The Brownie Scouts at Silver Beach - Book Five of the Brownie Scout Books

It's a week at the beach for the Brownies in Mildred Wirt's fifth Brownie Scouts adventure (I hesitate to call this a "mystery" series, as the books are more about the young girls' adventures and learning experiences than they are about the actual mystery aspect of the stories).  I have to admit, this series has been a much more enjoyable read than I had originally anticipated.  A series about a group of pre-teen girls who are enjoying outings as Brownie Scouts did not exactly scream out to me as readable stories, and the only reason I actually bought them was because (a) they were all purchased relatively cheap, with their dust jackets in tact, and (b) it was another Mildred Wirt series.  I just assumed they would sit on my shelves, unread.  But, when a friend suggested I read and post about them, I thought, "Why not?"  And, quite frankly, I'm glad I did.

 

The Brownie Scouts at Silver Beach finds out favorite little Brownies enjoying the sun and fun at Silver Beach, said to be "along the Atlantic Coast" (p. 3).  Veve (whose spelling is changed to "Vevi" in this book for some reason) McGuire and Connie Williams are once again front and center in the story, with Jane Tuttle, Sunny Davidson, and Rosemary Fritche rounding out the troop.  Miss Gordon, the troop leader, is, of course, on the scene, as is Mrs. Williams, Connie's mother, who is helping to chaperone the girls.  Vevi and Connie are bunked with Mrs. Williams in the rental, Starfish Cottage, while the other girls are staying with Miss Gordon in a "vine-covered cottage overlooking Silver Beach" (p. 3) that the troop leader owns.  By the end of the first chapter, we get the beginnings of a mystery, when Miss Gordon's watch, which she left in the pocket of her beach robe with the rest of the troop's belongings on the sandy beach while they enjoyed the ocean water, is stolen!

 

Readers quickly learn there have been other thefts recently in that area of the beach, which has caused a number of summer visitors to migrate over to the beach belonging to a nearby hotel.  That mystery, however, is put to the side as the girls begin to explore the beach, discover shells, discuss the various types of water birds seen in the area, watch a turtle race, and discover a small house built to look like a ship not far from their cottages.  Along the way, Vevi and Connie get lost in the fog (which is when they stumble across the ship-shaped cottage and discover another mystery - who is using the small house as a place to stay?), the girls have fun adventures trying to catch a turtle so they can enter the next turtle race, they collect shells so that they can put together and showcase a shell display, and they learn all about carrier pigeons, with Vevi nearly getting her very own pigeon that she names Snow White!  And during all of these fun activities, the girls also hear about more thefts and inadvertently witness the thief on more than one occasion attempting to steal items from tourists who are visiting the beach.  Even worse, poor Vevi and Connie wind up on a boat put adrift at sea, with no one knowing where they are!

 

The mysteries, as usual, are not overly complicated, nor are they difficult to solve (at least, for the discerning reader).  The identity of the thief is not at all hard to spot, pretty much from the get-go.  The identity of the person using the ship-shaped cottage is also easy to figure out, as Wirt does not make it hard to see where the story is going.  The mixture of the two lifeguards, the former ship captain, the young boy whose father is a lifeguard at the other hotel, and the man who handles the homing pigeons are fairly straight-forward characters who may be able to hide all of their secrets from the Brownie Scouts, but none of them are so subtle that even a casual reader could not spot them a mile away.  None of that detracts from the enjoyment of the story, though - it's not about actually solving the mysteries; rather, it's more about following along with Vevi, Connie, and the other Brownies as they hop from one exciting escapade to another.

 

Wirt casually included a moment in the story that is definitely a very valuable teaching lesson for young children.  When Vevi and Connie venture out to find Cabell's pond, where there are said to be lots of turtles to be found, a layer of mist begins to roll in from the ocean as dusk draws near.  As they are walking, a "driver stopped for a moment offering the girls a ride.  Vevi and Connie did not know him, so they turned down the offer" (p. 23).  A shining example of the old maxim, "never get in a car with a stranger."  I smiled when I read these lines, thinking how smart Wirt was to integrate a moral lesson into the story without making it overly obvious and beating you over the head with it.  One has to wonder how many children read this back in the day and took this lesson to heart.

 

There is another scene, however, that caught my attention more than the "stranger danger" scenario.  When Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams take the girls to Brant's Point for a picnic and for an opportunity to search for more shells, the tide starts to come in before they realize it, and soon enough, Mrs. Williams' car is stuck in the sand, unable to get any traction.  As the tide gets closer and closer, my mind kept telling me, "I've read this scene before - but where?"  Thanks to the memory of a very good friend, I found it - in Wirt's Penny Parker mystery, Voice from the Cave.  In that book, Penny and Louise are on a beach near a lighthouse (same as the Brownies are in this book), and like the Scouts, Penny's car gets stuck and the high tide keeps coming in with no help in sight.  The similarities do not stop there:

 

PP 95 - "Even if the car isn't washed away, the salt water will ruin it."

BS 88 - "Salt water ruins a car very easily ... We must get out somehow."

 

PP 95 - The motor began to labor.  Then the car stalled completely.

BS 85-86 - Slower and slower crept the car, its engine laboring ... The car would not budge...

 

PP 95 - "I'll run to the lighthouse," Penny decided desperately...

BS 88 - She glanced hopefully toward the lighthouse.  Connie offered ro un there and ask for help.

 

PP 97 - Penny and Louise seek help from a man they know who is wading through the reef; he sees them, but he turns and walks away

BS 90 - The Brownies seek help from a lifeguard they see in a boat out in the ocean; he sees them, but he turns and speed away in his boat

 

PP 99 - Jerry Livingston shows up on the beach and helps the girls push the car out of the sand

BS 91 - Captain Tarwell shows up on the beach and helps the girls push the car out of the sand

 

The scenes so closely resemble one another, only the names have been changed and some of the wording.  As the Penny Parker book was published in 1944, and this one in 1952, so perhaps Wirt "borrowed" the scene from the earlier book with the thought that readers of this particular book (who would be younger than the intended audience of the Penny Parker book published eight years prior) would not recognize the passage.  (Wirt seems to have had no problem in lifting scenes from previously published books of hers and retooling them into later stories - her Madge Sterling series provided her with a plethora of scenes that she later used in her Penny Parker books, her Mystery Stories for Girls books, and others.)

 

Marguerite Gayer provided both the cover art and interior illustration (the frontis piece being the only interior art) for this book.  The cover art actually depicts a scene related to the mystery surrounding the thefts at the beach, as the girls find a stolen purse buried in the sand (p. 146).  Meanwhile, the interior illustration merely shows the scene where Vevi and Connie happen across the small cottage in the mist while trying to find the pond (p. 34).

 

RATING:  8 dusty old Bibles out of 10 for keeping the Brownies faithful to their code, always helping others, while also learning about nature and valuable lessons at the same time.

Peggy Lane Theater Stories No. 1 - Peggy Finds the Theater

What better way to start a new month than with a new series (well, new to me at least ... well, new for reading purposes ... anyway ...).  With my love of theater, my love of vintage series books, and my love of stories with female protagonists, it should come as no surprise that I have all eight books in the Peggy Lane Theater Stories series.  Published from 1962 to 1965, the series follows the adventures of a nearly twenty-year old Peggy Lane, whose desire to become an actress leads her to forego a college education and head off for New York City to fulfill her dreams.  The author is given as "Virginia Hughes," which is actually a house pseudonym.  According to Jennifer White's website, the only known author is Geraldine Wallis, who wrote the third volume in the series; the other four books were likely written by four different men.  It would be interesting to learn just who those men were that authored the books (although judging from the information provided on Jennifer White's website, John Ott may have been one, based on his own background as an actor and director).

 

Peggy Finds the Theater is the first book in the series, introducing readers to the dark-haired protagonist and her rather large supporting cast.   Peggy Lane and her best friend, Jean Wilson, live in the fictional town of Rockport, Wisconsin (p. 6).  While there is a Rockport Park in the State of Wisconsin, and there is a city called Rock in Wisconsin, there is no actual Rockport.  The book indicates the travel time by plane from Rockport to New York City is approximately three hours (p. 22), which would place the town somewhere along the western portion of the state (since standard flight time from Wisconsin to New York City is only about two-and-a-half hours).  The story opens with Peggy working hard to convince her parents to allow her to step back from Rockport Community College, where she has finished her first year, and move to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming an actress.  In the end, she makes a bargain with them that will allow her a year to pursue her dream, and if she has not achieved any level of acting goals in that time, she will return home and finish college before attempting it again.  

