Jake Randolph in "The Naked Beat" Pt. 16
Back inside the café everyone was reeling from what had just taken place. The surviving three members of the Downbeats looked about as beat down as a nail driven through a 2x4. They were quietly gathering up their instruments as the regular patrons ran up to me.
"So, what's the scoop, dad? Is he like booking passage on the train to Nadaville?" someone asked from the crowd.
I nodded, "Bought a one-way ticket, I'm afraid, using China White. He was a heroin user."
I noticed two or three of the people in the crowd start to get rather fidgety...
- Category: Crime, Murder & Mystery
8 comments add one below
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Neville Hunt about 8 years ago
Beat down etc... nice play. Interesting cultural difference here, we'd call a 2x4 a 4 by 2 over here. 'Dad' .... nice one...can we expect 'daddy-o' later, Christopher? 'Is he like...' Very good historical cultural research...spot on! :-)
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Christopher about 8 years ago
Neville, I heard Basil Fawlty say 4 by 2 once on an episode of "Fawlty Towers." I just went with the American term, of course, but I used the X in it because I was over my word count.
Yeah, I'm sure someone will say "daddy-o" at some point. I grew up watching an American show called "77 Sunset Strip" and there was a jive talking character on there named Kookie and he called the detectives "dad," so that was kind of what was stuck in my head.
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Neville Hunt about 8 years ago
Ed Byrne played Kookie (my favourite!) and it had Effrem Zimbalist Jr as one of the other two stars. I don't remember the name of the other though. I still sometimes sing the theme tune and double-snap my fingers!
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Christopher about 8 years ago
The other was Roger Smith, who's married to Ann-Margret. Yeah, I have the CD of the original 1959 soundtrack album. There's some really good jazz music there, on par with Henry Mancini's music for "Peter Gunn."
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Neville Hunt about 8 years ago
And the lovely Connie Stevens sang 'Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb'.
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Christopher about 8 years ago
True. And she played on a copycat of "77 Sunset Strip" called "Hawaiian Eye." Warner Brothers had a nasty habit of doing cookie cutter copies of their successful shows. Still, most of them were pretty good shows in their own right. They did great Westerns, too, including "Maverick," which is one of my all-time favorites.
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Neville Hunt about 8 years ago
Hawaiian Eye...yes, was that Steve McGarrett?- "Book him, Danno, murder one! No, that was Hawaii Five-O, which was essential viewing and an essential catchphrase for me and Steve (of Exploits of Greg and Steve fame)
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Christopher about 8 years ago
Yeah, I grew up watching that show before it was reruns, unlike the aforementioned shows, which were a little before my time, but I love them all.
