“Antique Shop,” Third Avenue near 57th Street, New York, Oct. 8, 1936, by Berenice Abbott, part of the Federal Art Project, via the New York Public Library.

”From where I stood, the shop looked like a dark cavern. The antique furniture, the old clocks, vases, dishes, drinking glasses, China dogs and tarnished candlesticks were like a scavenger’s storehouse.”  — ”Laura,” Page 139

In case you just tuned in, I’m using Louella Parsons’ May 15, 1944, item on Rouben Mamoulian being replaced as the director of “Laura” to take a meandering look at the making of the film, which was released in Los Angeles in November 1944. Previous posts have examined the writing career of “Laura” novelist Vera Caspary and the state of the detective story in 1941, when she was writing the novel. We also visited some of the locations Caspary used in the book.

In going through the novel, it’s interesting to see what the screenwriters (there was a series of them) kept, what they invented and what they threw out. In the next few posts I’m going to look at the characters as portrayed in the novel, starting with the smaller roles and working up to the most important character, Waldo Lydecker (played by Clifton Webb in the film). Although the book and film are titled “Laura,” Waldo is the most remarkable character in the story and the one who required the most work, as Caspary noted in her autobiography, “The Secrets of Grown-Ups.”

Spoilers ahead

The Making of “Laura” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21

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828 Fifth Avenue, New York, via Google Street View.

Susan Treadwell (renamed Ann Treadwell and played by Judith Anderson in the film) lives in a mansion on upper Fifth Avenue (Page 22).

In case you just tuned in, I’m using Louella Parsons’ May 15, 1944, item on Rouben Mamoulian being replaced as the director of “Laura” to take a meandering look at the making of the film, which was released in Los Angeles in November 1944. Previous posts have examined the writing career of “Laura” novelist Vera Caspary and the state of the detective story in 1941, when she was writing the novel.

In this series of posts, we’re looking at some of the sites used in the novel. Recall that in “Murder for Pleasure, Howard Haycraft’s 1941 book on the history and art the detective story, Haycraft urged mystery writers to use actual locations.

Note: In researching this post, I discovered an entertaining blog Daytonian in Manhattan, which focuses on “buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.”

The Making of “Laura” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21

Continue reading →