In the 1950s and 1960s, the golden age of paperback sleaze, the name Orrie Hitt was scattered across the wire racks in cigar stores, tenderloin newsstands, and other venues for softcore softcov-ers. Hitt was a workhorse, churning out one topic after the other, as many as his developers would buy. But unlike so many other paperback hacks of the ’50s, Hitt did not spread himself thin by writing in an assortment of genres and chasing after new trends. Sordid, “adults only” literature was his specialty, and he stuck to it with all the dedication of a monk. Hitt established a relationship with one developer in particular, Beacon topics, the best in the business at that time (if “best” is at all an applicable word for the sort of thing Beacon produced). Knowing he had a regular buyer for his work, Hitt lost no time in worrying about marketing and simply focused on his art.
He resided in a small town in upstate New York, working full time for his muse. He followed a grinding regimen of 12-hour days in front of an aged Remington Royal typewriter perched on the kitchen table. He wrote while surrounded by noisy children and a constant supply of Winston cigarettes and iced coffee. His only respite was to eat supper or to watch wrestling or Sergeant Bilko when they came on the television. Hitt produced a novel every two weeks, for which he was paid very little, sometimes $250. Most of his writing was done on the fly—think up a good title, a few hot situations, and start typing. Only occasionally would he feel the need to go out into the world and do some practical research, such as the time he visited a nudist colony before writing Nudist Camp (a Beacon topic—”They Worshipped Nature in the Raw”), although he claimed he did not disrobe during his visit. One had to maintain a certain journalistic objectivity in such circumstances.
Hitt’s lively body of work—highly prized by vintage paperback collectors—included such classics as Dolls and Dues (“The Sordid Story of a union Boss and His Women—Timely as Tomorrow”), Trailer Tramp (winner of Beacon’s prestigious Award of Excellence), Ellie’s Shack (“They Were Always Peeking and Pawing at Her. How Could a Girl Stay Good?”), and Girls’ Dormitory (“A Scathing Attack on the Evils of Off-Campus Housing—And Co-Eds Obliged to Live in Dangerous Proximity!”). Hitt’s novels mapped a sordid universe of “heels” and “tramps,” characters with all the incandescent glamor of a 15-watt bulb.
Works
- Add Flesh to the Fire (1959);
- Affairs of a Beauty Queen (1958);
- Affair with Lucy (1959);
- As Bad as They Come (1959);
- Autobiography of Kay Adams (1962);
- Bed Crazy (1962);
- Burlesque Queen (1958);
- Cabin Fever (1953);
- Call Me Bad (1960);
- Call South 3300: Ask for Molly (1958);
- Carnival Girl (1959);
- Carnival Sin (1962);
- Cheat, The (1958);
- Cheaters, The (1959);
- Color of Lust, The (1964);
- Dial “M” for Man (1961);
- Dirt Farm (1961);
- Doctor and His Mistress, A (1960);
- Dolls and Dues (1957);
- Easy Women (1961);
- Ellie’s Shack (1958);
- Ex-Virgin (1961);
- Four Women (1961);
- Frigid Wife (1961);
- From Door to Door (1960);
- Girl of the Streets (1959);
- Girls’ Dormitory (1958);
- Hot Cargo (1958);
- I’ll Call Every Monday (1954);
- Inflamed Dames (1963);
- Ladies Man (1957);
- Lady Is a Lush, The (1960);
- Loose Women (1964);
- Love Season, The (1961);
- Love Thief (1961);
- Lust Prowl (1964);
- Mail Order Sex (1961);
- Married Mistress (1961);
- Motel Girls (1960);
- Never Cheat Alone (1960);
- Nudist Camp (1959);
- Passion Hunters, The (1964);
- Passion Pool (1964);
- Peeper, The (1959);
- Peeping Tom (1961);
- Playpit (1962);
- Private Club (1959);
- Promoter, The (1957);
- Pushover (1957);
- Rotten to the Core (1958);
- Sexurbia County (1960);
- Shabby Street (1954);
- Sheba (1959);
- She Got What She Wanted (1954);
- Sin Doll (1959);
- Suburban Sin (1959);
- Suburban Wife (1958);
- Sucker, The (1957);
- Summer Hotel (1958);
- Summer of Sin (1961);
- Tawny (1959);
- Teaser (1957);
- Tell Them Anything (1960);
- Too Hot to Handle (1959);
- Torrid Cheat (1962);
- Torrid Teens, The (1960);
- Trailer Tramp (1957);
- Trapped (1958);
- Twin Beds (1962);
- Two of a Kind (1960);
- Unfaithful Wives (1957);
- Unnatural Urge (1962);
- Untamed Lust (1960);
- Wayward Girl (1960);
- Widow, The (1959);
- Wild Oats (1958);
- Woman Hunt (1958)
