we can't be coarse.
Here's my favorite scene ever:
Yeah, Elaine! Think about that as you live out your days as a barfly!
Elaine must have really sticky tears for it to stay on her face from the porch scene with Ted all the way back into her bedroom. Maybe it's a teardrop tattoo, like she's been in the penitentiary and she had a close friend take a shank in the gut. It's fun to think about this sort of thing, don't you think?
Hold on! Here's the moral of the story:
So just be honest, and kind, and...
... thin. Only thin people deserve love.
Wow, romance comics make this blog easy.
See you on December 1st, my lovelies! Stay safe!
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7 comments:
Have a nice break Adam!
That cover looks pretty nice. Greg Land's father, maybe. :)
The term "to be made love to" back in the day covered a host of activities as innocent as kissing or talking really serious so I don't think the Comic Code had anymore problem with Elaine than Ted did.
But let me get this straight---Ted had a thing going with Marcia and Elaine on the side but the thing that upset him was that Elaine gave out bad reviews? There's a lesson of a generation of boys!
I just noticed the cover says "conforming to the comic code" not "approved by" which I am accustomed to seeing. Maybe Elaine isn't the only one stretching things here?
Adam, you should give Constantine another try. The November 21 episode was chock full of the character development you wanted to see.
Lev Gleason, Charles Biro, Bob Wood... you know, I'm starting to think that these comics about women, aimed for women (presumably) and portraying horrid old-fashioned stereotypical concepts about women ("Hooray, now I can quit my career and be a wife and mother!" or here "If you go out with a lot of guys it must be because you're a manipulative beast with no concern for love and human emotion"), might have all been created by men. < SpockEyebrow > Fascinating.
(To clarify, a lot of sexist stereotypes were - and are - also created and perpetuated by women. But the 'Ain't that just like women, am I right fellas?' jokes are getting kinda old, is all.)
Anyway, happy holidays and enjoy your vacation!
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