Talk:Three for the Chair

Novels: Short story / Crime Mid‑importance

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Congrats on an excellent job on this threesome, TurnerHodges!

Thank you very much, RRRRowcliff. (Or may I call you RRR?) I was up a stump as to some formatting and layout issues (e.g., if I decide to use a lead-off quotation from the second of three stories, is it okay to move the plot summary for that story up to the top? And what of the section headed Plot introduction on the novels' pages?) Perhaps WFinch will weigh in from L.A. on these matters. TurnerHodges (talk) 01:04, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, unless you're Archie in disguise -- he's the only one who makes me stutter. I'm glad that you pointed out that you'd switched the order of the stories, because that got by me and I think they should be switched back to their correct order; I like your lead-off quotation and don't see a problem with it coming from the middle story of the collection. Re: Plot Introduction -- I'm not sure it's even necessary for the novellas but, yes, maybe WFinch will weigh in on this matter.

The organization problem that drives me to distraction is the secret Nero Wolfe supporting characters which should somehow be incorporated into the Main Entry, as you and others have suggested on its own page Discussion. Complicated undertaking, though, and if I attempted it I'd only make a worse hash of it.RRRRowcliff (talk) 04:14, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't tell who contributed the reference to Eastern Europe, but I deleted it because there are no such allusions, either in Stout’s original or the A&E television adaptation; the contributor may have been misled by the phrase "ambassador from an Eastern European country" in the blurb on the DVD package, presumbably put together by some A&E Network PR type unfamiliar with the story. “Immune” was written at the height of the Cold War; the only Eastern European country that had oil fields was Romania, which, as the rest of Eastern Europe, was under Communist domination at the time. Romania wouldn't have been into selling oil to the United States and no representative from the Eastern Europe of those days would have been caught dead sporting emeralds and being wined and dined by a filthy rich American capitalist at his Adirondack lodge.:-)RRRRowcliff (talk) 22:01, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I was responsible for the reference to Eastern Europe, and thank you for deleting it. I was vaguely aware that the country had not been named, and I think I was, er, seduced by the names Spiros and Theodore. They sounded pretty Hellenic to me, but AFAIK the only substantial oil deposits in Greece are in olive trees. So my subconscious decided that Kelefy must be the ambassador from some other country at least that far east and a ways north of the Peloponnesus. Simultaneously my sense of petropolitics, never very solid, completely deserted me. Again, thanks for the correction. (BTW, your comment about the height of the Cold War is borne out by the way Colvin jumps on the cook's surname, Samek, in chapter 4.) TurnerHodges (talk) 01:04, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You're most welcome. Oh, you'd be surprised how many people get the same impression. A bunch of otherwise very knowlegeable members of a NW forum in which I used to participate insisted that the choice of dark-skinned actor Giancarlo Esposito for Kelefy in the A&E episode was "way off" because Kelefy was obviously supposed to be from...Eastern Europe. My background is in foreign policy and energy policy -- I had a good time with them (and I thought Giancarlo Esposito was perfectly cast).RRRRowcliff (talk) 04:14, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have taken to task some editors who make careless revisions to the articles on the Nero Wolfe books -- or whose reasons for making additions or deletions appear ill-considered. So I should also express my appreciation for revisions that improve the articles. An anonymous editor today reworked a paragraph in the Immune summary I wrote two years ago, and the changes are both skillful and welcome. Thanks, 71.68.59.35. TurnerHodges (talk) 15:44, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]