"Crime Must Be Stylish"

MOST people will agree that this man was a . . .

"Master of Mayhem."

Concerning Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980; Wikipedia HERE; the SFE HERE; the ISFDb HERE; The Hitchcock Zone HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

By Jon Whitcomb (1906-88).

First appearance: Cosmopolitan, October 1959.

Article (4 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE; go to text page 22).

   "It must have imagination and originality. I believe, furthermore, that logic is dull. I approach crime with fantasy."

HERE we have a celebrity profile of Alfred Hitchcock near the peak of his Hollywood period, as well as a sneaky promotional piece for the impending Christmas release of North by Northwest. Things were going very well for Hitchcock in the 1950s: nearly all of his movies were hits, his TV show got good ratings, and his magazine was selling nicely—and this was just before Psycho ("Don’t ask for clues on the subject matter. You'll just have to be surprised").

His technique:

  "Hitchcock’s preparations before shooting are so complete that he endures the actual filming process as an anticlimax. He never worries about progress, as all problems have been anticipated and licked beforehand. He sees the finished picture complete in his mind’s eye, and this is why he never bothers to look through the finder of a camera."

The British knack:

  "Hitchcock constructed a script from the novel by a British mystery writer, Henry Cecil. The English, he feels, have considerably more flair for crime and criminals than Americans: They are more inclined to relish fine points of technique and have a quicker appreciation for grisly details. England seems to supply a higher proportion of colorful misdeeds and piquant evil-doers. And with them goes a large posse of writers (like Agatha Christie) who organize the material into novels and screenplays of great finesse and ingenuity."

The McGuffin:

  "All Hitchcock films devote much attention to The McGuffin. This term is used to describe what the crooks are after, be it atomic secrets, plans for the fortifications, or the kidnap ransom. If The McGuffin is sufficiently interesting, the picture is bound to be a success."

References and resources:

- Movie titles, not all of them Hitchcock's (WARNING! SPOILERS ABOUND! in Wikipedia):

  Rebecca (HERE), Suspicion (HERE), Dial M for Murder (HERE), Rear Window (HERE), To Catch a Thief (HERE), The Trouble with Harry (HERE), Vertigo (HERE), North by Northwest (HERE), No Bail for the Judge (HERE and HERE), The Unforgiven (HERE), Psycho (HERE), Diabolique (HERE), Woman to Woman (HERE), Lifeboat (HERE), Spellbound (HERE), High Noon (HERE), and "a current film based on Nazi atrocities which made money as a play" (Is that the 1959 Playhouse 90 version of Judgment at Nuremberg or the upcoming film? HERE and HERE).

- People and names, not all of them actors:

  Elsie Dinsmore (HERE), Charles Addams (HERE), Vera Miles (HERE), Kim Novak (HERE), Gordon Scott (HERE), Audrey Hepburn (HERE), Tony Perkins (HERE), Burt Champion, Judith Evelyn (HERE), James Stewart (HERE), Samuel Taylor (HERE), Henry Cecil (HERE), Agatha Christie (HERE), Carole Lombard (HERE), Cecil B. DeMille (HERE), Alma Reville (HERE), Tallulah Bankhead (HERE), Dorothy Thompson (HERE), Eva Marie Saint (HERE), Marlene Dietrich (HERE), Grace Kelly (HERE), and Marilyn Monroe (HERE).

- Starting in 1933, Jon Whitcomb was primarily an illustrator for the slicks (e.g., Collier's, McCall's, Cosmopolitan, etc.) who infrequently got writing assignments that featured well-known showbiz celebrities of the day (e.g., Lana Turner, Brigitte Bardot, Warren Beatty). 

See FictionMags (HERE) for a listing of his work.

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"Murder or Suicide, It Is Still Impossible!"

TODAY we return to our favorite literary thaumaturgist, John Dickson Carr (JDC), and our favorite British cop, Colonel March, "head of D3 Department at Scotland Yard, better known as the Department of Queer Complaints," as together they disassemble the mystery of . . .

"The Lion's Paw."

(a.k.a. "Error at Daybreak").

By Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr, 1906-77; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the IMDb HERE; Wikipedia HERE).

