August 28, 2014

Dramatis Personae (Updated)

Below are a few characters that will be used in a Lion's Den exclusive debuting November 11, 2014 in serial installments as The Confessions of Mossy Kade



 recent pic of  Jimmy Marlow - narrator
(pic borrowed from The Godfather)


Jimmy Marlow- (narrator) Pulitzer Prize winner, 3 time finalist for National Book Award,  and page 3 columnist for The Chicago Telegram. Almost the first person Jimmy met when moving to Chicago was Mossy. Mossy is 6 years older, a mentor, and Jimmy usually runs his writing by Mossy for input and refers to him as his best reader.


Mossy Kade circa 1971


Mossy Kade at age 25
(pic borrowed from The Public Enemy)


Mossy Kade- the protagonist who some may say bears a striking resemblance to GSL to which GSL responds: "yes in certain ways but many events depicted are not precisely accurate; characters that friends of GSL may recognize have composite aspects from other people for the sake of brevity and artistic license is often needed rather than getting bogged down in sorting out minutiae  and yes 'Mossy Kade' is a name I've used as an alter ego for over 30 years...those most in the know will say The Confessions ring true without being 100% accurate"
Estella and Ripley in Wales



Estella about 2004

Estella- often thought to be "Mossy's girl" by his (and her) family and friends although their relationship is far more complex and evolving;  Estella's mother, far from being the cold bitter Ms. Havisham, is a gentler and charming version of Downton Abbey's Dowager Countess if she had been raised on a large Southern tobacco farm and she has always had a special place in her heart for Mossy.



The Magnificent Ambersons
pic from the Orson Welles movie

The Magnificent Ambersons:  so named due to their extraordinary success and influence.  Contrary to the Booth Tarkington Ambersons, the 5 sons here are all world beaters in their own right in fields such as medicine, law, politics, construction, and Information Technology.  The Good Doctor, a middle son, is Mossy's best friend later in life and sees himself as something of a big brother to Mossy. The family patriarch, Judge Amberson, is a political powerbroker who has often been summoned to  the White House and Camp David.  The Judge takes an active interest in Mossy's life and seeks to become a mentor.

Queen B- like a sister to Mossy and charming hostess

Prince Peter of Bucktown- husband to Queen B whose successful marriage Mossy helped facilitate

Dutch- best drinking buddy to Mossy who is from a branch of a very prominent family whose surname always catches the attention of hot-on-the-make strivers.

Terence Bedford Jackson IV aka "Terry Drama" & "eye-vee"

Terence Bedford Jackson IV aka 'Terry Drama' or "eye-vee"- by Terry's friends Mossy is sometimes referred to as "Terry's straight friend"; they often attend the Opera together or join Terry's Swans for bacchanalian lunches or drinks out that can sometimes find Mossy entangled with an 'attached' Swan....everybody that meets Terry mentions within the first two minutes how "you remind me of Truman Capote...." and yes the resemblance in every way (except when holding a pen) is uncanny.
The greatest author's note in the history of English Literature seems well placed here.
From Brideshead Revisited
suggested by Darling Jane Hattatt

© Copyright 2014 The Chicago Lion's Den and GSL

27 comments:

  1. Will they be based on true stories and people? Doesn't matter either way - just curious. Quite like the concept GSL.

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    1. Naomi, The Den's publicity machine is billing 'The Confessions' as a Roman a' clef.

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  2. I cannot wait to familiarize myself with this cast of characters. I am looking forward to captivating prose simply thick with drama. I want to laugh, cry, gasp and giggle. My grandmother had her 'stories',-Guiding Light and As The World Turns if I remember correctly- and this will be mine. Hold nothing back!

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  3. My dearest Bebe, I am confident 'The Confessions' will captivate and provide laughter, tears, and giggles in great abundance but it is the 'gasps' that has The Den's legal department on edge and is still being deliberated.

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    1. oh we all love a good gasp.
      Go on, be a devil.....

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  4. What a fun group of characters. I'd love to get them all together over a bottle of overproof something so they could share what they know of the real GSL. I shall be reading on with curiousity. Estella is my favourite character in fiction so I'm looking forward to hearing her voice.

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    1. Oh Jen, Estella & I were discussing her voice only yesterday which is visually represented by a spasm of exasperated eye-rolling with a sound that is a sing-song lilt of derision that would have driven Gandhi to mass murder.

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  5. Seems like I have arrived just in time. I have caught up...we shall be in Chicago first of November for SOFA and will try to check out the Red Lion. If you see us don't be afraid.

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    1. BB, you must stop by the Red Lion and please don't hesitate to contact me with any itinerary questions or suggestions. After your Yellowstone holiday, I know we can find you a working toilet and get Hunter in and out of here with no broken bones.

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    2. BB, I nearly forgot that Estella is an alumna of your Emily's school where I often visited her many moons ago and was perhaps too often teased her on it's then less than genteel status. Not that long ago Estella rung me to triumphantly announce that Town & Country had just described her alma mater as "the Barnhard (or maybe it was Brown I forget which) of the South".

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  6. Love this! I look forward to the drama unfolding,,,,

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    1. Thank you dear Wendy...The Den legal team is already getting preemptive inquiries...

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  7. Darling G,

    What a fertile imagination you have. Surely you have now finally found your milieu. Blogtopia will be complete with these 'Confessions' although we do hope, like darling B, that nothing, positively nothing will be kept from us. After all, darling G, you know how we are all souls of discretion.......what is read on a blogpost today will be transmitted round the world and back by lunchtime!

    Let the curtain lift and the drama commence. Will ices be served in the interval? Can we reserve front row seats? Can Teddy come too? Oh, the excitement of it all!

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    1. Darlings Jane and Lance,
      Front row seats have been reserved with ices and chilled shampoo at the ready and of course Teddy is most welcome and Edward too as he may want to get out of the house for this...

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  8. Dear GSL
    Brilliant idea, Mr. GSL, absolute brilliance, and I am on edge to see how the drama plays out. September cannot get here soon enough. By the way, you picked a wonderful photo of Brother James, perfect insouciance. One other note, I am not sure if you have read the book The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington from which, of course, the movie comes. If not, please, please, make it a point to do so; you will not be disappointed…

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    1. Thank you GF but I actually was disappointed by 'The MAs' and read it only recently after I heard what a fan Clive James had been as a young man...I have to say that my dissatisfaction was likely due to how far short it fell in quality vis-à-vis Barnes' 'The Sense of An Ending' which I had just finished re-reading just prior.

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  9. Oh what a lively cast of characters you have gathered to play at The Den...so very clever! If felt as if I was reading a Playbill of a coming attraction. I look forward to opening night and Act One! Perhaps this colorful ensemble troupe will be in residence at the Red Lion Pub!
    Bravo,dear G!

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    1. Dearest T, there may be a scene (or 2) set in the old Red Lion and close observers may be looking to spot several characters from 'The Confessions' in the updated model.

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  10. Love that terry has swans! A perfect touch. Sorry have to be brief as tricky to comment on phone, cant wait to hear more abt smbersons!

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    1. Oh yes Terry has Swans and after a couple of glasses of Chard (everyday beyond mid-afternoon) he starts to feel rather 'expansive'....and some might say 'indiscreet'

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  11. Dear GSL,
    This is delightful. I'm anxious to see what unfolds. Confessions you say? I'll sit a little closer so I don't miss any of the fun. This does promise to be a wild ride with you in the drivers seat. Accuracy can be overrated if it gets in the way of a good story.
    I've poured a lovely Chardonnay and am ready for the fun to begin.
    Fondly...~J

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    1. My dear J, even great fiction must ring true and in 'The Confessions' the innocent will be protected and the guilty will be given a good running start...

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  12. Darling G,

    ......we are whoever we wish to be......

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