Chapter 2 Scene 2

A shooting party

Chapter 2 Scene 2

I couldn't find good pics of Edwardian shooting parties. These ones look more dreary than I would have hoped for for my ladies.

Inverness, by the way is here for anyone unsure about it's location.

This painting gives a bit more of an idea I suppose.

This a from a movie but I think it gives a picture of women's costumes quite well.

In the scene Alice says that Gweondolyn was taught to shoot by Annie Oakley (who has toured England at the end of the Nineteenth Century.  Of course Gwendolyn is exceedingly rich and this is not unlikely in any event, But I offer this quote from Wikipedia

"Throughout her career, it is believed that Oakley taught upwards of 15,000 women how to use a gun. Oakley believed strongly that it was crucial for women to learn how to use a gun, as not only a form of physical and mental exercise, but also to defend themselves.^[10] She said:"I would like to see every woman know how to handle [firearms] as naturally as they know how to handle babies."!"

 On the right is the real Annie Oakley on the left is Gail Davis who was the TV Annie of my youth.

She came into my life most recently in the form of Jane Horrocks at the Young Vic. Not that it is relevant to my story but Horrocks was brilliant!!!

 And now for Gwendolyn's car which makes its first appearance in this scene. I think it looked something like this.









Lastly Colonel Mortimer Angel is in this scene. To me he still looks like this.

Chapter 2 Scene 1.2

Eliza and Rassendyll continue their tete a tete.

Chapter 2 Scene 1.2.

I used up all my relevant pics on the last one.

Chapter 2 Scene 1.1

Richard Rassndyll goes to the theatre

Chapter 2 Scene 1.1

At the turn of the century an American Actor / Director William Gillette acquired the theatricals rights to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. From memory, Conan Doyle wanted the cash to build a new house. The play was a huge success and played for many years on and off in various forms. Gillette gave Holmes several characteristics that have stuck with the character. For example, one is the curved brier pipe which meant that his face was more visible to the audience. Also, it is says that Americans have a slightly different idea of Holmes because of |Gillettes performance. They see him as a bit more of a dandy that do the British.









It opened at the Lyceum Theatre - shown here as it is today. It transferred to at some point to the Duke of York's Theatre where, in my mind, it is the setting for my scene.








The picture on the right is, again, how the theatre looks today.

Also, although he makes no appearance in my story, I think it is the British actor,  H. A. Sainstbury who has taken over the lead role at the time of my story. He was the rea;l ife mentor of the young actor who does appear in the story in the role of Billy the Messenger Boy. Billy was never named in the books but Gillette's production ensured that in all subsequent films the name stuck to the part.

Needless to say, it was a bit of excitement for me to see that photographs of Billy are still to be seen on the Web. Here he is as he appeared on stage and in the photo he presumably gave to fans.

My character, Richard Rassendyll plays a key role in scene and here is another possible likeness of him.  It has only just occurred to me that this is an actor famous for playing Holmes today. Also here is a picture, I don't know of whom, that might be like my Eliza was when she played the part. In the play the heroine role was based on Conan Doyle's Irene Adler but was named Alice Faulkner. At least Eliza didn't take her clothes off for the part as a more recent Irene Adler did. (Very effectively too!)

Eliza Eynsford-Hill

The next chapter I shall post features the ladies of the Kensington Gore Croquet Club. I thought before I do that I should say a little more about my character Mrs Frederick Eynsford-Hill -( to be formal with her name.) Shaw was right she did marry Freddie and Alan Jay Lerner was right too. He 'upped and ran away with a social climbing heiress from New York'.  Eliza, who, you may remember, was an accomplished mimic, became an actress. How she met with Vivie Raffles will be told later in the story. Here I want to talk about how she is forming in my mind.

Shaw always thought he was good at writing strong characters. I think though he was really best at strong men. I wanted to write some strong women. 



I think that this poster for My Fair Lady is perceptive.Higgins manipulates Eliza: Shaw manipulates Higgins. Higgins will probably stay offstage in my story although I imagine Eliza still invites him and Pickering to her opening nights.











Here is the original stage Eliza - Mrs Patrick Campbell. Eliza in my story is a bit jealous of her; especially as Shaw write's such good plays for her!

I think Audrey Hepburn is probably the most famopus Eliza now. To me, she is closest to the Eliza I want to have in my story pre-transformation. But there is no denying she looks good in the glad-rags. Her place in my story, and indeed in the croquet club is because she has made the leap from the underclass to a position where she can control her own destiny. I read someone saying that her being a flower-girl was a euphemism for prostitute   I dont agree with this interpretation at all but it does suit my purposes.

