The Show Must Go On Going out to the Empire in 1926 wasn’t just a one-movie event. The films were part of an evening’s entertainment, which also included live music from the theater’s orchestra and Mighty Wurlitzer – the best theater organ in America. There was even more – various kinds of entertainment including a vaudeville troupe – musicians, dancers, comedians, actors, illusionists, and more. These troupes traveled from one theater to another by train. They did it all the time. It should have been routine. Then there was the Great Train Derailment. It didn’t just go off the tracks, like an ordinary train derailment. This one flung its passengers through time and space. The famous New York talent agency, Tobler and Jones, had promised to send some of their best acts to accompany the Empire’s debut of Charlie Chaplin’s new film, The Gold Rush, but when they hadn’t arrived in time for rehearsal the previous day, I began to worry. An expensive long-distance telephone call assured me they were on their way. Then we heard about the Great Train Derailment. All over the country, according to the newsies, train passengers were showing up in the wrong places – Read More
Tag: Murder at the Empire
Who Stole Cinderella’s Shoe?
This is an exciting day! As you may have heard, I have an upcoming book in Celebrate Lit’s Ever After Mysteries series. You will love this collection of fairytale-inspired mysteries set in the 1920’s! My book, Murder at the Empire, won’t be released until October 5 (although you can preorder it HERE), but the first one in the series, The Last Gasp by Chautona Havig, is available TODAY! To celebrate the release, the Ever After authors are doing a short blog hop, complete with a mini-mystery story and prizes. I get to go first, telling the story of Cinderella’s Missing Shoe. (Spoiler Alert: I don’t have it!) Every day this week, another author will share her part of the story! Who stole Cinderella’s Shoe? I’ve always been a rule-follower. I don’t steal things. I don’t even covet things. At least, I never did before, until I saw The Shoe. I still don’t know what came over me. I’ve visited art museums and seen many beautiful things in my life. The Empire movie palace is filled with amazing and exotic treasures, and none of them ever tempted me. It wasn’t until John Starek – the Emperor himself – showed me Read More
Murder at the Empire ~ the cover reveal!
When I was invited to participate in The Ever After Mysteries, a Celebrate Lit collection of 1920’s mysteries inspired by fairy tales, I couldn’t resist. I’m a great fan of mysteries from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, and I read at least a thousand fairy tales as a child. To be honest… I set about it backward. I knew I wanted to write about a young woman who plays the organ for silent films at a movie palace, so I pulled out some of my old books (yes, the fairy tales books from my childhood) and looked for one that could serve as a basis for my story. It didn’t take me long to realize that The Nightingale was the perfect choice. The Nightingale is set in China, where an Emperor has a palace filled with beautiful and very fragile treasures. It’s so full of these things that no one can move through it easily, but he wants it all on display. In his gardens, he has gardeners tie bells on the prettiest flowers, so no one misses them. One day, he hears a nightingale singing, and he has it brought to the palace. He’s surprised to learn that Read More