Eva Inga Margareta von Fielitz was born to Countess and Count Asti von Fielitz in 1937. Although some of her friends used to call her “Countess” and her brother — who still resides in Sweden — uses his title, Eva never considered herself to be royalty.
After emigrating to the United States in 1950, the “Countess” took the name Eva Lynd to further her acting career. During the 1950s and 60s, Ms. Lynd appeared in episodes of THE GARRY MOORE SHOW, PETER GUNN, THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW, THE TEXAN, and THE THIN MAN. In later years, she appeared in HOGAN’S HEROES and CAGNEY & LACEY, as well as the cult movies, THE HYPNOTIC EYE and THAT LADY FROM PEKING.
Eva has also appeared in various print ads and television commercials. Her most remembered television role was as the “The Girl in the Tube” — the gorgeous woman who emerges seductively from a tube of Brylcreem in the classic and award-winning commercial. Ms. Lynd’s latest was the humorous VistaPrint “Fish” commercial. She appears near its end.
In 1956, Eva began modeling for many of the top glamour girl photographers of the era — Peter Basch, Wil Blanche, Herb Flatow, Leo Fuchs, Emil Herman, Morris Kaplan, Charles Kell, Lester Krauss, Earl Leaf, Ed Lettau, Jerry Yulesman and others. Alluring photos of her appeared in dozens of men’s pin-up magazines and men’s adventure magazines. She also modeled for cover and interior photos published by true crime, confession, and detective magazines.
If you’re a fan of vintage men’s adventure magazines, you may know that Eva was a favorite model of artists Norm Eastman and Al Rossi, two of the top illustration artists who worked for that market.
Eastman used the model for dozens of the notorious “sweat magazine” cover paintings he created for the MAMs published by the Reese and Emtee companies. Most frequently in the artist’s paintings, Eva is one of the scantily-clad, distressed damsels being tormented by sadistic Nazis, communists, bikers, and other villains. In some, she is a brave, gun-toting freedom fighter or a heroic nurse.
Rossi used Eva to model for both men’s adventure magazine interior illustrations and for paperback covers. The most famous paperback with a cover painting by Al Rossi is the 1953 Ace Double paperback edition of William Burroughs’ early novel JUNKIE, published under the pseudonym William Lee. The artist also did the cover painting for NARCOTIC AGENT, the novel on the flip side of this valuable Ace double.
Both artists often had Eva pose with the famed male artist’s model Steve Holland, whose face and image appeared in hundreds of paperback and magazine cover paintings, as well as interior illustrations. Holland is best known as the model that artist James Bama and other artists used for Doc Savage on the covers of the Bantam paperback series.
Following the cancellation of PulpFest 2020, we had hoped to welcome Eva to this year’s convention. Unfortunately, Ms. Lynd will not be able to attend PulpFest 2021 due to family obligations.
Thankfully, Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle will be on hand to discuss Eva’s life and career. The publishers of EVA: MEN’S ADVENTURE SUPERMODEL — a pictorial autobiography of Ms. Lynd — will discuss 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. Bob and Wyatt are also hoping to offer excerpts from a video interview that they’re hoping to conduct with Eva Lynd.
Please join PulpFest 2021 on Saturday, August 21, as we welcome Bob Deis & Wyatt Doyle for “Eva Lynd — Countess, Actress, and Cover Girl.” Our presentation will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, beginning at 7 PM.
Bob Deis has worked as a teacher, an artist, a musician, a logger, a magazine writer, and a state government bureaucrat. By accident, he fell into a lengthy career as a political consultant. Now retired, Bob spends much of his time collecting, writing, and publishing books about the men’s adventure magazines.
In 2009, Bob created MensPulpMags.com, the popular website about the genre. Several years later, Bob and Wyatt Doyle launched the Men’s Adventure Library. In 2021, Bob and Bill Cunningham of Pulp 2.0 Press debuted a new magazine that features men’s adventure stories and artwork. Entitled MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY, it’s available through Amazon and other booksellers.