 

This was very reminiscent of the Carol Page theater series written by Helen Dore Boylson, who makes a very similar deal with her parents in order to get permission to pursue an acting career.  The Carol Page series was released a decade prior to this series, so it seems the attitudes of parents towards their daughters who want to pursue theater as a career did not change much over that time.

 

This first book deals very little with the theater itself and more with Peggy making the move to the big city, starting a very prestigious acting school, making new friends, and joining an off-Broadway theater group who are working to put together their first play.  While there is mention of Peggy's previous experience on the stage while she was in high school, we never actually get to see Peggy perform (other than a couple of scenes where she is rehearsing the monologues she plans to use when she auditions to be admitted into the acting school).  The author does reference real plays, however, including the classic Twelfth Night (p. 23), a play by Shakespeare; the satire Skin of Our Teeth (p. 24), a play by Thornton Wilder; and the drama, Winterset (p. 24), a play by Maxwell Anderson.  The author also makes reference to Variety magazine, with which anyone in the acting community is well acquainted.  However, in the book, one of Peggy's new housemates indicates the magazine has casting call pages for the theater (p. 70); yet, some quick research online reveals Variety never really had theater casting calls, but focused more on the entertainment industry, i.e. television and film.  Backstage or Broadway World are the magazines more easily recognized for theater casting call notices.  Perhaps the author just felt readers might more easily recognize the Variety name than the others.

 

The rather expanded cast of characters are introduced in chapter six, which is aptly titled "Cast of Characters."  It is here we learn all about the girls with whom Peggy will be sharing a house while in New York.  First, there is Gaby (Gabrielle), whose father works for the UN, is French and learning English so she can hopefully break into the acting world; then there is Dot, a native of California who is a comedienne and eccentric dancer; next is Greta, who is from Boston and is working as a script editor while waiting for her big break;  following her is Irene (not her real name!), who previously acted in some television shows and is currently supporting herself as a model; also in the house is Maggie, a dancer from Ireland, who has been dancing since she was three years old; and then comes Amy, a small town girl from North Carolina who, like Peggy, has just arrived in New York hoping to find success on the stage.  May Berriman is the house mother, who takes care of the girls.  (This set up is also similar to the Carol Page series, where Carol lives in a boarding house with a number of other actresses.)

 

In addition to their housemates, Peggy (and by default her new best friend, Amy) become involved with a group of students at New York Academy who are putting together a play that they hope to have produced off-Broadway.  These students include Peter Piper (yes, they acknowledge the source of the name in the story), known to his friends as "Pip," and Connie Barnes, another comedienne; also a part of the group is Mallory Seton, the director, and Randy Brewster, the producer.  Rounding out the group are Mona Downs and Thomas Galen, both of whom are older actors (neither of whom are students, but both of whom are seasoned actors who do not mind doing off-Broadway shows [p. 91]).  They have the script, the actors, and the financing - all they need to do is find an available theater, which is next to impossible in New York City.  This is where Peggy comes in!  Peggy volunteers to find a theater.  "I used to help out as a reporter on my father's newspaper, and I'm used to digging up facts," she tells the group (p. 99).  Thus, not only is Peggy an actress, but she is a reporter as well!  Talk about your well-rounded career girl! All she needs to do is add amateur sleuth to that resume ... oh, wait, she does!

 

Yes, Peggy stumbles across a very minor mystery while searching for a theater.  She and Amy find the perfect location in a building that houses a theater on the top floor; but the janitor gives them the brush off, which makes Peggy automatically suspect something criminal is going on at the building (because no one would ever be rude in NYC, right?).  She convinces the theater troupe, and before you know it, they are staking out the back alley to see if anything criminal takes place.  Soon enough, Peggy and Amy witness a truck delivering boxes into the building late at night, with an armed guard.  Convinced there is something criminal about the whole affair, they tell the police, who not only give credence to her story, but manage to catch the crooks in the middle of delivering their next shipment of stolen goods into the building!  Not only does the insurance company provide the girls with a rather substantial reward for recovering thousands of dollars worth of furs and silverware and liquor (as well as $20,000 worth of nylon stockings - as the book says, that "is an awful law of nylon stockings" [p. 172]), but the owner of the building, who lives in Florida (of all places!), is only too happy to rent the troupe not just the top floor for a theater, but the whole building (p. 173)!  So, Peggy's three-chapter mystery ends up solving all of the acting troupe's problems - way to go, Peggy!

 

The title of the book has a double meaning:  Peggy does "find" the theater, inasmuch as she takes off to New York City to pursue her dream of being an actress on the stays; at the same time, she literally "finds" the theater that the other students have been so desperately seeking for their play.  The art for the book is provided by Sergio Leone - and no, that is not the Italian film director of the same name.  I could find no information whatsoever about Mr. Leone, other than the apparently provided art not only for children's books in the 1960s and '70s, but he also apparently provided some painted covers to paperback Gothic novels from that same time period.  The painted cover for this book is rather simple, with a headshot of Peggy, and the lights of New York City in the background.  The internal black-and-white illustrations are not overly exciting scenes, but instead pictures of Peggy and Randy dancing, Peggy with her parents at the airport, Peggy and Amy with their dates eating a late dinner.  About the only illustration that could be said to contain any "suspense" at all is the final image of Peggy and Amy on their stakeout, as a cat jumps out beside them, startling them (p. 163).  Oddly, the frontis piece and the first internal (p. 25) are the only two that are full page with captions; the remaining illustrations are half to three-fourth page with no caption.  The end page are by far my favorite, as it depicts Peggy and her friends in a theater and on the stage, in what appears to be a moment from a rehearsal (this scene, however, appears nowhere in this book).

 

While I would not say this was an exciting story, and the mystery was so limited as to barely be there, I did thoroughly enjoy the story. This series might not appeal to mystery enthusiasts, but for those who enjoy career girl stories, or those who love good theater tales, this book will definitely satisfy those tastes!

 

RATING:   10 servings of pheasant under glass out of 10 for providing readers with a somewhat true-to-life look at what life is like for a theater actor trying to break into the field in New York City!

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #32 - Murder at Willow Run

This thirty-second entry into the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series introduces yet another author and another new amateur sleuth.  The author is identified as "Michelle Collins," but it is uncertain whether this is the author's action name or just another in a long-line of pseudonyms used for this series.  Other than this one and book 51 in this series, I can find no other books by this author (although I find plenty of books out there written by various writers of the same name).  The copyright for the book simply belongs to Kensington Publishing Corp., which likely means this was a house psuedonym.  In any event, Collins only offers two books within this series, and this one gives readers their first taste of art director Megan Marshall.

 

Murder at Willow Run is set in a preppy little art community called "Willow Run" in the Catskills of New York.  Megan Marshall is an art gallery director who is putting together a show for artist Evan Townsend, a young man with whom she hopes to one day develop a real relationship.  The story opens with the exciting news that Marshall has managed to get a world famous art critic, Garrett Winters, to come to the show!  Winters happens to be a long-time friend of Alfred ("Alf") Barnard, who runs the Inn in which the art show will be displayed, and he has agreed to come at Alf's request.  Megan is thrilled, Evan is hesitant, and Alf is confident that everything will work out fine.  However, from the moment Winters arrives, everything goes downhill fast!

 

Collins crafts a horrifically vile person in the character of Garrett Winters. From the moment he arrives, he has nothing but nasty things to say about everyone and everything - from Evan's art (which, at this point, he has not even seen!), to the small town setting, the decor of the Inn, and the townspeople and guests at the Inn.  In fact, the man has nothing nice to say at all!  Clearly, this man deserves to die - or, at least, that's what plenty of people think.  After a rather loud confrontation with Evan in the dining room, with Evan threatening to get rid of him, to a fierce battle in the kitchen with the chef that results in his being fired, to some snide remarks to one of the local women in town, Winters finally takes his leave, going to his room upstairs.  Before long, however, he's back downstairs, demanding a different room, as the bed is too small.  Megan accommodates him, moving him from Room 4 to Room 7, making sure he's settled in and that he has locked his door from the inside before she walks away.  So, imagine her surprise, when she and Alf come up the next morning, find the door still locked with the chain, and after breaking their way, find the critic lying dead on his bed!  The door was locked, the windows are still locked - so how in the world was he murdered?

