Tricksters by Frank Jordan

Thanks to The Spruce 

Title: Tricksters 

Author: Frank Jordan

Publisher: not known 

Source: TV series Hart to Hart S2 E19 Murder Takes a Bow

Jennifer and Jonathan Hart are appearing in a community theatre play, Flappers Folly, which is supposedly set in England. All the California locals struggle with the necessary English accents, except Jennifer, who seems to be very good at accents. In the UK I think we call this amateur theatricals or am dram. 

Jennifer is very friendly with playwright Frank Jordan, and he gives her his latest manuscript, Tricksters, to read. Jennifer reads it very quickly and says it is the most extraordinary play she has ever read. She describes the plot, which features a husband who drives his wife crazy and leads her to kill herself so he inherits all her money. There is more, the husband and his new girlfriend drive each other to distraction, I think … ugh I can’t remember anything more… and Jennifer says she knows the plot sounds a bit hackneyed, but she thought it was extremely well written.

OK, so far so good. But Frank Jordan is having an affair with the wealthy Estelle Vacarro, one of the amateur actors in the current play. Estelle’s husband Tony, an unsuccessful off off off Broadway director, currently living on his wife’s wealth, and directing this am dram production. Somehow (I wasn’t paying enough attention because I was ironing) Tony learns how good Frank Jordan’s new play is, and determines to get hold of it for himself.

So Tony takes his wife to Frank’s apartment, where he murders Frank with weed killer in a Harvey Wallbanger (vodka, Galliano and orange juice) and empties the glass on to Frank’s favourite potted fern, which is named Farley* (the rotter), right in front of his wife (even worse!). Farley dies.  Tony takes the only other copy of the Tricksters manuscript and substitutes his own name as author. He hawks the manuscript all around Hollywood, and is all set to make a lucrative deal with a big producer.

However, enter Jennifer again. Tony arranges for her copy of the manuscript to be stolen from her car, and then, because he knows she’s read it, swaps out (as they insist on saying in American) the blanks from the gun in the play with real bullets, so that one of her fellow amateur actors will shoot her dead.

Jonathan rushes from a meeting with a theatrical agency, where he has seen a copy of Tricksters with Tony Vacarro’s name on it, back to the community theatre. He thinks he will be too late. But meanwhile, Estelle cannot bear the thought of Jennifer being killed, and rushes to stop the gun being fired.

I am so not impressed by Flappers Folly, which I assume to be by Frank Jordan. It’s a second rate, derivative drawing room comedy and I can’t think why anyone would bother to stage it, even for charity. I really can hardly credit that his next play would be so wonderful that Tony Vacarro would kill for it.

And after all this, why on earth is this supposedly wonderful new play called Tricksters? I can see no reason for it at all. It sounds terrible and has a terrible name that makes no sense. Ho hum.

*My mother was given an extremely ugly potted begonia. She didn’t really like it, but it was so happy in our house she called it Boris and nurtured it until she died.

Thanks to Southern Living