Where did I get the idea for Members of the Cast?
I think it started with the house. Before we were married, Ruth and I drove to Pasadena to look at a player piano. The houses, some with a porte cochère were so “romantic.” Such historical grace.
Because the porte cochère was “obviously” on the “east” side, I flipped it and put grass in the cement ribbon drive.
T. Charles had to have an automobile, not a car. It turned out to be a 1939 V12 Packard. This one was for sale at Hemmings Motor News. Someone bought a beautiful automobile.
By this time, I was into “vintage” for the book set in 1959. Maggie begans to wear Virginia’s clothes, long stored in plastic bags.
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And the Sweater
With these images in mind (before I found these pictures) I began to imagine a skinny young girl, with twits for parents, in a new school. I longed for her to find herself and happiness. It took years of imagining Margo, partly because I was an old man. But she was in my head, I fell in love with her and her plight, and she and the book turned out fine.
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