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A new puzzle from Ray!  :thumbsup:

"Not quite dead", as Gilbert Shelton would say.

I posted  this just before a sudden fever among bulk puzzlers. Then it fell into a kind of black hole.
Moved to the experts' section.

The same girl  ;)

Is the puzzle photo meant to be a recreation of an historical event?

No, nothing of the kind.

Is she driving a vehicle which she owns?

Exactly  :)

Is the car based on a Model A Ford?

To speak the truth, I don't know anything about what this car is based on. But I know what she called it, and I know much more about the girl.

Did she make her living as an entertainer?

You may call it that.

Quote from: Ray B. on June 13, 2012, 05:16:15 PM
You may call it that.

That makes me ask if she was a stripper or other "adult entertainer."

RtR

She did some cheesecake modelling but was no stripper or adult entertainer AFAIK

It's not the first time that this girl is seen on Autopuzzles...

Aloha Wanderwell?

Not Aloha. She was born, and died, some years later.

Was the vehicle involved in her demise?

When she died, I think the vehicle was a rust bucket and long forgotten.

Idris Galcia Hall (Aloha Wanderwell) was born in 1906.  Can I interpret your statements to mean that the car is pre-1906?  Or are you saying that the woman in the pictures was born and died after 1906 or...I don't exactly understand what you're saying.

RtR

Quote from: RayTheRat on June 27, 2012, 06:47:51 PM
Idris Galcia Hall (Aloha Wanderwell) was born in 1906.  Can I interpret your statements to mean that the car is pre-1906?  Or are you saying that the woman in the pictures was born and died after 1906 or...I don't exactly understand what you're saying.

RtR

Well the car is well post-1906.
The wheels and what you can see of the underpinnings, as you spotted a fortnight ago, seem to be Model A Ford - whether she called it that or not!

Quote from: Ray B. on June 27, 2012, 05:47:09 PM
When she died, I think the vehicle was a rust bucket and long forgotten.

@RayTheRat:
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough: I meant that the puzzle girl was born later than Aloha, and died later than Aloha too.
If you know the year of Aloha's death, you can guess that the car in the picture (if it is based on a model A, a Allan supposes from its underpinnings, and he is usually good at it) would have been quite old when the puzzle girl did die too. But it's obviously post 1906.
By long forgotten I just meant that I don't think that she kept it until her death...

Quote from: Ray B. on June 28, 2012, 04:33:56 AM

Quote from: Ray B. on June 27, 2012, 05:47:09 PM
When she died, I think the vehicle was a rust bucket and long forgotten.

@RayTheRat:
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough: I meant that the puzzle girl was born later than Aloha, and died later than Aloha too.
If you know the year of Aloha's death, you can guess that the car in the picture (if it is based on a model A, a Allan supposes from its underpinnings, and he is usually good at it) would have been quite old when the puzzle girl did die too. But it's obviously post 1906.
By long forgotten I just meant that I don't think that she kept it until her death...

Thanks for the clarification.  I'll keep looking.

RtR
(it's called creative insomnia)

Was the puzzle pic 'colorized'?

Absolutely not.
It's a period Kodacolor print, bearing the precise date on the back (and the full answer to the puzzle question). The colors seem not to have faded too much, but the photographic paper aged and got a yellowish tone, hence the greenish sky.
I don't have the print myself, but found a scan on the internet.

Is the girl Norma Jean Baker?

No sir.
I wrote "rather well-known", not "known all over the world". More skinny. I could add others pics, but they'd be too revealing.

Wild guess: June Kenney?

Not her, but you've made a big step forward.

That last picture gave me an idea, and I think I know who the lady is now...

But I can't find the car.  :(

was the pictures taken 1940's?

Quote from: Oguerrerob on July 06, 2012, 03:09:03 PM
was the pictures taken 1940's?

Later

Quote from: Tom_I on July 06, 2012, 02:30:13 PM
That last picture gave me an idea, and I think I know who the lady is now...

But I can't find the car.  :(

This puzzle will be locked until maybe wednesday for the puzzler who identifies the girl. I can answer until monday morning GMT, then I'm away 3 days.

The girl  is Maila Nurmi

 :applause: for Oguerrerob, and locked for him 48 hours

Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira, being born in Finland (niece of famour runner Paavo Nurmi) was a true blonde and not a brunette as one might guess. here are some of my others "two revealing" pictures.
I don't know much about the car, maybe based on a model A, as RayTheRat and Allan L supposed. But the nickname that Maila gave her is somewhere to be found.

"....I've been collecting pictures of American late-night TV hostesses on my hard-drive for years". :D

I've been digging inside the Maila Nurmi's life. I've only found a few relations with cars.  1. Packard, where she goes round.  2. Cadillac where she was photograph.  3. Some Roadster where she promoted Valvoline oil. And her relationship with James Dean and his Porsche Speedster crashed (the Hollywood gossips stated that she coursed Dean, for leaving her). None of them are this car.  So, please keep it open

The Packard was supposedly a 1932 model, but it looks more like a 1923 Series 126.