First appearance: The Strand Magazine, July 1938.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Collected in (The) Department of Queer Complaints (1940; ISFDb HERE).

Reprinted in EQMM, July 1967 (today's text).

Short story (13 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 51.)

   "I'm afraid this is murder."

"There had to be an independent witness." And let's not forget a body. A murder just doesn't seem like a murder without a body. Ask the "independent witness": "For 'unsuspicious,' he said, read 'imbecile'. . ."

Main characters:

~ Bill Stacey ("Murdered? How could he have been murdered?"), Norman Kane ("You traitor"), Marion Kane ("I have looked up to him all my life"), Dr. Hastings ("Yes, he's dead right enough; but possibly not for the reason you think"), Lionel Pell ("I was in bed and asleep when it happened"), Superintendent Morgan ("Because it's an impossible thing you tell us"), and Colonel March ("there are one or two things here that are rather in my line").

References and resources:

- "Those air rifles":

  Definitely not a child's toy:

  "An air gun or airgun is a gun that uses energy from compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized and then released to propel and accelerate projectiles, similar to the principle of the primitive blowgun. This is in contrast to a firearm, which shoots projectiles using energy generated via exothermic combustion (detonation) of chemical propellants, most often black powder or smokeless powder." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "Other financiers have been known to do it":

  NOTE: DO NOT GO TO THESE SITES UNTIL YOU'VE READ THE STORY! Examples from long ago would include Timothy Dexter (Wikipedia HERE) and William Goodwin Geddes (Mental Floss No. 4 HERE).

- "there was no pulse":

  NOTE: DO NOT GO TO THIS SITE UNTIL YOU'VE READ THE STORY! A magician explains how it's done in detail (Nathan Tr!cky Allen WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

- "The stranger weighed some 250 pounds and his waterproof made him seem even larger":

  Our author's description of Colonel March seems to be at variance with the actor who played him on television (HERE), especially the eyepatch.

- If you're in the mood for another "impossible crime"—but one not solved by JDC—then consult John Sladek's tongue-in-cheek "The Locked Room: Another Fenton Worth Mystery" (HERE).

- Amazing. It was over five years ago now that we examined JDC's classic "The Third Bullet" featuring Dr. Gideon Fell (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"No Strings Attached"

NEAR the beginning of his writing career (which would eventually span almost seventy-five years), Ray Bradbury latched onto the notion of "substitute people," that is, exact replicas of human beings, and with it he explored both the possible emotional, social, and criminal implications and the resulting ramifications of that idea in three stories that have become known as the "Marionettes, Inc." series, after the title of the first one. While other writers have covered the same territory, leave it to Bradbury to put his own unique twists in the tales . . .

(1) "Marionettes, Inc."

By Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

First appearance: Startling Stories, March 1949.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Wikipedia (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

Filmed for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series in 1958 as "Design for Loving" (IMDb WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE) and in 1985 for The Ray Bradbury Theater series (IMDb WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 125).

(Note: Text quite faded.)

   "There's a lot they don't know about us."

IT would have saved a lot of trouble if someone had said something like that to Victor Frankenstein . . .

Principal characters:

~ Braling ("You're lucky, at least, that your wife loves you. Hate's my problem. Not so easy"), Smith ("It will be my task to make her love me comfortably"), Braling Two ("I don't like that tool box"), Nettie (""Tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic"), and Mrs. Braling ("Why—you haven't done that in years").

Typo: "appaled".

References:

- "Bond Street and melachrinos":

  "According to Westminster City Council, Bond Street has the highest density of haute couture stores anywhere in the world, attracting 'the rich, the famous, and the simply curious'." (Wikipedia HERE.)

  "Melachrino: traditional aromatic cake with raisins and walnuts, resembling syrupy walnut pie. Perfect with coffee during fasting." (GastronomyTours.com HERE.)

- "kidney-desk":

  "A kidney desk is a desk that has a curvy top that is similar in shape to a human kidney. Many kidney desks are very ornate, showing off details like vellum-lined tabletops and parquetry inlay." (1stDibs Expert HERE).

