Fun Singer in "Sleuth" [UNSOLVABLE MYSTERY?]

[Salzmank]

The original Sleuth thread on IMDb has been archived and can be viewed here.

Thanks, Nick.

Problem is, the owner of that site told me (1) that he'd delete it unless I post there and (2) he doesn't have any security, including e-mail verification, on the site and is fine with self-confessed "trolls."

That bothers me, to be honest--not that he'd have "trolls," because all these kinds of sites have 'em, but that he's so welcome to them.

I don't know if he were being serious, but I sincerely hope he wasn't.

 

[duzit]

Sorry, I can't help solve the mystery, but I sure have found it very interesting, reading all the posts you have on the subject. I would like to be kept apprised of any info that you may come across...

 

[Nick91]

Thanks, Nick.

Problem is, the owner of that site told me (1) that he'd delete it unless I post there and (2) he doesn't have any security, including e-mail verification, on the site and is fine with self-confessed "trolls."

That bothers me, to be honest--not that he'd have "trolls," because all these kinds of sites have 'em, but that he's so welcome to them.

I don't know if he were being serious, but I sincerely hope he wasn't.

(1) was probably a joke, although one can never be 100% sure when it comes to total strangers online. (2) is implying that he plans on making it an active board rather than a display site for archived threads? Hmm...

Btw, still no reply yet from either D'Arc or Warner Bros.?

 

[Salzmank]

Sorry, I can't help solve the mystery, but I sure have found it very interesting, reading all the posts you have on the subject. I would like to be kept apprised of any info that you may come across...

My sincerest thanks, Duzit. Actually, reading about this mystery and finding it interesting was how I came to post about it: I never knew it would pull me so deep down this rabbit hole! Thanks again.

 

[Salzmank]

(1) was probably a joke, although one can never be 100% sure when it comes to total strangers online. (2) is implying that he plans on making it an active board rather than a display site for archived threads? Hmm...

Btw, still no reply yet from either D'Arc or Warner Bros.?

First, to cut the suspense and answer your question: no reply from either of them. That's infuriating, especially from a company like Warner Bros.

Second, I agree both that it was probably a joke and second that you can't entirely trust anyone on the Internet. Here's the entire thread, starting from where I first posted, if you're interested: http://imdb2.freeforums.net/thread/5490/imdbarchive-entire-imdb-sections-archived?page=2

I suppose he does mean for it to be an active board, if I'm reading it correctly, then...

 

[Salzmank]

OK, just want to let everyone following this mystery know--

I haven't yet received a response from D'Arc, but I just tried e-mailing him again and received one of those auto-response messages, saying, "James D'Arc is currently Away."

Nothing much, but thought I'd let you all know.

 

[duzit]

OK, just want to let everyone following this mystery know--

I haven't yet received a response from D'Arc, but I just tried e-mailing him again and received one of those auto-response messages, saying, "James D'Arc is currently Away."

Nothing much, but thought I'd let you all know.

Good to know, thanks for the "update?"

 

[Salzmank]

Hey, everyone—

Jackpot!

I just received an e-mail from D'Arc. He states that, while this request is unusual and he normally couldn't do anything without my being a patron of the BYU library, because the mystery has been going on so long and he's curious about it now, he's going to start investigating anyway.

So, uh—how's that for news?

Of course, he may not discover anything and we'll have to go back to the drawing board once again, but it's a definite step in the right direction!

 

[duzit]

But that IS good news. Someone else interested that could possibly discover something...

 

[Salzmank]

But that IS good news. Someone else interested that could possibly discover something...

Oh, I completely agree. I'm quite excited about this possibility.

 

[Nick91]

Hey, everyone—

Jackpot!

I just received an e-mail from D'Arc. He states that, while this request is unusual and he normally couldn't do anything without my being a patron of the BYU library, because the mystery has been going on so long and he's curious about it now, he's going to start investigating anyway.

So, uh—how's that for news?

Of course, he may not discover anything and we'll have to go back to the drawing board once again, but it's a definite step in the right direction!

That's great. While Warner Brothers is a large corporation that we can't expect to wanna assist us with inquiries that don't involve them making money, archivists such as D'Arc usually have a genuine interest in whatever they maintain.

As you say, he may not discover anything relevant to our mystery, but we have nothing to lose at this point. John Addison was quite a productive man during his career and created scores for a myriad of films. The question is from how many of them he preserved any material? I mean, for example, I'm willing to bet that he still had papers saved from the 1956 movie Reach for the Sky because it supposedly was close to his heart.

As someone who hasn't actually seen Sleuth yet, how much of his own creative input went to the production? How many film scores does Sleuth have besides those three Cole Porter songs? Had you been Mr. Addison, would you make sure to keep documents from this particular movie for over 25 years? Just speculative thinking here, of course. I hope we'll get an answer some day.