The roadster seems to be powered by a small block Chevy V8 and with its 3-point seat belt/shoulder harness appears ro be a much later-built hot rod than the puzzle photo.

There's no way it could be James Dean's "Little Bastard" Porsche 550 Spyder in which he was killed.  Dean and Nurmi were actually good friends, although he contacted her because of his interest in the occult.  She told him that her stuff was all an act, but they remained friends anyway.

I haven't found the name of the car, either.

Thanks for those images, Ray. I only knew the Packard pictures (great ones), not the Cadillac or the roadster. And I have images of her with other celebrities.

The puzzle car really was her own car as I understand.
The lock will be lifted in about 11 hours, but I probably won't be able to reply for two days.
Good luck.

 8)

The lock will be lifted in 5 minutes.
Then it will be a free for all.

Is this picture from a movie?

Not from a movie. This detail below fits more an amateur snapshot (and, by the way, one can learn who took it).

Quote from: Ray B. on July 06, 2012, 06:24:39 AM

It's a period Kodacolor print, bearing the precise date on the back (and the full answer to the puzzle question). The colors seem not to have faded too much, but the photographic paper aged and got a yellowish tone, hence the greenish sky.
I don't have the print myself, but found a scan on the internet.

Still, some elements (including of course Maila herself) are related to movies.

The Maila look period (blonde, short haired) seems to be related to the motion picture 'Sex Kittens go to College' 1960.

Nope. This picture is several years earlier.

 :popcorn:

Is the car based on a Model T Ford?  (going by the wheels)

Based on a model T or A (as suggested before) is unknown and of little importance. Please re-read the puzzle question (I modified it to make it clearer).
The color (a bit faded on this snapshot) is one familiar to customizers, by the way.

QuoteThe 4 questions are all in the topic's title:
Who is this rather well-known lady, how was this car it called, where and when was this picture taken.

The lady is already established: Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira
The car's name is something I haven't been able to find...and not because I haven't searched!
The same holds true for the when and where, although I think it's probably a publicity/portfolio photo that pre-dates Ms Nurmi's short-lived fame as Vampira.

Car color.  The first name that would come to mind would be "Candy Apple Red."  However, I don't think candy-color paints were used at the time that photo was done....it wasn't generally used until the mid-50s.  I've been doing body work and paint for quite a while, even though it's not something I do all the time.  The first time I painted a car was in 1962.  At that time, any paint that used a translucent top coat (such as candy or pearl or metalflake) was pretty much reserved for trailer queen show cars, since the clear lacquer used to cover or blend the candy color was very sensitive to UV light and if left in the sunlight would turn milky yellow.  So that brings us to the other popular red color of the time, "Fire Engine Red."

Taking a close look at the car, the wheels, bumper and steering wheel all seem to be from a Ford Model A.  The wheels appear to be 1928/29 vintage (21 inch vs the 19s used on 1930 and 1931 Model As.)  The car seems to have had a fair degree of use, judging by the wear on the inside of the front fender.  The rest of the car appears to be a hand-crafted, or perhaps an aftermarket speedster body.  The Mercury brand was a popular one in the 30s.

In the photo, Ms Nurmi's hair is her natural blonde color, rather than the black she adopted for her role as Vampira, which began in 1954.  That role didn't last very long, but it "sealed her fate", so to speak and she was typecast as Vampira for the rest of her life.  I think she got a raw deal, but that's personal opinion.

Returning to the blonde look in the photo, I'd guess that it dates from the late 40s or early 50s when she was doing pinup modeling and about any other job she could get...like working as a hat-check girl at a night club.  (How many of those positions still exist?  Not many if any at all, I'd wager.)  See attached image as a pinup model.

I wish I could provide more info (and find the photo of the damned car.)  I think I've run out of creative insomnia.  G'nite

RtR

Such a thorough search deserves a detailed answer.

- The picture: as I wrote before, it's most probably a private snapshot. It bears the name of the company who made the print, and the date. It also bears, handwritten (probably by Maila's own hand) the nickname she gave it, and who she guesses took the picture (a person very close to her) Since all this is part the picture, maybe the only way to find it is to find the picture.

-The color: It is candy apple red (this is typed in a comment written much more recently, so the person who wrote this may have ignored if the term was coined at the time). And it seems to have fadedUnfortunately typing "candy apple red" with "Maila" or "Vampira" in Google doesn't get any results, although the page is kind of official. The question is: why?

-The date: I said years earlier than 1960. I add some years later than the late 40's. I know the exact date when the photo was processed, not the exact day when it was taken, remember. But you're right, her show hadn't been broadcasted yet.

Locked for RayTheRat 48 hours

After much digging, I found something that says, "Baby Jane Fury, my little hand made car."  I sure wouldn't have guessed that in a million years.

I'll stand by my statement that it's a cut-down Model A Ford or maybe a T with A wheels.

RtR

Now that's some fancy sleuthing!

It was more than a 2-pipe solution, that's for damned sure.   ;)  Let's just hope that fulfills the requirements of the puzzle.

