25 jan 15, sunday morning, 6:07 a.m. e.s.t.#30 from macdonald for me. just finished The Only Girl in the Game a good story set in las vegas(1954) all these condemned, john d macdonaldthere is a quote from decimus junius juvenalis, satire number twelve:they reckon death a blessing,yet make of life an anxious joy,a villa thin with gilded laughter,all these condemned.and...as others have noted, preparation here, the telling is through the eyes of the various characters in the story...which put off some readers. macdonald does have other stories like this...although he does have quite a few with a multiple-character p.o.v. this one like at least one other is formatted with the name of a character for chapter title. chapter one is (noel hess--afterward) Price of Murder is another macdonald story...without me having gotten too far into this one as yet...that has the same format.and...in the short story collection, Seven, "the willow pond" followed the same format...there are seven sections each 1st person narrated by a character in the story.a note on the tellingappears that each chapter is indeed from the p.o.v. of a character in the story. but instead of 3rd-person as in the story linked above, each chapter is a 1st-person narrative. the first chapter from noel hess's p.o.v. is marked afterward followed by the second, (paul dockerty--before)...3rd (judy jonah--afterward)...so t'would seem to be relatively easy to keep time. story begins:when at last they found her and took her out of the water i knew i had to go down and look at her. it was more than that sweaty curiosity that surrounds the sudden death of a stranger on a city sidewalk. but there was some of that, too. in all honesty i had to admit that there was some of that, too. time place scene setting*a trooper mentions malone and another character talks about new york. malone is in the north of new york state and i'd hazard this is where the action is.*mrs wilma ferris's place on a lake, presumably near malone, new york. in chapter two, it is lake vale, 300 miles away, from what? nicely ambiguous, unless it be 300 miles north of new york...and that places it near the real place, malone. not always "safe" trying to locate fiction in reality, but at times it works.*macdonald often sets the time in the year he writes so unless information tells otherwise, the time is 1954*story opens either late saturday evening, proceeds to early sunday morning by end of 1st chapter characters major minor peripheral real-famous name-only hypothetical*noel hess, 1st person narrator of 1st chapter. she is married to randolph "randy" hess and it is clear from the telling that she is not sorry that mrs wilma ferris has drowned. seems randy has been under wilma's thumb in all ways. noel, apparently, has been having some sort of affair with mrs ferris's public relations man, steve winsan. noel describes wilma as her enemy. randy is wilma's business manager. noel is a 35-year-old. and the affair w/steve happens at the lake, steve seducing her as revenge on randy, though noel sees much more in his actions and motivations*randolph "randy" hess...i think the name has significance, or, the nickname has meaning. randy is a kind of manager for wilma though all he advises her to do she ignores. she has him whipped and she has also bedded him.*trooper joseph "joe" maleski*mrs wilma ferris, victim of a drowning, although when her body is pulled from the lake they discover a long sharp pointed object was used to penetrate her skull, so she might have died, anyway. her place on the lake is a place of moneyed drinkers, nude swimmers, and mate traders. she also has a house in cuernavaca, mexico and an apartment in new york. she is @45 years old though she looks and wants others to believe she is much younger. is that a stereo-type? hardly. seems to be the norm for so many. one reviewer mentioned stereo-types...and i have not come across any, as yet. certainly not wilma, not a woman of the 50s, this wilma. in business, very successful, cosmetics, a "wilma" line, their bread and butter, and a higher class "ferris" line, all lower-case may it do ya fine. if there is a stereo-type, i wonder if it is the american businessman, or, in this case, businesswoman, portrayed as a shark. stereo-types? meh! wilma is described as a woman who started with nothing...she started out packaging her own product, etc. she worked her way up. we see wilma past-tense, through the eyes of her employees.