Charles Gehm, like Livoti, began illustrating paperback covers sometime during the mid 1960's, perhaps even earlier. He produced cover art for adult, children and teen titles until at least the late 1990's, while working for nearly every major publishing house that existed. To stay diverse, Gehm also produced portraits, fine art paintings, record jacket art, advertising art, and interior illustrations for popular magazines, among them Argosy, Life, Time, Newsweek, Redbook, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home Journal. He also created various collectible art and plates for clients such as The Marks and The Bradford Exchange, and poster art for movies.
Gehm was a lifelong member of the prestigious Society of Illustrators, in addition to a few other formal and informal
art groups. As an adjunct professor, Gehm taught life drawing and painting at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts,
illustration at the Pratt Institute, and drawing, design, painting and
illustration at Western Connecticut State University. All in all, Gehm was a successful professional
artist and teacher for more than sixty years.
Gehm passed away in Connecticut in 2015 at the age of 86. His survivors include his wife Judy York, also an outstanding book cover illustrator and fine arts painter.
"Father Bredder of the Church of the Holy Innocents and his friend Lieutenant Minardi of the Los Angeles Police Department were engaged in the pleasant pastime of fishing from a pier that jutted out into the Pacific. It was Father Bredder who first hooked onto something which felt like a prodigious strike but which turned out to be part and parcel of a scuba diver's gear. A police launch confirmed the ghastly suspicion---deep in the dark waters below them lay the lifeless body of a scuba diver in his full equipment."
"It was a very special security agency with very specialized operatives and a very specific function: murder. Callan's mission was quite routine: an execution on demand. Callan's problem was another matter, a matter of knowing and liking his intended victim, a dangerous matter of personal choice that offered only two alternatives: killing or death."
Ah yes... back when a white shirt and jeans made someone practically irresistible--er wait, I meant to say, ha!, a white nurse's uniform. Lake Resort Nurse by Arlene Hale was published in paperback by Ace in 1974 (Note: Gehm's original gouache painting has a much larger dimension than what is seen on the paperback). Arlene Hale (1924-1982) wrote more than a hundred romance novels, most under her own name but also using the pen-names Gale Everett, Mary Tate, Louise Christopher and Lynn Williams. Her novels were published in hardback form and as paperbacks.
"Lovely Reba Rollins, R.N., couldn't remember when she'd been so happy, so contented and pleased with life. Not only did she have an exciting job at the nearby lake resort---but there was the promise of a love-filled future with her beloved Skip Thornton. Yet, in a single day, her contentment came to an abrupt end. For her Uncle Charley had returned, and with him was a handsome young stranger named Lee Chandler. Reba was swept off her feet by the good-looking Lee. This must surely be love, she thought. But there was pain in his eyes, and Reba knew tha some dark secret in Lee's past was torturing him. Meanwhile, there was Skip---dear, loyal Skip---hovering in the background. Then one day, matters came to a startling head. And Reba knew, once and for all, whom she really loved..."
"It was not that Fey Cameron was so beautiful. It was just that she seemed to be. There had always been something regal about her. Despite her humble background, she carried herself like a princess. There was another remarkable thing about Fey. She was gifted with second sight-- a frightening and awesome power for one so young. At 17 Fey left behind the impoverished New Mexican desert town and went off with a laughing, curly haired Irish rogue named Terrence. With him she crossed the continent in search of wealth and respectability-- and love. But Terry was on the beginning for her. She soon found herself a more illustrious benefactor-- Simeon Tower-- one of the most powerful men in New York. Soon the cream of Gotham society was welcoming this strange and wonderful creature, whose origins were mysteriously vague. Only a handful knew the truth about her background. Then one of them attempted to destroy her..."
Swim wear or undies? You decide. Game Plan by Casey Taylor is one of those unfortunate novels from the 1970's that has become completely inconsequential. Not that it ever was really consequential; reviews of it were practically non-existent back then, just like now. Fawcett Crest published Taylor's novel in 1976 following Atheneum's 1975 hardcover edition. I have to believe that Gehm's sensuous cover art would have made a sizeable sales difference between the two forms; I know it's the version I would've bought.
Atheneum edition, jacket artist unknown. |
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
"North From Rome-- a taut, nerve-tearing chiller of a young American who stumbles onto a vicious underworld syndicate and finds himself caught up in a sinister web of murder, espionage and international intrigue."