 

It's a fantastically well-written locked-room mystery that, quite frankly, had me stumped.  The first internal illustration gave me a first thought as to the identity of the killer, but as the story progressed, my thought changed time and time again.  The clues pointing to any number of people, and Collins herself even points this out with the gossip of the townspeople:  "the culprit was variously Evan Townsend, the moody and passionate painter; Claude Monteaux, the temperamental chef; Alfred Barnard for some inexplicable reason; Bertram Van Riper, the man of mystery... (p. 72) - and even this list does not account for all of the suspects.  There were also Grace and Adelaide Wimble, the aging sisters who seemed to have a history with Winters; Shelley Barnes, a local woman "far more enamored of the artist than she was of the art" (p. 23); Quentin Lacy, the rather flamboyant and dramatic director of the theater across from the Inn; Hilda Stanwick, a former watercolor artist whose career had ended quickly after a bad review; and even Garth Hendriks, the Inn's groundskeeper who lived in the upstairs of the barn just behind the Inn.  So many suspects, so many motives, but only one of them did it.  The questions for Megan is:  which one?

 

Honestly, I was wondering if Collins would go the same route as the writers of The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries television show did with their season two opener, which features a locked-room mystery that stumped the teen detectives and nearly made them believe in vampires!  That two-part season opener offered up a rather ingenious solution, and I thought perhaps Collins had taken a page from that show, which aired two years before this book was published.  It certainly would have provided a clever twist, making the killer one of the least likely suspects!  But Collins went an entirely different route, for which I applauded her, as it made it much more difficult to figure out (for the reader).  While the clue on the front cover is very subtle, the internal illustrations offer very little actual clues - one offers no clue at all, one offers a very clear misdirect, two offer a connected clue that you have to really pay attention to catch, and the last two offers the clues that clinch it!

 

The author does reference the use of "flurazepam," which is referred to as "a soporific marketed under the trade name of Dalmane" (p. 107).  This is an actual drug that is prescribed by doctors for short-term treatment of sever insomnia.  The brand name of "Dalmane" has been discontinued in the United States, but flurazepam, which is the generic version, is still prescribed.  Obviously, this book was written long before the brand name medicine was discontinued in 2017.

 

As with most books in this series, there is no identification of the cover artist, and none of the internal illustrations are signed and no credit given - leaving it a mystery as to who provided the art.  I think it bears repeating what a disservice these publishers did back in the day by failing to give credit to cover artists, as well as internal illustrators - particularly for a series like this, where the art plays (or is supposed to play) just as important of a role in helping the reader solve the mystery as the story itself.  With this day and age of information at the tips of our fingers on the internet, one would think the information would be easy to find; but, alas, it is not.  Thus, the identity of these artists remain a mystery unsolved...

 

This mystery was extremely enjoyable, very well written, and definitely kept me guessing.  I am glad to know I will get at least one more mystery by Collins before the end of this series!

 

RATING:  10 blood-stained hotel towels in the trunk of a car out of 10 for taking the "locked room mystery" to a whole new level and giving us a fantastic new sleuth who is up for the challenge! 

Short Lived Comic Series #37 - The Nurses (Gold Key Comics)

Gold Key Comics seemed to have a knack, back in the day, for publishing comic books based on various television shows out at the time.  Adam-12, Lost in Space, Bonanza, Happy Days, Family Affair, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, and many others (including my all-time favorite, Dark Shadows!).  Many of them only lasted a few issues, while some of them did manage to keep going for years.  One short-lived series that I was unaware of until recently only had three issues, and it was based upon a prime-time television medical drama that ran from September 1962 to May 1965.  It took me a bit of hunting to find all three issues of the series at reasonable prices and in fairly good condition, but I managed to finish the set recently and have been able to read it.

 

The Nurses is based upon the CBS television show of the same name, the story of which centers around a young nurse named Gail Lucas (portrayed by Zina Bethune) and her older nurse mentor, Liz Thorpe (portrayed by Shirl Conway).  This appears to be the only show that either actress starred on a regular basis, although they both made appearances in other episodic television shows.  The Nurses takes place in New York City at Alden General Hospital, which is said to have been patterned after Roosevelt Hospital in the Midtown West area of NYC.  The show ran for three seasons and boasted a total of 98 episodes, and it even had a crossover in its third season with a companion legal series called For the People (starring none other than William Shatner, of Star Trek fame).  Interestingly, after the nighttime drama ended, ABC picked it up and continued it as a daytime soap opera, using the same name and characters (although the actors changed) and which ran from September 1965 to March 1967.  This three-issue comic series is based on the original prime-time show.

 

The comics did not give credit to any of the creators (as Gold Key was wont to do), but from what I was able to discover online, Paul S. Newman wrote the stories in all three issues.  Newman (not to be confused with the actor) was quite the prolific comic writer, with his earliest work being in the late 1940s for Dell, DC, and Fawcett, later adding work at Marvel, Western Publishing/Gold Key, and a number of other publishers, continuing to write well into the 1970s.  The stories in the first issue appear to have been penciled and inked by Jack Sparling, who also has quite the resume of work for DC, Dell, Marvel, and Western Publishing/Gold Key.  The art for the second and third issues remain uncredited.  Each of the three issues contains two stories about the nurses, with Gail Lucas being the primary character, and her mentor, Liz Thorpe, being the only continuing supporting character.  The rest of the cast changes with every story.  Each issue also features a short, 4-page story starring the "Emergency Crew," which is comprised of two men - Jim Friendly and Carl Blaker - who get called into help rescue people before the paramedics and/or fire department can arrive.  These short strips were also written by Newman, with art in the first issue by Sparling.

 

In the first issue, Gail and Liz are confronted with an old country doctor, Dr. Dart, whose patient is brought to the hospital to be treated in "Call of Duty."  Dr. Dart is old fashioned in his ways and wants no one - no resident, nor nurses, no one! - touching his patient except him.  When Liz offers to take the crotchety doctor home on a rainy night, they get into an accident, and Dr. Dart is forced to accept Liz' help with the other driver, who has been seriously injured.  By the end of the story, the doctor realizes his views are antiquated and changes the way he thinks about the nursing staff.  The second story brings the nurses "The Problem Patient," an overly controlling and paranoid chairman of a multi-million dollar company who is afraid everyone is trying to take his job.  He does not believe his wife, his business partner, or even his own secretary - but it takes Gail's innocence and ingenuity to prove to the man his fear and paranoia are only hurting him.  The four-page Emergency Crew tale has Jim and Carl saving a young boy who has fallen down a well.

 

The second issue starts of with a doctor following in "His Father's Shadow."  Young Dr. Hartly seems to be a prodigy when it comes to surgery, showing expert skill after only a month of internship.  But Liz and Gail quickly learn his superb skill only appears when he is working with his father, Dr. Tyler.  When Tyler is not around, Harty is afraid of doing even the most minor of procedures.  It is only when faced with his father on the operating table that Hartly is able to overcome his fears.  The second story, "Give Me My Baby," finds the nurses dealing with a woman who is deathly afraid to have her sick baby taken to the hospital.  Her first child died in the hospital, and she is scared if her second child is taken to Alden General, he will die as well.  Gail must convince the woman that the hospital is the only chance her son has to survive.  The four-page Emergency Crew story takes Jim and Carl to the docks, where they must help keep a man who has had a heart attack from a nearby oil fire that, if it hits the oxygen tank keeping the man alive, could kill them all.

 

In the third issue, Gail becomes a "Heroine in White," when she assists a doctor that witnessed a mugging and brings the injured man into the hospital to save his life.  But the muggers are out for revenge, and when Gail helps the newspaper snap a picture of the doctor, the criminals run his car off the road and into a ravine - a car in which both the doctor and Gail are riding!e e (As you might guess, this is the story from which the cover scene was taken.)  Gail must use all of her training to keep the doctor alive until help arrives, and it is her identifying the men that puts them behind bars.  The final story teaches an injured model that "All Scars Don't Show."  Following an accident that left her leg injured and scars to her face, a model refuses to walk, even though her leg is fully healed.  Liz takes center stage and with the help of a photographer, convinces the model that photos can be retouched to hide her scars, and her modeling career can continue - giving her the courage to get up and walk and get back to her life.  The four-page Emergency Crew story finds Jim and Carl racing against time to save the pilot of a crashed airplane from live electrical wires that could kill him at any moment.