*ferris, incorporated, wilma's business, factory in new jersey, two lines of cosmetics, the wilma line and the ferris line and blue neon, one of their products*steve winsan: public relations, employed by wilma*rosalita vega, cook for mrs ferris*jose vega, butler, bartender, handy man and brother to rosalita*newspaper people...not yet on the scene, chapter one*doc andros, coroner, an unexpectedly young man*noel hess's father...deceased...commercial fishermen, florida, where the family has spent time when noel was younger*mavis & paul dockerty: paul is the eye-narrator of chapter two. he is disappointed that mavis his wife is becoming more and more like wilma though neither is disappointed in the increased salary he has seen since going to work for wilma. he had been a senior consultant with ramsey & shaver, management engineers before being employed by ferris, incorporated. they have been married for six years, when mavis was 21, paul was 30. mavis believed earnestly in any idea with which she happened to come in contact. and she would jettison it immediately when she ran smack into the next idea. stereo-type? hardly. those two lines describe so many today, fashionable ideology, those who march with no clue why they march, only that marching feels good. be loud, be somebody. mavis also changed her name...she had been called mary gort. she was 1 of 6 kids. she has one sister, named...harriet, who married a bum. only 4 of them are left and the old man, the mother died. paul is the only man among the guests that wilma has not bedded...and from that, wilma has been working on a campaign to change mavis...who is a kind of leonard zelig to wilma.*gilman hayes, described by noel as wilma's protege. he is described by paul as "muscle boy" compared to "atlas" and is perhaps some sort of artist? *wallace dorn: described as english/british, veddy veddy proper, string ties, and he is an account executive for the cosmetics business of wilma ferris. he is one of many that wilma has bedded, wallace participating with the belief that by doing so he will...i dunno...change?...conquer?...put her in place? to no avail. she laughs at him afterward. dorn is some kind of advertising man. he has only had 9 affairs in 16 years of marriage, easily dismisses any kind of moral wrong...though too, this trait seems to contradict his idea of the proper. or does it? he is a 49-year-old married w/children man*8 guests, mrs ferris, and three mexican servants...at the house, opening chapter, so they are all suspects*two old men in the boat that brings the body ashore, one of them by the name of jimmy, also called charons from greek mythology*deputy sheriff fish*les riley, sheriff, sick in bed*amparo loma, the sturdy and very lovely mexican maid of mrs ferris*trooper roy carren*j.p. walter, county attorney*a lieutenant from the criminal investigation part of the state police*god*sales manager died...previous sale manager*herman...helped with the luggage...at the dockerty house*old whiskers...a playwright? paul's chapter...a man/woman*betty grable...famous actress*fern & howey, advertising agency*the titled lady in cuernavaca...who slighted wilma...had to leave mexico*the mexican authorities...who made problems for the above*two husbands wilma ferris took on...one is an alcoholic, the other a suicide*the chemists...who work for the cosmetics business*some kid architect from miami...who was called in to design wilma's lake house...that doesn't look natural, but like something ready to take off from where it has landed above the shore*judy jonah: also a guest at the lake house. she is a singer-actress who is tired...whose contract is unlikely to be renewed. she has a half-hour show called judy time...and she is a comedic actress. she is a 29-year-old and she has been on the road since she was 15. sounds like some, one or two of the characters in the last read,The Only Girl in the Game*miss monroe...meaning marilyn monroe, i think...although, curiously, she is written about in the past tense...so maybe not marilyn?*her agent: judy...he is not there at the lake*churchill...astaire...mr veblen's theories*some asinine disc jockey...cinderella...eleanor, julie...(radio)*mose, a man from judy jonah's past, a man to whom she was married. *mitch dropped him...dropped mose...that janet character, both from judy's past*dandy adams...just a name-throw...no clue what the allusion is to*mother nature*a duchess, a lady wrestler, an actress from the old silent movies...judy, considering different skits, crying jags as each, she could do.*paul's grandfather...story about a stepladder, a jacket, a wrench*captain hammer and nine chinese bandits...allusion to some story or show*two men in boats...dragging the bottom...virg, one of them*gabby...mitch...south carolina, more from judy's past...eddie sauter...goodmans, as in music*dotty, steve winsan's secretary, and it sounds like he is diddling her*willy, is judy jonah's agent*jennifer, is steve winsan's ex-wife, to whom he is paying $1500 a month alimony...and for 1954, that sounds like a spanking-lot...and she is in taos, new mexico*fourth to go would be nancy, steve's big author...doing the p.r. thingy for them...the other three are ferris, hayes, jonah*columnists...fancy dan? a girl on a mag...a friend on another mag...a tame seal to do the rewrite...to-do with steve/wilma ferris*a girl he'd known once in the methodist sunday school in deephaven, minnesota, steve knew*mr lucius howey, a man wallace dorn knows, associates with. dorn believes wilma poinsoned howey against him*durbin brothers, another account that dorn handles*little golden girls going to their parties...wilma, when she was an ugly duckling*a boy wilma and other girls adored*wilma's psychiatrist*randy's doctor*mavis dockerty's sister who died suddenly*shared bath with 3 other girls, mavis, after leaving home and business school*a funny little woman, wife of the man with whom mavis had an affair*beecher boy...from mavis's past...his family*randolph scott, famous actor...others compared her husband paul to him*a beautician...that wilma says mavis needs for the makeover that wilma is performing on mavis*a crowd of people on madison ave...and a fat female person who fell out a window*evis, female, from a gallery, an associate of gilman's...later...evis is a "he"...so did i read the 1st instance right?