"ADRIAN: He was two-timing his mistress who was also his boss-- until he got caught in the act. JOHNNY MASH: Big, dark, good-looking. The kind of stud women fantasize about when they're alone in bed. A few lucky ones get to take him home for an after-hours party. LEO: A nebbish. A good bartender, but a zero with the ladies. The only girls he gets to see without clothes are on his calendar or in his dreams. TEDDY: Handsome and gay, he takes a stranger to bed--and regrets it ever after. JAKE: A Bowery bartender. He gets seduced by a kitten and a hooker and is betrayed by both. HOULIHAN: He barkeeps in the Oak Room at the Plaza where he meets only the best people. When some of them invite him to share their diversions, the results are astonishing. THE BAR STUDS: A bold, no-holds-barred novel about sex, booze, drugs, and six men who did it their way."
I posted this Gehm cover in a previous rant about tennis novels, but I like it so much that I wanted to feature it again. I just can't get enough of that period clothing, Yonex racquet, and classic car. Dang, what memories they bring back! The Terrarium by Lee Head was published in paperback by Fawcett Crest in the year 1976.
"The Terrarium: This world-famous beauty spa certainly didn't appear ominous. It seemed to be exactly the kind of elegant hideaway spoiled, super-rich women demanded. But to Lexey Jane Pelazoni, a bright, crafty and very wealthy widow with an eye for detail and a nose for trouble, the celebrated health resort was merely a coverup for a multitude of dark sins. Something funny was going on here. Something very evil. Lexey Jane was certain the place was just a front for organized crime. She was even more certain when she realized that somebody had put a contract out on her..."
"Lost: One Dancing Aztec Priest, eighteen inches high, solid gold, with emerald eyes. Somewhere in New York City. Reward to finder: one million dollars. The solid gold statue, stolen from a museum in South America, was smuggled through American Customs in a shipment of plaster copies. Only somebody goofed, and the real Dancing Aztec got delivered to party or parties unknown. Now somewhere in New York City, down some subway tunnel or around some corner or up some fire escape, glitters the million dollar treasure. And hot on the trail are wildest assortment of larcenous New Yorkers you'll ever meet, scrambling from Harlem to Greenwich Village, from Long Island to Connecticut, sweeping through the city with manic energy in search of this fantastic treasure."
"The Dortmunder Gang is back! And this caper is their zaniest fiasco yet. They are hired by one Arnold Chauncey to heist a priceless oil painting from the latter's fashionable East Side Manhattan townhouse. The scheme is all but foolproof: Chauncey collects from the insurance company, pays the boys handsomely for their professional efforts, and ens up with both a tidy profit and his cherished artwork back. Simple? Not on your Westlake."
"Now the incredible Mrs. Pollifax, part-time geranium expert, part-time spy, has been sent on a safari to smoke out a very clever international assassin whose next target is the President of Zambia. "Just take a lot of pictures of everyone on that safari," the CIA man told her. "One of them has to be our man." It sounded simple enough. But it wasn't. Because shortly after Mrs. Pollifax started taking pictures, someone stole her film. And right after that she was kidnapped by Rhodesian terrorists. And right after that-- well, read it for yourself..."
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
"Set against the background of war-torn Savannah during the Revolution, this enchanting novel unfolds the saga of a family divided---and a beautiful heroine, Mercy Phillips, caught desperately between the passions of Rebel and Tory. Mercy Phillips was a penniless English orphan when Hart Purchis, wealthy young heir to the Winchelsea Plantation, rescued her from the mob. Hart did not know it then, but Mercy was to play a part in his life that would shape not only the future of Winchelsea but the whole American Revolution itself."
"Once Regina had no one, nothing. Overnight her star rose. As lead singer of Majesty, she won it all... fame, money, power-- and love! But love, like Majesty, self-destructed. Cord, the man who possessed her soul, refused to forgive-- or forget. She married Mike, made her own place in the limelight. She had everything... until Majesty came back together for the reunion concert that would rock the nation. From New York to Las Vegas, from idea to opening night, swept up into the dazzle, the pain, the passion of stars who made music for a living and love for more reasons than pleasure, Regina risked it all. Suddenly she was back in Cord Crocker's arms... and the music began-- all over again."
"A beautiful and mysterious woman, a prophet and a healer. Is hers a plot to fool the public and make millions, or is she the true messenger of God? Richard Hillers, a former news correspondent becomes obsessed with Ginerva. As her predictions startle and entire nation, and thousands fall under her spell, he goes undercover to investigate the inner workings of her cult, The Society of the Chosen."
"There was nothing left in Ireland for Mary Roark but trouble and sorrow. Across the sea, America beckoned to her with the golden promise of a better life. But in the new land of Massachusetts, hopeful young immigrants like Mary Roark were welcomed only as cheap labor for the textile mills whose iron machinery was powered by their tears and blood. And Mary learned too soon that her beauty alone could lift her above the backbreaking hardship and squalid misery her people were made to suffer. Brendan McMahon came to America to find Mary. He had killed for freedom in Ireland. Now, with a price on his head, nothing in this world-- not even the rich man who bought Mary's life-- could keep him from claiming his childhood love and the destiny they had so long dreamed of sharing."