 

The first two issues feature photo scenes from the television show on the front covers, with mini-posters of the two main actresses from the show on the back cover.  What is odd about the back cover posters is that the first issue has a photo of Zina Bethune with her character name, "Gail Lucas" over the picture.  The second issue, however, features a photo of Shirl Conway, but instead of her character name over the picture, it has her real name.  There is no explanation why they use the character name on one and the actress name on the other.  The third, and final, issue has a painted cover art, with small photos of the two actresses in the upper right corner on the front cover, and the same painted art on the back cover, but without any title words or photos interrupting the art.  There is no credit given to the cover art, and I was unable to find any information on the artist online.

 

Each issue also features a one-page text story that provides information about various medical people and moments from history.  In the first issue, "Angel of Mercy" provides some information about Clara Barton; in the second issue, "Lady with the Lamp" recounts the story of Florence Nightingale; and in the third issue, "Early Hospitals" gives an account of how hospitals, as we now know them, came into being.

 

While the main stories are 12 and 13 pages in length, and are obviously very fast paced, they are actually very enjoyable and provide some well-written characterization, even though the individuals who appear in each story only appear once.  The art, while some might think is very simple and plain compared to today's comic art, works perfectly for the stories, allowing the reader to focus more on what is actually happening then getting "awed" by the "pretty art."  All three issues were published in 1963 (cover dated April / July / October, respectively), and it's rather a shame it did not continue, especially since the television show lasted another two years (before switching to a daily afternoon soap).  Based on these comics, I'm going to have to try and track down any episodes of the television show and see how they compare!

RATING:  9 unsigned powers of attorney out of 10 for some great drama, not always of the medical kind, and some entertaining stories that make for great reading!

Make-Believe Daughter - a Mystery Featuring the Three Matildas

I remember growing up and seeing various Whitman books on the shelves at K-Mart and Kresge and Woolworth's, and I always thought they were sub-par books, not at the same level as series books, such as Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.  It seemed to me (as a kid, anyway) that the quality of the Whitman books were not as high as those from Grosset & Dunlap.  As an adult, however, my views on this have changed.  I have come to realize that while Whitman may have used lesser quality paper, and they may not have offered series with the longevity of Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys; yet, I've been finding in recent years that the stories are actually not bad at all - in some instances, equal to, or even superior to, some of those Grosset & Dunlap series!  Now, that being said, this particular book is one I passed on many times when I saw it in antique malls and used book stores.  One day, though, I happened across a copy of the book in excellent condition, with a tight binding, and for a relatively inexpensive price, so I thought - why not?

 

Make-Believe Daughter does not sound like the title to a mystery; and, although it is tagged as a mystery on the cover (in two places: along the top, it says "A Whitman Mystery," while under the title, it says "A Mystery Featuring THE THREE MATILDAS"), the story itself does not have much of a mystery to it - in fact, the first hint of the mystery does not come into play until after page 100!  The first half of the book reads more like a "malt-shop" story, as readers are introduced to Matilda Sterling - a young girl who lives in an apartment building over Brackenbat's International Restaurant in New York City.  She lives with her parents, and the older couple who run the restaurant (who live in the apartment just above the restaurant, while Matilda and her parents live in the apartment above that) are "Uncle" Tor and "Aunt" Alma.  They allow Matilda - or Tilda, as she is called - to stay in the restaurant and do homework every day after school until her parents get home from work.  Tilda's one wish is that she had friends in her area with whom she could hang out.  Sadly, Tor and Alma Brackenbat have no children, nor does Louis Confrere, the single French man who lives in the apartment above Tilda's family.  The top floor apartment is empty, and Tilda believes it is haunted, the way people move in and out so quickly.

 

The story begins with Mr. Confrere's dilemma - he has told his aunt, his only living relative who still lives in France, that he is married and has a daughter named Matilda.  A daughter the same age as and who looks just like Tilda!  This would not be a problem, except Aunt Therese is now coming for a visit and wants to meet his daughter!  Tilda rather likes the idea of pretending to be the Frenchman's make-believe daughter, but her parents are not amenable to the lie.  And that's when we, the readers, meet the second Matilda - also known as Mat.  The young girl is there in the restaurant when Tilda comes running in from the rain after school.  Tilda quickly learns that the girl has been raised in the circus, where her father worked until he died.  The circus fortune teller dropped her off at the international restaurant, and when she does not come back, Mat gives Uncle Tor a letter that reveals the fortune teller has no intention of coming back, asking the bearer of the letter to take Mat in and give the young girl a proper life!  Of course, Tor and Alma readly agree to take her in, and Tilda is thrilled to have a girl her own age in the building.  It seems things are working out for the girls ...

 

Enter: the red-headed Matilda!  Before you can blink an eye, a new family is moving into that top-floor apartment.  Big Chief, the huge red-headed man who is an artist, with his son, Genius (not his real name, nor does it accurately describe his intelligence, or lack thereof!), his wife (called nothing more than "Mother"), and Red-Top, which is the third Matilda's nickname.  An unusual family, but Red-Top just happens to be the same age as the other two Matildas, and as such, the Three Matildas are formed!

 

The book merely follows the day-to-day lives and adventures of the three Matildas until Aunt Therese arrives.  It is while at the docks where the huge boat has brought Mr. Confrere's aunt and many other travelers that the mystery begins.  Tilda notices a man in a grey suit appears to be following Aunt Therese, and while she does not like his face, nor the smell of his suit (she eventually realizes it is the smell of mothballs!), she keeps her concerns to herself, as the families welcome Aunt Therese into their building.  Tilda might have forgotten about the man, except she sees him again in the Brackenbat International Restaurant the same night a dinner party is thrown in celebration of Aunt Therese's arrival.  She soon forgets about him, though, as summer vacation begins, and the three Matildas explore New York City with their new "aunt."  A decision is eventually made to take a three-week trip in August across the United States, and it is during that trip that the mystery man makes more appearances, and the actual mystery starts to develop.  But, if you are expecting to have any idea what the mystery actually is, don't get your hopes up.  The actual mystery is revealed in the last two chapters, and it is so quick, you might miss it if you blink!  It's rather a shame we did not get any kind of hint as to the mystery earlier in the story, as it might have actually made it a bit less out of left-field. 

 

One aspect of the book I did rather enjoy was the distinctly different characteristics for each of the Three Matildas.  Tildy, with the light brown hair, was the more curious one; Mat, with the black hair and big hoop earrings, was the serious one; and Red-Top, with the red hair and jump rope, was the playful one.  Each was her own individual, and they actually complemented one another within the context of the story, thus making a simple story more interesting than it otherwise could have been. 

 

The author is Laura W. Douglas, and I'm not sure if this is a real person or a pseudonym (although I'm leaning toward a real person).  What I was surprised to discover, when I went searching for information on Ms. Douglas, is that she authored a book I already have in my possession, The Mystery at Crooknose.   That particular book is aimed at an older audience than this one.  I also found she wrote a third book titled The Mystery of Arrowhead Hill, which I do not have - but which I plan to hunt down and buy.  Both Crooknose and Arrowhead were published in various formats, including paperbacks under Airmont's "Mystery House" banner.  There were no other "Three Matilda" books published, which is rather a shame, as this one ends with Big Chief making an announcement that clearly was intended to be a set up for a second book (and a story that I would have loved to have read!).

 

The illustrations in the book are by Al Fiorentino, who was a talented painter / artist who received his training at the Museum of School Art in Philadelphia.  He worked as a commercial illustrator before becoming freelance in 1960.  A number of children's books containing his art can be found on eBay or other sites.  His work on Make-Believe Daughter is very well done, each illustration being careful to fully depict the scenes from the book down to some of the smallest details (such as Mat's dog stretching its front legs as the girl is getting acquainted with her new room in Tor and Alma's apartment).  A great choice of artist for this book!

 

RATING:  8 white mice rescued from a garbage can out of 10 for a uniquely fun concept that definitely deserved more than just one book!

Shadow Acres - a Magnum Gothic novel

This is my first time reading a Gothic novel by Frances Y. McHugh, who wrote a number of Gothic tales back during this period for various publishers.  This book was first published in 1967 by Arcadia House, and the edition I own is a later paperback printing from Prestige Books under their "Magnum" line.  I could not find anything out about this particular author so unsure if McHugh is the author's actual name or simply a pen name for someone else.  In either event, the story turned out to be a fairly good read, albeit a mixture of murder mystery and Gothic.

