Patricia Marmont

            On Sunday morning I found the lyrics for “Barcelone" by Boris Vian and copied them into my file of Vian lyrics.

            Around midday I finished washing and scrubbing the floor under and behind the credenza in the kitchen. Since it wasn’t very dirty back there and I didn’t want to waste the oil soap I started washing the top of the credenza until the water was black.

            For lunch I had a toasted pretzel bun with cheddar, tomato, cucumber and mayonnaise.

            I skipped my afternoon exercises and a bike ride so I could finish writing my Food Bank Adventure and try to get caught up on my journal.

            For dinner I had a fried egg, a warm and a warmed up naan with a beer while watching two episodes of The Count of Monte Cristo.

            In the first story a criminal secret society named the Carbonari is blackmailing the Fauntello family because they have papers implicating Henri Fauntello indirectly in a scandal that was not his fault but would ruin him nonetheless. Henri’s son tries to stall for time by only pretending to pay the ransom but he is killed and receives the charcoal cross on his forehead that is the signature of the Carbonari. The count and his men investigate the murder. The Carbonari attack Henri and his future son in law Charles and warn them to tell the count to stay out of this affair. While riding away from the Fauntello home the count, Jacopo and Rico are fired upon. The shooter rides away in the direction of a nearby stable and so they follow him there. They find the rider’s horse but the stable keeper says the owner left on a stage coach. The truth is that the shooter is hiding in the hay. After this we learn that Charles is actually the leader of the Carboneri, but it wasn’t a surprise. The pattern for this series is that a trusted friend tends to turn out to be a bad guy. They go back to question the stable keeper and find him dead. When they return to the Fauntello home Charles tells them that they’ve received a higher ransom note and that Henri’s daughter Annette is going to pay at midnight. He proposes that he and the count watch her to make sure she is safe. But that night when they are there Charles tells the count he saw someone moving in the courtyard of the drop point. The count goes to investigate and suddenly the police arrive at Charles’s bidding to arrest the count as the leader of the Carboneri. But then Jacopo and Rico get the jump on the police and help the count escape. Later the count, Rico and Jacopo sneak into Charles’s home to look for the papers with which Charles is blackmailing Henri but they are caught by Charles and his men. Charles shows them the hidden panel where he keeps the papers but says he is going to kill them before handing their bodies holding the papers over to the police. They fight and once the count has disarmed Charles they let the police in. The count shows the police that behind a secret panel is the ransom money and so Charles is arrested.

            Annette was played by Patricia Marmont, the daughter of British film star Percy Marmont. She was in “Suddenly Last Summer" and "Charlie Chan". In the 1970s she formed the company Marmont Management and became a powerful agent and manager, representing such stars as Dame Patricia Routledge and Sir Kenneth Branaugh.

            In the second story a mad scientist named Diablo has taken over a valley in the French Alps. He uses chemistry, hypnotism and superstition to control the people and tax them heavily. His men won’t allow anyone to come or go across the bridge that is the only connection to the outside world. In order for commerce to continue the valley's goods are left on the bridge for pick-up and supplies to the valley are left in the same way. A shipment of wine from the local abbey goes out and a bottle is sent to the Count of Monte Cristo. But inside the bottle is a note asking for help. When the count, Jacopo and Rico cross the bridge the guards stop them but they overpower them and get through but not without Jacopo being wounded with a bullet in the shoulder. He is taken for treatment at the abbey. Meanwhile Louis Martel and his daughter Marie plot to leave the valley by descending a rope down the precipice to the road below but Diablo’s men capture Marie and hold her prisoner. The count goes to see Diablo and recognizes him as the notorious Guido de Foretti from Naples. Diablo also recognizes the Count of Monte Cristo. The count demands Marie’s release but Diablo insists that Marie is there of her own free will and brings her out to tell the count as much but she is obviously hypnotized. The count leaves and then Diablo sends for Morant the tavern owner. He hypnotizes Morant and compels him to serve the count and his friends poisoned wine at his inn. Morant serves the wine and leaves the count. When Diablo arrives the count, Jacopo and Rico are all collapsed at the table. There is another bottle of wine in the room and so Diablo and his men drink it to celebrate the death of the count. After they’ve drunk the wine the count and his men show they are not dead. The count tells Diablo that he and his men have just drunk the poisoned wine but that he has the antidote. The count first demands that Marie be released, that his men have safe passage out of the valley and that Diablo write a full confession of his crimes. After he does so the count gives him the antidote but tells him he must remain still for an hour. After an hour the count reveals there was no poison. The count takes on the three men and defeats them just as the police arrive to take them away.

            Marie was played by Jan Holden, who played in many theatrical comedies, appeared in several British television series in the 1950s and a few films in the 60s such as “The Stranglers of Bombay”; “Work is a 4-Letter Word” and "The Best House in London".