"San Francisco was a wild and lawless town, and no place for a beautiful young woman alone with two children. But it was the Promised Land of boundless dreams, and the woman they called Pastora was a new breed whose spirit and daring raised an empire from the wilderness. Orphaned at fifteen, widowed at sixteen, she survived the perilous cross-country trek from St. Louis to California to become San Francisco's most celebrated Woman of Property. Society tried to snub her, but she made her own way to the top. Men tried to possess her, or break her, not understanding that behind her softness and allure burned ambitions she refused to sacrifice. Through all her passionate struggles, tragedies, public scandals and triumphs, Pastor would keep faith with herself and seize a golden destiny for those she loved."
"The ONYX: The fabulous shining symbol of boundless prosperity and surging hope. A bold new enterprise for a bold new century. The ONYX: America's first and greatest popular motor car. Beginning as the dream of a brilliant but penniless young man, Tom Bridger, it came to symbolize the hopes and dreams of a generation. The ONYX: An epic novel of ambition, success and failure; of a promise made and disastrously kept, of a fiercely passionate love that outlasted death and destroyed a proud family."
"A GOLDEN ISLAND EMPIRE FALLEN IN FLAMES: She was Ana, near goddess to her people, wife to the fabled chieftain of their glittering Caribbean empire. When Columbus came with his white soldiers in winged canoes, they were greeted in friendship. But the strangers came to plunder and rape and enslave... and Ana's island paradise was swept by a storm of bloodshed. She alone, her husband killed in battle, would lead her people against the enemy. She would give courage to the son who became a fierce warrior. She would shed tears for the beautiful daughter sold into slavery. A NEW WORLD CLAIMED BY THE SWORD: With the flag of Spain over the Caribbean, a new world called to the old. Some came for adventure and gold. Some came to make new lives. Daniel and his childhood sweetheart Rachel fled the Inquisition. Now, in this embattled land, fighting to build a haven for their love, and their son, the would be caught up in the violent birth of a world called America."
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
"This is the story of Kiffin Draper and Toby Bryant, pioneer airmen who flew to danger and glory-- in peace and war-- from the first days of makeshift flying machines to the age of the mighty jets... who shared adventures with the likes of Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Billy Mitchell and Howard Hughes... who loved Lily, the daredevil beauty who married one and had an affair with the other, and alone had the power to save their friendship or destroy it. This is Ernest K. Gann's epic multigenerational novel of aviation and airplanes-- and the fiercely independent airmen whose dreams and guts and passions were the very stuff of soaring flight itself..."
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
Too Deep for Tears became a New York Times bestseller after it was published in paperback by Pocket in 1990 (with a gorgeous stepback cover by Gehm). Of course that inspired Kathryn Lynn Davis to write a sequel, four of them in fact, in addition to writing 21 other romance novels. All well and good for Davis until suddenly it wasn't, when necessity forced her to rebuke another author who callously criticized her on twitter for writing what they perceived to be as racially offensive descriptions in one of her books. And because both authors were standing members of the Romance Writers of America, the situation quickly turned into a full-blown scandal, with regretful words and resignations tossed around like confetti. Sad too, because all of it could have been resolved properly through simple tea and talk. As far as organizations go, I'll just leave you with what my dear old Dad used to say to me: "Son, I wouldn't want to be a member of an organization that would want me as a member in the first place."
"Dashing English diplomat Charles Kittridge relished the abundant pleasures of the world... and in his far-flung wanderings, he left behind three remarkable daughters: ALISA ROSE, a beauty of the Scottish highlands, endowed wither her father's lust for adventure. She betrays her heart to follow the one man who promises her the world. LI-AN hates the devil-father who made her a blue-eyed outcast in her Chinese homeland. But with her brilliant, reckless lover, she almost forgets her shame... until he is wrenched from her arms. GENERVA, the gentle English daughter, lives amidst the splendor and squalor of India. Through unexpected passion promises her a joyous love, she must fight to escape the terrors and scandals of the past. Each of them has grown to womanhood haunted by a legacy of betrayal, longing and dreams. Now their father has but one final desire... to bring together the daughters he has never known..."
