MARY'S BIT or DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT ONE!
Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary defines a barometer as an ingenious instrument indicating what kind of weather someone is having. This stuck in memory because a while ago I suddenly noticed a positive rash of barometers appearing in all manner of cinematic and TV productions as well as the written word.
So just for the heck of it, I started to note them down as spotted. They're proving to be more numerous than anticipated, in the strange way that sometimes happens once you become aware of a particular thing. A couple of examples: there are two John Mills films where a barometer was observed lurking in the background -- The Long Memory, a crime film wherein Mills played a man falsely imprisoned for murder who returns after his release to enact revenge on those who framed him, and The October Man, featuring an excellent noir plot in which his character, because he is suffering badly from the result of a brain injury, is not certain if he's guilty of murder or not.
On the less fraught front, Dry Rot, adapted from a popular farce of the type presented for many years by London's Whitehall Theatre in London. Starring Brian Rix, a mainstay of this type of comedy, the plot concerns a kidnapped racehorse (its French jockey is also grabbed), both hidden in a secret room in a country hotel equipped with the hall barometer so commonly seen in a certain class of household and hostelries. Did Rix lose his trousers at some point? Of course he did! Meantime, pint-sized comedian Arthur Askey's character is working as make-up man for a TV network in Make Mine A Million and assists shady Sid James to publicise a new brand of washing powder by breaking into national broadcasts with advertisements, in what may well be the earliest cinematic example of a hacking.
As for TV appearances, subscribers may have noticed the barometer in the hall of the BBC's historical reality show The 1940s House, another in the foyer of the Fawlty Towers hotel in John Cleese's comedy series, and a truly magnificent specimen in an episode of The Ghost and Mrs Muir.
There's even an historical mystery reference for aficionados. The instrument is mentioned in The Reigate Puzzle, the sixth story in Conan Doyle's Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. A burglary takes place in a country house near the titular town, the thieves running off with a strange collection of loot, to wit, a volume of Homer, a pair of candlesticks, a letter-weight, a ball of twine -- and a small oak barometer. Holmes of course immediately deduces what this odd assortment means.
Finally, a couple of favourite literary references from A Tramp Abroad, in which Mark Twain relates the amusing origin of barometer soup and the tale of the narrow escape of a Mont Blanc guide who was among those swept away in an avalanche. About to fall into a glacier crevice as happens to the other sweptees, his life was saved by the long barometer strapped to his back. It served as a bridge across the chasm, holding him suspended there until rescuers arrive.
Cautious Alpine travellers, there you have it. Barometers: Don't Leave Home Without One!
AND FINALLY
We'll close with best wishes for the season to our subscribers and a hope the new year will be better for all of them than the current year has been, while also reminding them that the next Orphan Scrivener will arrive in their in-boxes on 15th February.
See you then!
Mary R and Eric
who invite you to visit their home page, to be found hanging out on the virtual washing line that is the Web at http://home.earthlink.net/~maywrite/ There you'll discover the usual suspects, including more personal essays, a bibliography, and our growing libraries of links to free e-texts of classic and Golden Age mysteries, ghost stories, and tales of the supernatural. There's also the Orphan Scrivener archive, so don't say you weren't warned! Our joint blog is at http://ericreedmysteries.blogspot.com/ Intrepid subscribers may also wish to know our noms des Twitter are @marymaywrite and @groggytales Drop in some time!
