Old Hollywood Party - more info and DATE!
BREAKING NEWS! Ladies and gentlemen, this just in! The Old Hollywood Murder Mystery party will take place on Saturday, August 15th! If you aren't able to make this date, I'm very sorry, but several people were unable to come on the 22nd, including some who've been involved for a long time, so we had to go with the 15th. Yes, even though it means we have less than three weeks to get everything ready!
Lindsey and I, along with whoever else is interested and available, will be going to the Cicada Club in Los Angeles on 8/9. The place really does feel like you've just walked into a glamorous old movie! See www.clubcicada.com for more information - like the dress code! Let us know if you'll be there - I might even be able to help with hair, loaner clothes, etc.
I will be in Orange County on the afternoon of Saturday, August 8th, and could conceivably do some kind of getting-together with people in that neck of the woods if there's interest. Bringing along clothes to try is an option. Let me know if anyone's interested. Beyond that, if anyone wants to dry by Pasadena for a wardrobe consult ahead of time, I'm game, but I know I'm out of the way for just about everyone!
[end of 7/27 update]
This post contains a repeat of the July 9 post about the Old Hollywood party, with information updated throughout the character list, and updates elsewhere in bold. Enough changed that I wanted to do more than just make edits to the previous post. Unless/until there’s another big round of changes, I’ll plan on updating this post as changes occur.
Most of the characters we originally came up with have been assigned, or are tentatively assigned, at this point, though we’re still waiting to hear back from several people in key roles. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to do! Plenty of other parts have been invented from scratch - this sort of thing is highly flexible. Folks, we haven’t even decided who the murderer is yet! You can still get in on the good stuff!
Since this will be planned but not scripted, the size of your role on party-day will be entirely up to you. If you sit in a corner sulking into your cocktail, not much is likely to happen to you even if you’ve got a list of motives and secrets a mile long, whereas even someone who’s ostensibly in a bit part can get involved in the trade of secrets, favors, and ambitions. The point isn’t merely to solve the murder (or avoid being arrested for it!), it’s also to take revenge on those who’ve wronged you, advance your career, arrange a love affair, ruin a love affair… The possibilities are endless!
This just in - after the party officially begins, there will be a show to get people in the mood. We’re currently trying to put together the show, and if you have something to offer, do tell! Thus far we hopefully have a swing dance performance, and I’m working to arrange a magic show, a psychic demonstration, and a Shakespeare reading as well. Song, dance, juggling, tricks, vaudeville - what have you got, folks?
Also, on the more practical side, I’m wondering if anyone has things like equipment for bingo and croquet, folding tables and chairs, etc. I have some tables and chairs I can borrow, but it looks like there will be significantly more people than I originally expected, so I think my supply won’t be able to keep up with demand. Anyone have some they could bring? I know, I’m making you work! It’s very unreasonable of me.
Again, folks, I need your input, your confirmations, and your contact info. Since we’re setting the date soon, if you can’t a date (the 15th, the 22nd), let me know. I’ll be sending out further information, about characters, about time/date, and about wardrobe concerns, by email, so I really need those email addresses. Thanks again!
(My email address, by the way, is ava.trimble@gmail .com - for those of you who can’t be bothered to scroll to the bottom!)
Miss Sally Merrill
requests the pleasure of
your company at a garden party
in honour of the birthday of
Mr. Kent Briggs
on a Saturday in August
at two o’clock
Pasadena
Cocktails
Brought to you by Lindsey ( eldanorien) and by yours truly:
One Saturday this August, Old Hollywood will be descending upon my house in Pasadena for a Murder Mystery party, to which you are most cordially invited, but not as yourself! This particular soirée will be full of glamorous movie stars, ambitious newcomers, and Hollywood socialites, along with a gossip columnist, a nightclub singer, a stage actress, and maybe even a treacherous imposter!
