FROM BOOKS TO SERIES: MISS MARPLE

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Let's get this out of the way at the very beginning -- its a case of a "story within a story" ... and a point which I never realized until I watched a documentary (featuring historian Lucy Worsley) but we'll get into that later.

And likely, I have several mistakes in this post ... my computer is acting up something fierce today ... not sure what's going on but I do know it needs an update

And before we begin ... let's do a Death Count:  BOTH book and series have 3 deaths, but there is one additional attempted killing, but the roles have been reversed from book to series episode.

I will embed both parts of the YouTube audiobooks at the very end ... these are NOT my videos/works in ANY WAY

A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED

Now when I first saw this episode of the BBC television series .... I thought it was one of the BEST Marple stories I had seen ...

Miss Marple is actually INVOVLED, a PART OF, the murder count!!

Although, obviously, she, herself, does not die .... she is very much involved!

So the major difference I noticed with the series episode and the book, has been the OPENING ... 
Now I understand that the novel has more time to build the story (page count being the only hinderance) and the episode is limited mostly by time (its was a 2 hourde) and technology (although special effects aren't used, there's a couple other things) ...

The Opening:
In the Episode, it opens with a "News Reel" like what used to occur in movie theaters/cinemas back during and after World War 2 ... and this does occur AFTER World War 2 ... so it makes sense ...
ACCEPT ...

This does NOT actually occur in the book ... in the book, it opens with the scene which comes AFTER the newsreel of the series ....

A paper boy is delivering the morning paper ...

Does anyone these days remember newspapers being delivered by YOUTH, on a BIKE?
One of my brothers used to delivery them -- I remember waking up one morning as a kid (maybe 5 or 6 years old) and finding him siting at the top of the basement steps carefully rolling that mornings paper into a throwable roll ... he sent me back to bed - he was not happy, it had rained during the night and some of the papers had gotten damp and they all stank ...
But, the morning newspapers had to be delivered BEFORE the sun came up ... 

In this episode, as well as in other shows which feature paper boys overseas (such as Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs, and All Creatures, both versions) they get their newspapers delivered AFTER sunrise - the paper boy is riding his bike while the sun is high enough in the sky to form hardly any shadow at all!!

Okay ... so that's the beginning.

In the book, it goes through HOW a person who lives in a small village/town ... where life is going so slow, where "nothing" seems to be going on ... it goes over HOW a person will generally go through the newspaper ...

Headlines, sports (perhaps) ... but EVERYONE seems to check out not the "Help Wanted" or "For Sale" ads ... but absolutely everyone, who is anyone, checks out - and often laughs at, or gossips about - the PERSONALS ...

Think of it as the "X" of their time ... the posts were short, brief , and varied ... generally not fitting into any other category ...

This time and ad appears announcing a dinner party at a local lady's home, where a murder will be committed!

The ad is nearly identical in both book and episode ...

During the dinner party, local "guests" invite themselves ... thinking this is supposed to be a party game (like the Breakout Rooms of today, only instead of solving clues to escape the room, they try to guess Who-Done-It) ...

The murder itself ... pretty close to each other.

Now in the book, Miss Jane Marple does not show up until QUARTER WAY into the story (based on the Audiobook being in 2 parts, each 4 hours long) ... and it turns out that she is related to one of the Police officers investigating the original death.

But they kept much of the same dialogue when she shows up, only they have placed her from the beginning in the hotel where the original murder victim worked ... and we find out just how smart she really is ... LOL

Now there is a word used to discribed older ladies in the UK ... one which has a totally different, not so mice meaning over here in the US ... it is only used in the BOOK - I would suppose because someone pointed out the issue ..

Old women are called "Pusssies" ... as in pussy-cat - and I assume its because it seems like so many elder ladies seem to own cats ....but - yeah - thought I'd better mention it.

Miss Marple gets much more time exploring the room where the hold-up/mrder took place ... gaining more insight from it than any of the police detectives.

Now there is an aspect which I am rather surprised to see in 1950 ... the idea of homosexuality .... the book simply takes it as a fact, doesn't make any blatant mention of it - and the series episode treats it just as well, we see them holding hands, bickering, living in the same household ... but nothing more than what is shown of any other couple.
Where this story filmed or written today, it bould be surrounded with as many pointers and bright lights as possible -- I think the way the book and series treated it is definately the better way, it "narmalizes" it, something which is simply there.
But in 1950 .... it was still ILLEGAL in most of the world to be homosexual - so Agatha Christie took a huge risk including this couple in the story!
Not giving any clues about who it is , you will have to either read, listen, or watch the story yourself!

Lots of Red Herrings in this book .... people we never see, people we see just a few times, and dead people all making appearances to keep things hopping!

While the book and series do differ a bit ... it is one of the best adaptions I've found so far ...
but then, I have only started doing this series.

