Laura by Vera Caspary
published 1943
Laura had become a Manhattan legend. Scarlet-minded headline artists had named her tragedy THE BACHELOR GIRL MURDER and one example of Sunday edition belles-lettres was tantalizingly titled SEEK ROMEO IN EAST SIDE LOVE-KILLING. By the necromancy of modern journalism, a gracious young woman had been transformed into a dangerous siren who practiced her wiles in that fascinating neighborhood where Park Avenue meets Bohemia. Her generous way of life had become an uninterrupted orgy of drunkenness, lust, and deceit, as titillating to the masses as it was profitable to the publishers…
East Sixty-Second Street had yielded to the spirit of
carnival. Popcorn vendors and pushcart peddlers, sensing the profit in
disaster, offered ice-cream sandwiches, pickles, and nickel franks to buzzards
who battened on excitement. Sunday’s sweethearts had deserted the green
pastures of Central Park to stroll arm-in-arm past her house, gaping at daisies
which had been watered by the hands of a murder victim.
Fathers pushed perambulators and mothers scolded the brats
who tortured the cops who guarded the door of a house in which a bachelor girl
had been slain.
comments: Always good to be reminded that intrusive and tasteless press coverage, and public fascination with crime, was not invented recently.
Next point: WHY do I keep getting the name wrong? When I originally wrote a post
on this book, I called it Vera by Laura Caspery. I was doing it in a hurry, but
still, what was I thinking of? They are not at all the same kind of first name:
I have a filing system in my brain for names, and they are nowhere near each
other. (And I should be able to copy a last name.)
The reason I wrote about it before was that I took part in
a podcast on it with my old mate Sergio Angelini, over at his wonderful Tipping My
Fedora
Tipping
My Fedora: Laura, a classic film and book....
- I
strongly recommend looking through his backlist, as my readers here are sure to
find topics to tempt them (as well, of course, as hanging onto MY every word).
One of the topics Sergio and I discussed was an outfit that
appeared in the film of Laura on her tricksy aunt Ann Tredwell (Susan in the
book). You can see it in the picture.
Sergio – a man with a conoisseur’s eye – asked me ‘why is she wearing a tablecloth tied over her dress?’ Tut. We had a helpful (and highly enjoyable) technical discussion on overdresses and apron dresses. Recently I came across a fashion drawing from the era, by Schiaparelli (that’s a top designer, Sergio) which had a similar look, and that put me in mind to do another post on the book…. And an excuse to find some more pictures
Incidentally, Ann T is played by the wonderful Judith
Anderson, who stands out even amidst the stellar cast of Laura: she has such
charisma, she steals every scene she’s in. (If you are wondering where you know
her from, her most famous role is as Mrs Danvers the housekeeper in Hitchcock’s
Rebecca)
Waldo Lydecker, a key player, mentor and confidante to
Laura, pads around in very fancy dressing-gowns.
The body in the apartment meanwhile is discovered in
A blue silk taffeta robe and a pair of silver slippers
-the top picture suggests a lot more liveliness than that.
Waldo describes Laura:
...she wore a gown of champagne-colored chiffon and
jade-colored slippers. Extraordinarily effective with her eyes and hair.
In a pink bed, wearing a jacket with fur on the
sleeves, lay Mrs. Susan [ie Ann] Treadwell
This is of course actually Vivian Leigh/Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.
Mrs Tredwell is annoyed about Laura's generosity:
Remember that model… the girl with the fancy name? Laura
got me to give her my leopard coat. It wasn’t half worn out either. I could
have got another winter out of it and spared my mink.
It’s hard to judge a book that was so famous, that produced
an iconic film (with an iconic piece of music), and that has a famous surprise
in it: and for me one that I first read long ago. But it was a delight to read
again, and you have to admire Caspary’s structure, her cleverness, and her
ability to tell a complex story, in various POVs, over a minimal number of
pages – it is surprisingly short considering everything that’s going on.
And if you want to know more – be sure to check out
Sergio’s and my podcast.
The book is famous for the detective’s obsession with
Laura, an unhealthy love for a corpse, and also for a surprise in the middle,
For both these reasons, the book was mentioned in this
post:
Great endings, and Fredric Brown
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