‘Here’s a problem you might work out in your spare time. It is something I want to use in a story that is buzzing in my mind and I can’t get on with it until I solve the problem. The hero wants to hide a small cylinder somewhere in a car. The cylinder holds important documents—secret documents. Now where and how could he hide the cylinder in a car so that even expert mechanics fail to spot it? In the story, when it is shown where the cylinder was hidden, the searchers will say, “Heavens, I should have thought of that myself.” And I want the readers of the story to say that too. I’d be awfully grateful for your help.’ (From a letter by Courtier to his brother-in-law, Alan George, 3/3/73.)
Does anyone know what happened to Ian Williams? I’d love to track him down. This is another offering from Faye Marsden’s autograph book.
SOCK PUPPET
A sock puppet is a puppet made from a sock (or similar garment) which is placed over the hand of a puppeteer. When a sock puppeteer fits their hand into the closed end of the sock, the sock puppet can be made to ‘talk’ with the opening and closing of the hand. The puppet’s mouth is formed by the region between the heel and the toe, with the thumb forming a jaw. At a minimum the shape of the hand will instantly form the shape of a mouth, but sometimes the mouth is padded by putting in a fairly hard piece of felt (often with a tongue glued inside). Sometimes the region between the toe and heel is cut open with scissors to form a mouth. The sock is stretched out fully so that it is long enough to cover the puppeteer’s wrist. Often, but not always, the puppeteer will hide behind a stand and raise up his or her hand above the stand so that only the puppet is visible. Many sock puppeteers, however, stand in full view along with their puppets and will hold conversations with their own sock puppets, using ventriloquism. (Wikipedia)
This is the first page of the science fiction novel S.H. Courtier was working on when he died in 1974. It is interesting that he couldn’t quite nail its title.
Joff Ellen (20/5/15 – 30/12/99) was an Australian entertainer, actor and comedian. He was most famous for his appearances on the television show ‘In Melbourne Tonight’ from 1958 to 1962 employing a variety mix of song-and-dance, comedy sketches and other vaudevillean skills. He was also famous for appearing in various children’s television shows as the character ‘Joffa Boy’. His only known film role was in Nightclub (1952), one of only a handful of films made in Melbourne in that decade, where he appeared with the artist and actor Valma Howell who he had briefly married and later divorced. He retired in 1976 and lived in Warragul and lived with his second wife Bernadette of 54 years. (Wikipedia, plus my own corrections)
I am currently reading and researching S.H. Courtier (1904-1974), a very fine, but much neglected, Australian mystery writer. His books are well worth reading. Pictured is the cover of his first novel, THE GLASS SPEAR (1950).
My experiments with embossed bricks led to architects Lyons and brick manufacturer Austral developing this inticately patterned brick. Currently over 50,000 of them are being used in the construction of a new hospital at Mornington, Victoria.
About a week after sending me his first letter, Ray Johnson sent me a postcard of the Grand Canyon trimmed in the shape of a grand piano.
Geoff Corke was the Tarax Show’s most popular compere, although he was embarrassed by the role. Previously he had been ‘second banana’ to Graham Kennedy on In Melbourne Tonight. But when they fell out, he was ‘banished’ to children’s TV.