Vadim's highly readable autobiography, MEMOIRS OF A DEVIL, benefits strongly from this Swedish black metal conception of the title, with shocking Gothic red over black, and the three most well-known of Vadim's hottie wives on display.
Vadim doesn't really worship Satan anywhere in the book. The above cover is from an out of print 1977 edition of the book. I've no idea of subsequent printings had the same art. What makes it the coolest cover in the history of printing is the way it's his autobiography but only his big life-changing loves appear. I for one am not a big fan of the covers where you see the author as they are now--old and sanctimonious, sitting in some forced photo studio pose in very clean beige monochromatic clothes and staring into the camera with a quizzical look, as if to say "What? Whaddaya want ta know?" In leaving himself out altogether (though he appears on the back in a shot along the beach) Vadim shows he's a) magnanimous, b) a natural huckster (knowing what sells) with no sense of shame, and c) a genius. Special thanks to Kim Morgan, for turning me onto this, and to so much else.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The Coolest Cover
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2 comments:
I don't understand how one man could be lucky enough to marry all three of those women. What is it? Was he rich? Powerful? Good in the sack? Pretty astonishing.
and don't forget he also married the equally beautiful Annette Stroyberg... she's just not as well as known because of fewer movies, which are mostly unavailable on dvd, goddamn it, where is Blood and Roses?!
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