L.A. Movie by Philip Prowse
SUMMARY Lenny was watching a movie starring the famous actress Gail Lane in a movie theatre. Charlie is the name of the actor in the movie Lenny was watching. Lenny’s car survived the car crash. Lenny is therefore pleased that his car is old and constructed better, whereas the other white car, which was brand new, did not survive the car crash and the driver was also injured. The blonde woman is Gail Lane, the same actress Lenny was just watching at the movies. Lenny thought Gail Lane wanted him to drive her home. However, he was not right, she wanted him to drive Mike Devine home. Nine Thousand and Two Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA. Mike Devine thought Lenny was an intruder because he did not remember the car accident or Lenny carrying him into the apartment. He probably did not remember because he had a concussion. Lenny’s idea was that there was a garage on the bottom of Mike Devine’s apartment building. Lenny told
Mike that he had to move his car and Mike offered Lenny the use of his garage for Lenny’s car. Lenny therefore
concluded that the intruder could have left the apartment by taking the elevator directly to the garage and driven away without the doorman seeing him or her.
Crazy Ellen’s is a bar, café, diner and a meeting place. It is located next to Lenny’s office building and
is on West Beaumont Drive. Lenny does not know where the name of the bar came from. The owner is not Crazy Ellen, but rather an Old Greek man named Costas. An answerphone is a machine that records and plays phone messages. There were nuns, warriors, peasants and princesses in the studio commissary because they were playing extras in a fantasy movie being filmed in Studio Twelve. Rik knows that Lenny is not busy and he really needs the job Rik offers. Lenny did not tell Rik that he had spoken to Gail on the phone because then he would have to explain that he was working on an additional case. Lenny was not happ y about the studio chief executive’s decision not to tell Gail about the death threats. He felt that she should know about the threats so she could choose to continue making the movie or not. She might not want to risk acting in a movie when she was receiving death threats. The sign explains that filming of the movie Death Behind The Dooris taking place and the set is closed, no one but the actors filming the scenes are allowed on the set. Lenny felt terrible because he had wanted to protect Gail and he thought she was dead. Lenny was introduced as an advisor to Gail on how to be a private detective. Arabella laughed because she had easily just caught him spying during his investigation of Gail. Lenny lied about meeting Gail before because when he met her she was out at night without any protection and Arabella and Annie became angry when Gail went out without their protection. Lenny is always in trouble. Rik anticipates that Lenny will be in trouble and then he will be able to find out who has been threatening Gail. Lenny planned to wait for something new to happen. Someone is threatening to publish photos of Gail dancing with Vincent Caleb, a well-known gangster, if she does not pay two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Lenny gave Gail a package after she had been searched by the security force. The package contained the gun he took from her the evening before. Lenny was not dreaming. The statue with the stone ball moved and took a big step to the edge of the stone wall. He thought he might be dreaming because he was surrounded by statues and it seemed dreamlike that a statue would be moving . Lenny wanted Gail to have the opportunity to dance the tango with the dancer. Whoever is blackmailing Gail wants her alive so she can pay for the photos; however, the person who dropped the stone wants her dead. Lenny wanted to tell Rik that he had Gail’s gun. Lenny will be one of the extras on the set in Istanbul. It is necessary for him to be an extra because he was officially fired for having a gun on the set. Lenny calls his answerphone to find out if there are any messages for him because Lenny does not keep anything important at the office. There was not a lot of information on Gail Lane because she became a star recently. The same men who broke into his apartment were probably Vincent Caleb’s men. Lenny was therefore involved with Caleb whether he liked it or not. Lenny wanted to know whether there was enough money in Mike’s account for the bank to pay him.
Marry Sullivan represented Mr X, Mr X is a powerful man. He bought all of Mike Devine’s debts and wants to be paid back immediately. Lenny does not believe Homer Frank’s story about the email
threats. Lenny was stuck waiting in a long line at the immigration desk. It took him an hour to reach an immigration official. Julie meant get used to looking and acting like Brent Foster since Lenny was going to be his stunt double while in Istanbul.