It’s the late forties (or the early fifties) and television hasn’t quite caught on yet. Film is still king, and Hollywood is a land where dreams come true - for some. To get a sense for what Old Hollywood was like, I highly recommend watching movies like Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), The Cat’s Meow (2002), and The Aviator (2004). For getting a sense of the madcap murder mystery, I offer up Clue (1985), as essential viewing. Our character list pulls from many of the same archetypes (and occasionally stereotypes) used in those movies, but we’re playing up the melodrama and the intrigue, because after all - there will be a murder at this party!
So take a look at this star-studded list of characters, and talk to me about who you might be interested in playing. This is just the beginning, and if enough people are interested, more characters can be written in - let me know if you have any ideas. As people sign up for characters, I will be editing this list to keep it as current as possible. Note: if you previously spoke to me about taking on a specific character and have since changed your mind or can't come, PLEASE tell me. If you're still in, great! Tell me that, too. If your friend wants to come, great. Let's talk.
Baxter Pictures - one of the big movie studios and home to some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. In recent times, Baxter Pictures has been in some financial distress, and it will sink or swim with the failure or success of its latest film, the epic Scheherazade.
• Dale Baxter (assigned) - the head of Baxter Pictures, he is excitable, fickle, and eccentric. He has a great love for the exotic, and is notorious for harboring infatuations for studio starlets. His pride as a studio mogul is inextricably tied to the success of Scheherazade.
• Randolph Garrett (assigned) - the temperamental director who rules the roost at Baxter Pictures. He is originally from Europe, but no one knows exactly where. He sees Scheherazade as his great masterpiece, the film for which he will always be remembered. A harsh and exacting master, he is known for making actresses cry with his pointed criticisms. It is sometimes opined that he must be from Transylvania, because only a vampire could be so ill-tempered and keep everyone on the set so very late.
• Ash Montgomery (assigned) - a wealthy gentleman who owns a winery in Central California and funds pictures for Baxter when it happens to suit him. It most frequently happens to suit him when attractive young ladies of his acquaintance are cast in said movies. At the moment, no one is quite sure which young lady has his eye, so rumors are flying.
• Kent Briggs (assigned) - the biggest star at Baxter Pictures, debonair and masculine, known for his biting asides and take-no-prisoners attitude. He starred as the sultan in Scheherazade. The gossip columns have been awash with tales of his notorious, womanizing exploits on and off the set.
• Leda Cameron (assigned) - a prominent British stage actress with a flourishing career and a brilliant engagement to a top London playwright. This well-respected lady deigned to star in Scheherazade, her first motion picture, and is being courted for a long-term contract. Her distaste for Hollywood is well-known.
• Nona Raine (PROBABLY ASSIGNED) - a Baxter Pictures femme fatale who coveted the title role of Scheherazade, and was distraught/infuriated to learn that she had lost the part to a stage actress. (This character could be fleshed out in various ways.)
• Mary London (assigned) - an unknown chorus girl signed to a contract at Baxter Pictures for the past year, without ever getting a single line or close-up. Her luck might be turning around now, because she’s coming to the party with director Randolph Garrett. Isn’t that clever of her!
• Hans Berg (assigned) - the studio composer, who feels he’s prostituting his music by putting it in such a tawdry art form as pictures, particularly the B-pictures that Baxter makes so many of. He grudgingly admits that Scheherazade is better than most of the rubbish he’s been forced to score, but can more usually be heard complaining about Hollywood and telling anyone in earshot that Europe is infinitely better. No one is quite sure why he left.
• Max Brandon (assigned) - an embittered private eye in the employ of Baxter Pictures. Formerly a Los Angeles cop, he refused to hide a political scandal, and after someone else hushed it up, they saw to it that his career was over. Now he is reduced to keeping an eye on troublesome contract players for Dale Baxter.
• Hortensia West (assigned) - a self-righteous studio hairdresser who is known for giving out good advice heavy with moral platitudes. She once had a budding acting career, and everyone has a different story for how she went from ingénue to hairdresser. These days, she helps along the girls at the studio, and has been known to admonish directors and producers for working the actresses too hard.
• Skip Westin (assigned) - a young photographer at Baxter Pictures. He’s been taking promo shots of chorus girls and dogs for the publicity office lately, but this just might be his big break: the studio’s star photographer seems to have eaten some bad oysters and Skip will be the one covering this big-ticket event.
