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Girls' Dormitory
They came to college sweet, pretty and unsuspecting. But the house mother was strangely corrupt, and so was the caretaker.
Sure, Peggy was a sweet kid, and pretty, too—which was why she would have made out just fine at a co-ed college. But Peggy had strange fears, disturbing inclinations; she preferred to go to an all-girls’ school, where she could live in an all-girls’ dormitory. It was a forgone conclusion that Helen Lee, an older dorm mate, would be able to seduce Peggy into behavior unbecoming such a sweet, young thing. After all, Helen had been initiated, like so many college girls, by the house mother herself. But, Helen also was carrying on with a man—and the man, Jerry Dixon, found himself fascinated by Peggy. Tragedy suddenly threatened the gay dormitory, to be resolved in an explosive climax promising fulfillment of girlish aspirations!
About Lesbian Pulp Fiction
In the early 1950s new sub-genres of the vintage paperback pulp novel industry emerged—science fiction, juvenile delinquent, sleaze, and lesbian fiction, for instance—that would tantalize readers with gritty, realistic and lurid stories never seen before. Mysteries, thrillers and hardboiled detective pulps were already selling quite well. Publishers had come to realize, however, that sex would sell even more copies. In a competitive frenzy for readers, they tossed away their staid and straightforward cover images for alluring covers that frequently featured a sexy woman in some form of undress, along with a suggestive tag line that promised stories of sex and violence within the covers. Before long, books with these sensational covers had completely taken over the paperback racks and cash registers. To this day, the "good girl art" (GGA) cover art of these vintage paperback books are just as sought after as the books themselves were sixty years ago.
With the birth of the lesbian-themed pulp novel, women who loved women would finally see themselves—their experiences and their lives—represented within the pages of a book. They finally had a literature they could call their own. For lesbians across the country, especially those living in small towns, these books provided a sense of community they never knew existed, a connection to women who experienced the same longings, feelings and fears as they did—the powerful knowledge that they were not alone. We are excited to make these lesbian pulp novels available in ebook format to new generations of readers.
Sure, Peggy was a sweet kid, and pretty, too—which was why she would have made out just fine at a co-ed college. But Peggy had strange fears, disturbing inclinations; she preferred to go to an all-girls’ school, where she could live in an all-girls’ dormitory. It was a forgone conclusion that Helen Lee, an older dorm mate, would be able to seduce Peggy into behavior unbecoming such a sweet, young thing. After all, Helen had been initiated, like so many college girls, by the house mother herself. But, Helen also was carrying on with a man—and the man, Jerry Dixon, found himself fascinated by Peggy. Tragedy suddenly threatened the gay dormitory, to be resolved in an explosive climax promising fulfillment of girlish aspirations!
About Lesbian Pulp Fiction
In the early 1950s new sub-genres of the vintage paperback pulp novel industry emerged—science fiction, juvenile delinquent, sleaze, and lesbian fiction, for instance—that would tantalize readers with gritty, realistic and lurid stories never seen before. Mysteries, thrillers and hardboiled detective pulps were already selling quite well. Publishers had come to realize, however, that sex would sell even more copies. In a competitive frenzy for readers, they tossed away their staid and straightforward cover images for alluring covers that frequently featured a sexy woman in some form of undress, along with a suggestive tag line that promised stories of sex and violence within the covers. Before long, books with these sensational covers had completely taken over the paperback racks and cash registers. To this day, the "good girl art" (GGA) cover art of these vintage paperback books are just as sought after as the books themselves were sixty years ago.
With the birth of the lesbian-themed pulp novel, women who loved women would finally see themselves—their experiences and their lives—represented within the pages of a book. They finally had a literature they could call their own. For lesbians across the country, especially those living in small towns, these books provided a sense of community they never knew existed, a connection to women who experienced the same longings, feelings and fears as they did—the powerful knowledge that they were not alone. We are excited to make these lesbian pulp novels available in ebook format to new generations of readers.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2011
4 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Orrie Hitt
221 books31 followersOrrie Edwin Hitt was born in Colchester and died from cancer in a VA hospital in Montrose, NY. He married Charlotte Tucker in Pt Jervis, NY (a small town upstate where he became a lifelong resident), on Valentine’s Day, '43. Orrie & Charlotte had 4 kids—Joyce, Margaret, David & Nancy. He was under 5’5″, taking a 27' inseam, which his wife altered because no one sold pants so short.