But let's not waste the lovely Audrey while we're on the subject of Eliza. And, while we're at it two more Elizas - Diana Rigg on the stage and Carey Mulligan who will shortly play her in the My Fair Lady remake. None of the Elizas so far though are quite what I had in mind.

Mind you Hepburn made her so iconic that she achieved Barbie status!


I think I get closer to the Eliza that I want with Julie Andrews; the first My Fair Lady (did you know that is supposed to be cockney for Mayfair Lady?) on Broadway and the West End.

















Julie Andrews comes closer to the strength in Eliza that I wanted but lacks perhaps the playfulness.






















But now we begin to other resonances. In the movie 'Star' Andrews captured a star of an earlier era, Gertrude lawrence. Lawrence had been a notable Eliza in Pygmalian.

Here she is. I think this comes very close to how I see my Eliza. The picture has a natural datedness but aside from that, I think Lawrence's natural comic talent shows through th glamour.

But wait: there is more.  Julie Andrews followed up her stage Eliza with Mary Poppins. Everyone expected in that year Hepburn would win the Oscar for My fair Lady but instead Andrews won it.

So in my mind, all these images come together to make my Eliza. I shall now share with you something that is not well known.Clearly, in the story, Poppins has some supernatural powers. Her author RL Travers (seen below very appropriately as Titania was trained in mysticism by none other than GI Gurdjieff who makes an appearance in my story.

So there you are; somewhere among all of that, my Eliza is taking form.

Readability meaures

Now I've posted all the first draft of Chapter 1, I thought I'd share a useful tip from this book by Jim Smith. It is one of the best practical guides I have seen.

One of the things it suggests is to keep track of readability statistics. These can be calculated by, for example, Microsoft Word.

Look at the table below. The Flesch score is a measure of how hard a piece of text is to read. Higher is better. The Fleach - Kincaid measure is an indicator of American school grade at which students can be expected to follow the text. I really only use the former. Smith recommends staying higher than 80. This tends to give a bit of a 'cat sat on the mat' feel to a story. It conflicts with those who tell us to write elegant sentences that involve semi-colons and such.  I have decided to stick with Smith's advice at least until I have a first draft. Although you will see that the scenes in the first chapter don't always succeed in this.

Probably more importantly, Smith recommends a pacing of the rhythm of the story.  You will see how the two halves of Scenes 3 and 4 pick up pace as they work towards the end of the scene.Also the final scene picks up pace and the start was with a bit of a bang.  I was quietly pleased with myselffor those bits.

Scene	Version	Words	words per sentence	characters per word	Flesch	Flesch / Kincaid	Passives sentences
1	1.3	517	8.0	4.2	85.5	3.3	3.0%
2	1.0	803	10.6	4.4	79.1	4.7	1.0%
3.1	1.0	1,526	nc	nc	73.6	5.6	7.0%
3.2	1.0	1,222	nc	nc	80.4	4.7	4.0%
4.1	1.0	1,431	nc	nc	71.4	7.1	4.0%
4.2	1.0	1,177	11.0	4.2	81.7	4.5	1.0%
5	1.0	1,464	15.7	4.4	76.0	5.2	2.0%
6	1.0	1,223	nc	nc	75.8	6.0	3.0%
7	1.0	1,362	nc	nc	79.7	4.7	0.0%
8	1.0	1,201	8.7	4.1	85.0	3.5	5.0%

nc = not calculated

Chapter 1 Scene 8

The last scene of Chapter 1, in which the Master of Dover Castle consults the Queen Empress

Chapter 1 Scene 8

At the end of this draft of Chapter 1 I have all my main characters on the board and moving.



This is Queen Victoria (not moving but perhaps spinning in her grave). It is I imagine a common view of her not being amused and so forth.

This is a view of her as seen by her people towards the end of her reign as Queen - Empress.

A rather different view of her. Prince Albert kep this picture to himself. It was the strand of hair that was considered risque.

An uncommon view of Victoria - at least today. It is one I'd like you to observe carefully though. See the pride and determination.

An old phonograph and some cylinders - for reasons that will become apparent.

Two likenesses perhaps of the Master of Dover. (Alister Sim and Charles Laughton.)

Two likenesses perhaps of Richard Rassendyll (David Niven and Douglas Fairbanks Jnr)

Chapter 1 Scene 7

The Master of Dover Castle confers with the Laird of Boleskine

Chapter 1 Scene 7

Dover Castle

 I have posted some pics of Crowley already but there are so many great photos of him that I can't resist two more. I may have been unfair to him in my story but he was so determined to promote his own notoriety that I have no conscience at all.

After all... anyone who can pose like this...!

Mind you he was very much admired by some back in the sixties. Here he is on the Sergeant Pepper cover.