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Post by dem bones on Dec 21, 2007 13:36:18 GMT
It's taken me just the two and a bit years but I finally figured that it was time to widen the net on this one because, while NEL were responsible for several youthsploitation classics, they didn't hold the monopoly. A case in point: Michel Parry - Agro (Mayflower, 1975) Cover design by Domenico Rodi 'We're only here for the aggravation'
WHEN THE SKINS
" - the gang charged after the man, hurling his plump, middle-aged body to the dry earth. The queer grovelled in the dirt, a fat overturned beetle. The crew moved in with pounding boots"
MEET THE BIKERS
"- Speedy brought his knee up into Bette's belly. As she fell onto a heap of tables and chairs Cisco picked a bottle off the counter and smashed it over the remaining queen's head" —
THE RESULT MUST BE AGRO!
A. novel of violence — and the kids that live by it.Perhaps we could get another one of our infamous galleries going on this - cuts out the tricky brainwork of actually reading the stuff.
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Post by Steve on Dec 21, 2007 13:56:15 GMT
Admit it, dem - this is just another thinly-veiled excuse to flaunt your copy of Agro, isn't it?
OK, what will you take for it? I'll open the bidding at a kidney and my mortal soul...
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Post by dem bones on Dec 21, 2007 14:34:58 GMT
Nonsense, nonsense! *did you notice how i posted a bigger scan this time ?* No, I really thought we might be able to kick-start this section by widening the scope because it generated some decent reviews and info before it fizzled out. Besides, where else could I have posted this without people thinking I swoon over that ridiculous minogue woman or some such piffle that no sane person could take seriously? Criena Rohan - The Delinquents (Penguin, 1986: Originally Gollancz, 1962) `Most great lovers if they lived today would be considered juvenile delinquents'
And so it is with Brownie and Lola, two displaced teenagers who find their homes in each other. But in Brisbane in the Fifties, the age of pony tails, rock 'n' roll and backstreet abortions, those who go their own way are not rebels but delinquents.
In the eyes of the world – that is, of their mothers, welfare and the cops – they are unprepared for adult responsibilities. Despite outsiders' attempts to separate them, they prove themselves capable of surviving in a world to which they give a love and understanding that is seldom returned.
`Generous, defiant, and basically very touching' –The Times Literary SupplementApologies for the bit of sticker still attached to that bloke's head (whoever he is) but Kylie's all right so that's all that matters.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 21, 2007 14:50:03 GMT
I'm not really familiar with this genre, but is the gentleman on that Agro cover meant to be leaning against a Chopper bicycle?
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Post by redbrain on Dec 21, 2007 15:20:11 GMT
Besides, where else could I have posted this without people thinking I swoon over that ridiculous minogue woman or some such piffle that no sane person could take seriously? Kylie is lovely - I refuse to believe that you're immune to her charms.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 21, 2007 15:51:20 GMT
I'm not really familiar with this genre, but is the gentleman on that Agro cover meant to be leaning against a Chopper bicycle? I think you have a strong case there, John, but I'll leave it to you to tell him .... Kylie is lovely - I refuse to believe that you're immune to her charms. I'm sorry. I just can't see what all the fuss is about. What's there to like exactly? *I apologise in advance* Anyhow (all flustered. you've put me off now!) ... Richard Price - The Wanderers (Pan, 1977, 1979) RICHIE - High Warlord of The Wanderers
SLOOPY - Skull-faced loser of the Fordham Baldies
BUDDY - Who found true love with Despie the Pizza Queen
EUGENE - Super-stud who watched his girlfriend raped at razor-point
They lived on the Bronx in the 1960's ... days of muscle shirts and frozen pompadours, Dion and the Shirelles, Juicy Fruit gum and Kool cigarettes. The Pharoahs, Del-Bombers, Ducky Boys, Wongs, fighting through from the Big Playground to tomorrow.
`SEX, VIOLENCE AND HUMOUR ... SUPERB' - ROLLING STONE
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Post by Steve on Dec 21, 2007 16:11:32 GMT
(I) thought we might be able to kick-start this section by widening the scope... Is "widening the scope" some sort of euphemism? If so, I think your idea might be working...
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Post by justin on Dec 21, 2007 19:38:13 GMT
I with you Dem. Give me a Kirsty Alsop over a Kylie Minogue any day. (choices I'm unlikley to have to make, but i like to give it thought in my quieter moments. Although I've yet to recover from a friends confession to a yearning for Amy Winehouse.
Note to Steve- I'll dig out my signed copy of Agro and post it as well to really get you in the festive anguish. A right testicle (I'm currently missing one) seems like a fair trade.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 21, 2007 20:19:29 GMT
Thank you, Justin. But isn't it just blooming typical? One tries to make a serious point and the next thing you know that Steve - oh, he is a caution! - is making rude remarks and everybody is posting up photo's of that silly minogue girl in her lingerie! Well, I know they haven't actually done that yet - but I'm just, um, warning them in case they were thinking about it. Although between ourselves, there's nothing I could do to stop them. If they were to post up photo's of that silly minogue girl in her lingerie, I mean. Easy on the 'signed copies' though, Mr. cultprint. Nobody likes a show-off. But speaking of Michel, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for the lovely Christmas card he sent the Bride and I which arrived today. So nice of him to take the time and trouble. Oh *surprised look*, didn't anyone else get one? Ooops! In that case, forget I mentioned it.
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Post by Steve on Dec 21, 2007 21:19:33 GMT
I may not have got a Christmas card from Michel Parry (the post's always a bit unreliable at this time of year I find), but I think somebody else is going to be a little bit jealous when I happen to mention, just casually like, in passing, that Kylie Minogue very kindly sent me some of her lingerie. Well, I say "Kylie Minogue very kindly sent me", technically I suppose "I broke in and stole" would be more accurate. And yes, I was cautioned. Here's 'exhibit A'; Enjoy this while you can, dem, it's being hosted on photobucket. It was all most unfortunate. She's even taken out a restraining order which prevents me from buying any of her records... Note to Steve- I'll dig out my signed copy of Agro and post it as well to really get you in the festive anguish. A right testicle (I'm currently missing one) seems like a fair trade. To be quite honest, Justin, you might as well have them both for all the good they're doing me at the moment. You can keep one as a spare. (If I remember later, I might even post something about 'juvenile delinquent' paperbacks)
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Post by dem bones on Dec 21, 2007 21:58:50 GMT
(If I remember later, I might even post something about 'juvenile delinquent' paperbacks) Oh, that would be great! Did you catch the Rumble thread, Steve? Great zine. Like a JD equivalent of Paperback Fanatic. It really got me interested in seeking out several of the paperbacks they enthuse over so. The bride is full of surprises. I've just found copies of JD oldies Cosh Boy, Spare The Rod and Hate Alley among her stash. I'll try and scan 'em up when I get a chance but it won't be tonight. Thanks for the photobucket warning - best downloaded it now to keep as evidence. of something. or something.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 22, 2007 8:59:09 GMT
The bride is full of surprises. I've just found copies of JD oldies Cosh Boy, Spare The Rod and Hate Alley among her stash. I'll try and scan 'em up when I get a chance but it won't be tonight.
Gold mine! Wasn't Cosh Boy a film?
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Post by dem bones on Dec 22, 2007 14:56:52 GMT
Martin L. Weiss - Hate Alley (Digit, 1957) Days and nights of a Juvenile Delinquent"What turned Gary Miller from a lovable boy into a case-hardened criminal?
Was it prowling the jungle of the streets? His family? His friends?
Or was it simply the evil, corroding influence of Hate Alley, the breeding place of crime?
Anyway, somewhere along the line this lad went wrong. As far wrong as a boy can go-murder !"Bruce Walker - Cosh Boy (Ace, 1959) A Graphic Story Of London's Juvenile Jungle"Cosh Boy ... is certainly horrible ... it emphasises the fact that not all young criminals come from bad homes where they are neglected. In the final scene the author makes use of an extremely neat situation to support his pleas for corporal punishment"Bruce "Birch me!" Walker
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Post by Steve on Dec 22, 2007 20:11:31 GMT
Ready when you are, dem! I suppose I should really try and unentangle myself from Kylie Minogue's lingerie, and post something a bit more on topic. "Every girl was fair game to the gang! A pounding novel of the gangs that thrive on dames and dope - and spread the bitter poison of delinquency" - The Young Hoods (Beacon Books, 1959) 1,000,000 Delinquents (Signet, 1957); Play It Cool (Ace, 1959); D For Delinquent (Avon, 1958) JD paperbacks - turbulent novels of reckless youth; dope addicts, girls in trouble, "back alley Casanovas, street corner sadists, candy store pirates, thrill killers, punks, perverts and pool-room princes", crazy mixed-up kids with their zip-guns and shivs, or as Teen-Age Vice (Pyramid, 1957) would have it; "They hold orgies in cellar clubs, go on jukejoint binges and motel honeymoons. They get hopped up on liquor and dope, then rob, rape and murder. They are young people under 21 who commit more than half the major crimes in the USA" (the cover also bears the legend, "Inspired by J. Edgar Hoover" - How so? Did he do all that stuff as well?) Or how about this from D For Delinquent; "What with petty thievery and wild marijuana parties, there had been enough problems for the faculty at Seacliff High before the girl named Gloria arrived. She was sixteen, she was sexy, and she spelled trouble. For Gloria was a teen-ager with an adult past. The things that were still considered daring to the local gangs and that shocked teachers in Seacliff were kid stuff to this brassy little teaser. So when Gloria displayed her special talents around the school and after hours, it started a new kind of an extra-curricular rumble that grew into a volcanic eruption which overran Seacliff." Brassy little teasers... wild marijuana parties... what more could you want? From a book I mean... The Blackboard Jungle (Cardinal, 1955); The Jungle Kids (Pocket Books, 1956); The Young Savages (orig. 'A Matter Of Conviction', Cardinal, 1961) Evan Hunter is 'probably best known as' Ed McBain, author of the 87th Precinct novels. The Blackboard Jungle was based on his own experience teaching in the Bronx, apparently so harrowing that he only lasted a couple of weeks. The 1955 film is 'perhaps best remembered for' unleashing Rock & Roll on an unsuspecting wider public in the shape of Bill Haley's 'Rock Around The Clock'. Hunter's A Matter of Conviction was also filmed, in 1961, as The Young Savages. Jailbait Street (Monarch, 1959); The Knife (Lancer, 1961); Nightmare Street (Belmont, 1964) Hal Ellson isn't Harlan Ellison, the well-respected author of speculative fiction - although Harlan Ellison did write some 'juvie' books as well. Like Evan Hunter's Blackboard Jungle, Hal Ellson's novels of big city delinquency were also inspired by his own experiences. In his case, working in the adolescent psychiatric ward of New York's Bellevue Hospital. "Running wild from darkness till dawn - snatching at love in deserted alleys or lonely rooftops - today's tough juvenile punks have turned our city streets into asphalt jungles of terror and lawlessness. This is the savagely realistic story of a teen-age gang - the Sultans - and their mixed-up leader, Silkie Meegan, whose desperate search for manhood drove him into frenzied excesses of violence and vice... From the vengeance beating with bicycle chains of a rival gang... to the degraded sharing of sweet, virginal Carol with the rest of his gang. And finally to the fateful family feud with his own father over Charlotte - his father's prostitute mistress - who taught Silkie her own kind of Jailbait Street love..." - Jailbait StreetThe Juvies (Ace, 1961) Harlan Ellison's contributions to the JD genre include The Juvies and The Deadly Streets, but perhaps also of interest is a 1959 Nightstand book, Sex Gang, written under the pseudonym Paul Merchant. It collects stories which originally appeared in various men's magazines of the '50s, including "The Gal with the Horizontal Mind", "Bayou Sex Cat", "Wanted: Two Trollops", and "God Bless the Ugly Virgin". Gang Girl (Avon, 1954); Jailbait Jungle (Belmont, 1962) Wenzell Brown was another prolific chronicler of teen-age naughtiness. As if Gang Girl, Jailbait Jungle (also 'The Big Rumble'), and Teen-age Terror ("The inside story of juvenile delinquency told in actual cases of violence and sex") weren't enough, he also gave us Teen Age Mafia, Run Chico Run, Cry Kill, and Girls On The Rampage (not pictured, sadly). Teen-age Terror (Gold Medal, 1958) In addition to flick-knife wielding, leather-jacketed youths, JD paperbacks often featured 'Good Girl Art' on their covers. A couple of nice GGA examples here. Hot Rod Gang Rumble (Avon, 1957); Run Tough, Run Hard (Monarch, 1961) Have a look at this blurb for Run Tough, Run Hard and tell me this isn't a book that has it all going on; "All at once, life was much too complicated for young Brad Dixon. There was his parents' disapproval of his love for virginal Mitzi Gaines. There was the problem of Deedee Sayers, hot-eyed and hot-lipped, who constantly tried to arouse his nascent manhood, and wanton Dale Sayers, Deedee's mother, who thought Brad would be a nice change from the tired business men who beat a path to her bed. Finally, there were the Black Vampires, juvenile delinquents on motorcycles, who repelled Brad even though their dedication to debauchery and wanton destruction appealed to the dark side of his nature." I Made My Bed (Beacon, 1958) And talking of good girls, I have to draw your attention, if it still needs drawing, to I Made My Bed. I'll read the cover for you, just in case anything else is distracting you; "Women need men, junkies need dope, I needed both! - A blazing novel of delinquency... intimately... frankly... shockingly... revealed by a teenage addict." Now some people might say that this sort of thing was somewhat sensationalistic, lurid even, but personally I've always believed that serious literature shouldn't shy away from examining such important contemporary social issues as girls with pointy breasts in tight sweaters. All of which pretty much drags us back to where we started... down to my gutter level. But I'd like to think we might have learned something along the way... Cosh Boy was filmed in 1952, and featured a young Joan Collins.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 22, 2007 21:16:38 GMT
Great covers, blinding post. Well done, Steve. I'm beginning to understand the appeal of the genre now. Some more great unreads from the bride's surprise stash including an English answer to the aforementioned The Blackboard Jungle. Nell Dunn - Up The Junction (Pan, 1966) Outside revving bikes were splitting the night. 'Where we going?' 'Let's go swimmin' up the Common'. 'We ain't got-no swim-suits with us'. 'We'll swim down one end and you down the other. It's dark, ain't it?' 'Who do yer think's going to see yer ? The man in the moon ?' 'Yeah and what's to stop yer hands wandering ?' 'We'll tie 'em behind our backs'.
Nell Dunn, winner of the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize. Razor-sharp sketches of working-class life in London that have earned this young author world fame. Michael Croft - Spare The Rod (Panther, 1954-65) "SANDERS DID NOT BELIEVE IN VIOLENCE: but circumstances changed his viewpoint.
For, having taken a job as a schoolmaster in a tough and raw district, he finds he has been thrown into a maelstrom of adolescent hatred and viciousness which eventually erupts into violence and revolt. Torn between his ideals and the savagery of his pupils he is forced to take a decision which drives him to the brink of despair and break-down. A tough, uncompromising novel of youth today that has been described as the English equivalent of America's The Blackboard Jungle. It does not spare the reader with the frank picture it paints of the teenage world.
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