Other Hollywood Types - outside of Baxter Pictures but inside the Hollywood social scene.
• Maggie [Magnolia] Sutton (OPEN) - a gossip columnist who delights in scandal and misfortune. The only secrets she keeps are her own - when asked of her background, she tells a different story every time, her unmistakable Southern accent the only clue to her origins. She has many enemies, but also allies and fans, especially among the newcomers and bit players, whom she sweetly cultivates for stories and access.
• Grant Austin (assigned) - the swashbuckling star of rival studio Lamont Brothers. Grant is tall, dashing and well-muscled. He stars in adventure pictures, and is widely considered to be Kent’s biggest rival. Grant is rumored to resent Kent’s casting as the sultan in Scheherazade, an interesting and multi-faceted role, for which he isn’t seen to have the acting chops. What he does have is a certain affection for publicity and scandal.
• Veronica Timms (assigned) - a nightclub singer known for her close friendships with Hollywood leading men. Time was she could frequently be seen with Kent Briggs, but she’ll be attending this particular party on the arm of rival Grant Austin. She’s known for her exotic beauty, sultry performances, and notorious temper, as well as her vast ambition. [Note the name change!]
• Helen Banks (PROBABLY ASSIGNED) - an old money socialite who doesn’t do much, but a party isn’t a party without her. She’s seen in the company of many Hollywood types, but rumor has it her family is insisting that she marry a similarly old-moneyed young man and start socializing in more refined circles.
• Carlo Montez (assigned) - a flamboyant psychic to the stars, with just enough a knack for reading people and for ferreting out secrets that it’s considered wisest not to cross him. His background is highly mysterious, as only the very credulous are willing to believe that he is actually the son of Lola Montez.
Hollywood Outsiders - these characters aren’t truly a part of the glamorous Hollywood social scene, but have made it to the party nonetheless.
• Sally Merrill (assigned) - a pretty young lady who lives in a house in Pasadena, and is said to be a secretary for the Department of Water and Power. She is a great fan of the movies, and is throwing this birthday party for Kent Briggs, as he’s a friend of hers - a very good friend, as long as no one mentions it to her family back in the Midwest.
• Louise May (assigned) - the rather humorless wife of a local politician; she’s rumored to socialize with the Hollywood set because her husband wants to know about them. Never mind that she doesn’t ever seem to warm anyone up enough to find out their hobbies, much less their secrets.
• Nicky and Holly Gianni (assigned) - a lady-and-gent pair of stylish dancers who made the rounds of stage shows in Vegas but have moved to Los Angeles in order to seek movie contracts. She wants to be the next Ginger Rogers, and he’s along for the ride.
• The Servants (OPEN) - two waiters borrowed for the day from Baxter Pictures, where they normally work on the lot. The help is aspiring to Hollywood greatness, but are not supposed to bother anyone with their ambitions. They are both gossipy and cutthroat, willing to forge any alliances necessary to make it.
• Jake Hunter (assigned) - the bartender at a Hollywood haunt, persuaded to come out by someone, though it doesn’t seem to have been Sally who persuaded him. Jake is well-known with the Hollywood set, and he’s heard more than a few tales a woe shared over too many drinks. More than one fellow is grateful for Jake’s discretion.
• The Businessman (OPEN) - this gentleman has been known to gain entrée to some Hollywood circles but not others. He’s a wealthy businessman, but no one quite wants to ask just what his business is - there are always a couple of toughs nearby.
• Toughs (OPEN) - see above. They spend most of their time scowling, occasionally pause in said activity long enough to leer at girls, and have exceedingly poor manners.
• Rosalind Connor (PROBABLY ASSIGNED) - a lovely young lady who is newly arrived in Hollywood and aspiring to fame as an actress. She has had a few respectable parts on the stage but she doesn’t want to merely act; she wants to be a star, and there’s nowhere for making stars like Hollywood.
Miscellaneous Other Character Ideas - if nothing above strikes your fancy, maybe one of these will intrigue you, or perhaps you’ve thought of something else entirely.