Alan Davies is the name Lenny is using while in Istanbul as a stunt double for Brett Foster. No, Lenny does not think that Gail will be safe from the blackmailer if she pays for the photos. If she pays for the photos, she does not know whether there are more copies of them. Three different people would be playing the main male character: Brent Foster, Lenny and later a stunt double will play Brent Foster during a car chase. Carla said ‘wonderful’ because Lenny looked exactly like Brent Foster and was the perfect stunt
double. Lenny meant that the person shooting at them in the Mercedes was not part of the movie scene they were meant to be filming. Lenny turned the car around and drove the Mustang straight at the Mercedes. The Galata Bridge was opening. Lenny just found out that the red light and siren he thought earlier was the police investigating the car chase was a warning to drivers that the bridge was about to open. Gail has been going out with Mike Devine for several years; however, she considers him really only a friend. Suggested answer: Gail and Theo Democrates are engaged to be married in secret. Theo is afraid if there is any scandal about them then he will not be elected to president of the United States in the future. Therefore, it is very important that Theo does not see the photos of Gail and Vincent Caleb. The car was carried off the bridge by a helicopter to safety. Lenny had a microphone hidden in his clothes. It would transmit to a tape recorder in his car. Every word anyone said near him would be recorded. Brent Foster was stopped at the security gates of the studio and was not allowed in the studio because the security guards had already let Lenny dressed as Brent Foster enter the studio with Gail. One of the gunmen who has seen all of Brent Foster’s
movies does not think Lenny sounds like Brent and tells Vincent Caleb. Vincent pulls off a layer of latex on Lenny’s face and sees that he is not Brent but the private investigator.
He dressed as a phone repairman and watched the blackmailer take the plastic bag Gail had left for him in a phone box. Suggested answer: Lenny did not tell the police about the blackmailer because it was his friend and former work colleague Rik. I could understand why Lenny would not want to tell the police that his friend was the blackmailer and send him to jail. Lenny was able to return the money and photos to Gail. The case was solved, so there was no reason to tell the police about Rik’s involvement.
About the author Philip Prowse Philip Prowse began his professional life with the British Council, for whom he taught and trained teachers in Egypt, Portugal, Greece and Poland. Returning to the UK he became the principal of a large residential language school where he was responsible for a wide range of teacher training courses, as well as language courses for teenagers and adults. He has been writing throughout his career, and has been a full-time writer and trainer for the last fifteen years. Something he has always greatly enjoyed has been the opportunity to spend time in classrooms in different parts of the world, and it is from teachers and students that the inspiration to write comes. He has been a regular speaker at conferences and has run teacher-training courses in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. Philip's publications include a number of Macmillan Readers, three integrated skills series (as series editor), including Accelerate, primary, secondary (Shine and Inspiration with Judy Garton-Sprenger) and adult coursebooks, and articles in professional journals. He is Reviews Editor of English Language Teaching Journal. Philip Prowse was trained at the Slade School of Art and since 1970 was a co-director of the Citizens Company with Giles Havergal and Robert David MacDonald, having previously worked with Havergal at the Watford Palace Theatre. In 2003 both Havergal and MacDonald stepped down from their posts as directors of the company. Prowse however, continued his role as artistic collaborator with newly appointed Artistic Director, Jeremy Raison, until 2004. He directed and designed over 70 plays with the Citizens Theatre and has worked throughout the world designing and directing for opera, ballet and drama. He is director and designer for opera, ballet and theatre; head Theatre Design Dept Slade Sch 19952003, prof UCL 1999-2003 (emeritus prof 2003-); professional debut with Royal Ballet's Diversions (ROH) 1961; worked with numerous cos incl: Glasgow Citizens' Theatre (dir 1970-2004), RNT, RSC, Old Vic, Royal Opera, Royal Ballet, ENO, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, WNO, Scottish Opera, Opera North, English Nat Ballet (Festival Ballet), Scottish Ballet; worked extensively in Europe and USA; Theatre prodns as dir incl: Chinchilla (NY), Phedra (with Glenda Jackson, Old Vic and Aldwych), The Duchess of Malfi (with Ian McKellen, qv, RNT and Chicago); for Greenwich Theatre incl: The White Devil, The Seagull, The Orphan; works for Citizens' Theatre Glasgow: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Private Lives, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, The Soldiers, Don Carlos (both at Edinburgh Int Festival); other recent prodns incl: A Woman of No Importance (RSC), The White Devil (RNT), Lady Windermere's Fan (Albery and tour), The Vortex (also designer, Garrick, with Rupert Everett); Opera prodns as dir incl: La Gioconda (Opera North), Giovanna D'Arco (ROH), Tamburlaine (WNO), The Pearl Fishers (ENO); for Opera North: Orpheus, The Threepenny Opera, Aida, Daphne; Ballet as designer incl: The Sleeping Beauty (Dutch Nat Ballet/Vienna State Opera), Swan Lake (Munich); for Royal Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Carmina Burana.