And if you think the actress who plays "Lettie" looks familiar, she played Madame Hooch, the Riding Instructor, in Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone ...

Cool News For Scrappers

It's been a really long time ... A lot has happened in the world ... Even more in our personal lfe ... But I just had to share this for any readers who scrap:

You know when people look at your scrap book pages and then comment on how they would "love a copy" of that photo that's been glued/adhered down?

Now at Archivers (check their website for your nearest location) you can get full sized 12 inch copies ... Yes you can get a copy of the entire page! You can even get it shrunk down to a smaller 8 inch size if you want to make a sort of "souvenir" album.

I called my local store and they said that copies start at $3.49 a sheet ... I would assume (but I could very well be wrong) that to shrink it might cost a tad more.

I can see where this would come in handy for weddings - one main album for the bride/groom, and copies for the parents and the people who stood up - maybe even the officiate if they are a personal friend ...

Maybe that favorite aunt who couldn't make it ...
One for each of the kids later in your life ...
Or grandiose ...

How about baby books? Make the main one for your family and copies for each set of grandparents ...
Ones for the Godparents ...

What about bridal/ baby showers? Same thing ... Main one for mom/dad/baby ... Some for the grandparents .... Maybe a book that not only has pictures of things like baby's sonogram but also photos of mom &dad as kids thru the years for comparison ... What a precious gift this would be! Just make copies of the parents baby pictures so that the grandparents can get their photos back ... Most grandparents will have them either loose, in some of those albums where the photos just slide in, or in one of those albums that had the tiny sticky dot pages ...

HINT: if you do have photos on those old photo books with the sticky dots,be very careful removing them ... after being there for 20-30 years we found that they will be PERMENATELY stck and maybe damaged while trying to remove them from the page.

Check at Archivers (sorry but they are the experts on this one) and see if they have a product to dissolve the glue without damaging the photos.

I mean I know there is something out there - it's like Goop-Off or lighter fluid ( BUT DON'T USE THOSE) but it's a liquid that comes in a nozzle bottle that you squeeze on and it will gently eat the glue but the photo has minimum damage to it.

Any how ...

Just wanted to share about the copies ...

I think it's a wonderful idea ... Even if it is expensive - you are probably only to need/want this type of service so price will be a smaller factor in the long run.

why can't they get this thru their heads??

San Jose Mercury News - 'Shrek' special too 'hip' to join holiday classics

there will NEVER be another "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or "Frosty the Snowman" or "Here Comes Santa Claus".....those days are gone....because that collective innocense is gone.

What makes these movies classics isn't the "cuteness" factor....its the recreation they produce of a more peaceful, innocent, child-like state of mind....

when you watch Rudolph....it could be in the middle of August and 100*F outside....it makes you want to curl up under a blanket with a cup of cocoa which is using a candy cane as a swizzle stick. And yes I do really do this.

The classic films will instantly bring back memories of childhood....the incredible amount of presents under the tree--which seemed to take forever to open {of course now as a parent, you can't believe how quickly all those gifts get torn open}....it brings back the smells of mom's cooking still lingering in the air....the crisp bite of winter air on your nose as you helped to hang the Christmas lights and decorate the yard....making a snowman with your brothers--well okay, my brother's wouldn't share their snowmen with me, I had to make my own little ones.....

its that sense of nostagia that has made them "Classics". Why won't the Shrek special become a "Classic"? Because families don't have big meals anymore on a regular basis.....people pay some company to come decorate their house....snowmen are considered "inappropriate"....snowball fights are considered assaults....and kids aren't allowed to play outside if the temp gets below freezing.

Does this mean that there will never be a classic again? Of course not---look how quickly movies like "A Christmas Story" and "The Santa Clause" have become standards....even the poor but funny "Home Alone " 1 & 2 are Neo-Classical. All have to deal with two things--the innocense of youth and the rediscovery of the Holiday Spirit in the innocent kids parent/s.

I love A Christmas Story--even though it is set before my time--I can relate to much of what Ralphy goes thru....I remember walking 7 blocks to school in the dead of winter and trying to find short cuts....having the same friends from birth to about 4th grade {that's when things changed here}...do most kids have this anymore?

All you have to do is listen to the radio, watch the ads on television or go into a grocery store these days and see the crumbling of the American household---we live in a world of catered holiday dinners, quick fix one dish meals, and Christmas-in-a-truck {okay I am guilty of a lot of this too, and I'm a SAHM}

It has nothing to do with how hip a movie is, how cool the effects are, or how much money is spent making it....it has to do with capturing the feeling of youth at the time-=-or catching the feeling of being a parent at the time-=-or reminding parents about what it was like to be a kid if even for just a single day a year.

THAT is what makes a Christmas Classic!