• A fencing instructor/stunt man
• A silent film has-been (assigned)
• A Hollywood or New York restaurateur
• A brilliant but under-appreciated screenwriter
• A major fashion designer
• An actress-turned-Hollywood-housewife
• Musicians
• A gambler
• Someone's secretary or assistant
• A genuine communist
• An undercover G-man
• Character actors for parts such as cowboys, monsters, gangsters, etc.
• A temperamental chef (be warned - if you take this one on, we WILL put you to work!)
• We have one functional bartender but a second could be helpful!
If this sounds like your idea of a good time, we want you there! If you think of a friend who might enjoy it, let me know - we can accommodate quite a few, and would love to meet fellow enthusiasts of oddball entertainments like Murder Mystery parties. THE PARTY WILL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 15TH - FOR CERTAIN! [updated 7/27]
Send me a message on here, or email me at ava.trimble@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook, from whence comes this very note. Or call me, but since this post is public, I don't want to include my phone number.
p.s. [RE the original Facebook note] I rather randomly tagged anyone I thought might be interested, until I ran out of tagging slots, so if you're interested and weren't tagged, don't take it personally! The more the merrier.
p.p.s. A couple people have contacted me expressing concerns about what to wear - don’t worry, darlings, you’ll get through it! Part of our rationale for pick the late 40s/early 50s is that the clothing, or something that resembles it, is easier to come by than that of earlier time periods. Also, this is an afternoon-into-evening garden party rather than an evening cocktail party, so that drops the level of formality a little. But of course - this is Hollywood, and I could certainly see a few starlets turning up a little too well turned out! I assure you that even if you have no idea what to wear, Lindsey or I can help you work something out. Even thrift stores are great about having things that look the part, and I know some of us have some extraneous pieces lying around. So first, talk to me and figure out a part, and then I can point you in the direction of what to wear. ALSO - for ladies in particular, if you want you can come early to have your hair and makeup done! If anyone would like to assist me in doing those things, let me know.
p.p.p.s. Lindsey and I are both perpetually broke - she's an actress and I'm putting every penny into my move back east (at the end of August), so in order to cover the pure costs of food, drinks, and (gasp) liquor, we're hoping everyone can contribute $15 each. There will be deliciousness and martinis, I promise.
Lindsey and I, along with whoever else is interested and available, will be going to the Cicada Club in Los Angeles on 8/9. The place really does feel like you've just walked into a glamorous old movie! See www.clubcicada.com for more information - like the dress code! Let us know if you'll be there - I might even be able to help with hair, loaner clothes, etc.
I will be in Orange County on the afternoon of Saturday, August 8th, and could conceivably do some kind of getting-together with people in that neck of the woods if there's interest. Bringing along clothes to try is an option. Let me know if anyone's interested. Beyond that, if anyone wants to dry by Pasadena for a wardrobe consult ahead of time, I'm game, but I know I'm out of the way for just about everyone!
[end of 7/27 update]
This post contains a repeat of the July 9 post about the Old Hollywood party, with information updated throughout the character list, and updates elsewhere in bold. Enough changed that I wanted to do more than just make edits to the previous post. Unless/until there’s another big round of changes, I’ll plan on updating this post as changes occur.
Most of the characters we originally came up with have been assigned, or are tentatively assigned, at this point, though we’re still waiting to hear back from several people in key roles. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to do! Plenty of other parts have been invented from scratch - this sort of thing is highly flexible. Folks, we haven’t even decided who the murderer is yet! You can still get in on the good stuff!
Since this will be planned but not scripted, the size of your role on party-day will be entirely up to you. If you sit in a corner sulking into your cocktail, not much is likely to happen to you even if you’ve got a list of motives and secrets a mile long, whereas even someone who’s ostensibly in a bit part can get involved in the trade of secrets, favors, and ambitions. The point isn’t merely to solve the murder (or avoid being arrested for it!), it’s also to take revenge on those who’ve wronged you, advance your career, arrange a love affair, ruin a love affair… The possibilities are endless!