 

[Nick91]

Spoiler: John Addison papers at Brigham Young University

Dates: circa 1930-1990

Collection primarily consists of musical sketches and scores composed by Addison for stage, screen, and television. There are a number of audio cassettes of works of Addison and others, as well as interviews Addison conducted for various radio programs. Also included are videotapes of different productions with which Addison was associated. There is some correspondence, mostly relating to royalty payments to Addison, but also concerning his appearances as guest conductor with various orchestras. Also includes cue sheets, phonograph albums of some of Addison's music, and photographs and negatives.

Source

Just to give us some idea of what kind of material Mr. D'Arc will have look through...

 

[Carol]

back to the drawing board once again,

In case this does turn out to be necessary, sometimes a result can be had from surprisingly direct sources - apologies if I've overlooked anything you've already tried:

Michael Caine's agent?
Anthony Shaffer's estate/ agent
NFI - which must be gratifyingly replete with experts in everything cinematic - or at least hold archives of original first-release reviews.
Good luck!

 

[Salzmank]

My thanks to all of you for responding so quickly!

Nick, I agree about Warner Bros., but I still expected them to send some kind of notice, even a form e-mail response, just to let me know that they received it. (The website said to expect a reply within five days--uh-huh, right.) Nope, nothin'. I'm not sure exactly to what extent Addison was emotionally invested in Sleuth, but I know there's a lot more to his contribution than working on those three songs: he wrote a whole (very good) score for the film. (One of the curious points about this mystery is that the soundtrack was released a few years ago, and of course the Porter songs, which have relative importance for Olivier in that scene, weren't on the disc.) By the way, Nick, I do recommend the film. It's good fun.

Carol, thanks for your advice in searching for the singer! I have not, in fact, tried any of those methods, but, if this falls through, at least I have a "fall-back"!

Thanks again!

 

[Carol]

Carol, thanks for your advice in searching for the singer! I have not, in fact, tried any of those methods, but, if this falls through, at least I have a "fall-back"!

Glad to offer a fall back at least.

To think that that was a film I simply sat back and enjoyed hugely, without thinking how much an unsolved niggle could provoke such a determined (and hopefully soluble) puzzle.
Happy hunting!

 

[Salzmank]

Glad to offer a fall back at least.

To think that that was a film I simply sat back and enjoyed hugely, without thinking how much an unsolved niggle could provoke such a determined (and hopefully soluble) puzzle.
Happy hunting!

Hopefully soluble, as you say, Carol. I certainly hope so!

 

[Salzmank]

By the way...

I'm sure this goes without saying, but still no news from James D'Arc (since the last message) yet.

I had been hoping for some kind of response.

 

[Nick91]

By the way, Nick, I do recommend the film. It's good fun.

Thanks, Salzmank. This thread has definitely piqued my interest in the movie, and if Mankiewicz's other movies is any indication (such as No Way Out), then I'm sure I would enjoy Sleuth as well.

Going back to the mystery, it is a shame that Palomar Pictures ceased to be 14 years ago. According to Wikipedia, its founder and owner Edgar Scherick later renamed it to the more "egocentric" Edgar J. Scherick Associates. It dissolved a year before his death; what I'm wondering is whatever happened to the company's assets afterwards?

Did they beqeath all the material to an archive? Did any newspapers report anything at all about Palomar's downfall? Did parts of it decide to merge with another film production company? Carol, you mentioned something called NFI. Did you mean British Film Institute (BFI) or is NFI a separate entity? Could be worth looking into as well, if Palomar's documents ended up there.

 

[Salzmank]

Thanks, Salzmank. This thread has definitely piqued my interest in the movie, and if Mankiewicz's other movies is any indication (such as No Way Out), then I'm sure I would enjoy Sleuth as well.

Going back to the mystery, it is a shame that Palomar Pictures ceased to be 14 years ago. According to Wikipedia, its founder and owner Edgar Scherick later renamed it to the more "egocentric" Edgar J. Scherick Associates. It dissolved a year before his death; what I'm wondering is whatever happened to the company's assets afterwards?

Did they beqeath all the material to an archive? Did any newspapers report anything at all about Palomar's downfall? Did parts of it decide to merge with another film production company? Carol, you mentioned something called NFI. Did you mean British Film Institute (BFI) or is NFI a separate entity? Could be worth looking into as well, if Palomar's documents ended up there.

As always, thanks for looking into it, Nick. I have not looked too far into Palomar's history, though of course Graham Hartstone did indeed tell me to "follow the money" (à la "Deep Throat"!). I could indeed search through newspapers to find Palomar's records--I recently looked through digitized copies of the Chicago Tribune to solve a Laurel and Hardy mystery for someone--and maybe one day I will for this mystery.

With that said, as may be evident from my tone, I'm slowing down the search. Not stopping it, by any means, but not actively pursuing it either at the moment... Yes, that was probably what stopped many an explorer in the past ;), but I am pretty busy at the moment.

Again, thanks, though!

Salzmank

 

[Salzmank]

News, folks!

I sent an e-mail to Michael Feinstein, and--while he hasn't yet responded to me--he posted the question on his Facebook page.

So now we have even more people searching for the singer...!