1971 French translation of Chester Himes novel shows woman with smart phone

Joshua Glenn says: "I've just discovered that the French already had BlackBerries iPhones... back in 1960. Who knew?"

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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aldasin

Isn’t it a bill fold?
JFC
Siamang

Cigarette case?
Tdawwg

The English title is All Shot Up, so maybe it’s a gat?
Anonymous

Looks like a Newton…
hershmire

Newsflash: people have been making small, compact, rectangular things for various uses since the industrial revolution.
Antinous / Moderator

Note to self: comb thrift shops for green/black dress.
agnot

@ #11 A Nonny Moose

Absolument!

What, nobody thinks we had nifty electronic pocket gadgets back then?

They are probably digging on some cool French sole and blues.

No piracy involved! They have to listen to the ads if it isn’t public or government.

I still prefer a personal radio to a anything else when I am working. It makes me feel more connected.
Alex_M

Obviously it’s the titular imbroglio. :)
Irene Delse

A cigarette case â€“ or a really big powder compact.
Junior

The headlines around this place these days…

I’m surprised you didn’t say “…shows an angry mob with smart phone”.

[facepalm.jpg]
davidorban

Regardless of the object, the translation is not in French, but in Italian…
IshmaeLeaver

Looks like Oprah from “The Women of Brewster Place”. She’s probably beckoning her helicopter.
paulatz

@9 I was just to make the same comment, but than I double-checked and found that “the real cool killers” has been translated in Italian several times, but never with that title (which would sound incredibly rude, as negro is the n-word in Italian). It is definitely a French edition, you can check here: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Himes

Imbroglio is a legit word in French (with a slightly different meaning than in italian). Negro is not a French word, at least I cannot find it in the dictionaries; maybe the translator wanted to give it an exotic taste… Is there any french speaker that can comment on this?
Alex_M

Davidorban: The _title_ is Italian, the translation is in French.

(see “Poche Noire” on the side?)
sigismund

Maybe it’s a reference to the movie Orfeu Negro, released the same year than the book :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Orpheus
Anonymous

no Negro is or a harsh racist insult if alone use or a “fioritura” if in stranger langage use (as “negro spiritual”).
for me the thing the mama hold is just as the one of my mother when we went to the market then : a big flat purse with a pound at least of bright nickel & copper coins which a stolen handfull was not even nuf to buy an ice cream but just a condom, so why young we were skinny than american ones then..it’s a kind of imbroglio
Cercamon

No surprise: we have smartphones since the 18th century as witnessed by this statue of Denis Diderot consulting his mailbox on his cellphone:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cercamon/243682929/
A Nonny Moose

I’m surprised nobody has guessed it yet. It’s fairly obviously a transistor radio. The unnaturally bent thumb is either working the volume or, more likely, tuning wheel to keep the station in tune in the days before AFC tuners.
Anonymous

These ladies are obviously way ahead of their time in terms of technology. But let us not neglect to also notice their keen fashion sense. Absolutely smashing outfits.
A Nonny Moose

@Myself #11, it has been guessed on the source page. I should have looked there first.
SlashMatrix

I believe it might be a “Polaroid land camera”. I’ve seen a few of these in antique stores. They come in brown and black. They are “collapsible” and in their closed state they look a lot like that. It could also be a “Canon 110″. Here’s some pics…

Polaroid Land Camera:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polaroid_Land_Camera_360.jpg

http://www.camerafanatics.com/photos/polaroid-land-cameras.jpg

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/images/Collections/Big/PhotoTechnology3.jpg

Canon 110:

http://www.pimall.com/NAIS/pivintage/images/canon110.jpg
chgoliz

ITA with #11. I had a transistor radio in the late 60′s, right about this size and with a similar black cover.

It’s too big for an iPhone, in any case.
paulatz

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I found a sculpture of the Greek god Apollo taking a picture with his camera-phone in the Louvre museum: http://picasaweb.google.com/paulatz/Varie#5386874472576940930
arkizzle / Moderator

Cercamon and Paulatz FTW!