For our resident Irving Klaw fans, thought I'd point out this archive of blog posts from Irving's grandson, Rick Klaw. His entries are bound to capture your fancy and give your day a guffaw.

http://darkforces.powbangzap.com/blog/category/irving-klaw

For example, did you know that Irving Klaw created a pamphlet titled, "How to Become a Movie Star" -- circa 1946? It took Rick seven years to find a copy, though he did notice one in an archive room at New York City Library of the Performing Arts.

No, Irving didn't exactly come up with that booklet from scratch. He assembled various uncredited sources -- mostly from magazines. Rick's assessment: "Clearly, a mish-mash of advice in various styles from someone who had no experience with the subject material. Nice photos throughout" of movie stars. (Copy/pasting magazine articles -- uncredited -- becomes a paradox when you factor in how protective Paula Klaw was of Movie Star News' photo archives.)

In case you're wondering what Irving came up with as his advice in that pamphlet, here's an example cited by Rick:

"See the good points in other people and try to understand and tolerate their faults."

Hmmm.... Would that have helped Bettie smash past her casting couch dilemma after her screen test?!?

For anyone in the New York City area, if you'd like to take a gander at Irving Klaw's 1946 "acting advice" booklet, it's archived at the Fifth Avenue Public Library on 42nd Street: Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre - research call number: MWEQ. It's a NON-circulating title.


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If you do go there, and want to see a compilation of Irving Klaw's early bondage photos, request Periodicals and Microforms - Reference - (S) *Z-3397. There are assorted titles mixed together, unrelated to Klaw. The one you're targeting in that group is "The Irving Klaw Years" (covering 1948 to 1952), printed in 1982. It will give you a sense of the "Little John" years that led to Bettie's bondage days at Movie Star News.

Journalist Mark Jacobson, who re-purposed material about Movie Star News in at least two of his books (Teenage Hipster and American Gangster) quoted Paula Klaw as saying about this booklet -- which was sold by Movie Star News: It included "more than two hundred out-of-print bondage photos," which she felt was a "fitting remembrance to my brother."