This just in - after the party officially begins, there will be a show to get people in the mood. We’re currently trying to put together the show, and if you have something to offer, do tell! Thus far we hopefully have a swing dance performance, and I’m working to arrange a magic show, a psychic demonstration, and a Shakespeare reading as well. Song, dance, juggling, tricks, vaudeville - what have you got, folks?
Also, on the more practical side, I’m wondering if anyone has things like equipment for bingo and croquet, folding tables and chairs, etc. I have some tables and chairs I can borrow, but it looks like there will be significantly more people than I originally expected, so I think my supply won’t be able to keep up with demand. Anyone have some they could bring? I know, I’m making you work! It’s very unreasonable of me.
Again, folks, I need your input, your confirmations, and your contact info. Since we’re setting the date soon, if you can’t a date (the 15th, the 22nd), let me know. I’ll be sending out further information, about characters, about time/date, and about wardrobe concerns, by email, so I really need those email addresses. Thanks again!
(My email address, by the way, is ava.trimble@gmail .com - for those of you who can’t be bothered to scroll to the bottom!)
Miss Sally Merrill
requests the pleasure of
your company at a garden party
in honour of the birthday of
Mr. Kent Briggs
on a Saturday in August
at two o’clock
Pasadena
Cocktails
Brought to you by Lindsey ( eldanorien) and by yours truly:
One Saturday this August, Old Hollywood will be descending upon my house in Pasadena for a Murder Mystery party, to which you are most cordially invited, but not as yourself! This particular soirée will be full of glamorous movie stars, ambitious newcomers, and Hollywood socialites, along with a gossip columnist, a nightclub singer, a stage actress, and maybe even a treacherous imposter!
It’s the late forties (or the early fifties) and television hasn’t quite caught on yet. Film is still king, and Hollywood is a land where dreams come true - for some. To get a sense for what Old Hollywood was like, I highly recommend watching movies like Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), The Cat’s Meow (2002), and The Aviator (2004). For getting a sense of the madcap murder mystery, I offer up Clue (1985), as essential viewing. Our character list pulls from many of the same archetypes (and occasionally stereotypes) used in those movies, but we’re playing up the melodrama and the intrigue, because after all - there will be a murder at this party!
So take a look at this star-studded list of characters, and talk to me about who you might be interested in playing. This is just the beginning, and if enough people are interested, more characters can be written in - let me know if you have any ideas. As people sign up for characters, I will be editing this list to keep it as current as possible. Note: if you previously spoke to me about taking on a specific character and have since changed your mind or can't come, PLEASE tell me. If you're still in, great! Tell me that, too. If your friend wants to come, great. Let's talk.
Baxter Pictures - one of the big movie studios and home to some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. In recent times, Baxter Pictures has been in some financial distress, and it will sink or swim with the failure or success of its latest film, the epic Scheherazade.
• Dale Baxter (assigned) - the head of Baxter Pictures, he is excitable, fickle, and eccentric. He has a great love for the exotic, and is notorious for harboring infatuations for studio starlets. His pride as a studio mogul is inextricably tied to the success of Scheherazade.
• Randolph Garrett (assigned) - the temperamental director who rules the roost at Baxter Pictures. He is originally from Europe, but no one knows exactly where. He sees Scheherazade as his great masterpiece, the film for which he will always be remembered. A harsh and exacting master, he is known for making actresses cry with his pointed criticisms. It is sometimes opined that he must be from Transylvania, because only a vampire could be so ill-tempered and keep everyone on the set so very late.
• Ash Montgomery (assigned) - a wealthy gentleman who owns a winery in Central California and funds pictures for Baxter when it happens to suit him. It most frequently happens to suit him when attractive young ladies of his acquaintance are cast in said movies. At the moment, no one is quite sure which young lady has his eye, so rumors are flying.
• Kent Briggs (assigned) - the biggest star at Baxter Pictures, debonair and masculine, known for his biting asides and take-no-prisoners attitude. He starred as the sultan in Scheherazade. The gossip columns have been awash with tales of his notorious, womanizing exploits on and off the set.