(2) "Changeling."

By Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

First appearance: Super Science Stories, July 1949.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (6 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 98).

(Note: Text mildly faded.)

   "He couldn't be in two places."

THE Heisenberg uncertainty principle says that you can't confidently test something 

without somehow interfering with the results. On a warm summer evening a suspicious 

wife decides to test the theory: "She walked over to the other couch, reached down and 

drew out the gun" . . .

Principal characters:

~ Leonard Hill ("he watched her with the eye of a psychiatrist witnessing a not-unusual phenomenon") and Martha Hill ("She had seen the news item last week, the item that had finally set her worrying and planning").

Typos: "No dairy"; "Is Says".

(3) "Punishment Without Crime."

By Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

First appearance: Other Worlds, March 1950.

Artist uncredited.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Filmed for The Ray Bradbury Theater TV series in 1988 (IMDb (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

Short short story (8 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 6).

(Note: See page 5 for the editor's mildly enthusiastic comments about this story.)

(Further note: Text faded but legible.)

   "Better men than he had taken young wives only to have them dissolve away in their hands like sugar crystals under water."

WHEN is a murder not a murder? When it's a non-murder. And when is a non-murder a murder? Poor George is about to find out what the Bard noted centuries ago: "We have 

strict statutes and most biting laws" . . .

Principal characters:

~ "the dark man at the desk" ("You wish to kill your wife?"), George Hill ("I don't want to kill you"), Katherine Hill ("One part of you does"), the lawyer ("they had to have an object case, a whipping boy"), and Leonard Phelps ("the man took her arm").

References:

- "Thou art fair" and so on:

  Bradbury plunders the Song of Solomon (HERE).

................................................................................................................................................................

More references and resources:

- Bradbury's "marionettes" would seem to conform largely to the usual picture of a mechani-cal android:

  "Authors have used the term android in more diverse ways than robot or cyborg. In some fictional works, the difference between a robot and android is only superficial, with androids being made to look like humans on the outside but with robot-like internal mechanics. In other stories, authors have used the word 'android' to mean a wholly organic, yet artificial, creation. Other fictional depictions of androids fall somewhere in between.

  "Eric G. Wilson, who defines an android as a 'synthetic human being', distinguishes between three types of android, based on their body's composition:

    the mummy type – made of 'dead things' or 'stiff, inanimate, natural material', such as mummies, puppets, dolls and statues

    the golem type – made from flexible, possibly organic material, including golems and homunculi

    the automaton type – made from a mix of dead and living parts, including automatons and robots.

  "Although human morphology is not necessarily the ideal form for working robots, the fascination in developing robots that can mimic it can be found historically in the assimilation of two concepts: simulacra (devices that exhibit likeness) and automata (devices that have independence)." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- We last beheld Ray Bradbury's work with his "Half-Pint Homicide" (HERE).

The bottom line:

  We must not make a scarecrow of the law,

  Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,

  And let it keep one shape, till custom make it

  Their perch and not their terror.

    — Measure for Measure

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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UPDATE: Anthony Gilbert's SEQUEL TO MURDER Collection

Added four links to EQMMs and one to The Saint Magazine (HERE).

"You Can Shoot and Commit Suicide, Jesse James"

"Partner's Payoff."

By Roger Dee (Roger Dee Aycock, 1914-2004; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; FictionMags HERE).

Artist uncredited.

First appearance: Stories Annual No. 1 (1955).

Short short short story (2 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "I cleaned out the register on the double, forgetting I'd ever been a hero."

WE'RE often admonished not to judge a book by its cover, something that's applicable to people as well, a good case in point being the gasoline hose jockey in today's story . . .

Main characters:

~ Unnamed narrator ("being shot up don't feel like the books tell it"), Al Wirtz ("Now, wise guy, go ahead and shoot"), and "this thin-faced character" ("he took an automatic out of his coat pocket").