 

Shadow Acres is told from a first-person point-of-view, narrated by the main character, Reda Randall.  McHugh opens the story in the "present," so to speak, as Reda is thinking about the events that took place at the great house known as Shadow Acres, wondering if everything that transpired was a result of her action or inaction.  Her reverie is broken when her fiance, Bryan Sedgwick shows up, ready to take her out for a night on the town.  Through her conversation with Bryan, the reader learns of Bryan's cousin, Greg, and his father, Gregory, as well as a bit about his and Greg's grandfather, the first Gregory Sedgwick.  Slowly, McHugh reveals a bit more about the drama that has led these characters to this point - the fact that Reda was once engaged to Greg, but when he was found with a scantily clad woman in his college dorm, she broke off the engagement, he left the country, and she eventually fell for Bryan.  It is obvious from the start that Reda and Bryan's relationship has some issues - Reda is a talented pianist who is wanting to perform with her music school orchestra, but Bryan does not want her to follow that path, fearful she will do the same thing to him that his aunt (who was an actress) did to his uncle (left him for her leading man!). 

 

The mystery begins when Reda is preparing for a party she and Bryan are to attend, when she is summoned to Shadow Acres, which is hours away from her NYC apartment.  The elder Gregory Sedgwick will not take no for an answer, and so Reda sends her regrets to the hosts of the party, leaves a message for Bryan who is supposed to pick her up, and takes the train to Shadow Acres.  Upon her arrival, late at night, she finds the house quiet.  No one answers the door, which she discovers to be unlocked.  Her fear mounting, she enters the house - and finds her fiance holding a gun in his hand ... and in the library behind him, Gregory Sedgwick is lying dead on the floor with a gunshot wound to his head!  Second later, Greg, who was believed to still be in South America, walks in the door, claiming he looked through the window and saw Bryan kneeling over their grandfather with the gun.  Reda and the reader are left to wonder - who killed Gregory Sedgwick?

 

McHugh plays it coy, as the identity of the killer is not obvious by any means.  In fact, as the story progresses, we learn that growing up, Greg was a bit of the wild boy, the rebel, while Bryan was always the obedient, good boy.  Bryan seems to be the obvious suspect, but clues begin to spring up that point to Greg as the killer.  It isn't until a large flower pot falls (is dropped?) from the roof above Reda (pp. 85-86) that we start to see some of the Gothic elements creep in.  Not three pages later, our poor heroine is knocked pretty hard in the back of the head (p. 89), which is the result of a stone taken from Greg's rare rock collection.  It is obvious someone is out to hurt, or possibly kill Reda, but the question is - why?  To whom is she a threat?  There is also the growing tension between Greg and Bryan, as Bryan grows jealous of Greg's attention toward his fiance, and Greg believes Reda is not truly in love with Bryan but still in love with him.  If all of this is not enough to drive a poor girl crazy, then what is?

 

It is the fire in Reda's room, set while she is sleeping, that begins to turn the tide.  Someone places a burning cigarette on her bed, locks her windows, and leave the room, looking the door behind them!  Poor Reda is nearly killed, if it weren't for the fortunate timing of Greg, rescuing her through her second story window.  Is Greg really the killer, and simply covering his tracks by appearing to rescue her?  Does Bryan want her dead, jealous of her returning feelings for his cousin?  Could it be one of the servants - John or his wife, Agnes - who, for unknown reasons, want Reda out of the picture?  Or is there someone else in the house - someone whose shadow Reda saw on the outskirts of the woods one night ... whose footsteps she heard in the rooms above her when John and Agnes were both downstairs ... whose connection to the house and the family could spell ultimate doom for Reda?!

 

No credit given to the cover artist, but it is a beautifully rendered scene, with Reda running away from the house.  Interestingly, the artist breaks from the tradition of having an upper floor window lighted, and instead, chooses to have a lighted window on the first floor (likely to coincide with the murder of the elder Gregory Sedgwick taking place in the library on the first floor).  The depicted scene is extremely dark, with the only real color being the design on her dress, her pale skin, the light in the window, and the dark green grass leading up the hill to the house.  There's no doubt this cover sets the dark mood for the story contained within.  The Arcadia House cover from the original publisher definitely gives the book a more "murder mystery" feel to it, which supports Lori A. Page's observation in her critical study of the Gothic novels of this period that publishers got to the point where they took previously published works, slapped a new cover on it, and called it "Gothic" (The Gothic Romance Wave). 

 

While I would not say this is one of the best Gothics I've ever read, the story was enjoyable enough that I would pick up more of McHugh's books. 

 

RATING:  9 rare bluestone specimens out of 10 for a tale filled with suspense and mystery, with plenty of secrets and misdirects to keep the main character (and the reader!) guessing. 

Harlequin Gothic Romance Series No. 32018 - Secret at Orient Point

"Could they fight the evil pulling them towards the same horrible fate as their parents?" (cover blurb) 

 

Picking up and reading this book was hard to do.  When I picked up the first Harlequin Gothic Romance to read back in November 2024, I had seventeen books ahead of me after I finished that one, so I didn't give much thought to actually completing the series.  Now, here we are a little over one year later, and I have finally reached the eighteenth and final Harlequin Gothic Romance.  After literally most of my life thinking I would NEVER pick up and read a Harlequin book, it's funny to look back and realize just how much I thoroughly enjoyed this series of Gothic romances - mainly because the stories had very little romance and more mystery and suspense, which are definitely more my line of reading.  Thus, with of a bit of reluctance, knowing that after this, I would have no more to read in this series, I opened the book and began to read...

 

Let's start with the title.  Secret at Orient Point.  That title alone is enough to catch me, since it has that same format as the children's mystery series I collect (i.e., "Mystery in the..." or "Clue of the...").  Then let's talk about that cover.  Twenty-four year old Erika Barlow, looking back with fear at the ghostly couple dancing in the dark ballroom.  Hints of terror, hints of supernatural, hints of a mysterious tale waiting in the pages within this book.  With all of this swirling in my head, I was excited to forge ahead.  The story is set in the 1880s and centers around Erika's return to her family's hotel, located on North Fork in Long Island, New York.  It has been twenty years since she was taken away to live with her aunt after her mother's murder at the hands of her lover, and now her father has died in a shipwreck, leaving her the sole owner of the hotel.  But her arrival starts a series of events that brings long buried secrets to the surface, kindles a relationship that can never be, and threatens to reveal a truth that someone will do anything to keep hidden - even if it means killing Erika!

 

Erika is aware of her mother's affair with the man she truly loved - Gerhard Langermann.  What she did not know is that she was a product of that affair.  But that secret does not seem overly important until she meets Langermann's son, David, and suddenly finds herself attracted to the son of her mother's lover. They are half-siblings, and despite knowing how wrong it is, neither one of them can deny the feelings they are experiencing.  Erika does everything in her power to fight the growing love she has for her half-brother and focuses on the refurbishing of the hotel so it can be opened for the summer guests.  However, someone seems to be out to get her.  First, there is the attack on the pier that nearly drowns her.  Then there is the fire in the hotel, from which she barely escapes alive.  Later, she experiences a terrifying climb onto the roof during a rainstorm, following the person she believes is trying to kill her.  Who is trying to end her life?  Could it be David, who may have inherited his father's own insanity?  Is it her secretary, whose jealousy of the attention David gives Erika is written all over her face?  Is it Pepys, the near-mute handyman on the property who was always overly protective of her mother all those years ago?  Is it Johannes, the carpenter who is charge of the renovations for the hotel and who seems to have eyes for her?  Is it her own father, who suddenly appears after having been thought lost at sea and makes it clear he wants her to stay away from David?  Or, could it possibly be, the ghost of Julie Ann Barlow herself, come back to haunt the hotel and ensure that no one else has any happiness over the loss of her own?

 

Author Patricia Werner writes a wonderful tale of secrets, lies, ghosts, and suspense that keeps the reader turning pages faster and faster to find out how it will ultimately all end. Werner appears to be the author's real name, and she has written quite a number of romance and Gothic novels over the years, including more than a few in the line of Zebra Gothics (with wonderful titles like Mistress of Blackstone Castle, The Swirling Mists of Cornwall, Island of Lost Rubies, Hidden Gold o Widow's Mountain, and Shadows Over Cypress Swamp).  And Werner writes a rather lengthy acknowledgement on the copyright page to Andrew Marlay (for consultation on costumes), Marlene Hamerling (for advice on Jewish names), Steve Hadley (director of an historical society), and Andrea Budy (for sharing thoughts about her Inn).  Such acknowledgements only adds to the belief that Werner is not a pseudonym, but a real person.

