Born to Be Bad by Lawrence Block (originally published in 1959; reprinted in 1967 as Puta by "Sheldon Lord'; republished under Block's own imprint, LB BOOKS, in 2016 as part of his Classic Erotica series under the present title and Block's own name)
[I am a day late posting this, but I am sure you will forgive me because we are friends, right? Right?}
"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. Now, Heaven knows, Anything Goes..."
So, let's go back to the late Fifties and early Sixties and take a look at the paperback "Adult Reading" market of the time. What was hot stuff back then is pretty blase today -- the best-selling romance books one finds in respectable bookstore and public libraries put the old paperbacks to shame for their graphic content. Most of these so-called adult books back then were issued by bottom tier publishers to (I presume) unsophisticated men and horny teenagers. One of the major publishers was Bill Hamling's Greenleaf Publishing Company, which issued hundreds of titles under various imprints. Most of the books were written by young writers eager to get into print and eager to gain publishing experience; others were just eager; others were just eager for easy money -- the books would pay a thousand bucks, and if you were able to sell a book every month or two, that was pure gravy for the writers working to boost their career in other areas. Among the young writers working in that particular field were Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Robert Silverberg, John Jakes, Evan Hunter, and Hal Dresner. Other writers working with other publishers over the years included Marion Zimmer Bradly, Bill Pronzini, Jeff Wallman, Avram Davidson, John Brunner, Dean Koontz, Philip Jose Farmer, Michael Avallone, and Joe R. Lansdale. (It should be noted that both Evan Hunter and Dean Koontz have strongly (and unconvincingly) denied ever writing such books. Today these soft-core, "sleaze" paperbacks command a high price on the used book market, whether the author behind the pseudonym on the cover became well-known or not.
These books remain a time capsule into the mores and societal thinking of that time.
Born to Be Bad was Block's sixth published book -- he now has at least 215 books to his credit by my reckoning. His early soft-core and adult work appeared as by "Rodney Canewell," "Sheldon Lord'" "Andrew Shaw," "Leslie Evans," "John Dexter," "Don Holliday," "Ben Christopher," and "Jeremy Dunn." He also published fictionalized sexual case studies as by "Walter Brown, M.D.," "Benjamin Morse, M.D.," and "John Warren Wells," as well as mainstream lesbian novels a "Jill Emerson" and "Liz Crowley".
The protagonist of Born to Be Bad is Rita Morales, a beautiful, lush (they are always lush in these books), Hispanic girl from the Miami slums. She lives in a one-room shack with her mother, who is a whore. Despite all this, Rita is virtuous, intelligent, and does well in school. Rita is also just shy of sixteen. She is desperate to leave Miami and her home life and start over somewhere else, preferably New York City. To reach this goal she sacrifices her virginity to Pardo, an influential local criminal, for a ticket to New York and some new clothes and cash to get her started. Although she and Pardo only make love once, Rita was surprised at how much she enjoyed it. (at this piont, considering she is just fifteen and hesded to New York, I tought she might end up running into people named Jeffrey and donald.)
Rita's eventual goal is a husband, children, a house in Connecticut, and a good life. She doesn't necessarily have to love her husband to get this.
She arrived in New York, manages to get a cheap room, where the clerk ws going to charge extra because she looked Hispanic. (Prejudice against Latins was prevalent at the time; plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.) She convince the clerk that her name is Rita Martin and get a couple of bucks take off the rent. Rita soon realized that finding a job would be hard with no experience lor work history. Another girl in the rooming house notices Rita's lush body (there's that word again; and this scene prefigures some later lesbian action that never occurred -- Block likes to keep his readers guessing) and suggested she try out for a chorus line at one of the city's night clubs -- one did not need to know how to sing or dance, you just needed to show odd a little bit of flesh. The manager of the club is a disgusting creep and Rita has to put out to get the job. For those keeping score, it's been just three days after Rita lost her virginity and she has now had sex for the second time. This time she did not like it and vowed not to make love again until there is a wedding ring on her finger.
Working on the chorus line, gives Rita the knowledge and confidence that can use her looks and her natural intelligence to make it in this world. She is not afraid to show her body and soon graduates to a stripper act that is taking the area by storm. She soon begins dating Ned, a rather dull but talented, by-the-book, mail clerk in an advertising agency who has dreams of rising in the agency. Rita hooks her star to Ned, while holding out for marriage before making love with him. Ned gets his promotion and the pair become engaged. Meanwhile, Pardo, the Miami gangster, has tracked Rita down and wants her to move make to Miami and become his mistress, But does not fit in with Rita's plans. One evening at a party, Rita has too much to drink and Phil, Ned's best friend, takes advantage of her. the scorecard is now: sex acts- 3; sex partners - 3. Rita is terrified that Phil will tell Ned and that Ned will break off the engagement. The Ned show up at Rita's apartment visibly upset -- he has a question to ask Rita and wants her to tell the truth. (Oh, no! did Phil spill the beans?) The beans, however, were spilled by Pardo, who told Ned that Rita was a Cuban! Horrors! If his bosses found out that Ned was marrying Latinas, career would be over! Rita, tear-filled, admits that he mother was Cuban but that she was born in Miami. She convinced Ned that no one else need know because she was now Rita Martin, and no longer Rita Morales. (I know that prejudice ran, and still runs, deep, but, Holy utility belt! Batman, even in 1959 I would have recognized Ned as a no-account creep.) Ned leaves mollified, but returns the next day blind drunk. Phil has spilled the beans. Rita is not a virgin. That means that Rita is just a cheap, common whore trying to string him along. Ned beats Rita viscously, taking his time, then forces himself on her brutally. (Did I mention that Ned, at heart, was a pure-dee creep?)
Rita's dreams for her future were shattered. She falls into a deep depression of self-loathing and self-doubt. You are a bad person. You are a whore, just like your mother. You were born to be bad...
But Rita remains ambitious and smart. She devises a plan for revenge and a path to her life-long dream. It's audacious and a bit unbelievable, but so is this entire novel...
An interesting piece of sleaze, not so much for its titillation but for displaying Block's growth as a writer who would become one of the most respected and honored (and, at times, unpredictible) mystery writers of his time.
