"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"A murder?" we both asked, astonished. Other things besides dial telephones had not as yet reached the Upper Peninsula, and crime was, at least partially, among them. Shocks such as this one were few and far between. The quiet and sheltered life we enjoyed in our lovely peninsula was attributable, at least in part, to our separation from the rest of the state by the Straits of Mackinac, and from Canada by Lake Superior. Not many outside influences wormed their way into our tranquil existence.
"In Big Bay," Bee went on. "At the local bar." Honey-Bee had a summer job that year at Bay Cliff, a camp for handicapped children that was located in that small town on Lake Superior just a few miles northwest of Marquette.
"Who was murdered?" Bill queried.
"The bar owner. I don't know his name. Some man just walked in, headed for the bar, and shot him."
"Does anyone have an idea why?" I wondered, enjoying the prospect of having something so exciting to talk about. Honey-Bee had our undivided attention.
"No one seems to know much about it yet,"she told us. "They're still investigating."
That night and that story were to mean much more to all of us than we could possibly have known as we talked that summer evening. The shooting in Big Bay gave us Anatomy of a Murder, the book, and Anatomy of a Murder, the movie. John would write the book, many of us would participate in the movie, and our little town would be jump-started with the electrical charge of a major motion picture being filmed in our midst. We would brush elbows with famous actors, actresses, directors, musicians, cameramen, costume designers, and sound engineers.
Bill and I heard the story from Elizabeth Voelker, daughter of John D. Voelker, who would author the novel under his pen name, Robert Traver, Traver being his mother's maiden name. None of us could have known, then, just what it portended for us all....
[continued]
BEN GAZZARA
Ben was a flirt. What girl, married or single, young or old, doesn't like to be flirted with? Not me, anyway.
"Are you married, Joanie?" he asked shortly after he arrived.
"Yes, I am."
Leaning on his elbows on my cahsier's desk, his face level with mine, he stared at me with those penetrating eyes. I drowned in them. He asked, "How married are you, Joanie?"
My breath caught.
But, of course, I was married, and so replied banteringly, "Pretty married, Bennie."
That started something. Soon George C. Scott was "Georgie," and Duke Ellington became "Dukie." Even Mr. Preminger picked it up. "Hello, Georgie," he would say, or, to John, "How are you today, Judgie?" John Voelker loved calling Ellington "Dukie," and much later wrote a piece about the composer entitled "Dukie." No one seemed to know how those nicknames got started, but I did. It began with, "How married are you, Joanie?" "Pretty married, Bennie."
No one called Mr. Preminger "Ottoie," though. He was much too formidable for that.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. First Edition (?). B & W and Color; 8.30 X 5.30 X 0.30 inches; 80 pages; Softcover has a white spine. Pages are clean and tight; appears as if unused. Illustrated with b/w and color photographs. "Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film, directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver. Voelker based the novel on a 1952 murder case in which he was the defense attorney. Starred James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, Brooks West, Orson Bean, and Murray Hamilton. The judge was played by Joseph N. Welch, a real-life lawyer famous for berating Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy Hearings. This was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to address sex and rape in graphic terms". Seller Inventory # 12070