Wyatt Doyle is a writer, designer, publisher, musician, and photographer from Pennsylvania. For two decades, he earned a living in the Los Angeles film and television industry. He launched New Texture in 2006 and edits and designs most of its publications. He assisted Georgina Spelvin in the publication of her memoir, THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT, and served as editor and publisher of BLACK CRACKER, by writer and guitarist Josh Alan Friedman. He curates the New Texture website and Reverend Raymond Branch’s RevBranch.com.
Wyatt’s original screenplay with Jason Cuadrado, I’M HERE FOR YOU, was filmed as DEVIL MAY CALL in 2013. Earlier this year, his first solo photography exhibition, “And the red death held sway over the dollar store,” was held at Gallery 30 South, in Pasadena’s Green Street Village Landmark District. Wyatt also performs with the Stanley J. Zappa Quartet.
Together, Bob and Wyatt co-edit the Men’s Adventure Library which collects classic stories and artwork from the men’s adventure magazines. Their books include WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH!; A HANDFUL OF HELL: CLASSIC WAR AND ADVENTURE STORIES; POLLEN’S WOMEN: THE ART OF SAMSON POLLEN; ONE MAN ARMY: THE ACTION PAPERBACK ART OF GIL COHEN; MORT KÜNSTLER: THE GODFATHER OF PULP FICTION ILLUSTRATORS; and other titles. Their most recent release is EXOTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG.
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Many thanks to Bob Deis. His article, “(Re)Discovering Eva Lynd,” at the IDOL FEATURES website, was an invaluable resource for this post.
Our featured image is an illustration by Mike Ludlow for Hannibal Coons’ short story, “Bring Back the Bride.” Ludlow’s illustration appeared in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST for September 7, 1957. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Coons was a television scriptwriter best known for his work on THE ADDAMS FAMILY series that ran from 1964 – 1966. He was also a fiction writer whose work ran primarily in COLLIER’S and THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.
Our PulpFest postcard features a cover painting by Norm Eastman that was originally done for the December 1968 issue of NEW MAN. The magazine was published by Reese Publishing from 1963 through 1965 and Emtee Publications from 1965 through 1972. Eastman’s cover art is reproduced here, courtesy of The Rich Oberg Collection.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Eva Lynd posed for many cover and interior photos published by true crime, confession, and detective magazines. They were done in the photographer’s studio. According to Eva, “I would be introduced to the model, and we were told what the photographer wanted us to do. Frequently, lie down and have the other model kiss me on the cheek . . . with me looking like this was the best thing ever and I could hardly wait to see what would come next.” The cover photo featured on ROMANCE TIME for March 1957 was shot by an unknown photographer.
That’s Eva Lynd, RN caring for the gravely injured Steve Holland as the Viet Cong approach in a painting done by Norm Eastman for the October 1968 issue of NEW MAN.
Al Rossi painted Eva and her unidentified lover for the cover used on the Signal Sixty paperback original, THE SEX REBELS, written by Christopher Storm and published in 1964.
Leo Fuchs photographed Eva for the January 1959 number of MODERN MAN. Subtitled “The Picture Magazine for Men,” it was published by Publishers Development Corp. from July 1951 through December 1976.
In 1956, Eva was featured on the record jacket for Argeo Quadri and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra’s recording of Rimsky Korsakoff’s SCHEHERAZADE. Around that time, Ms. Lynd was working with photographer Lester Krauss, but the photographer for this album cover is not known.
Eva and her frequent modeling colleague, Steve Holland, posed for Al Rossi’s illustration for Oluf Reed-Olsen’s “You Will Never Come Back,” a World War II story that was featured in the December 1958 issue of STAG. Reed-Olsen was a Norwegian resistance member and pilot during World War II. After the war, he wrote books and contributed to a film based on his war experiences. His story for STAG was described as a “True Book Bonus.”
