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Marijuana Girl
Joyce Taylor was a nice high school girl, maybe a little wild, and when she is kicked out of school for doing a bump-and-grind number on a cafeteria table she moves to the big city and gets a job. There she meets a man who introduces her to the smoky world of jazz and before she knows it, she's inhaled some of that sweet, sweet smoke. When the cops get in on the action the misery starts and Joyce finds herself on a roller coaster ride to oblivion. N.R. de Mexico wrote as if he knew his subject, yet refrained from getting as preachy about dope as many of his contemporaries did. The pot-smoking jazz scene of the 50s is well described and filled with smart, sympathetic people. "Marijuana Girl will get you through times of no money better'n money will get you through times of no Marijuana Girl." -- Knees Calhoon
- GenresPulp
140 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 2008
About the author
N.R. de Mexico
9 books2 followersThe author of Marijuana Girl has been a mystery for decades, ever since the book was written in 1951, but thanks to the son of the author, it can now be revealed that the author is Robert Campbell Bragg.
N. R. de Mexico is the pseudonym of a writer who wrote three books under that name in the 40s and 50s. One of them, Marijuana Girl, has become a cult classic and in the original pulp and digest editions is highly prized by modern day collectors. Madman on a Drum is also remembered well by connoisseurs of the Cornell Woolrich school of suspense. The identity of de Mexico has been open to speculation for decades with many declaring him to be writer Larry Shaw. However, Shaw denied it, saying that "N. R." stood for "Not Really."
N. R. de Mexico is the pseudonym of a writer who wrote three books under that name in the 40s and 50s. One of them, Marijuana Girl, has become a cult classic and in the original pulp and digest editions is highly prized by modern day collectors. Madman on a Drum is also remembered well by connoisseurs of the Cornell Woolrich school of suspense. The identity of de Mexico has been open to speculation for decades with many declaring him to be writer Larry Shaw. However, Shaw denied it, saying that "N. R." stood for "Not Really."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 10, 2019
Not only is the writing bad in Marijuana Girl, but there is also a lot of amateur Freudian psychology. What there isn’t is the kind of moralizing you would expect to find in a book such as this, nor any over-the-top harrowing depiction of junkies. In fact, the book probably stood out in the 50s for its portrayal of marijuana as benign, even salutary, in its effects. That being said, it doesn’t play down the idea that it is gateway drug, as two of the characters go one to become heroin addicts. Like Sex Cure, Marijuana Girl provides any interesting glimpse into the seamier side of the late 50s/early 60s.
July 21, 2017
"Marijuana Girl" (1950) is a cult classic and was often sought after by book collectors. It is one of the very early novels on drug addiction and even includes a glossary on jive talk, a notion that is quite quaint today.
N. R. De Mexico is a pseudonym of ROBERT CAMPBELL BRAGG, who was known to his friends as "Bob De Mexico." He lived in Greenwich Village and was friends with, among others, Jack Kerouac. His real name was a mystery for many years and some thought Larry Shaw had written these books.
Bragg wrote only a few novels in the early 50's before he died of a heart attack in a grocery store in 1954: "Marijuana Girl" (1950), Madman on a Drum (1952), and Private Chauffeur (1954).
"Marijuana Girl" (1950) is the story of the descent of Joyce, a seventeen year old juvenile delinquent, who is suspended from school after doing a striptease during study hall. Joyce takes a job as a reporter with a local paper and begins having an affair with a married editor, who introduces her to jazz clubs in the city and to marijuana. When he breaks off the affair, Joyce moves into the city on her own, hanging out with the singers and musicians she had been introduced to. She soon graduates to shooting up and selling her body to pay for the drugs.
The story portrays Joyce as a young innocent poodle skirt wearing teenager who looking for kicks and to fill her loneliness fell into the trap of hard drugs. The story shows her fascination with getting high and losing herself in jazz.
What's remarkable about the book is the early date it was written--1950- long before many other drug novels. The cover depicts a sexy woman in a skimpy dress and smoke billowing from her mouth and tantalizes the reader by saying it's the uncensored truth about teenage addicts who would do anything for thrills.
It is a story first and primarily about juvenile delinquency and addiction and descent into hopelessness. Although there seems to be a notion out there that it is a pro-marijuana book because part of the story romanticized the hip jazz players of the era, but that certainly is not the case with the main character starting with marijuana and falling into the world of a junkie and a whore.
While this book was probably shocking in 1950, there have been numerous similar books published in the last sixty years and, on its own, this doesn't really stand out plot wise from many other novels dealing with this subject matter.
N. R. De Mexico is a pseudonym of ROBERT CAMPBELL BRAGG, who was known to his friends as "Bob De Mexico." He lived in Greenwich Village and was friends with, among others, Jack Kerouac. His real name was a mystery for many years and some thought Larry Shaw had written these books.
Bragg wrote only a few novels in the early 50's before he died of a heart attack in a grocery store in 1954: "Marijuana Girl" (1950), Madman on a Drum (1952), and Private Chauffeur (1954).
"Marijuana Girl" (1950) is the story of the descent of Joyce, a seventeen year old juvenile delinquent, who is suspended from school after doing a striptease during study hall. Joyce takes a job as a reporter with a local paper and begins having an affair with a married editor, who introduces her to jazz clubs in the city and to marijuana. When he breaks off the affair, Joyce moves into the city on her own, hanging out with the singers and musicians she had been introduced to. She soon graduates to shooting up and selling her body to pay for the drugs.
The story portrays Joyce as a young innocent poodle skirt wearing teenager who looking for kicks and to fill her loneliness fell into the trap of hard drugs. The story shows her fascination with getting high and losing herself in jazz.
What's remarkable about the book is the early date it was written--1950- long before many other drug novels. The cover depicts a sexy woman in a skimpy dress and smoke billowing from her mouth and tantalizes the reader by saying it's the uncensored truth about teenage addicts who would do anything for thrills.
It is a story first and primarily about juvenile delinquency and addiction and descent into hopelessness. Although there seems to be a notion out there that it is a pro-marijuana book because part of the story romanticized the hip jazz players of the era, but that certainly is not the case with the main character starting with marijuana and falling into the world of a junkie and a whore.
While this book was probably shocking in 1950, there have been numerous similar books published in the last sixty years and, on its own, this doesn't really stand out plot wise from many other novels dealing with this subject matter.
March 11, 2021
Entertaining quick read. Not much to it.
July 23, 2024
Hilarious and interesting. I love that there's a glossary.
Want to Read
May 31, 2012Great cover art.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews