Friday's Forgotten Books: CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE (1958) by Rex Stout

If it's Friday, it's Forgotten Books day, the weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, Pattinase  Today, while Patti is is traveling, Todd Mason has rounded up the links on his blog, Sweet Freedom. 

I'm off to another late start, but that seems to be the way of it lately. It doesn't help that it's a dreary, rainy day - perfect for lounging around in bed, the ceiling fan going and Rocky (my chihuahua) snoozing.

Anyway, don't forget to check in at Todd's and see what other forgotten (or overlooked) books other bloggers are talking about today.

CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE by Rex Stout is my entry even though I don't think it's, technically, a 'forgotten' book. I mean, if you love Rex Stout's work as much as I do, by inference you love Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, so you might not have forgotten this one. I'll admit though, that I hadn't re-read it in years - couldn't find my copy in the house anywhere - so I bought it again online and this time I'm keeping an eye on it.

This is also the copy with an introduction by Lena Horne, a lady I admired very much. It seems she and her hubby were personal friends and neighbors of Rex Stout and his family.

Even though CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE prominently features a bunch of 'unwed' mothers - an idea that no longer shocks - this is still a book that, otherwise, hasn't aged much. It also seems to have gotten better or I've changed or - who knows? Never one of my favorites, it has now moved up into my top ten Wolfe books. Go figure.

Archie Goodwin gets a phone call from Dinky Byne (you can tell right away from the name that the guy is a dilettante) requesting a favor. Will he [Archie] attend the annual high society dinner for unwed mothers (that's what it amounts to) given by Mrs. Robert Robilotti?

It's that evening at seven and yeah it's short notice but Dinky has a bad cold.

Though Archie is suspicious of Dinky's real reason, he goes to the dinner all dolled up in a tux as requested. Mrs. Robilotti is the unwitting (and rather stiff-necked) benefactor of a charity begun by her late first husband, which funds a halfway house for unwed, pregnant young women to come and stay. The facility also arranges for adoption of the newborns.

There's lots of condescension involved since the evening (at Mrs. Robilotti's luxurious townhouse) involves the appearance of ten young mothers and ten society stalwarts (not that Archie counts as 'society' but he is a last minute replacement and beggars can't be choosers) to dance attendance on the women and buck up their supposedly low spirits.

When one of the young mothers, Faith Usher, dies in full view of a crowded room, everyone but Archie assumes it's suicide by poison.

The police, the party-goers, Mrs. Robilotti, everyone involved wants the bad episode simply to go away. It must have been suicide because NO ONE could have poisoned Faith Usher except herself.

But Archie is stubborn.

A fabulous book in which Nero Wolfe must accept that Archie's intelligence, experience and observational skills trump the evidence of everyone else's eyes. Wolfe knows Archie and so accepts  his version of what happened though Wolfe was not there. Ultimate trust between friends and cohorts. It's a wonderful thing. Even if it makes for a very difficult and exasperating murder problem.

My post today also counts as an entry in Bev's Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 2012.

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Another List to Peruse: 20 Favorite Mystery, Suspense and/or Detective Television Series

FAVORITE MYSTERY, SUSPENSE and/or DETECTIVE TELEVISION SHOWS OF ALL TIME (Yeah, more lists. Can't help it. I'm just a list-making fool these days.) These are shows that I actually watched. Can't pick shows I've never watched - right?

20 Favorite Mystery, Suspense and/or Detective TV Shows:

1) N.Y.P.D. BLUE (1993 - 2005) Starring Dennis Franz, Gordon Clapp, Bill Brochtrup, Kim Delaney, James McDaniel and Nicholas Turtorro among many others.

2) AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT (Beginning in 1989) David Suchet was born to play this part just as Hugh Fraser and Philip Jackson were born to play Captain Hastings and Superintendent Japp, respectively. (I would only list as favorites the first few seasons.)

3) THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Begun in 1984) starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes (a part he too was born to play) and David Burke as Watson, then later and just as good, Edward Hardwick took over the role of Watson. (Only the shows based on actual Conan Doyle books and/or stories need apply.)

4) HOMICIDE - LIFE ON THE STREET (1993 - 1999) Starring Andre Braugher, Richard Beltzer, Yaphet Kotto, Clark Johnson, Kyle Secor, Melissa Leo, Reed Diamond and Daniel Baldwin (only in 33 episodes but memorable), among many, many other terrific actors.

5) AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE (Only the Joan Hickson shows begun in 1984.)

6) HILL STREET BLUES (1981-1987) Starring Daniel J. Travanti, Taurean Blacque, Bruce Weitz and Joe Spano.

7) INSPECTOR MORSE (1987 - 2000) Starring John Thaw and Kevin Whately.

8) PRIME SUSPECT (Begun in 1991) Starring Helen Mirren, Tom Bell and John Benfield.

9) PERRY MASON (1957 - 1966) Starring Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, William Talman and Ray Collins.

10) L.A. LAW (1986 - 1994) Starring Corbin Bensen, Jill Eikenberry and Alan Rachins.

11) THE FUGITIVE (1963 - 1967) Starring David Janssen, Barry Morse and William Conrad.

12) BOSTON LEGAL (2004 - 2008) Starring William Shatner and James Spader.

13) THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS (1966 - 67) Starring Robert Lansing and Dana Wynter.

14)  THE AVENGERS (1961-1969) Starring Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman.

15) FOYLE'S WAR (Begun in 2002) Starring Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks and Anthony Howell.

16) MISSION IMPOSSIBLE (1966 - 1973) Starring Steven Hill, Peter Graves, Barney Morris, Barbara Bain, Martin Landau and Peter Lupus.

17) QUINCY M.E. (1976 - 1983) Starring Jack Klugman.

18) KOJAK (1973 - 1978) Starring Telly Savalas, Dan Fraser and Kevin Dobson.

19) MOONLIGHTING (1985 - 1989) Starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.

20) MYSTERY! (On PBS, beginning in 1980) An anthology of the best British mysteries, suspense and spy thrillers starring everyone who was anyone in Brit TV, theater and/or movies. Still going strong.

So, what do you think? What did I leave out? What would you add or subtract? I know I've probably forgotten one or two of my own personal faves - that's a given. 

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Forgotten (or Overlooked) Film Tuesday: LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955) starring Jack Hawkins, and Joan Collins

FFT is a weekly meme hosted by Todd Mason at his blog, Sweet Freedom. So don't forget to head on over to link central and see what films, television or other audio/visuals, other bloggers are talking about today. We're an eclectic bunch.

When you think of legendary director Howard Hawks, the first film that doesn't pop to mind is LAND OF THE PHARAOHS, a sun, sand and slaves pot-boiler written by (yes, it's true) William Faulkner (and two other lesser known writers). The film has a heart-pounding (and strangely catchy) musical score by the one and only Dimitri Tiomkin to recommend it as well. It was shot in Egypt and in a Rome studio, and had a cast of thousands, literally. This was back in the good old days of spectacular epics ala BEN-HUR, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and whatnot - when this sort of thing was feasible.

Three creative giants + ancient Egypt = one mighty fine B-movie mash-up in startling Technicolor.

Can anyone take Joan Collins seriously as Princess Nelifer, captured desert royalty dropped at Pharaoh's feet and almost immediately doing her undulating best to win him over to her bed and his board? Not really. But what the heck, it's so much fun to watch her work her slinky wiles around the palace - a heavy breathing femme fatale with murderous inclinations and a mummified heart. Not to mention, a great deal of body make-up.

It's that little jewel in her belly-button that does it. How can Khufu resist?

The hapless Pharaoh Khufu (or Cheops) is played by British stalwart, Jack Hawkins, a fine actor here called upon to play second-banana to a naughty chit of a girl out to rule Egypt by hook or by crook. He mostly holds his own and one wonders what was going through his mind in some of the scenes where he must fall victim to the evil machinations of a teenage temptress in skimpy attire and a piquant pout.

The Pharoah, you see, is mostly concerned with the trappings of his after-life though attention to his rampaging libido might have served him to better purpose. Yes, he falls for the vampish allure of the bad tempered little princess. No big surprise there.

The randy Pharaoh can't believe his good fortune.