• Leda Cameron (assigned) - a prominent British stage actress with a flourishing career and a brilliant engagement to a top London playwright. This well-respected lady deigned to star in Scheherazade, her first motion picture, and is being courted for a long-term contract. Her distaste for Hollywood is well-known.
• Nona Raine (PROBABLY ASSIGNED) - a Baxter Pictures femme fatale who coveted the title role of Scheherazade, and was distraught/infuriated to learn that she had lost the part to a stage actress. (This character could be fleshed out in various ways.)
• Mary London (assigned) - an unknown chorus girl signed to a contract at Baxter Pictures for the past year, without ever getting a single line or close-up. Her luck might be turning around now, because she’s coming to the party with director Randolph Garrett. Isn’t that clever of her!
• Hans Berg (assigned) - the studio composer, who feels he’s prostituting his music by putting it in such a tawdry art form as pictures, particularly the B-pictures that Baxter makes so many of. He grudgingly admits that Scheherazade is better than most of the rubbish he’s been forced to score, but can more usually be heard complaining about Hollywood and telling anyone in earshot that Europe is infinitely better. No one is quite sure why he left.
• Max Brandon (assigned) - an embittered private eye in the employ of Baxter Pictures. Formerly a Los Angeles cop, he refused to hide a political scandal, and after someone else hushed it up, they saw to it that his career was over. Now he is reduced to keeping an eye on troublesome contract players for Dale Baxter.
• Hortensia West (assigned) - a self-righteous studio hairdresser who is known for giving out good advice heavy with moral platitudes. She once had a budding acting career, and everyone has a different story for how she went from ingénue to hairdresser. These days, she helps along the girls at the studio, and has been known to admonish directors and producers for working the actresses too hard.
• Skip Westin (assigned) - a young photographer at Baxter Pictures. He’s been taking promo shots of chorus girls and dogs for the publicity office lately, but this just might be his big break: the studio’s star photographer seems to have eaten some bad oysters and Skip will be the one covering this big-ticket event.
Other Hollywood Types - outside of Baxter Pictures but inside the Hollywood social scene.
• Maggie [Magnolia] Sutton (OPEN) - a gossip columnist who delights in scandal and misfortune. The only secrets she keeps are her own - when asked of her background, she tells a different story every time, her unmistakable Southern accent the only clue to her origins. She has many enemies, but also allies and fans, especially among the newcomers and bit players, whom she sweetly cultivates for stories and access.
• Grant Austin (assigned) - the swashbuckling star of rival studio Lamont Brothers. Grant is tall, dashing and well-muscled. He stars in adventure pictures, and is widely considered to be Kent’s biggest rival. Grant is rumored to resent Kent’s casting as the sultan in Scheherazade, an interesting and multi-faceted role, for which he isn’t seen to have the acting chops. What he does have is a certain affection for publicity and scandal.
• Veronica Timms (assigned) - a nightclub singer known for her close friendships with Hollywood leading men. Time was she could frequently be seen with Kent Briggs, but she’ll be attending this particular party on the arm of rival Grant Austin. She’s known for her exotic beauty, sultry performances, and notorious temper, as well as her vast ambition. [Note the name change!]
• Helen Banks (PROBABLY ASSIGNED) - an old money socialite who doesn’t do much, but a party isn’t a party without her. She’s seen in the company of many Hollywood types, but rumor has it her family is insisting that she marry a similarly old-moneyed young man and start socializing in more refined circles.
• Carlo Montez (assigned) - a flamboyant psychic to the stars, with just enough a knack for reading people and for ferreting out secrets that it’s considered wisest not to cross him. His background is highly mysterious, as only the very credulous are willing to believe that he is actually the son of Lola Montez.
Hollywood Outsiders - these characters aren’t truly a part of the glamorous Hollywood social scene, but have made it to the party nonetheless.
• Sally Merrill (assigned) - a pretty young lady who lives in a house in Pasadena, and is said to be a secretary for the Department of Water and Power. She is a great fan of the movies, and is throwing this birthday party for Kent Briggs, as he’s a friend of hers - a very good friend, as long as no one mentions it to her family back in the Midwest.
• Louise May (assigned) - the rather humorless wife of a local politician; she’s rumored to socialize with the Hollywood set because her husband wants to know about them. Never mind that she doesn’t ever seem to warm anyone up enough to find out their hobbies, much less their secrets.
• Nicky and Holly Gianni (assigned) - a lady-and-gent pair of stylish dancers who made the rounds of stage shows in Vegas but have moved to Los Angeles in order to seek movie contracts. She wants to be the next Ginger Rogers, and he’s along for the ride.
• The Servants (OPEN) - two waiters borrowed for the day from Baxter Pictures, where they normally work on the lot. The help is aspiring to Hollywood greatness, but are not supposed to bother anyone with their ambitions. They are both gossipy and cutthroat, willing to forge any alliances necessary to make it.
• Jake Hunter (assigned) - the bartender at a Hollywood haunt, persuaded to come out by someone, though it doesn’t seem to have been Sally who persuaded him. Jake is well-known with the Hollywood set, and he’s heard more than a few tales a woe shared over too many drinks. More than one fellow is grateful for Jake’s discretion.
• The Businessman (OPEN) - this gentleman has been known to gain entrée to some Hollywood circles but not others. He’s a wealthy businessman, but no one quite wants to ask just what his business is - there are always a couple of toughs nearby.
• Toughs (OPEN) - see above. They spend most of their time scowling, occasionally pause in said activity long enough to leer at girls, and have exceedingly poor manners.
• Rosalind Connor (PROBABLY ASSIGNED) - a lovely young lady who is newly arrived in Hollywood and aspiring to fame as an actress. She has had a few respectable parts on the stage but she doesn’t want to merely act; she wants to be a star, and there’s nowhere for making stars like Hollywood.
Miscellaneous Other Character Ideas - if nothing above strikes your fancy, maybe one of these will intrigue you, or perhaps you’ve thought of something else entirely.
• A fencing instructor/stunt man
• A silent film has-been (assigned)
• A Hollywood or New York restaurateur
• A brilliant but under-appreciated screenwriter
• A major fashion designer
• An actress-turned-Hollywood-housewife
• Musicians
• A gambler
• Someone's secretary or assistant
• A genuine communist
• An undercover G-man
• Character actors for parts such as cowboys, monsters, gangsters, etc.
• A temperamental chef (be warned - if you take this one on, we WILL put you to work!)
• We have one functional bartender but a second could be helpful!
If this sounds like your idea of a good time, we want you there! If you think of a friend who might enjoy it, let me know - we can accommodate quite a few, and would love to meet fellow enthusiasts of oddball entertainments like Murder Mystery parties. THE PARTY WILL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 15TH - FOR CERTAIN! [updated 7/27]
Send me a message on here, or email me at ava.trimble@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook, from whence comes this very note. Or call me, but since this post is public, I don't want to include my phone number.
p.s. [RE the original Facebook note] I rather randomly tagged anyone I thought might be interested, until I ran out of tagging slots, so if you're interested and weren't tagged, don't take it personally! The more the merrier.
p.p.s. A couple people have contacted me expressing concerns about what to wear - don’t worry, darlings, you’ll get through it! Part of our rationale for pick the late 40s/early 50s is that the clothing, or something that resembles it, is easier to come by than that of earlier time periods. Also, this is an afternoon-into-evening garden party rather than an evening cocktail party, so that drops the level of formality a little. But of course - this is Hollywood, and I could certainly see a few starlets turning up a little too well turned out! I assure you that even if you have no idea what to wear, Lindsey or I can help you work something out. Even thrift stores are great about having things that look the part, and I know some of us have some extraneous pieces lying around. So first, talk to me and figure out a part, and then I can point you in the direction of what to wear. ALSO - for ladies in particular, if you want you can come early to have your hair and makeup done! If anyone would like to assist me in doing those things, let me know.
p.p.p.s. Lindsey and I are both perpetually broke - she's an actress and I'm putting every penny into my move back east (at the end of August), so in order to cover the pure costs of food, drinks, and (gasp) liquor, we're hoping everyone can contribute $15 each. There will be deliciousness and martinis, I promise.