References and resource:

- "in World War II from Bizerte to Berlin":

  Since the story appeared about a decade after the war ended, our author could be confident that most readers would catch the references. "Bizerte" here signifies the first large-scale employment of American forces as part of the Allied effort to drive Axis forces out North Africa. "Berlin" signifies the Allied victory over the forces loyal to the German Führer. (Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

- "ETO":

  The same would go for "ETO": "The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army opera-tions throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "TNT":

  If you like big bangs:

  "Trinitrotoluene more commonly known as TNT (and more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene), and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard comparative convention of bombs and asteroid impacts." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "Adam's apple":

  They're quite common:

  "The topographic structure which is externally visible and colloquially called the 'Adam's apple' is caused by an anatomical structure of the thyroid cartilage called the laryngeal prominence or laryngeal protuberance protruding and forming a 'bump' under the skin at the front of the throat. All human beings with a normal anatomy have a laryngeal protuberance of the thyroid cartilage. This prominence is typically larger and more externally noticeable in adult males.

  ". . . [One] explanation for the origin of the phrase: a piece of forbidden fruit was supposedly embedded in the throat of Adam, who according to the Abrahamic religions was the first man:

     the common people have a belief, that by the judgment of God, a part of that fatal Apple, abode sticking in Adams Throat, and is so communicated to his posterity

"This etymology is also proposed by Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary. The story is not found in the Bible or other Judeo-Christian or Islamic writings." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- We featured one of Roger Dee's SFF efforts on ONTOS about seven years ago, "The Watchers" (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"This Was the Only Way Out"

"Third from the Sun."

By Richard Matheson (1926-2013; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; IMDb HERE).

Illustration by [Paul] Callé (1928-2010; ISFDb HERE).

First appearance: Galaxy, October 1950 (first issue).

Reprinted many times (ISFDb HERE).

Book collection online at The Luminist Archives (HERE).

Filmed for The Twilight Zone TV series in 1960 (WARNING! SPOILERS! in both: IMDb HERE and Wikipedia HERE).

Short short story (6 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "The green planet with the single moon."

WHAT would you do if you believed there was no tomorrow?

Principal characters (none with names):

~ The father, his wife, and their children, and their neighbor, his wife, and their children.

Reference and resources:

- "The ship quivered a brief second":

  Evidently engineers have somehow overcome a major obstacle to spaceflight:

  "Gravity is such a pesky thing. It prevents us from doing all sorts of wonderful things. Such as floating through the air like a balloon, traveling into orbit without paying an ugly cost in delta V, and being morbidly obese but still light on your feet like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

  "By the same token, it would also be incredibly useful to be able to create gravity on command. Then you could do things like create artificial gravity inside your space-craft without unwieldy centrifuges, preventing the crew from getting killed by multi-gee acceleration, and make attractor beams." (Atomic Rockets HERE; also see Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

- The Twilight Zone Vortex site has comprehensive coverage of (and notes about plot changes for) "Third from the Sun" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE), as does TV Tropes (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

- Other stories that ONTOS has featured which were adapted to the Twilight Zone series: Charles Beaumont's "The Beautiful People" (HERE), Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life" (HERE), and Lyn Venable's "Time Enough at Last" (HERE; see "References and resources").

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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UPDATE: Lloyd Biggle's Grandfather Rastin Series

Added links to five EQMM stories and one for Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report" (HERE; see "Resources").

Something "Special"

"The Special Exhibit."

By Robert Sheckley (1928-2005; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; IMDb HERE).

Artist uncredited.

First appearance: Esquire, October 1953.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (1 page).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "The Special Exhibit was, of course, a far more effective problem solver than marriage counseling, psychiatry, psychoanalysis or even simple forbearance."

IT sounds to us like The Special Exhibit might be a threat to the status quo . . .

Principal characters:

~ Mr. Grant ("Failure would be ridiculous"), Mrs. Grant ("Educational"), Simmons ("I think Dr. Carver and his wife were the last to view it"), several savages, including an ancient, wrinkled woman ("lounged on the vine-tangled ground"), and Mrs. Carver (in absentia).

References and resources:

- "to join the French Foreign Legion":

  The subject of many a romantic narrative; nostalgic Hollywood made films about it:

  "The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère) is an elite corps of the French Army that consists of several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, and airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army. It formed part of the Armée d’Afrique, the French Army's units associated with France's colonial project in North Africa, until the end of the Algerian War in 1962.

  "Legionnaires are highly trained soldiers and the French Foreign Legion is unique in that it is open to foreign recruits willing to serve in the French Armed Forces." (Wikipedia HERE; also see HERE and WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE.)

- "his work in ornithology":

  "Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "anthropology wasn't his line":

  "Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavior, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. The term sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today. Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of humans." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a family of Axis deer":

  "The chital or cheetal (Axis axis), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- When it comes to pulp fiction, there's no way to miss Robert Sheckley (as if you'd want to). Previous ONTOS encounters with him include:

  ~ "Watchbird" (HERE)

  ~ "Seventh Victim" (HERE)

  ~ "Killer's Masquerade" (HERE)

  ~ "A Thief in Time" (HERE)

  ~ and "Double Indemnity" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"If Only He Had Kept the Knife . . ."

"Star Light!"

By Isaac Asimov (1920-92; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; Asimov Online HERE).

First appearance: "First published in the magazine Scientific American, October 1962." (ISFDb).

Today's text: As reprinted in Asimov's Mysteries (1968).

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "A knife was still the best, just as quick as a molecular depolarizer, just as fatal, and much more quiet."

TOLKEIN assures us, "Not all who wander are lost." Tell that to Trent . . .

Principal characters:

~ Arthur Trent ("Sounds too complicated") and Old Brennmeyer ("It can't miss").

Typo: "centered about" (should be "on").

Comment: No doubt there was intentional irony in Lyn Venable's story title about punishment fitting the crime, and we surmise that Asimov was thinking along those 

lines, too.

References and resources:

- "Jump through hyperspace":

  "The 2007 Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction lists the following terms related to the concept of space drive: gravity drive, hyperdrive, ion drive, jump drive, overdrive, ramscoop (a synonym for ram-jet), reaction drive, stargate, ultradrive, warp drive and torchdrive. Several of these terms are entirely fictitious or are based on 'rubber science', while others are based on real scientific theories. Many fictitious means of travelling through space, in particular, faster than light travel, tend to go against the current understanding of physics, in particular, the theory of relativity."

  As for that jump through hyperspace: "[A jump drive] teleports ships instantaneously from one point to another. The concept of 'jumps' between stars was popularized by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, which debuted in 1942. The term 'jump drive' was used in Harry Harrison's Ethical Engineer (1963)." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "every star of spectral class of F, B, A, and O":

  Stars of spectral classes F and G (i.e., the Sun) are favored as likely candidates for having habitable planets:

  "In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the rainbow of colors interspersed with spectral lines. Each line indicates a particular chemical element or molecule, with the line strength indicating the abundance of that element. The strengths of the different spectral lines vary mainly due to the temperature of the photosphere, although in some cases there are true abundance differences. The spectral class of a star is a short code primarily summarizing the ionization state, giving an objective measure of the photosphere's temperature. . . .

  "Most stars are currently classified under the Morgan–Keenan (MK) system using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, a sequence from the hottest (O type) to the coolest (M type). Each letter class is then subdivided using a numeric digit with 0 being hottest and 9 being coolest (e.g., A8, A9, F0, and F1 form a sequence from hotter to cooler)." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a molecular depolarizer":

  If the polarity of the molecules in someone's body is suddenly reduced to zero, the results probably won't be pleasant:

  "Usage of the term 'depolarization' in biology differs from its use in physics, where it refers to situations in which any form of polarity (i.e., the presence of any electrical charge, whether positive or negative) changes to a value of zero." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a nova":

  A star that sheds some of its mass explosively; not to be confused with a supernova, which blows itself to smithereens:

  "Novae most often occur in the sky along the path of the Milky Way, especially near the observed Galactic Center in Sagittarius; however, they can appear anywhere in the sky. They occur far more frequently than galactic supernovae, averaging about ten per year in the Milky Way. . . . Astronomers have estimated that the Milky Way experiences roughly 25 to 75 novae per year. The number of novae actually observed in the Milky Way each year is much lower, about 10, probably because distant novae are obscured by gas and dust absorption." (Wikipedia HERE.)

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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