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Description of the main characters
He is Lenny Samuel, the private investigator who is the hero of the story, and who has been hired to protect Gail.
She is Gail Lane. She is an important character in this story. She is a blonde woman and the same actress Lenny was just watching at the movies.
He is Mike Devine, the son of a rich father; who is now without money and whose friendship with Gail is breaking up. He drinks too much, and is being made to leave L.A. by Miss Sullivan who is working for 'Mr X'. Mr X is really Democrates, who wants to get Mike away from Gail.
He is Homer Frank, the movie studio boss, who finances his films with gangsters' money Gail is acting in his, studio’s latest film. Death Behind the Door.
He is Vincent Caleb, the gangster who is using Frank's studio to launder money, and who was Gail's friend when she was first in Hollywood.
He is Captain Roberto Garcia, the Argentine police officer who warns Lenny Samuel about dangerous driving in Buenos Aires, but who agrees to protect Gail for him.
He is Brent Foster; the male star of Death Behind the Door, in which Gail is also a star.
He is Theo Z. Democrates, the U.S. Senator who is secretly engaged to Gail, and who wants to be President of the U.S.
She is Annie, who is one of Gail Lane's two female bodyguards.
Reasons for which the Author Wrote the Story
The author's reasons for writing the book were to give more importance to his professional live thus his work is writing plays. It also could be said that he as a child wanted to be a private detective and to live many emotions as Lenny Samuel does in the history, trying to solve everything and give a clear end to their cases. He also claims for the benefits of extensive reading for language learners, a strong one and a weaker one. The strong one is expressed clearly by Stephen Krashen: ‘… when second language acquirers
read for pleasure, they can continue to improve in their second language without classes, without teachers, without study, and even without peop le to converse with …’ He also thinks that success breeds success and he wants extensive reading to be an enjoyable successful experience because simply the more learners read the better their English becomes. Because the barriers to comprehension are not only linguistic (this is why graded readers control lexis and grammar) but also cultural (the schema – or assumed knowledge- of a novel written for native speakers does not often match that of the learners) and stylistic. He wants his learners to succeed and he does this by removing as many barriers to comprehension as possible.
Values Included in the Story
Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. Love: An intense feeling of deep affection: "their love for their country". Honest: Free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere. Responsibility: The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something. Friendships: The emotions or conduct of friends; the state of being friends. Self-respect: dignity: the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect; "it was beneath his dignity to cheat"; "showed his true...
Personal Opinion
For me the story has drama and suspense though it is about a private detective who was involved without having planned it, as the case is very difficult due to there is no argument and he starts from scratch. There are few people who support him in this case, whereas, others will try that he will do wrongly. In addition, several of the characters in the play have a leading role and in particular the detective, since at the beginning he thought that he is the star of the case, but he is confused with reality and the girl who is the protagonist in the film, in real life she comes out to him asking for help and the story itself becomes more interesting due to there is no apparent reason for having beaten him and he begins to investigate the case. I think the story is very interesting because you get involved with a fantasy in which you think you are the hero.