 

The locations Werner uses in the book are real.  North Fork and South Fork (not to be confused with a certain ranch on an old nighttime soap!) are two peninsulas located on the eastern end of Long Island, New York, and like in the book, the water just north of the Forks is referred to as "Long Island Sound."  And, as in the story, the easternmost tip of North Folk is a town called Orient Point (which is where our story is set).  According to online research, Orient Point does have its seasonal swell of visitors during the summer months, which would make Erika's desire to re-open the hotel and her urgency to get all the repairs and renovations done before the summer begins perfectly in-line with reality.  And to keep matters even more real, the Orient Point Inn referenced in the book was an actual place built originally as a residence in 1672, but eventually changed to a hotel and eventually demolished nearly 300 years later. More information about the hotel can be found in the Northforker archives (Orient Point Inn - North Fork). When authors incorporate details like this from the real world, it provides a sense of realism to the story that tempers the more unbelievable aspects (such as ghosts and supernatural elements).

 

Well, with this, I've completed the run of Harlequin Gothic Romances and must move on to another Gothic series (I already have one in mind....).  Never fear, though - at the same time Harlequin began publishing this line, they also started a line called "Harlequin Romantic Suspense," which were stories with a similar suspenseful style.  Sadly, that line only lasted two books, before it was repurposed and renamed as "Harlequin Intrigue."  I have both of those Romantic Suspense novels (not to be confused with Harlequin's later line of Romantic Suspense books, which series continues today) and will eventually get around to reading them and reviewing them here.

 

RATING:  10 diaries hidden in the back of a roll-top desk out of 10 for ending this series with a story of suspense, seduction, surprises, and sinister secrets that make for a superb Gothic romance!

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #23 - Death in a Small World

Another new protagonist and another new author enters the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series with this book.  The 23rd book in the series is the first written by Laura Colburn, being followed up by books 34 and 46.  Colburn, in reality, is Ian McMahan, an award-winning author  and developmental psychologist who under his own name wrote a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the three-book Microkid Mysteries and the one ESP McGee mystery for young readers back in the early 1980s.  I was not really sure what to expect from this book, considering the author's background (but, as one might expect, it turns out one of the characters in the book is a psychologist, which provides the author with an opportunity to include his profession into the story).  However, after a bit of a slow start, the book actually turned out to be surprisingly good.

 

Death in a Small World does not refer to a ride at Disney World, but rather, to just how small our world really is when it comes to running into people from our past in the most unexpected places.  What's the old expression about being in the right place at the right time?  Only, in this case, it's about someone being in the wrong place at most definitely the wrong time.  Our amateur sleuth in this book is Carol Gates, an artist and illustrator who is a part of the '70s bohemian movement in the Soho district of New York City. She happens to be at a party thrown by two of her friends, which is attended by a number of aspiring artists, several art dealers, and a few other miscellaneous people - including Steve McCullough, a stranger known only to the hosts (or so everyone thought!), who Carol finds dead in the elevator shaft clutching a gold lighter.  Was it an accident, as the police believe?  Or was it suicide, as Carol's friend Ginny firmly thinks?  Or was it cold-blooded murder, as Carol is sure it is?  Since the police are not investigating, and no one is really questioning it, Carol takes it upon herself to find out the truth - after all, being the daughter of a retired police chief, she has an inquisitive mind and an eidetic memory, so who better to solve a murder no one believes was a murder?

 

Colburn (a/k/a McMahan) does not open the story with his main character as most of the book do; rather, he opens it with his two main suspects - Angelo and Ginny Politano, an art-loving couple who are getting ready to host a very important party for their bohemian friends.  However, news of Steve McCullough's arrival causes a massive disruption in their plans, because it seems Ginny has a hidden past with Steve, and when Angelo finds out what it is, he becomes very unlike himself.  But, the party must go on, and so it does - until Carol is ready to leave and along with a fellow guest, Bob Fletcher (manager of several local buildings, including the one in which Carol lives), they wait for the elevator to arrive.  When it does, though, it bears an unexpected surprise - the body of Steve McCullough.  Carol knows there is something off - but her roommate doesn't believe her.  Her own boyfriend doesn't believe her.  Angelo and Ginny do not believe her.  Even Steve's best friend from the army who comes to town to claim the body does not believe her.  Despite all of this, Carol knows she is right, and she begins investigating, questioning everyone she can find from the party to find out what discussions they had with this stranger that no one (except Angelo and Ginny) knew.

 

The story then follows Carol as she starts questioning everyone. Angelo and Ginny know very little about Steve, other than his past affair with Ginny.  From attorney Robert Silverman, she learns about Steve's interest in Nazis who absconded with valuable art from Germany after the war.  From Steve's best friend, Arnie, she learns about his obsession with finding one particular Nazi by the name of Hans Bruckner who disappeared after the war.  From two different art dealers, she learns just how important that stolen art might be worth and what it cost people to escape from Germany after the war.  From Bob Fletcher, the building manager who knows some art dealers, she learns that both of the art dealers have something to hide.  From Steve's own attorney, Theodore Hornby, who is handling his estate, she learns not only a lot more about Steve's past, but also that his will leaves quite a large sum of money to his former lover - Ginny Politano!  The more Carol learns, the more questions there are, and the more suspects there appear to be.  When another guest from the party turns up dead from yet another apparent accident, and when two attempts are made on Carol's life, she knows she is getting closer to the truth. With nothing else to do, and with the help of her boyfriend, Carol sets up a trap to trick the killer in to revealing himself - the only problem is, the killer turns the tables on Carol, and she is the one tricked!

 

While I was not able to get into the story at first, it quickly shifted gears and the more information Carol (and I!) learned about Steve and the possible motives and suspects, the more interested I became in the mystery.  Every time I thought I had an idea of who did it, a monkey wrench got thrown into the works, and suddenly I changed my mind and went with another suspect (however, I should always trust my first instinct, because the person my gut first told me was the killer did turn out to be the culprit!).  I have to give Colburn (a/k/a McMahan) credit for crafting a well-written mystery.

The cover art, which depicts the scene where Carol finds Steve's body in the elevator, is painted by Mel Greifinger, the same artist who provided covers for The Curse of the Golden Skull and The Final Appointment.  None of the interior illustrations identifies the artist, but the shading and drawings seem similar to some of the other books in the series, so it was likely someone who Kensington Publishing Corp. used on a fairly regular basis.  The illustrations do not, in and of themselves, point to any specific clues, but rather, they merely depict scenes that are important to the story and moments at which Carol learns (or should have learned - such as the fact that one of the suspects, who turns out to be the killer, is left handed - it's a subtle sort of thing, but it's there if you notice it) something that would ultimately lead her to the solution to this mystery.

By the end of the book, I found I rather like Carol Gates, and I'm happy to know that I'll get two more adventures with her before this series ends!

RATING:  9 heavy attache cases out of 10 for a creative plot that works overtime to mislead the reader, taking you in one direction, when the truth lies in an entirely different area!

Up Goes the Curtain - a Penny Parrish book

I picked up this book at Atlanta Vintage Books when we went through Atlanta this past summer going up to Kentucky to visit my Dad.  Having done community theater, I have grown rather fond of reading stories about the theater (such as the Mary Perkins, On Stage newspaper strips, the Carol Page theater stories, Terry Carvel's Theater Caravan, and the Backstagers series for young adults).  So, when I saw this cover, I did not hesitate to buy the book.  I have heard the author, Janet Lambert, mentioned in various book groups to which I belong, but I've never actually owned or read any of her books.  I had always assumed her books were simply young adult romance stories, but this book definitely proves me wrong.  This story was clearly based on Lambert's own experiences, both on Broadway as an actress and as an Army wife (both of these elements playing a large part of this story).  And what surprised me even more is that this book, while having a stand-alone story, is actually part of a series - the fourth book in a series of novels about Penny Parrish (with three prior books being published in 1941, 1942, and 1943 respectively, and two more after this book being published in 1947 and 1950).  Knowing this, I'm more than likely going to track down the other books in the series to see how the character evolves over the course of the decade in which the books were published.  (NOTE - Lambert also wrote series about Tippy Parrish, who is Penny's younger sister, as well as other characters, suich as Parri MacDonald, Candy Kane, Dria Meredith, etc.)