He makes her his number two wife. But unbeknownst to Pharaoh, she is determined to be number one. Really, you'd think the guy would catch on, I mean he's a grown man,  a warrior, a feared and beloved leader of a nation, an Egyptian god, for goodness' sake - presumably he has been around the block a few times. But no, he is putty in Princess Nelifer's capable hands. Men. Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

The soap opera doings of the Pharaoh and his bride are played out against the work of building the great pyramid of Egypt. The tomb of this particular man/god consumes Khufu night and day (when he's not being consumed by....well, you know) and to that end he is fortunate enough to have, among his captured slaves, Vashtar, an architect (played by the always imposing James Robertson Justice).

If you make my tomb safe from looters, you'll die anyway, but your family won't.

Vashtar is put to work designing some sort of fail-proof mechanism that will prevent looters from ever entering the final resting place of Khufu. His son Senta (Dewey Martin) is there to help as well. Vashtar must take an oath not to reveal the secret of the tomb to anyone and upon the death of the Pharoah and his placement in the tomb, Vashtar's son and family will go free. (If I'm remembering correctly. It's been a while since I saw the movie.) But Vashtar must die so that the secret stays safe for eternity. Sounds like a plan.

Of course, the best-laid plans of mice and men, you know how that goes.

In the meantime, while thousands of slaves toil in the hot desert sun, Princess Nelifer is up to no good behind gilded palace walls. In her plot, she engages the smoldering attentions of a weak-willed palace guard (Sidney Chaplin - son of Charles).

Ah well, nothing lasts forever.

It's all very opera-worthy and Dimitri Tiomkin makes extra sure to musically define all the heavy-breathing and chicanery. The only thing missing is the singing. No wait, we get a singing chorus made up of crowds of Egyptian subjects who gather to hail the Pharaoh alive or dead. I still remember the tune. I did say some of the music was catchy.

Now we come to the truly spectacular ending when all of Nelifer's evil machinations have come to fruition. All I'll say is that the Pharaoh's intelligent (and too old to be affected by female pulchritude) High Priest and life-long friend, Hamar (Alex Minotis) has distrusted Nelifer from the beginning and here in the end, he takes his and Egypt's revenge on the sultry strumpet. She gets her just desserts in a truly horrific way. (And no blood-letting.)

Oh, and the minister allows the architect (now old and blind) and his family their freedom, since he reasons, rightly, that once the mechanism goes into play in the pyramid, it doesn't matter who knows what. It will be impregnable.

The real pyramid.  Source.

A mighty fine B-movie epic and I'm told that the color of the current dvd is brilliant - always a good thing. It's on my queue as we speak.

Link to the movie's trailer which shows very dark. I hope the dvd doesn't follow suit.

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Just Because: Cecil Beaton (1904 - 1980)

1935 Vogue Cover by Cecil Beaton -  Source: Conde Nast

"Be daring, be different, 

be impractical, Be anything

that will assert integrity of purpose 

and imaginative vision against the

play-it-safers, the creatures of the

commonplace. The slaves of the

ordinary."

Cecil Beaton

Source: Chystalization of Amber Moments

In 1944, in one of its more inspired moments, the British Ministry of Information dispatched Cecil Beaton– self-dramatizing exquisite, darling of London society, chosen photographer to royalty, and later the world-famous designer of My Fair Lady and Gigi–to the Far East to take pictures of the British Empire and its allies at war. The result was not only a superb collection of photographs but a breathtakingly vivid written portrait of India, Burma, and China at a historic turning-point in their histories. 

These volumes integrate both elements fully for the first time, offering the complete text of Beaton’s narrative and a truly comprehensive selection of over 200 photographs. Beaton was a great observer and, perhaps unexpectedly, a great describer. In remarkably few words, he can make you see, hear, smell, almost touch the dusty Burmese countryside, the shimmering, casual magnificence of a Bombay virtually untouched by war, or the rain-sodden, flea-bitten front lines in a China nearly destroyed by it. 

He was an acute observer of people, too, and these books offer revealing glimpses of representative wartime figures from Madame Sun Yat-sen and General Claire Chennault to anonymous British soldiers and Chinese peasants. There is mayhem, including an electrifying description of what it’s like to live through a plane crash, and mordant social comedy that rivals (and explains much of) The Jewel in the Crown. 