Hitt wrote maybe 150 books. He wasn’t sure. “I’m no adding machine”, he answered on the back cover of his book Naked Flesh, when asked how many he’d written. “All I do is write. I usually start at 7 in the morning, take 20 minutes for lunch & continue until about 4 in the afternoon.” Hitt wrote a novel every 2 weeks in his prime, typing over 85 wpm. “His fastest & best works were produced when he was allowed to type whatever he wanted,” said his children. “His slowest works were produced when publishers insisted on a certain kind of novel, extra spicy etc.”
Most of Hitt’s books were PBOs. He also wrote some hardcovers. Pseudonyms include Kay Addams, Joe Black, Roger Normandie, Charles Verne & Nicky Weaver. Publishers include Avon, Beacon (later Softcover Library), Chariot, Domino (Lancer), Ember Library, Gaslight, Key Publishing, Kozy, MacFadden, Midwood, Novel, P.E.C, Red Lantern, Sabre, Uni-books, Valentine Books, Vantage Press, Vest-Pocket & Wisdom House.
He wrote in the adults only genre. Many of such writers were hacks, using thin plots as an excuse to throw tits & ass between covers for a quick buck. Others used the genre as a stepping stone to legitimate writing, later dismissing this part of their career. There were few like Hitt, whose writing left an original, idiosyncratic & lasting mark even beyond the horizons of '50s-mid 60s adult publishing. What made him unique was his belief he was writing realistically about the needs & desires, the brutality (both verbal & physical), the hypocritical lives inside the suburban tracts houses & the limited economic opportunities for women that lay beneath the glossy, Super Cinecolor, Father Knows Best surface of American life. He studied what he wrote about. Wanting to write about a nudist camp, he went to one tho “he wouldn't disrobe”.
His research allowed him to write convincingly. S. Stryker, in her Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback, says, “Only one actual lesbian, Kay Addams, writing as Orrie Hitt, is known to have churned out semipornographic sleaze novels for a predominantly male audience.” She thought “Orrie Hitt” a pseudonym, & “Kay Addams” a real lesbian author! Orrie’d like that one.
It wasn’t just about sex. It was also about guts. “The characters,” Hitt’s protagonist–a movie producer complimenting a screenwriter on her work–says in the novel Man-Hungry Female, “were very real, red blooded people who tore at the guts of life. That’s what I’m after. Guts.” If anyone knew about guts, it was him.
Life started out tough for Hitt. His father committed suicide when he was 11. “Dad seldom spoke of his father, who'd committed suicide, because it was a very unpleasant chapter in his life,” said his children.
After Father’s death, Orrie & his mother moved to Forestburgh, NY, where they worked for a hunting-fishing club. He started doing chores for wealthy members for $.10 hourly. Management offered him a better job later, at .25 hourly. Eventually, he became club caretaker & supervisor. “Dad talked a lot about working as a child to help his mother make ends meet,” his children recalled. “He wanted his children to have a better life while growing up.”
Tragedy struck Hitt again during those years. His children explain: “Dad’s mom died at her sister’s house on the club property during an ice storm, so Dad walked to the house to get his mother & carried her back to his car"
Hitt wrote maybe 150 books. He wasn’t sure. “I’m no adding machine”, he answered on the back cover of his book Naked Flesh, when asked how many he’d written. “All I do is write. I usually start at 7 in the morning, take 20 minutes for lunch & continue until about 4 in the afternoon.” Hitt wrote a novel every 2 weeks in his prime, typing over 85 wpm. “His fastest & best works were produced when he was allowed to type whatever he wanted,” said his children. “His slowest works were produced when publishers insisted on a certain kind of novel, extra spicy etc.”
