[Quirky Quokka]

Regarding Laura Desmond, Crashryan said:

During all this hullabaloo everyone--especially the writer--seems to have overlooked one important point. Laura is a scheming good-for-nothing etc., but she is not a murderess. She killed Norman in self-defense. The guy was strangling her when she popped him with the poker. She should have stuck around, called the cops, and shown off her bruised throat. She surely would have gotten off with "justifiable homicide." She'd have the house, Norman's bank account, and her casual lovers. This doesn't make her any more sympathetic a character but it makes it harder to accept the rest of the story. Frankly the writer appears have banged it out without much thought.

And Robb said:

As stated above by others, had she not run away, making herself look guilty of premeditated murder, and just phoned the police, showing her neck's redness from her husband's strangling attempt, she'd have been acquitted of the murder charge, and the death would have been ruled "accidental death" in self defence, and she'd have gone free.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. If he was strangling her, she killed him in self-defence. But maybe she was expecting to be blamed because so many people had seen her out and about with other men having a gay old time. And if she'd gone with a self-defence plea, the story would have been over and not filled its 64 or so pages.

Disability Access

A few of you also mentioned that the husband could have gotten out and had a social life if he'd wanted to. That is true and he was certainly painted as an unsympathetic person as well. However, I just want to give one caveat. There is a lot of variety in accessibility for people with disabilities. My hubby has a disability that mainly affects his legs. He uses a wheelie walker all the time, even inside the house. But for many years, he was able to manage with a walking stick, though had trouble going up stairs because he can't bend his knees very much. Anyway, we went on a trip to Europe and England back in 2004 and were often confronted with obstacles. Some places like restaurants had disabled access in the form of a ramp at the front door, but the toilets would be up or down a flight of stairs. There was one place in Italy where the loo was 2.5 flights down the stairs. In England, Tim went into a public library while I was round the corner at a laundromat. He asked where the loo was, and they sent him a couple of blocks down a hill to a community centre where he learned that the disabled loo was down a flight of stairs. In 2012, we went to Canada, which was better, but still lots of accessibility problems. One B and B had a ramp and a disabled shower, but when it came time for bed, we noticed that you had to get up onto a step to get into the four-poster bed. It would have been impossible for someone in a wheelchair unless they had someone who could pick them up out of the chair and put them on the bed. We laugh about it now, but not funny at the time when you continually come across obstacles. And can I say that we always found people very helpful and a lot of people bent over backwards to help us, so they were still good trips. Given that this book was written in the 1950s, access would have been even worse. But that doesn't mean the husband couldn't have gotten out more than he did. Where there's a will, there's a way. He was certainly painted as an angry, bitter and jealous fellow and it was hard to have sympathy for him.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Laura Desmond

I've already given a few comments in my responses to other people's posts, so here are just a few extra comments.

I think we've established already that Laura is a 'nasty piece of work' (as Paw said).

p. 5 - Laura tells her husband that his disablement pension is the only thing she likes about him. Well disability pensions must have been a lot better in 1950s England than most countries in 2026. But if he'd had an accident, maybe he got a big settlement. Still, it seemed like a strange thing for Laura to grasp onto.

p. 10 - Laura goes to the hairdresser and has her dark hair dyed blonde. We learn later that she had to keep touching it up, and lucky she did, because Dennis tries to find dark roots in her hair later. I had my hair coloured for more than 25 years to cover up the greys, and that was just to maintain a light brown colour close to my natural colour. Within a week, you'd start to see a thin line of grey along your part line, and within 3 weeks it would be very noticeable. A 'blonde from a bottle' like Laura, would need to touch up those dark  roots every few days if she wanted to ensure that no one noticed. It would be hard to keep up in practice. And if the story of the murder was in the newspapers for a week, how come the hairdresser didn't recognise her as the woman who changed her look?

p. 13 - What more could a man want than a plucky, handsome, modest girl? Maybe an honest one who hadn't killed her husband with a poker! 

p. 15 - A couple of you have already commented on the hot water system and electricity. But seriously, what more could a girl ask for? I remember hot water being a problem when I stayed at my cousin's farmhouse in England in 1997. There was hot water, but you had to be sparing with it, so maybe it wasn't so common in the country back in the 1950s.

p. 24 - It was a bit of a surprise that she was going to have Norman's baby. The two seemed to despise each other, but they obviously came together at some point.

pp. 34-35 - I found it strange that Robert was so quick to believe Laura over his son, who had seemingly been a devoted son until then. Robert even comes at him with a whip. He must have been blinded by love indeed.

It turns out that the real love story is between Dennis and Celia. Indeed, Celia is probably the most likable character in the story, and their true love does win out. Robert realises he's been a fool, though he doesn't exactly apologise to Dennis. And what becomes of Laura's baby?

In spite of some problems with the plot, it was interesting enough and I thought the art was good. I'd be happy to read some more of these noir stories, and Paw has uploaded some in the picture libraries.

Thank for your comments this fortnight, everyone.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

Disability Access

A few of you also mentioned that the husband could have gotten out and had a social life if he'd wanted to. That is true and he was certainly painted as an unsympathetic person as well. However, I just want to give one caveat. There is a lot of variety in accessibility for people with disabilities. My hubby has a disability that mainly affects his legs. He uses a wheelie walker all the time, even inside the house. But for many years, he was able to manage with a walking stick, though had trouble going up stairs because he can't bend his knees very much. Anyway, we went on a trip to Europe and England back in 2004 and were often confronted with obstacles. Some places like restaurants had disabled access in the form of a ramp at the front door, but the toilets would be up or down a flight of stairs. There was one place in Italy where the loo was 2.5 flights down the stairs. In England, Tim went into a public library while I was round the corner at a laundromat. He asked where the loo was, and they sent him a couple of blocks down a hill to a community centre where he learned that the disabled loo was down a flight of stairs. In 2012, we went to Canada, which was better, but still lots of accessibility problems. One B and B had a ramp and a disabled shower, but when it came time for bed, we noticed that you had to get up onto a step to get into the four-poster bed. It would have been impossible for someone in a wheelchair unless they had someone who could pick them up out of the chair and put them on the bed. We laugh about it now, but not funny at the time when you continually come across obstacles. And can (1) I say that we always found people very helpful and a lot of people bent over backwards to help us, so they were still good trips. Given that this book was written in the 1950s, access would have been even worse.