 

Up Goes the Curtain actually contains two separate stories, although Lambert does intertwine them a bit. The book opens with Penny excited about her part in an upcoming Broadway play (her background sounds very similar to that of Carol Page - spent a summer in a stock company training, went to New York, and finally lands a part in a play (p. 10), and, just like Carol Page, she makes a vow that not matter what, she will succeed, so she does not have to return home (p. 12)).  But, since the rehearsals do not begin for three weeks, Penny decides to visit her family, who are staying at Fort Knox, Kentucky where her father and brother are stationed, which begins the mystery that surrounds a young woman named Marcia McMain (what is with the alliteration in names?  Penny Parrish?  Marcia McMain?), who is being escorted to Fort Knox by Terry Hayes, a young man that had previously shown an interest in Penny. Penny is somewhat taken aback by Terry's attitude towards her, but it slowly begins to dawn on her that since Terry is serving in the military, perhaps the woman was a job - perhaps he was actually keeping tabs on her because she was a spy!  (What she does not know, but what the reader does learn thanks to a point-of-view switch to Penny's brother and his wife, who are fully aware of the situation, is that the woman is indeed a spy, and it is Terry's job to flush her out in the open!)  Of course, a lot of miscommunications ensue as the family tries to convince Penny to stay out of it, but Penny is determined to prove her theory - and, of course, she ultimately does through a fateful night at a movie theater when she witnesses the exchange of a note between the woman and a young serviceman.  Penny is able to get a hold of that note, and its contents end up giving the Army everything they need to capture the woman and her accomplice, as well as to foil the damage these spies intended to do.

 

The second half of the book features Penny's return to New York with her sister-in-law (whose name just happens to be Carrol), where they stay at the lavish multi-bedroom apartment Carrol had inherited from her family.  A young woman by the name of Letty, whose husband also happens to be in the military and fighting overseas, joins them in the house, keeping Carrol company while Penny begins her rehearsals and eventually opens the show.  And, in yet another similarity with the Carol Page series, Penny ends up having difficulties with a stage manager who seemingly dislikes her, going out of his way to make things difficult for her - but she eventually learns the truth behind his gruff attitude, and the two develop a friendship of sorts.  In addition (like Carol Page), she happens to personally know the big-name actress who is headlining the play, and because of that, the other actors try to get in her good graces - all except one actor, Miltern Wilde (what a name!), who makes every effort to upstage Penny in every scene they share.  Penny's courage grow, however, to the point where she turns the tables on him one night when he purposefully steps on her toe, causing it to bleed, and she steals the scene from him, getting a thunderous ovation (p. 157) that leads to her gaining his respect.

 

The book ends on a rather sad note, with Penny receiving news that a young man she knows was shot down in a plane over Germany, and it is uncertain whether he survived or not.  There is also uncertainty regarding her growing friendship with the stage manager, and no resolution whatsoever about her feelings for Terry Hayes.  Instead, the book ends with Penny putting on her makeup for another performance of the play, sighing to herself, "It doesn't matter about me - the show must go on" (p. 189).  That ending alone is enough to make me want to hunt down the next book in the series to see where Penny goes from here. 

 

While I had a bit of disappointment in the fact that entire book was not focused on the theater, I did rather enjoy that spy/mystery part in the first half of the book.  The second half that did feature the theater - well, I wish we could have gotten an entire book on that, so the reader could get more fleshed out characters and feel more of the drama and tension among the cast.  As it is, we only get touches upon each of the characters, and I, as the reader, do not really know enough about them, nor spend enough time with them, to really care about how they interact with Penny and how she treats them.  I will be curious to see if any of the other books in the series follow Penny's acting career.  Definitely not a bad read, and one that has me curious enough to read more.

 

RATING:  7 large cokes with lots of ice out of 10 for an unexpected combination of war, spies, theater, and drama - like getting two books for the price of one! 

Love in the Afternoon - the wild novel of a soap opera superstar!

Sometimes you come across some of the best books when you are not really looking for them.  Such is the case with this book.  I was combing through the paperbacks at the Family Bookstore in DeLand, when, as I reached the end of the section, my eyes glanced over the title to this book and had to take a second look.  The slogan "Love in the Afternoon" was used by ABC to market its soap operas for a decade, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s - advertisements with a catchy theme, giving clips of the various soap operas in ABC's line-up - Ryan's Hope, Edge of Night, All My Children, One Life to Life, and General Hospital.  (It should be noted that NBC had used that same slogan to market their soaps in 1974, but gave up on it rather quickly, which is when ABC decided to take the banner for their channel.)  Because of this, the phrase "Love in the Afternoon" pretty much became synonymous with soap operas.  So, when I caught the title to this book, I figured it would have to be about soaps - and sure enough, it was!  Therefore, I shelled out the couple of bucks and bought it.

 

Love in the Afternoon gives two taglines on its cover: "Daytime TV will never be the same!" and "The wild, brilliantly hilarious novel of the on- and off-camera lives and loves of a soap-opera superstar."  Written by Ed Zimmermann, the book was originally published in hardcover in 1971, and the Pocket Books paperback came out two years later - and both came out before either NBC or ABC ever began their ad campaigns using that slogan!  Leads one to wonder if this book may have prompted the use of the phrase by NBC and ABC.  In any event, it turns out Ed Zimmermann, the author, was actually a soap opera actor himself, having played the role of Dr. Joseph Werner (the second actor to play the role) on the CBS soap, Guiding Light from 1967 to 1972.  He was only 39 years old when he died of a heart attack on July 6, 1972 (just a year after this book was first published).  He was also a stage actor, and he was in Ogunquit, Maine auditioning for a part in "Who Killed Santa Claus?" when he died.  He only authored this one book.  A huge Guiding Light fan, on her blog, indicates this book is based upon the behind the scenes experiences of Zimmermann while working on the soap.

 

The book tells the story of actor Steven Prince (which, to me, feels like a cross between Steve Trevor and Diana Prince from the Wonder Woman comics!), who takes a role on a television daytime drama, playing Dr. Harlan Cross on a soap opera that centers around Pinewood Hospital.  After acting on Broadway, making the transition from stage to the small screen is quite an experience for Prince.  For an actor used to months of rehearsals to a show where you get only hours of rehearsals before filming live - one can't even begin to imagine; however, Zimmermann does his best to provide the reader with just how much stress that can cause an actor new to daytime TV.  From being handed the first script, to meeting his co-workers, to learning where everything is in the production building - it is basically like being thrown into the water and being told, "Go ahead, now, and swim!" He even provides a schedule that Prince is given his first day on the set (from page 24):

8:00 - 10:00 - Dry for Blocking (First Rehearsal)

8:00 - 10:00 - Makeuip and Costume

10:00 - 10:30 - No Fax (Blocking on Set with No Cameras)

10:30 - 11:00 - Camera Conference

11:00 -12:00 - Fax 1 (Blocking with Cameras and Boom)

12:00 - 1:00 - Break

1:00 - 1:30 - Fax 2 (Run Through)

1:30 - 2:00 - Break and Film Check

2:00 - 2:30 - Dress

2:30 - 3:00 - Break

3:00 - AIR

I look at that schedule and realize just how tight it really is and how little time the actors have to get it right.  I've heard actors from Dark Shadows talk about how fast-paced daytime television is, and their experiences pretty much line up with what Zimmermann shares here.  It's evident he took his own experiences on the set of Guiding Light and integrated them into this story.  With frazzled nerves, Prince manages to make it through his first day, and as the days turn into weeks, he begins to enjoy playing the villain everyone loves to hate.  And his interaction with the cast is bound to have come from his real-life interactions - some actors who are laid back; others who demand attention; still others who rarely know their lines to those who make everyone else's life a disaster.   There is even the behind the scene attempts to seduce co-stars - thankfully, though, Zimmermann keeps his main character faithful to his real-life wife, for which I was happy to see.

 

One of the interesting tidbits I enjoyed in the book was how fans of Prince's on-screen character, Harlan Cross, could not see to separate the actor from his role.  Even his own mother was questioning his motives on the show, and Prince eventually gives up trying to convince her that he is not the character.  I have heard actors talk about these types of scenarios before (at General Hospital fan fests, several actors have talked about being berated by fans for the actions of their characters, as if they were the actual character), so reading about it in this book was not really much of a surprise. It makes me wonder if Zimmermann faced this same problem with his role on Guiding Light.  