Meanwhile, I'm up in the middle of the night trying to get the weekly Target 550 post finished up before I turn into a pumpkin...or something like that...so I can (if all the celestial bodies line up) get the race car on the trailer and get the exhaust re-done.  One good thing about Chevy smallblocks: I don't have to come up with a "basket of snakes" exhaust like some of the 60s/70s F1 cars, although I know some guys who go to great lengths to use equal-length tubes in their headers.  I just buy a set from Hooker.   (Not buy a hooker.) :lmao:

Have a good one,

RtR

Baby Jane Fury it is!
As for the basis of this "handmade car" I guess that you're right, knowing nothing more.


You've secured the first point. Amazing sleuthing as Otto said.
Now, having found this, you're inches away to finding the picture with the processing lab caption, Maila's hanwriting and so the rest of the w-w-w-w.

Still locked for RTR

Here's the info from the photo:

It says "Baby Jane Fury & me - Dink took pic. - at Warner Bros. Studio" There's a stamp on the back from Kodak indicating it's a Kodacolor print and was developed the week of January 25th, 1954. "Dink", by the way, was Maila's first husband.

RtR

 :applause:
That's 2 points for Ray.

And you were right about the supposed "candy apple red"color, according to this testimony:

Baby Jane Fury wasn't actually candy apple red (clear red over silver), she was just red. It isn't visible in this photo, because maybe it was a later addition, but Maila told me that the car also had some pinstriping done in a daisy design.
This may indicate that she did knew Von Dutch, although the guy in the picture above, even with the third eye on his forehead, doesn't really look like him.

"Dink", aka Dean Riesner, was as "Dinky Dean" a child actor, appearing in Chaplin's "The Pilgrim", and later a successful screenwriter. He wrote several Clint Eastwood films, including his first, "Play Misty For Me", and "Dirty Harry".

And the pic - nice job, Ray and Ray :)

Thanks!
And the true Von Dutch

Quote from: Ray B. on August 04, 2012, 03:59:34 AM
That's 2 points for Ray.

And you were right about the supposed "candy apple red"color, according to this testimony:

Baby Jane Fury wasn't actually candy apple red (clear red over silver gold), she was just red. It isn't visible in this photo, because maybe it was a later addition, but Maila told me that the car also had some pinstriping done in a daisy design. 

(Thinking about von Dutch striping a daisy design brings on a bad case of cognitive dissonance.  If ya read up on him a bit, you'll find that while he was, in many ways, like others of the "Beat Generation", he wasn't a very nice man.  Ironically, a man who was very much influenced by his work, Ed Roth, was a VERY nice guy.  I speak from experience on that.)

Quote
This may indicate that she did knew Von Dutch, although the guy in the picture above, even with the third eye on his forehead, doesn't really look like him.

"Dink", aka Dean Riesner, was as "Dinky Dean" a child actor, appearing in Chaplin's "The Pilgrim", and later a successful screenwriter. He wrote several Clint Eastwood films, including his first, "Play Misty For Me", and "Dirty Harry".

Thank you, good sir.  I feel like I've just won a marathon.  Well, either that or stopped pounding my head on a brick wall.  Both situations would seem to stop inflicting pain when they cease.  :)

Now...if I can just solve one more obsession...I mean puzzle...that's been nagging at me before I leave for the "Great White Dynomometer" (Bonneville Salt Flats) on Wednesday, I might be able to concentrate on Speed Week and not obsess over other stuff.  Fat frikkin chance.  Obsession is my middle name, it seems.

Anyway, I now know WAY more about Maila Nurmi than...well, I didn't know anything about her until this puzzle.  Now she seems like a deceased relative.

Great puzzle, Ray B.  (from one Ray B to another Ray B)  :applause:

RtR  (aka Ray B Jr...seriously)

Quote from: Ray B. on August 04, 2012, 03:59:34 AM
"Dink", aka Dean Riesner, was as "Dinky Dean" a child actor, appearing in Chaplin's "The Pilgrim", and later a successful screenwriter. He wrote several Clint Eastwood films, including his first, "Play Misty For Me", and "Dirty Harry".

I always thought "Dirty Harry" was written by Rita M. Fink and her husband, Harry Julian?!

Anyway, I now know WAY more about Maila Nurmi than...well, I didn't know anything about her until this puzzle.  Now she seems like a deceased relative.
[/quote]

:lmao:

Quote from: Carnut on August 04, 2012, 09:46:23 AM

Quote from: Ray B. on August 04, 2012, 03:59:34 AM
"Dink", aka Dean Riesner, was as "Dinky Dean" a child actor, appearing in Chaplin's "The Pilgrim", and later a successful screenwriter. He wrote several Clint Eastwood films, including his first, "Play Misty For Me", and "Dirty Harry".

I always thought "Dirty Harry" was written by Rita M. Fink and her husband, Harry Julian?!

You're right, but they were not alone. According to Imdb, there also was Riesner , Jo Heims and even John Milius (uncredited).