"After witnessing the painful death of her mother at the hands of an incompetent physician, Catherine Stone vows to become doctor-- at any price. Disowned by her family, an outcast in the eyes of society, Catherine must face the prejudices of the male-dominated medical profession as well as the ignorance of many of her patients; endure the outrageous scandal of public controversy; and even risk her life in order to doctor the women who need her so desperately. But she has needs of her own-- the needs of a passionate woman-- and when her wealthy, possessive husband forces her to choose between medicine and his love, Catherine must look into her heart and make the boldest sacrifice of all."
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
Beauty From Ashes is the third book in Eugenia Price's Georgia Trilogy, and the last book she published in her lifetime. St. Martin's issued it in paperback in 1996, with Gehm providing the exceptionally realistic cover and stepback art. Price died shortly thereafter at the age of 80 of natural causes. While she is mostly known for her best-selling historical fiction set in the American South, she also wrote radio scripts, devotional books, and supposedly three autobiographies (I guess one wasn't enough!). She often traveled around the country giving inspirational talks to packed rooms, and to promote her books. To date they have sold more than 40 million copies.
"Anne Couper Fraser has often endured sorrow-- the death of her beloved husband and daughter and the loss of the family home. Now, frightening rumors of a war between the states are circulating, and Anne, an ardent Unionist, can only watch and pray as her cherished son enlists in the Confederate Army. But, when the tide of war turns against the Southern cause, Anne finds new strength, fighting to keep her family-- now cruelly divided by war-- bound to each other by faith and love.
This is one of the last covers I know of that was painted by Charles Gehm, an oil on board approximately 24 x 15 inches. It was produced for The Midnight Moon, a romance novel written by Stobie Piel and published in paperback by Leisure in 1998.
* * * * *
BY THE EARLY 2000's, with the exception of certain genre books such as science fiction and fantasy, computer generated digital graphics and design had almost completely overtaken traditionally painted book cover art. Whether Charles Gehm embraced this new methodology I can't say (even though the above oil painting looks practically digital to me with its exceptional photo-realism), but his wife certainly did; Judy York is now considered one of the premier digital artists in publishing. I certainly don't hold that against any artist--adaptation and embracing change, is, after all, the key to career survival--so, with that being said, I will certainly do my best to feature some on York's pre-digital cover art in the future. I think it's well worth showing.
[© July, 2022, Jeffersen]
2 comments:
Hi there — just stumbled upon your blog, and it looks great. Really looking forward to digging into the archives. As for Charles Gehm, I confess I’ve never heard of him before today, but I think he might be the answer to a puzzle I’ve been wondering about for many years…
Back in the heyday of the Mens Adventure paperbacks (early to mid 1970s), there were a number of series that sported cover art that was noticeably ‘slicker’ than the average — more ‘painterly’ and realistic, not as ‘sweat mag’ as Bruce Minney, George Gross or Mel Crair, not as raw and ‘rough comp’ as Hector Garrido and Gil Cohen. This ‘Painterly / Realist’ style was very prevalent at Gold Medal around ‘74/75, on their various series, including the Sam Durell books by Edward S. Aarons, the Earl Drake books by Dan J. Marlowe, some Matt Helm re-issues and a good-sized fistful of Jack Higgins books. Signet also had several series that utilized this slightly more ‘Upscale Pulp’ approach, like the Black Samurai books by Marc Olden and the ‘Narc’ series also by Olden under the pseudonym ‘Ralph Hawkes’.
I discovered the works of Tom Livoti a few years ago and wondered if he might have been one of these Upscale Pulp artists. Some of the Gehm covers here at your blog look even MORE similar in overall style to the books in question. That ‘North From Rome’ cover could easily be a Sam Durell or Earl Drake book.
I’m gonna try googling Gehm’s name in combination with some of those Mens Adventure series and see if I can connect the dots. If I find anything, I’ll report back.
b.t.
Hi b.t. Not sure about the art on the Dan J. Marlowe pb's, or the Olden's (there's a whole bunch of Men's Adv Series covers that are undetermined, by me at least), but Gordon Johnson was responsible for several Jack Higgins and Donald Hamilton covers. I suspect he produced a few Edward S. Aarons' too along with an artist named G.D.(Gary) Lang. Dick Kohfield is probably in the mix too, and maybe Robert Berran (a big maybe). Gehm could be too, especially with the Gold Medal's, but his signature should be visible, either in printed style or cursive, it almost always was. Vic Livoti did a few covers for Gold Medal that are sort of Men's Adv; he also painted the Saint series for Charter Books. I've been putting off doing a post on Gordon Johnson, but I think I'll try and get one done for September. Check back in for sure then, they'll be great stuff to ogle. (Next month's posting will feature Rudy Nappi's Nancy Drew covers, 54 of 74 that he painted. It will be as long as the day is hot.)
Cheers,
Jeffersen.
Post a Comment