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    Make Believe
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    Make Believe
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    Make Believe
    Ebook301 pages4 hours

    Make Believe

    By Ed Ifkovic

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In June 1951 Edna Ferber heads to Hollywood to support an old friend who has found himself blacklisted, The McCarthy hearings in Washington have rattled Hollywood with allegations of Communist-leaning sympathies. She has no intention of becoming involved with the soon-to-be-released M-G-M film Show Boat. She first met Max Jeffries when he worked on the 1927 Broadway production of Show Boat, and, most recently he brought his magic to the new production starring Ava Gardner. In fact, he was the one who pushed Gardner for the role of Julie, the doomed mulatto. Walked off the Metro lot, shunned by friends, Max is “uncredited” on the film because of his political leanings. Edna’s visit is one of friendship—nothing more. But all that changes when Max is murdered. Edna has questions.

    Edna begins socializing with Ava Gardner, a woman currently scandalizing Hollywood (and annoying Hedda Hopper) because of her affair with Frank Sinatra, who’s left his wife for the sultry goddess. Edna finds the hard-as-nails temptress a vulnerable, insecure woman whom she comes to like. When the gentle Max is killed right after a public brawl with Frank Sinatra. Ava fears her lover will be arrested. Edna plays sleuth quietly, becoming involved with the characters who hang around the edges of Hollywood fame and fortune, uncovering
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPoisoned Pen Press
    Release dateNov 6, 2012
    ISBN9781615954186
    Unavailable
    Make Believe
    Author

    Ed Ifkovic

    Ed Ifkovic taught literature and creative writing at a community college in Connecticut for over three decades. His short stories and essays have appeared in the Village Voice, America, Hartford Monthly, and Journal of Popular Culture. A longtime devotee of mystery novels, he fondly recalls discovering Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason series in a family bookcase, and his immediate obsession with the whodunit world.

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    Reviews for Make Believe

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      Edna Ferber travels to Hollywood to lend her support to her dear friend Max who’s been blacklisted as a communist. Max has just finished working on the music for the latest movie version of Showboat featuring Ava Gardner. Max has been an integral part of the music for Showboat beginning with the first Broadway version. Her beloved Max has been murdered. MAKE BELIEVE mines the rich talent of the Algonquin Round Table. With such wit and creative genius it’s no surprise the Vicious Circle has become so inspirational. Wit wise I wouldn’t have been up to hanging out with any of the Algonquin Round Table members nor am I sure I would have even liked them from what I’ve read; but it sure is fun joining their fictional counterparts while they solve mysteries.In MAKE BELIEVE Edna Ferber, novelist, short story author and playwright, is our protagonist. However this isn’t an “in her prime” Edna, but what might be considered an elderly Edna. Don’t let the white hair fool you. Edna is still blunt and acerbic, speaking her mind freely and often, irregardless of who she’s talking about or to. This excerpt encapsulates Edna’s attitude beautifully.“What Show Boat creator visiting on the coast to add her fire power in support of a local Commie is now planning his funeral?” I stared at the abrupt, cruel, line. Furious, I paced my hotel suite. When I passed an inconvenient mirror, I spied a maddened old woman, her permed white curls in disarray. Worse, it was the face of a woman not used to being stunned---and certainly not bested by lesser forms of humanity.And Hedda Hopper filled that bottom-feeder niche so perfectly. Of course, I hadn’t read the silly gossip item in the morning paper because, frankly, I valued the English language and, as well, the innate decency of man. I came upon the scurrilous item by chance.Hollywood in the 50’s with the Hollywood Ten and McCarthyism is the backdrop. Edna’s left coast trip to visit her beleaguered friend Max turns tragic as he’s murdered shortly after her arrival. One of my favorite aspects of MAKE BELIEVE is the character descriptions. For example, these are some of Edna’s thoughts on Desmond Peake, Metro liaison:A tall string bean of a man, all joint and angle, pale worm white skin, splotchy with patches of sickly red. Large, flinty gray eyes, magnified behind enormous black-framed eyeglasses which replaced the sunglasses as he slid into the seat next to me. A thin Clark Gable mustache incongruously plastered to his weak upper lip gave his Ichabod Crane physiognomy a rarefied comic touch. But there was nothing funny about Desmond Peake. Officious, Metro’s gatekeeper for scandal and misdeed. Or so Max had warned me.Doesn’t that evoke a vivid image? Edna’s first meeting with Ava Gardner is equally rich in its portrayal but much longer and one of my favorite scenes. I couldn’t help but like Ava while Frank Sinatra is quite the paradox. Characters, both real and fictional sprang to life.Even with the Communist witch hunts this was a magical time in Hollywood with stars who became legendary and larger than life. Hollywood, as depicted in MAKE BELIEVE, is tawdry and tarnished, only appearing glamorous from a distance. MAKE BELIEVE focuses on the superficiality, cruelty, desperation and desolation hidden by the thin veneer of glamour and wealth. I read slowly, not wanting to miss a single nuance. The mix of fictional and factual characters and events was so well done it was easy to believe this had, in fact, happened. Well done. I actually figured out “who dunnit” but added an extra person to the mix. Even though this is the third in Ed Ifkovic’s Edna Ferber mystery series and I hadn’t read the first two I never felt lost or that something was missing. MAKE BELIEVE is a must read for mystery lovers who enjoy an historical mystery that seamlessly blends reality and fiction. I’ll be adding the two previous titles to my TBR mountain. 4 starsReviewed by IvyD for Manic Readers