Meet Eva Lynd
PulpFest is looking forward to welcoming our 2020 guest of honor, model Eva Lynd, to the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry from August 6 – 9. A frequent collaborator of Doc Savage model Steve Holland, Eva was a favorite of artists Norm Eastman and Al Rossi, two of the top illustration artists who worked for the men’s adventure magazine industry.
Our guest of honor — who will be traveling to Mars, Pennsylvania on August 6 — will have a table inside the PulpFest 2020 dealers’ room. With that in mind, we’ve asked Wyatt Doyle — the ringmaster at New Texture books — to tell us something about Eva’s appearances in magazines, paperback books, and elsewhere. With Robert Deis, Wyatt is the co-editor of EVA: MEN’S ADVENTURE SUPERMODEL and The Men’s Adventure Library series. Wyatt and Bob have offered very popular presentations on the men’s adventure magazines and their relation to the pulps at the last two PulpFests.
A Brief Guide to Collecting All Things Eva
by Wyatt Doyle
Men’s adventure supermodel Eva Lynd’s multi-faceted career began too late for the pulp magazine era. However, she was positively inescapable in the men’s adventure magazines that, starting in the 1950s, sprouted from classic pulp’s ashes. Her familiarity was further bolstered by regular appearances in (and on the covers of) other publications targeted to both sexes. These included confession and true crime mags, record album covers, and print advertisements, to say nothing of her growing visibility thanks to her busy television and film career.
With Eva appearing at this year’s PulpFest, collectors will be wise to review their archives for Eva Lynd appearances they may possess. While a complete checklist would be almost impossible to compile, we did our best to cover as much of Eva’s career as we could in our book EVA: MEN’S ADVENTURE SUPERMODEL (New Texture, 2019). If you number among the unfortunates who don’t yet own a copy, here are a few career highlights and personal favorites to keep an eye out for in the months between now and PulpFest.
Modeling for Magazines
In the mid- to late 1950s, Eva did a great deal of photo modeling for magazines in the romance and “true confession” field, portraying a variety of lovelorn characters in titles like ROMANCE TIME and TRUE LIFE SECRETS. But as those magazines are not widely collected and infrequently discussed, they present a special challenge to Eva collectors. Those who’ve made fresh discoveries in this area are very much encouraged to bring their finds to PulpFest. Eva would be absolutely delighted to see some of these magazines again.
In TRUE ADVENTURES, September 1956, “The Monster We Couldn’t Kill,” by Duncan W. McLeod, recounts the life of frontiersman Simon Girty. The piece marks Eva’s first appearance in print as an artist’s model. Very recognizable in illustrator Al Rossi’s monochrome renderings, Eva portrays not one but both of Girty’s bound blonde captives. Eva quickly became one of Rossi’s favorite models, and she continued to appear in his illustrations well into the next decade.
STAG, February 1957, is a real bonanza, with Eva modeling for Rossi as the title character in the Wenzell Brown story, “Lily Brazil: Week-End Girl.” The resemblance to Eva in the artwork in particularly evident, and the story is punctuated with several smaller Rossi spot illustrations, all focused on Eva.
STAG, August 1957, includes Dave Ballard’s “The Sex Hoax That Scandalized Mexico.” The illustration marked the only occasion Eva worked with the great James Bama, and the lush results speak for themselves. The re-titled story and art were later reprinted in MAN’S WORLD, October 1960.
The September 7, 1957 edition of THE SATURDAY EVENING POST includes “Bring Back the Bride,” by Hannibal Coons. It’s illustrated with a jaw-dropping full color painting by Mike Ludlow of Eva in full Marilyn Monroe mode. The piece proved memorable enough to be swiped by an uncredited artist who copied it (badly) for the adult paperback, TORMENTED VIRGIN, by John D. Keefauver, and published by Epic in 1962.
FOR MEN ONLY, September 1958, includes “The Phony Empire of Lover Boy Leo Koretz,” by Sumner Plunkett. The black and white illo is particularly special; not only because it’s such an appealing rendering of Eva in lingerie, but because Al Rossi served as his own model for the character of “Lover Boy” Leo Koretz, depicted happily smoking a cigar in the bath. A unique comic snapshot of a very special collaboration.
Inside STAG, December 1958, is one of Eva’s very favorite pieces, a gorgeous blue duotone by Al Rossi for Oluf Reed Olsen’s WWII adventure, “You Will Never Come Back.” Eva appears with the iconic Steve Holland, her frequent modeling co-star.
MODERN MAN, January 1959, is adorned with one of Eva’s most seductive photo covers, shot by Leo Fuchs. A detail was featured on the cover of the softcover edition of EVA: MEN’S ADVENTURE SUPERMODEL.
FOR MEN ONLY, July 1964, features another bonanza of terrific art: “Kill and Run Nude.” It features a big, two-page vertical spread of Eva and Steve Holland by Al Rossi, plus a half-dozen spot illos featuring both models.
ACTION FOR MEN, May 1966, included “Man Who Collected Nudes,” by Henry Kane, illustrated by a gorgeous Al Rossi rendition of a scantily clad Eva on the run. This image was subsequently tinted and incorporated into the cover of the EVA: MEN’S ADVENTURE SUPERMODEL softcover.
Norm and Eva
Eva was a favorite model of pantheon artist Norm Eastman. In Eva’s estimation, Norm was the finest illustrator she worked with. Their simpatico working relationship led to Eva’s appearing on scores of Eastman covers from 1964 to 1974, sometimes as a bound captive of Nazi baddies, sometimes as a machine-gun-firing liberator, leading the charge to victory. Eastman tended to cast himself as the villains in his paintings, and an especially memorable example is the May 1965 MAN’S STORY. The cover not only features Eva as the model for both prisoners, but includes Eastman as a Nazi officer, and fellow illustrator Mark Schneider posing as his henchman.
