Artist Paul Corio and spy/detective fiction.

New York's McKenzie Fine Art Gallery notes in information on Ghostzapper, its new exhibition of Paul Corio works, that the artist titles some of his paintings after spy and detective fiction. Could Moscow Rules be inspired by Daniel Silva's novel? The exhibition is on view until March 13.

New Haven Register on tombstone effort for AEF pianist Helen Hagan.

Helen Hagan in
YMCA uniform,
ca. 1919

I'm quoted in today's New Haven Register piece on the campaign to fund a tombstone for pioneering black pianist-composer Helen Hagan, who played for more than 100,000 black troops of the AEF in France.

Update, 3/27/16. See also Yale Daily News piece of March 11 on the Hagan and the grave marker effort.

The grave marker campaign has surpassed its fund-raising goal, taking in a total of $1605. Thanks to all who so generously contributed.

Fund a tombstone for black composer-pianist Helen Hagan, "the darling of the doughboys."

Hagan in YMCA
uniform, ca. 1919

After posting on my American Women in World War I blog about pioneering black composer-pianist Helen Hagan (1891–1964; Yale 1912; only black performing artist sent to WWI France), I was stunned to learn that she lies in an unmarked grave in New Haven's Evergreen Cemetery. Please join me in the effort to obtain a grave marker that recognizes her achievements, and spread the word.

• Listen to Hagan's sole surviving composition, Concerto in C Minor

• Learn more about Hagan and read her letter to W. E. B. Du Bois

Update, 3/27/16. The grave marker campaign has surpassed its fund-raising goal, taking in a total of $1605. Thanks to all who so generously contributed.

Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report, 1955).

Orson Welles in Amsterdam,
1952. Photo by Harry Pot.
Anefo, Dutch Nat Archives

Starring, written, and directed by Orson Welles, Mr. Arkadin features a confidence man looking into the shrouded past of a millionaire, as key witnesses are bumped off. The film costars Michael Redgrave, Patricia Medina, and Mischa Auer. It has a somewhat torturous history, with incarnations that include radio plays, deleted scenes, and a European version called Confidential Report.

British Library event on Eric Ambler, May 6.

Ad for film of Ambler's Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

To mark the British Library Publishing reissues of Eric Ambler titles such as A Kind of Anger, A Passage of Arms, and The Light of Day, "Eric Ambler: Father of the Modern British Spy Thriller" has been scheduled for May 6 at the British Library. Ambler's life and work will be discussed.

The Lee Marvin Show (1963-64).

1963 ad for The Lee Marvin Show

In 1963–64, actor Lee Marvin had a syndicated TV program (also known as The Lawbreakers and Lee Marvin Presents Lawbreaker) in which principals (witnesses, investigators, family members, suspects, etc.) participated in reconstructed crimes, and Marvin provided narration. Star Trek's Gene Roddenberry is listed as screenwriter on the Seattle episodes "The Michael Olds Story" and "Queen Anne Killer Unidentified." Produced by Vernon E. Clark, the program is available on DVD. The episode below features Hartford police officers in a case about a boardinghouse killer with a violent temper. a

Review: Tipping the Valet, by K. K. Beck.

Valet Tyler Benson faces more than just cranky customers in Tipping the Valet: A Workplace Mystery, K. K. Beck's first mystery in more than 15 years. Tyler's father has saddled him with a huge debt after pursuing a losing culinary scheme, placing the family in danger of losing their home; his fellow valets seem embroiled in something shady; and the attractive hostess of Ristorante Alba where he works does not seem to realize he exists. Further complications ensue when an attempt is made on the life of dot.com entrepreneur and restaurant patron Scott Duckworth, his father's former boss, and a body is found in a trunk that just so happens to have Tyler's fingerprints on it. Hapless but scary Eastern European gangsters pressuring the restaurant owners also add to Tyler's problems.

Beck's trademark sense of humor and sure plotting provide an enjoyable read for mystery fans. It's great to have her back.

Murder in the Private Car (1934).

After a switchboard operator learns that she is an heiress, she becomes the target of kidnapping on a train. The film, which features Charles Ruggles, Una Merkel, Walter Brennan, Sterling Holloway, and an actor in a gorilla suit, is based on the play "The Rear Car" by Edward E. Rose.

Tom Williams on Chandler's life and work.

In part 1 of a two-part episode of the podcast The Soul of California, author Tom Williams (A Mysterious Something in the Light) discusses influences on Raymond Chandler's life and work with podcast host Richard Dion.

Update: Part 2 of the podcast (which discusses Chandler's classic essay "The Simple Art of Murder" and the portrayal of Philip Marlowe) is now posted.

The Ninth Guest (1934).