(2) But that doesn't mean the husband couldn't have gotten out more than he did. Where there's a will, there's a way. He was certainly painted as an angry, bitter and jealous fellow and it was hard to have sympathy for him.
Cheers

QQ

(1) Back in the 1950s, when there was much less physical access for disabled people, there was more personal help given to such people because they need it.  Nowadays, with electric powered wheelchairs and other innovative transportation machines and physical access built in to public area design, there is less help needed.  I don't see any difference in the amount of getting out and about by disabled people now than I witnessed during the 1950s.  Those disabled people that are friendly, gregarious, and want to spend time with their friends do so, with the help of those friends. 


(2)If Laura and her husband had had a loving, nurturing relationship, they'd have had a lot of the same friends and they and their friends would have managed to spend time together with the help of all the group.  In addition, he would have had his own friends from before his accident.  And IF they were REAL friends, they'd have included him in their social life, too, even with out his wife.  If a person wants to do something that is possible, he or she can do it, even if it is a bit harder to handle the logistics.  Laura's husband didn't go out with her because she couldn't stand his company, and he was bitter and wouldn't want to spend time with her, anyway, as long as she maintained that attitude.  So, it isn't believable, at all, that Laura got pregnant with HIS child.  That wasn't necessary for the story, anyway.  It would have been more interesting IF the author had the father be the soldier she met at the dance.   

[Robb_K]

Laura Desmond

(1) p. 10 - Laura goes to the hairdresser and has her dark hair dyed blonde. We learn later that she had to keep touching it up. Within a week, you'd start to see a thin line of the true colour along your part line, and within 3 weeks it would be very noticeable. A 'blonde from a bottle' like Laura, would need to touch up those dark  roots every few days if she wanted to ensure that no one noticed.  And if the story of the murder was in the newspapers for a week, how come the hairdresser didn't recognise her as the woman who changed her look?

(2) p. 15 - A couple of you have already commented on the hot water system and electricity. But seriously, what more could a girl ask for? I remember hot water being a problem when I stayed at my cousin's farmhouse in England in 1997. There was hot water, but you had to be sparing with it, so maybe it wasn't so common in the country back in the 1950s.
Cheers

QQ

(1) In addition to the local hairdresser, - from the way I've seen The British local police operate in books, films, and TV series (not that I've ever had a brush with the law during my time in England  ), I wondered why the local small village Chemist's clerk or cashier didn't think it odd that Laura was buying so very much blonde hair colouring dye, without seeing a new hairdresser having been established in the village.

(2)
Having spent about 4 years worth of days in both rural and urban Lancashire over a 35 year period, and basically being an often visitor, nigh onto sharing a flat there, I can say that most of the people I knew had very small water heating tanks, at least by Canadian and US standards. We absolutely had to be sparing with it, and it was a damned nuisance having to keep all those half crown coins around.  Also, I'd like to complain that the coin boxes were too small!   

[The Australian Panther]

Robb said;-

So, it isn't believable, at all, that Laura got pregnant with HIS child.  That wasn't necessary for the story, anyway.  It would have been more interesting IF the author had the father be the soldier she met at the dance. 

I find it quite believable,if unfortunate, that a woman would let a man she doesn't love impregnate her.
Sometimes having a child. (The child will love me!) is the motivation. But there is a time-factor.
9 months. Presumably if she iwas pregnant by her husband, it occurred before he lost the use of his legs ,although not necessarily so. What time period elapsed between the murder and the revelation?  And why didn't she show?
I agree, that's a detail that doesn't ring true for the narrative and in any case was surely unnecessary.     

[Robb_K]

Robb said;-

So, it isn't believable, at all, that Laura got pregnant with HIS child.  That wasn't necessary for the story, anyway.  It would have been more interesting IF the author had the father be the soldier she met at the dance. 

I find it quite believable,if unfortunate, that a woman would let a man she doesn't love impregnate her.
Sometimes having a child. (The child will love me!) is the motivation. But there is a time-factor.
9 months. Presumably if she iwas pregnant by her husband, it occurred before he lost the use of his legs ,although not necessarily so. What time period elapsed between the murder and the revelation?  And why didn't she show?
I agree, that's a detail that doesn't ring true for the narrative and in any case was surely unnecessary.   

The way the 2 of them acted together makes me feel like there was a build up of hatred and disgust with the other over a much longer period than 9 months before.  And yes, her husband could have forced her against her will, especially if thsat happenred before his accident.  But, she was so insensitive to his plight, sand never loved him she might have murdered him earlier, or left him looking for another wealthy benefactor.  This story simply doesn't ring true to me.  And, as I stated above, the author's error is unnecessary, as it would have been more ironic and interesting IF the father had been the soldier of her daliance.  I feel sorry for the authors of the early comic book industry, whose pay was so low, and submittal deadlines were so short that they felt pressured to finish the storywiting process so quickly they barely had any time to think.   I'm glad the the pay was higher for artwork, and we could mix in animation work, or animated feature film or animated TV shows, or children's book illustration or writing to supplement our income at higher rates, to relieve that pressure, and allow us to do enough thinking in creating a story, that it wasn't full of holes and wouldn't appear unprofessional.