 

Then there is the change in writers, which brings about major changes in the show - and for Prince, this results in his bad-boy doctor being redeemed and turned into a caring man searching for a real relationship, rather than breaking up all those around him.  Prince is not happy about the shift, but since it is his job, he must work with it.  Oh, and I loved the way the production had to accommodate Prince when he accidentally fractures his ankle - so they have to create work-arounds for all of his scenes.  The operating table is lowered so he can film the scene sitting down (but the cameras are angled to make it appear everyone is standing), and a body double is used when "Harlan" has to break down a door and rush into a room.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen actors in soaps with casts or crutches because they have injured themselves in real life, so the writers have to write that injury into the show somehow.  So, again, reading about this scenario feels like par for the course for a soap opera.

 

From what I have been able to gather online, the book apparently has a number of parallels with the Guiding Light, when it comes to characters and situations.  Having never watched that show, I cannot confirm such likenesses; however, I can say that much of what takes place behind the scenes in this story lines up with many stories I have heard from soap opera actors over the years.  I think it great that Zimmermann took his experiences and turned it into a comical story for fans to read.

 

One final observation is the opening paragraph to Chapter Eight.  Zimmermann discusses how soap opera writers have fun with time - "moulding it and stretching it and playing with it as if it were so much silly putty" (p. 156).  An entire season can pass by in just a few days, or weeks can be stretched out into months.  And yet, despite this stretching and contracting of time, all of the holidays still manage to show up at the correct time!  My friends and I have all made this observation about soap operas for years!  Passions, which ran on NBC from 1999 to 2007, was very bad about this.  One day on that show would sometimes last more than a month!  Thus, it was definitely appropriate for Zimmermann to make mention of this in the book, since any real soap fan would recognize this as a reality of daytime television!

 

Interestingly, the copyright page actually gives credit to the cover artist (which so few books from this era ever did!).  Lou Marchetti was well-known for his cover art for paperback books, but he also provided art for movie posters and magazines, such as Galaxy and Reader's Digest.  The cover gives us a scene with Prince and a fellow actress on what appears to be a crimson bedspread, with plenty of cameras and lights surrounding them.  More information can be found about Marchetti at the website run by his daughter, Louise (The Life and Art of Lou Marchetti).

 

While not exactly "brilliantly hilarious" as advertised on the cover, I would say the book does have some laughs and is a pretty good read - especially for anyone who enjoys soap operas!

 

RATING: 8 ankle-crunching slides into home plate out of 10 for a somewhat satirical look into what goes on behind the scenes of your favorite daytime drama! 

Carol on Tour - the Fourth (and final) Carol Page theater story

And so, it is with a heavy heart, we come to the fourth and final Carol Page theater story by Helen Dore Boylston.  I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Carol Page, her best friend Julia Gregg, and her gruff but faithful friend Mike Horodinsky, and it has been fun watching them start out as amateurs (Carol Goes on Stage), then spend the summer learning more of their respective crafts (Careol Plays Summer Stock), and finally return to New York to face the struggles of making their way in an already overcrowded industry (Carol on Broadway).  Now, here we are at last - Julia has been performing in a traveling show, Mike has been stage managing Miss Marlowe's show, and Carol has had a role in a Broadway hit!  So, what else is there for them to do?

 

Carol on Tour, by the title alone, gives a pretty strong hint of what comes next for Carol, Julia, and Mike. The story picks up not long after the end of the previous book, when the play written by Carol's new friend is picked up by a producer and brought to life by Carol's long-time teacher and mentor, Miss Marlowe.  The show is a success, and Carol has been getting rave reviews; although, Carol being Carol, she does not necessarily let those reviews go to her head.  At least, not at first.  The story throws a new (yet at the same time, old) twist into things.  One of Carol's fellow cast members sees Carol as a stepping stone, so she befriends her and starts taking her to a number of dinner engagements and parties - after all, in order to keep working on Broadway, it's all about who you know, not talent!  Carol is too naive to see the type of people she is associating with, and when Mike and Julia try to warn her, she only grows angry and defensive.  It's not until Carol has the opportunity to take on a major role in a touring company's production of The Merchant of Venice that she discovers the truth about her new "friend" - a truth that pushes her to take the role and head on a new journey in her career as an actress!

 

While the number of unbelievable breaks that come Carol's way continue to mount, Boylston manages to keep a certain level of believability to the story by integrating the various theater personalities around her - from those who simply use others to get ahead, to those who are always demanding to be the center of attention, to those who have years of experience and are only too happy to share their knowledge with others, to those who are anxious to get on the stage, willing to take any role offered!  And circumstances seem to always convene to make sure Carol remains humble, acknowledging her lack of experience and her great fortune to be where she is.  Of course, Boylston keeps Mike and Julia in the mix, as Julia gets a small walk-on part in the touring show, and Mike is promoted to an assistant director - so all three face some new challenges in this story, and not all of it on the stage.

 

One aspect of the tale I enjoyed was Carol's attempts to be a friend to one of her fellow actor, Harris Nichols, who seems despondent and depressed.  She soon learns he is having difficulties maintaining his relationship with the girl he loves back home, and he is fearful that she is going to turn to another man.  Carol tries to soothe his fears and boost his confidence, but when Harris gets notification that the girl has gone off to marry another man, he loses all hope.  The situation that develops is actually quite dark, and I'm rather surprised Boylston included it in a book intended for children and young adults.  However, it is that very incident that leads to a monumental decision that Carol must make - one that has been in the making since that very first book (and one I saw coming early on and kept hoping it would see fruition, and finally, at the end of this book, it does!).

 

There are couple of scenes in the book worth pointing out, as they reflect (or, rather in one case, do NOT reflect) true life in the theater.  The first is when Carol is considering the different types of audiences one must face when acting on the stage:

One never knew about the audience in the first few minutes, but as the play went on, one became more and more aware of it quality as a single, concentrated personality.  Sometimes it was responsive - quit to laughter or tears.  Sometimes it was dull and heavy - sitting out there like a great lump, a weight upon the performance and the players.  Sometimes it wasn't a personality at all, but just groups of differing reactions - "spotty" the company called it.  And sometimes it was maddeningly restless.

 

Each audience made the play a new play and each performance different from the one before. (p. 31)

Only someone who has been on the stage before can understand exactly how true this description is. The actors on stage react to the audience's reactions, and so a non-responsive audience can easily result in a not-too-exciting play; on the other hand, an audience that gasps, laughs, hoots, and is all-in can be a strong encouragement to the actors, who truly come alive in their performances as never before to make the play more real and more exciting for the cast and audience alike.  I thought this moment of reflection on the part of Carol shows just how much the character has grown over the past three books, and how much understanding she has gained with respect to the stage and its impact on those in each audience who attend.

 

The second moment in the book that caught my attention was closer to the end, as the touring group was preparing to get on stage for opening night.  As Carol fights those opening night jitters, Julia tells her, "Good luck!," to which Carol responds with her own, "Good luck!" (p. 138).  And just a few paragraphs later, as she slips by Mike to prepare for her entrance, she hears him say, "Good luck" (p. 138).  One might think these well-wishes are nothing to make note of - however, those who have worked in the theater know that you never, never, NEVER wish an actor "good luck" before they go on stage - that is considered BAD luck; instead, you tell the actor to "break a leg" (which is a theater superstition, along the lines of the ghost light that stays on at all times or never-ever saying the name of a certain Shakespeare play inside of a theater).  Considering how well Boylston managed to portray the theatrical world correctly, I was greatly surprised by this gaffe!

 

Other than that one flub, the book was another wonderful read, ending on a high note (despite the gloom of Harris Nichols) that takes Carol and Mike on to the next stage of their life (and if that doesn't give it away to you, then you have not been paying attention at all!).  The gorgeous black and white illustrations are once again provided by Major Felten, and the frontis piece is by far his best masterpiece of the series, showing Carol waking gracefully down a staircase in a stunning dress.  The color cover, also by Felten, displays Carol in her Shakespearean outfit as Nerissa, her eyes sparkling as she recites her lines on the stage.  The cover of the British edition is the same as the previous three books, with exception of the color, which changed for each book.  The British edition for this book is unique in one way - it is the only one of the four titles to use the same title as the American edition:  Carol on Tour.  

And with that, so comes to a close another wonderful series.  It is a true shame that Carol Page only had four books of adventures, as it would have been great to read her, Mike, and Julia's further adventures in New York and on Broadway as they took the theater world by storm!  Alas, all of those tales will remain forever untold...

 

RATING:  10 plain, wine-colored silk dresses out of 10 for sharing Carol's final theatrical adventures and ending the series in a very satisfying manner.