Perhaps best of all are Beaton’s accounts of the two great invariants of modern war–waiting for transport and enduring it–in all their exquisite variety. A magnificent record of some of Beaton’s most austere and disciplined photography and a welcome reminder of his almost forgotten literary gifts, these books offer a uniquely real picture of one of the most heroic episodes of recent history.'
Source: RDuJour 
                                         The Result:

Source: Shelley Davies

More of Cecil Beaton's work:

Source: Shelley Davies

Cecil Beaton photographed by Irving Penn

Source: Christie's

Source: loveisspeed

To view a good selection of Cecil Beaton photographs, please use this link.

To learn about Cecil Beaton's life and times, please use this link.

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Friday's Forgotten Books: SKULDUGGERY (1979) by William Marshall

I've had a couple of William Marshall's Yellowthread Street books lying around on my shelves for what seems like ages and there they remained unread. Until a few days ago SKULDUGGERY suddenly showed up in a pile of books I was sorting and here we are.

It's Friday and I'm late with my entry, but it's Forgotten Books day all day. Patti Abbott has off, so Todd Mason is doing the link collecting and display duties. Don't forget to check in and see what other forgotten (or simply overlooked) books other bloggers are chatting about today.

William Marshall is a prolific Australian writer with sixteen books in this particular series. To check out all of Marshall's titles, Yellowthread Street and otherwise, please use this link.

Yellowthread, a shabby street set among the back alleys of the Hong Bay section of Hong Kong is the address of the local - and not very much feared - constabulary. A dreary, neglected building in need of repair serves as headquarters to a harried bunch of locals who do their best to keep law and order in this colorfully byzantine area of the world.

This is Hong Kong 1979, Britannia rules. Brit officers are in charge though discipline is not as stiff-upper-lip as one might think. It is a very eccentric setting for a lively police procedural which most of the time had me rolling my eyes and laughing at the slighly bizarre (okay, not so slightly) doings. Author Marshall has an assured way of handling absurdity as if it were commonplace and creating memorable characters who deal with life in this exotic and complicated locale with as much aplomb as they dare to.

Three current crimes being investigated by the Yellowthread bunch, headed by phlegmatic Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer:

1) Muggings in a two person elevator in a building where the rich live on the top three or four floors and the rest below. The problem is that the coshing and money snatching occur when the elevator indicates it is on the third floor landing even though the door on that landing has been nailed shut by inhabitants tired of being mugged. An ever more frustrated Sgt. Auden has been riding up and down in the elevator for six straight hours or more, waiting to be mugged while trying to figure out how it's done. There are no clues since the muggees have not been able to describe their attacker.

2) The Deaf and Dumb Gang has struck again. Handicapped robbers (one of them blind) who cannot or will not speak and apparently cannot hear are robbing jewelers at an alarming rate. Hopeful of rounding up the gang, the police place a dragnet (well, sort of) around a store likely to be robbed and wait for the gang to show up. Inside the store, the easily distracted Sgt. Spencer sits on the stairs in the storeroom, shotgun in hand, ready to spring into action.

Mr. Fan, owner of P.P. Fan Jewelers, counts his money trepidaciously and none too optimistically, while giving Spencer, sitting behind a half open door, a lecture on career opportunities.

3) A 20 year old skeleton washes up on a beached wooden raft, ankles tied and accompanied by farm fresh sweet potatoes, a dead fish, a set of false teeth and a ten inch length of iron drain pipe. It's murder all right. The problem is the bones belong to an American still very much alive.

Just another typical day for the cops of Yellowthread Street station.

Time to hunt around for that other William Marshall book I'm sure is around here somewhere.

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What Makes Great Art Great?

I stumbled across this particularly fine two-pronged answer to the eternal question: What Makes Great Art Great? at artist Brandon Long's blog. It's worth sharing and thinking about.

I do agree with his simple take, though I disagree with his view of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. My reasons: The brow, the smile and the hands. (Also: a tech point: Can you appreciate how extraordinarily difficult it is to paint eyes looking in a sideways direction without making the sitter look slightly cross-eyed?)

At any rate, most art is quicksilver. Great art is bedrock. Don't you think?

The artist only needs creative genius. The viewer only needs to be receptive and able to recognize genius, talent and craft even if he or she doesn't completely understand the object. On some level there should be a kind of mutual reciprocity. Minus that, pass it by.