Most of Hitt’s books were PBOs. He also wrote some hardcovers. Pseudonyms include Kay Addams, Joe Black, Roger Normandie, Charles Verne & Nicky Weaver. Publishers include Avon, Beacon (later Softcover Library), Chariot, Domino (Lancer), Ember Library, Gaslight, Key Publishing, Kozy, MacFadden, Midwood, Novel, P.E.C, Red Lantern, Sabre, Uni-books, Valentine Books, Vantage Press, Vest-Pocket & Wisdom House.
He wrote in the adults only genre. Many of such writers were hacks, using thin plots as an excuse to throw tits & ass between covers for a quick buck. Others used the genre as a stepping stone to legitimate writing, later dismissing this part of their career. There were few like Hitt, whose writing left an original, idiosyncratic & lasting mark even beyond the horizons of '50s-mid 60s adult publishing. What made him unique was his belief he was writing realistically about the needs & desires, the brutality (both verbal & physical), the hypocritical lives inside the suburban tracts houses & the limited economic opportunities for women that lay beneath the glossy, Super Cinecolor, Father Knows Best surface of American life. He studied what he wrote about. Wanting to write about a nudist camp, he went to one tho “he wouldn't disrobe”.
His research allowed him to write convincingly. S. Stryker, in her Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback, says, “Only one actual lesbian, Kay Addams, writing as Orrie Hitt, is known to have churned out semipornographic sleaze novels for a predominantly male audience.” She thought “Orrie Hitt” a pseudonym, & “Kay Addams” a real lesbian author! Orrie’d like that one.
It wasn’t just about sex. It was also about guts. “The characters,” Hitt’s protagonist–a movie producer complimenting a screenwriter on her work–says in the novel Man-Hungry Female, “were very real, red blooded people who tore at the guts of life. That’s what I’m after. Guts.” If anyone knew about guts, it was him.
Life started out tough for Hitt. His father committed suicide when he was 11. “Dad seldom spoke of his father, who'd committed suicide, because it was a very unpleasant chapter in his life,” said his children.
After Father’s death, Orrie & his mother moved to Forestburgh, NY, where they worked for a hunting-fishing club. He started doing chores for wealthy members for $.10 hourly. Management offered him a better job later, at .25 hourly. Eventually, he became club caretaker & supervisor. “Dad talked a lot about working as a child to help his mother make ends meet,” his children recalled. “He wanted his children to have a better life while growing up.”
Tragedy struck Hitt again during those years. His children explain: “Dad’s mom died at her sister’s house on the club property during an ice storm, so Dad walked to the house to get his mother & carried her back to his car"
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 10, 2020
More thoughtful than sleazy, Girls Dormitory tells the story of rich college girl Peggy, her money hungry roommate and lover Helen, who is also a prostitute, and horny Jerry the pimp and dormitory handy man who makes time with several of the rooming guests possibly impregnating one of them. The writer really stirred the pot with multiple plot lines and the female character's shifting sexuality, however the pacing is strong and the story kept my interest. Sex is only implied and never described, frequently using the chapter ending device "Show me you love me." And (s)he did.
June 7, 2016
In terms of plot complications and complexity of character interactions and the handling of multiple viewpoint narration, this is one of the better Orrie Hitt books that I've read. Also a lot more edge to the dialog and some good character scheming. Overall this deserves less stars, but considering the era, the readership it was targeting, the form to function fit, as I've said in other reviews of Hitt's books - and also ranking it amongst the Hitt oeuvre - this gets a four (but only on my Orrie Hitt scale).
This is censorship-era fiction and it shows up in some funny ways. At one point a guy is searching a woman's purse and among the items are "something only a woman would have." Hitt's books from this era fall into three categories when it comes to describing sex scenes: only alluded to; described euphemistically; and soft-core explicit. This book is in the alluded to category - other than a few kisses, sex is never described, so don't think your getting some when you read this one.
The lesbian dormitory angle is over-hyped. It isn't a dormitory, more like a rooming house, and then at the end an attic is remodeled and covered to a "dormitory" with the addition of ten cots. Most of the girls are having "visits" from the handyman Jerry, who is also pimping out Helen. Onto the scene arrives conflicted Peggy. She rooms with Helen and discovers, yes, that, as she and Helen become lovers. This makes the landlady, Thelma, jealous because she has been wanting to bed Helen. So that is pretty much it for the lesbian angle.