*sister elizabeth in the home where gilman was placed*little people, refusing to see what was better*gherke...another who also models as gilman has done...and some meatless girl, who gilman posed over*one of the big boys at the home...where gilman was placed*the woman next door...noel's chapter*a girl in her class...from whom noel stole a ring*noel's father, died...mother worked...she went with five cousins*a boy noel knew, past*the operator...with whom paul speaks afterward*paul's 1st kiss...a girl named connie/post office*dali*"helen"...a kind of imaginary wife of one of the men in the boats dragging the lake...the return, "helen" receiving the news of what these people are like*hilda...name w/a judy chapter...the keith concert...carlos and jane...horace the doorman...the garage man who brought back her jag before she left for the lake...a drunken psychiatrist at a party*jane jones...personna of judy/her show?...kid jonah, the boston butcher boy, another personna of judy*delcy...name from judy's chapter...dumb little music-struck girls...a big one-legged marine...hash...all from a judy chapter*two studio heads, an old hollywood story...steve's chapter, sammy, a safe*the tabloid boys...will agar, one of the men in a boat, steve is with him in the boat...bobby, another man in a boat...a night city editor some place..."saul"...imaginary scene in steve's mind*a strange woman, steve's past....his mother's funeral...a zoo, a lion, typical linthead tourist, her cretin children*mr walsh, a higher up at steve's work/business*florence dorn, wallace's wife...fern & hewey, his employer...their circle of friends*a neighbor of wallace dorn with whom he plays chess*1893, the elder mr detweiler fern began the business where dorn works*durbin brothers, massey, gruneweld and star, bi-sodium and tichnor instrument...accounts of dorn's*hayes & hess, another account of dorn's*george dorn, wallace's father...boys....who mistreated him...his mother...the boys' parents*a hypnotist...randy's past...a boy from the audience...a camp where a man taught first aid...roger, a friend of randy's at camp...a friend and a young wife of the star jumper (planes, chutes)...another friend...egyptian, little sheba...buddy? one of his children?...his mother*dufy, rouault, utrillo...names in a book of reproductions that gilman hayes looks at*the boy from the home...olympus*benny from garage...mrs. shattock...janey shattock, who joe maleski is dating...people in the restaurantan great line from the storyin paul's chapter, he tells his wife, mavis, to go easy on the martinis, last time you lost your sawdust. heh! i've never heard that expression prior.my take a little past a third-of-the-way completegood story. i'm enjoying the different perspectives. it is not a complicated storyline to keep track. eight guests, a different take on the before and after from all of them...i assume all of them...looked ahead at the chapter headings, and that appears so. you get some overlap...the skinny-dipping in the lake close to midnight...the disappearance of wilma...the boats dragging the bottom.a like-kind exchange, time passages*mavis, at times, is like another macddonald character, Clemmie, as in one of her chapters she describes a kind of play-acting, using her imagination, which is what the time-passages shelf is all about. and like clemmie in that story, and another, a male character, paul participates. but that is the only way she is like clemmie.some themes, motifs at work in the story*function. man has only function left to him...and this is explored in one of randy's chapters, function, a kind of nihilism.*unfaithfulness...a mindset used by wilma, a mindset whose function has entertainment as the goal of unfaithfulness. *mutation...the idea that character is capable of mutation...the idea that difference is...a kind of goal. interesting idea...as i'd hazard that difference for the sake of being different is an ideal embraced by many, even today, still. coupled with this mutation-idea is the belief that one can pat people into shape...a shape you design. wilma lives this idea. update, finished, 26 jan 15, monday morning, 7:34 a.m. e.s.t.done. three-stars. four-stars. five. does it matter? call it 3.5. i liked it, i liked the method of the telling, the different p.o.v.s and as the end approached i wondered how would the story end? the story does look at the before and after of the end of wilma though i can't say if the design is so strict that it offers a b/a from each character. one "before" chapter read like an afterward. macdonald does a good job of offering motivation for each guest to murder wilma...save mavis perhaps. and the mystery is solved, but not in the standard fashion.
