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Friday, January 2, 2015

Hitchcock and Characters- Candor Questions





Rodger Sauer asked: Regarding The Lady Vanishes (1938 version):  There were so many distinct and colorful characters.  Which one was your favorite, and why?


Since he’s my dad, he has privileged information like this, knowing what movies I watch and the like. Except when I’m being moody and watching cheesy chick-flicks in my room with my dog. He usually doesn’t know about those. He just knows it’s a good time to make me tea and tell me he loves me.

Anyway! Yes, that movie certainly does have a lot of great characters. And, choosing a favorite is hard. But, I have managed to rise to the task.

My favorite character is Michael Redgrave’s character Gilbert, for several reasons:

For one, he plays the clarinet. Need I say more? I mean, that in and of itself is awesome. I really love at the beginning when he’s got the thing slung across his back with a strap and he’s walking around with it and yeah, it’s awesome. I also love that in the first three scene we see him he’s playing his clarinet. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if he had had the thing for the whole movie and played randomly throughout. Hm… character idea right there…

Two, he’s the love interest and while they have some tension at the beginning, when he sees the main character on the train and she tells him about her predicament, he’s more than willing to help her. No, he doesn’t believe her right away, but he’s still willing to drop everything and help her when he sees she’s in trouble.

And, for three, he’s kind of ridiculous and he makes me laugh. Characters who make me laugh are good. Oh, wait.., most of the characters in the movie fall under that category… anyway! That’s still a reason why he’s my favorite. He has a very engaging personality that just kind of makes me like him.

So, yup! Gilbert the clarinet player. He’s my favorite.




Nancy Sauer asked: I have been going through old letters from you and your family so I was wondering if you have heard anything from Periwinkle Jones recently?  And do you think she will ever get in touch with you again?

Oh!! Oh!!! Oh!!! This question makes me really excited, because unlike my dad, my grandma doesn’t live with me so she doesn’t have privilege information.

So, she has no way of knowing what I happen to be working on right now.

The short answer to this question is: Yup. I actually wrote about her today. And, the day I got the question. And the days leading up to when I received the question.

The long answer (since I always have to give a long answer): I recently started working lengthening a short story I wrote. Originally, it was going to be a series of short stories but I decided it made more sense to length it into a novella and mash the first two stories ideas into one. The second story’s plot (which is now part of the novella’s plot) featured a girl who moved into the farm by the main characters. The girl’s name? Periwinkle Jones.

She’s a bit different than the original Periwinkle (and she’s no longer the main character) but a lot of the essence of her and what I had hoped to do with her is the same. She still has the brothers, though their names are changed and I added one (or, rather, I made the character who I had planned on being her best friend be both her best friend and her brother).

But, she’s the same blue-eyed, freckle-faced young woman I created all those years ago.

Since I only just started working on this story about a week or so. Which is why it’s totally crazy why this question was asked now and not a while ago. But, also why the question totally made my day when I got it!



And, there you have it. If you have a question you want answered make sure you send it in before Friday. Can’t wait to see what you cook up for me to answer!

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