Two other angles worth mentioning that take up big chunks of the book are prostitution and abortion.
Helen spends a couple of days a week at another rooming house and Jerry sends tricks her way. So there is plenty of description around the mechanics of that little business and also some plot complications involving blackmail that weave in and out through the narrative.
One of the other girls in the rooming house becomes pregnant, though apparently not from Jerry, even though they've been active throughout most of the book. Still, she blackmails him to help her get an abortion. Fifth month. Not exactly back-alley, but $300 for a non-doctor abortion that doesn't end well. This is a theme that shows up in a lot of Hitt's books written before birth control pills were readily available.
The ending tidies things up a bit too neatly, but in keeping with an censorship approved manner. Have to keep that in mind when reading books from this era.
This is censorship-era fiction and it shows up in some funny ways. At one point a guy is searching a woman's purse and among the items are "something only a woman would have." Hitt's books from this era fall into three categories when it comes to describing sex scenes: only alluded to; described euphemistically; and soft-core explicit. This book is in the alluded to category - other than a few kisses, sex is never described, so don't think your getting some when you read this one.
The lesbian dormitory angle is over-hyped. It isn't a dormitory, more like a rooming house, and then at the end an attic is remodeled and covered to a "dormitory" with the addition of ten cots. Most of the girls are having "visits" from the handyman Jerry, who is also pimping out Helen. Onto the scene arrives conflicted Peggy. She rooms with Helen and discovers, yes, that, as she and Helen become lovers. This makes the landlady, Thelma, jealous because she has been wanting to bed Helen. So that is pretty much it for the lesbian angle.
Two other angles worth mentioning that take up big chunks of the book are prostitution and abortion.
Helen spends a couple of days a week at another rooming house and Jerry sends tricks her way. So there is plenty of description around the mechanics of that little business and also some plot complications involving blackmail that weave in and out through the narrative.
One of the other girls in the rooming house becomes pregnant, though apparently not from Jerry, even though they've been active throughout most of the book. Still, she blackmails him to help her get an abortion. Fifth month. Not exactly back-alley, but $300 for a non-doctor abortion that doesn't end well. This is a theme that shows up in a lot of Hitt's books written before birth control pills were readily available.
The ending tidies things up a bit too neatly, but in keeping with an censorship approved manner. Have to keep that in mind when reading books from this era.
March 16, 2021
This is neither about lesbians nor decent storytelling. It's an ego-stroking fantasy for only the one who wrote it. They just had to leave their crap out for the world to see, didn't they? This thing sickened me. Spoiler, which is good for you, fellows who intend to take a look at this effortless piece of crap: The pimp gets the girl, whose interest in women is just a passerby in her life. Now pimp gets to live off the treasure of main girl's rich dad, all thanks to curing the disease of women infatuation. Don't label it "Lesbians" when it features only bisexuals and men's effortless wagging to get into women's pants. I felt unclean after reading this garbage. You should never give it the benefits of the doubt. Believe me, you wouldnot want to read about these pretentious douches' quest to sweep some boring girls off their feet, all the while eating away your life energy.
August 18, 2015
It was an OK read. I found the same intentions applied to everyone pretty far-fetched but it is what it is. My gripe also came in the shape of Helen never finding her 'reformed whore' stage, like everyone else did. Did I want her to clean up her act and get off the streets? Why shoor, but only if she was ahead of the game & in control.
Meanwhile, I totally could have seen Harry & Jerry finding everlasting lust if everyone in the book hadn't had some sort of sexual renewal. XD
Meanwhile, I totally could have seen Harry & Jerry finding everlasting lust if everyone in the book hadn't had some sort of sexual renewal. XD
Want to read
August 14, 2015Pre-Reading (8/13/15): You had me at pulp fiction with a "lesbian" boarding-school theme. Don't worry it's college not high school. :P
July 19, 2013
I love old pulp novels---this one started out strong but petered out toward the end. Still an engrossing read though.
Read
April 11, 2015when I was full of piss and vinegar
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews