Pattern for Panic (was: Capacitor Voltage ever too high?)

[PRR]

> capacitors in a Bell & Howell 385

Sweet serendipitous, Shell!!

I'm reading an old private-eye book (Pattern for Panic, 1954) with moving pictures of the General's wife naked with another man. The story is tame and routine, but then I hit this passage:

"I walked to the projector, a new Bell and Howell sixteen-millimeter job, the Filmosound Model 385 with all the gadgets. Switches to start, stop, or reverse the film, a switch for showing single frames, the works. A rubber-covered cord ran from the base of the projector down along the carpet to the front wall and disappeared under the black drapery. One reel of film was already in place above the lens and threaded into the bottom reel, ready to go. Three tin cans of film rested on the table at the side of the projector. I picked up the top can, opened it—and heard noises, voices, outside."

The cord to behind the drapes is key: when they show the film, he hides back there, natch, and just as She comes on screen, he kicks out the cord, steals the film in the dark, and jumps out the window.



Yeah, what acheld said.

[acheld]

Wait, what?

You forgot to post the paragraph just before this one.   

Nonetheless, hell of a good description of the FilmoSound.

[PRR]

Wait, what? You forgot to post the paragraph just before this one.   

"A similar couch was on this side of the room and the whole wall above it, on either side of the door, was painted with two brilliant murals. One was of four women and three men with no clothes on, doing what might be expected of four women and three men with no clothes on, and the other was just as much fun. It was a bold, red and black painting of a semi-nude, black-skinned woman and a dark red satyr, the lascivious demigod of mythology, both under the gaze of a laughing, sharp-horned, scarlet devil. More huge silk-and-satin-covered pillows, plus two round black hassocks, were scattered on the carpet.
"In another minute, it would be ten o'clock."

I think the part you REALLY want comes later:

"On the wall, the scene was part of what I had watched earlier. The Countess had dropped her blouse to the floor, her hands were sliding the skirt from the swelling hips. Then she stopped, turned toward the man in the dark robe, apparently said something to him and waved her hand. He nodded and went out somewhere. She slipped the skirt from her hips, stepped out of it, stood for a moment in brief step-ins and brassière, her fingers at the brassière's clasp. She pulled it from her shoulders, slid the step-ins from her hips, then picked up all the clothing and walked out of sight. In seconds she was back, completely naked."

Her (unspecified) projector features again later:

"Her hands took mine and pressed them against her flesh, and then her fingers touched my cheek, my lips. Her hand moved on my thigh as I put my arm around her and drew her to me.
"She came toward me easily, lifting her head, and I felt the warmth of her breath on my face, smelled the faint perfume of her, then her lips were on mine, hot and moist, writhing, clinging wetly, devouring my mouth.
"I thought I heard a bang. A kind of slamming sound. The film clicked through the projector, slapped as the end came free, and white light flashed against the wall. The room became brighter. I'd forgotten the projector. I wondered what I'd heard or thought I'd heard.
"The Countess was breathing audibly, her breasts heaving.
"She said, “Did you hear something?"
“What?"
“Something slamming? In the house?"
“I thought I did."
“It must have been the door. Oh, God."
“The door?"
“Yes. Oh, God."
“Huh?"
“My husband is home."
_________________________________________

We are really jacking  timmyjoe 's thread. 

[acheld]

timmyjoe, please accept our abstruse apology for hijacking your thread!   

May the force allow you to leave before the husband arrives.   

[timmyjoe]

 

Hi jack any time guys!

[HotBluePlates]

... a new Bell and Howell sixteen-millimeter job, the Filmosound Model 385 with all the gadgets. Switches to start, stop, or reverse the film, a switch for showing single frames, the works. ...

That almost sounds like he hit up Bell & Howell for a "gratuity" to talk up specific features in his book.  The detail seems excessive, outside a commercial.

[PRR]

> The detail seems excessive

Yeah, don't it?? But reading on, we hit purple prose so strong that B&H would demand their gratuity back.

--While this was finally issued as a Shell Scott Mystery novel, apparently this started as a shorter story in a minor magazine. Then was extended several times for several publishers. And, at least in the form I read, Prather was copying early Mickey Spillane, his obsession with brutal violence and Communists. Except Mickey was SERIOUS. Prather is having fun.(?)

If early Mickey bothers you, you won't like this either.

As expected, our hero falls in bed with Monique. Nothing happens; this IS 1955. But next day he discovers that Monique and the taxi man are Communist Agents. After brutal karate chops to the driver's nose.....
I held her head in my hands and spoke from behind her back. “Monique, listen,” I said. I spoke very slowly, deliberately letting the words drag while my voice got lower, softer, deeper. “First, I'm going to strip you naked and strip the dead man naked. I think he's dead. I'm almost sure he's dead. And I'll bind you both together, your warm body pressed against his own and your face against his cheek. I'll tie his arms around you, and yours around him and I'll leave you here alone, like lovers. You'll feel his body cooling, the flesh becoming cool and damp while darkness falls. And then it will be night, dark night, and you'll hear rustling all around you, in the grass and in the branches of the trees. Right now, you think you'll know it's only wind, or crawling things, but when it happens you won't know. The sounds will crawl into your mind like worms.”

I talked to her for minutes more, softly, as the darkness deepened, and, finally, I said, “And then, Monique, you'll feel the dead man moving, stirring, his body dead, and yet not dead, against you. It won't be anything unearthly, just rigor mortis, but you'll begin to wonder when his cold arms tighten against your back, pull you close against him like an obscene rape by Death. You'll think he's dead, you'll know he's dead, but still you'll wonder. Look at him, Monique. You can almost see the lips moving now, moving toward your mouth. Later—you'll have time to think, imagine. When it's dark and something rustles near you, when you're here alone with him, when he pulls you close and his body arches and his flesh crawls against your own, you'll know his lips are moving in the blackness, reaching for your mouth—"

"Stop it! Stop it!”

Copy that out and paste it somewhere if you really need to know.

I *guess* that the detailed violence was "justified" because commie-killing was in fashion in the mid-1950s.

[PRR]

...Switches to start, stop, or reverse the film, a switch for showing single frames, the works. ...

The detail seems excessive, outside a commercial.

And yet.... have you ever watched dirty pictures in 16mm film? You DO want easy reliable safe low-distraction go-back and pause.

Before YouTube, YouPorn, etc, click-control, messing with a movie projection was tricky, maybe dangerous to the film. If the screen brightness is good, and the film stops more than a second, it burns to a crisp. If you change direction carelessly it throws film across the room or snaps. If you use a second hand to control the reel you can get a painful reel-rim burn just when you least want it.

He's saying this is a classy whore-house which supplies the best equipment for its customers' entertainment. (Also filling pages to make his 2 cents per word; there's a lot of filler in this and most pulp novels.)

[shooter]

because commie-killing was in fashion in the mid-1950s.

surfing the modern instant micro-films of today, it might be making a comeback 

[sluckey]

... a new Bell and Howell sixteen-millimeter job, the Filmosound Model 385 with all the gadgets. Switches to start, stop, or reverse the film, a switch for showing single frames, the works. ...

That almost sounds like he hit up Bell & Howell for a "gratuity" to talk up specific features in his book.  The detail seems excessive, outside a commercial.

That detail made me immediately think of Michael Crichton's style. He loves to go into great detail, especially with technical discussion. I like it. My wife, not so much.