Before Christie's And Then There Were None, penthouse partygoers in The Ninth Guest are informed by radio broadcast that they will be murdered one by one. The film is based on a play by Owen Davis and the novel The Invisible Host by Bruce Manning and Gwen Bristow. According to the 15 Feb. 1934 New York Sun, "Manning was on the [New Orleans Times] Picayune and Miss Bristow was on the Item. They both were assigned to cover a hanging in St. Mary's parish. There they were married—in the courthouse basement by a blind justice of the peace." (The Sun has swapped the papers—Bristow wrote for the Picayune and Manning for the Item.) Manning also was a screenwriter and director who worked on some film projects with Vera Caspary and Deanna Durbin, and Bristow is known for her Plantation trilogy.

Cry of the City (dir. Robert Siodmak, 1948).

Based on Henry Martin Helseth's The Chair for Martin Rome, Cry of the City features wounded killer Richard Conte doggedly pursued by police lieutenant Victor Mature. Shelley Winters and Debra Paget costar; Robert Siodmak (The Spiral Staircase) directs.

New edition, Judith Lee stories.

Valancourt Books has issued a new edition of Richard Marsh's Judith Lee stories (1912–16), edited by Edge Hill University's Minna Vuohelainen. As I mentioned in this blog post, Lee is an early female detective with capabilities in ju-jitsu and lip-reading. Marsh (aka Richard Bernard Hellmann, 1857–1915) is best known for The Beetle (1897), and his mysteries, horror works, and ghost stories have been reprinted by Valancourt.

Philby, Greene, and Our Man in Havana.

Ad for Our Man in Havana
(dir. Carol Reed, 1959)

Over at Lapham's Quarterly, Lawrence Osborne discusses the genesis of Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana, including Greene's time in MI6 and his relationship with Kim Philby of the Cambridge spy ring. There's a reference to Greene traveling with "an equally youthful Claud Cockburn"—that's the lefty father of mystery author Sarah Caudwell.

Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917).

Poster for Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917)
with George M. Cohan & Hedda Hopper

Based on a 1913 novel by Earl Derr Biggers (the creator of Charlie Chan), this silent film stars theater legend George M. Cohan (who adapted it for the stage) as a writer struggling to finish a novel in an inn where mysterious things are occurring. Actress (later gossip columnist) Hedda Hopper co-stars. (Other versions include a 1935 film with Gene Raymond, Eric Blore, and Walter Brennan.)

California and woman jurors, 1917.

Reporter Winifred Black.
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs Div.

Although Los Angeles had an all-female jury in 1911, San Francisco Examiner reporter Winifred Black celebrated California's decision to impanel women for juries in July 1917. (Link to article)

More on woman jurors:
• "Women on Juries: How the Experiment Failed in Washington," Sacramento Daily Union 5 Sept. 1896: 6 ("The lawyers . . . said that the trouble was the lack of the logical faculty in the female mind.")

• Cynthia Harrison, rev of The U.S. Women Jury Movements and Strategic Adaptation: A More Just Verdict, by Holly J. McCammon.

Winifred Black, The Washington Times 31 Jul 1917: 16

Red Nightmare (1962).

Robert Conrad in Red Nightmare

This heavy-handed Warner Brothers film produced for the Defense Department to illustrate the dangers of communism features Jack Webb, Jack Kelly, Robert Conrad, Peter Breck, and Andrew Duggan.

New CD: Film Noir at Paramount.

Intrada has recently released Double Indemnity: Film Noir at Paramount, which includes selections from Miklos Rozsa's score for Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity; Hugo Friedhofer's score for Wilder's Ace in the Hole; Franz Waxman's music for Anatole Litvak's Sorry, Wrong Number; Victor Young's music for Byron Haskins's I Walk Alone; Gail Kubik's score for William Wyler's The Desperate Hours; Leith Stevens's music from Michael Curtiz's The Scarlet Hour; and Heinz Roemheld's music from Rudolph Mate's Union Station. (thanks to Film Score Monthly)

 

The Unholy Four aka The Stranger Came Home (1954).

Stark House Press ed.
of Stranger at Home

Based on Stranger at Home ghosted for actor George Sanders by noted sci-fi writer and Big Sleep screenwriter Leigh Brackett, The Unholy Four features a man with amnesia seeking to discover which of his friends tried to kill him. Paulette Goddard stars.

The Christie tapes.

Agatha Christie, 17 Sept 1964.
Photo by Joop van Bilson, Anefo.
Dutch Natl Archives

BBC Radio 4 Extra is beginning to air excerpts from tapes made by Agatha Christie as she prepared her autobiography. The first episode is "The Semi-Pro" in which she discusses the creation of Miss Marple and also states: "I was eminently a writer for entertainment."

They Met in the Dark (1943).

James Mason in
They Met in the Dark

Based on The Vanishing Corpse (1941) by the Detection Club's Anthony Gilbert, They Met in the Dark features James Mason, Joyce Howard, and David Farrar in a tale of a disgraced naval officer, murder, and wartime espionage.