Emotionally, great art should make you gasp or at least, hold your breath. Something about it should dazzle you. It should stop you dead in your tracks. The first time I saw a Jackson Pollock splatter painting at the Museum of Modern Art, I knew my life had been changed forever. Why? Because the painting altered my view of the world. I wanted to genuflect. But wisely, a friend led me from the room - I was practically in a daze.

Here is Brandon Long's take:


"What makes a great work of art? Monetary value? The "brand name" of the artist who created it? The technical precision? A lot of factors come to mind when considering the great masterpieces of the past. In the current wave of art and the internet - the constant deluge of images and content with each voice crying "look at me," it could be said that there are no "masterpieces" of the 21st century.


It seems that anyone can promote anything anywhere and that the filters of content - the "tastemakers,"  if you will have been removed from the equation. With that being said, what makes a great work of art great? I like to consider two main factors:


1.  Is the work of art greater than its absence? This can apply to music, painting, sculpture, dance - any form of art. I know that I have heard many songs on the radio that could not compete with the value of the silence given by pushing the off button. I have see a lot of paintings that are far less preferable than a blank wall.


2.  If you were the last man [or woman] on earth, would you put the work of art in your collection? You've got no one to impress, no intrinsic value, no brand name, no art history or art future - just you and the art. Would you still want it? 


I'd have to say that my post-apocalyptic gallery would contain a lot of things, and the Mona Lisa would not be one of them."


What do you think?

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Review: VENGEANCE by Benjamin Black

An intriguing, involving book right from the first chapter. (The allure of a great first chapter can never be underestimated.) The bizarre suicide (or is it?) of prominent Irish businessman Victor Delahaye to which we and another character, Delahaye's partner's son, are witness, starts things off with a bang: a dramatic bullet to the heart while both men are out sailing.

This is followed by the death a few days later - another suspected suicide - of Delahaye's womanizing partner, Jack Clancy. This also takes place out on the water though in rather different circumstances. As before, we're in at the death.

On the case, more or less, are Dublin detective inspector Hackett and his occasional working companion, the morose, self-involved, taciturn pathologist, Quirke. I say 'more or less' because the book is really basically a why and how than a who done it.

The police work is minimal since the author's concentration is on the often bewildering emotional lives of his characters who, in this instance, make up two well-to-do families - the Delahayes (Protestants) and the Clancys (Catholics) - whose day to day existence is seemingly made up of indolence, chicanery, double-dealing and sex - the usual pass times of the rich. (Or so they would have us believe.)

Not to be outdone, Quirke comes in for his fair share of the sex - he is a big strapping fellow with an eye for the ladies. A man old enough to know better, though perhaps not old enough to be very clever about his susceptibility to women. He also drinks too much. But his brooding remoteness and complexity of character hold attraction for the opposite sex.

The suspects in the case aren't many. There are Victor Delahaye's creepy twin sons, Jonas and James - two sybaritic entities who delight in smugness and malice aforethought, there's also Clancy's son Davy, whose creepy quotient almost matches the twins'. There's Delahaye's conniving, but beautiful and sexy young wife, Mona, as well as a few other family members - none of whom (except for Delahaye's sister Maggie) show much emotion at the death of either head of family.

Essentially a character driven story, VENGEANCE (set in and around 1950's Dublin) is a novel with suspense focused on the two unpleasant deaths of two unpleasant people who have left behind a small circle of unpleasant relations who continue to behave in unpleasant ways. Inspector Hackett and Quirke the ruminating pathologist aren't very likable either. Hackett, especially, is kind of a non-entity, a collection of bits and pieces not quite making a whole person. As for Quirke, I don't know what to make of him. I'll have to read more in the series.

Yes, I am recommending the book even if it may not sound like it. Why? Well, because the writing is damn good even with the objection I voiced in the previous paragraph re: Inspector Hackett. Benjamin Black has a way of making the mundane sound complex and mysterious - I like that. He also knows the importance of the rhythm of words - something that always pleases me. Plus there is, in this story - the telling of which is rather byzantine - an odd sort of pull which keeps you coming back to see what will happen next.

That VENGEANCE reads more like a mainstream novel than a thriller or mystery isn't surprising since Benjamin Black is the pen name of the Man Booker Prize winning Irish author, John Banville.

The book was sent to me by the publisher for possible review.
Publishing date in this country is 8/7/12.

To learn more about the previous titles in the Quirke series, please use this link.

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