For BLUEBOOK, October 1966, Eastman depicted cover girl Eva looking heroic and fabulous as an armed lookout for fellow saboteur Steve Holland, setting charges to take out a Nazi-controlled bridge. You’ll also find this image on the back of the PulpFest post cards advertising the 2020 convention.
The cover of NEW MAN, October 1968, saw Eastman cast Eva as a battlefield nurse, tending to a badly wounded Steve Holland while the Viet Cong close in on the dynamic duo. The cover is one of Eva’s personal favorites.
The November 1968 WORLD OF MEN cover by Eastman showcases a leggy Eva lashed to a palm tree, with threats of worse to come from SS officer Steve Holland.
NEW MAN, December 1968, is possibly the definitive Eva “hero” cover. This illustration of a cat-suited Eva opening fire on Nazi guards is a bona fide Eastman classic that’s also featured on the cover of EVA: MEN’S ADVENTURE SUPERMODEL’s hardcover edition. PulpFest has also used it in their advertising material.
WORLD OF MEN, January 1969, sports another memorable Eastman “hero” cover, with Eva knee-deep in water to protect downed pilot Steve Holland. His crashed jet burns behind them.
Eva in Hollywood
Eva served as the body double for Kim Novak in the sexy key art for the 1957 film PAL JOEY. So what you’re seeing on the movie poster and the soundtrack LP’s cover is actually Eva’s body with Kim Novak’s face.
Eva makes a memorable appearance in the psychotronic cult film, THE HYPNOTIC EYE (1960, on DVD from Warner Archives). She also appears on many countries’ lobby cards for the motion picture. She has a cameo in the popular Sidney Poitier film FOR LOVE OF IVY (1968), and she stars in the difficult-to-see espionage caper THE GIRL FROM PEKING, aka THAT LADY FROM PEKING (1975). Stills occasionally turn up, but paper on this film — featuring Bobby Rydell and Sid Melton — is extremely rare.
The Paperback Eva
Some memorable appearances of Eva Lynd on paperback covers, all painted by Al Rossi:
NUDE IN THE SAND (1959) by John Burton Thompson (Beacon B253)
SUMMER WIDOW (1961) by Florence Stonebreaker (Beacon B394)
THE SEX REBELS (1964) by Christopher Storm (Signal Sixty B754X)
STRANGE LOVERS (1964) by Dan Bartell (Softcover Library S75151)
SEX FEVER (1965) by Val Munroe (Softcover Library B848X)
SUBURBIA AFTER DARK (1965) by Carlton Gibbs (Softcover Library B890X)
THE EMPTY BED (1966) by Louis Lorraine (Beacon Signal 8567F)
WOMEN’S WARD (1966) by Orrie Hitt (Softcover Library B914X)
Odds and Ends
During the late 1950s, Eva appeared on a variety of record album covers. These included the Mercury album EMOTIONS, featuring film and television composer Richard Shores and his Orchestra, with photography by Lester Krauss (1956); the Vienna State Opera Orchestra — conducted by Argeo Quadri — Westminster Hi-Fi recording of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s SCHEHERAZADE (1956); Sam (The Man) Taylor and His Orchestra’s MUSIC FOR MELANCHOLY BABIES, released by MGM Records in 1957; and DREAMS OF A CONTINENTAL AFFAIR, recorded by Marcel Guillemin and His Orchestra and released in 1957 by Urania. Unfortunately, the photographers of the last three album sleeves are not known.
In 1959, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel commissioned photographer Earl Leaf to shoot an oversized souvenir postcard, resulting in a beautiful 9” x 6” card of bathing beauty Eva Lynd poolside, reclining in vivid color. The cards were offered to guests of the hotel for years. Mail carriers around the world were happier for it. It’s a very special find for the collector who knows what to seek.
More recently, retro-focused designer Anne Taintor borrowed a glamorous photo of Eva from an ad featured in the December 1957 issue of PLAYBOY. Taintor married the photo to the caption “I love not camping,” and printed it on everything from luggage tags to clutch purses to serving trays to knee socks.
This is just the tip of the iceberg to “All Things Eva.” It’s important to remember that Eva did not keep any real records of her modeling assignments — she simply was too busy booking her next job. Even with our dedication to all things Eva, there are still appearances out there that Bob Deis and I haven’t seen. There are others that we don’t know about. So if you think you’ve found an Eva in the wild that we’ve missed, consider bringing it along to PulpFest for authentication by Eva herself. We’ll all be very interested to see if any lost treasures surface!
An Evening with Eva Lynd
On Saturday, August 8, the talented actress and supermodel will be joined on the PulpFest stage by men’s adventure magazine experts Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle. They’ll be discussing the process of modeling for cover illustrations and interior illustrations for the men’s adventure magazines and other publications. This should be of great interest to pop culture enthusiasts as the process would have been similar to the experiences of the models who posed for the pulp fiction magazines. They’ll also be discussing Eva’s working relationships with artists Norm Eastman and Al Rossi, as well as fellow model Steve Holland.
So check your collections for Eva appearances and bring them to Mars, Pennsylvania for PulpFest 2020, August 6 – 9 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. Our guest of honor, Eva Lynd, and her editors, Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle, will be happy to see them and to meet you.
(Although PulpFest prohibits the sale of sexually explicit material — including PLAYBOY, PENTHOUSE, and OUI — the magazines Eva generally appeared in pre-date contemporary notions of “men’s magazines,” and their content is markedly different.
Norm Eastman’s original cover painting for NEW MAN for December 1968 — used as one of PulpFest’s web images — is courtesy of the Rich Oberg Collection.)
