You are listening to theme of An Affair to Remember with Carry Grant and Debra Carr.
This is Colleen's entry for a JCL Latin competition. I took the myth of Persephone and the
pomagranite and placed it in a 40's Private Eye office. I thought you Golden fans would
like it. Don't want to toot my own horn, but this "Modern Myth" did win first
place. Then again no one else entered an essay, so whose to say that this really deserved
it.
The ancient myth of Persephone and the Pomegranate has been interpreted in various ways
throughout numerous years. The tale is concerning a man and a women’s love for each
other overcoming all obstacles; however, it was not strong enough to overwhelm the love
between mother and child. In this rendition the narrator is a detective searching for Mrs.
Winster’s (Demeter) daughter Persephone and Baby Face Scali (Hades). The plot is
placed in the early 1940’s in New York City with contrasts in the sequence of events.
My name’s Shepherd, Sam Shepherd, private eye. Today was just like any other dark and
stormy New York day. I was smoking my pipe after a hard day’s work when a dame walked
into my office. She was a well-off number judging by her clothes, and by that rock on her
finger she was married. She said her name was Margot Winster. She was a famous socialite
from a small town named Winsterville that her family has controlled for many decades. Mrs.
Winster was looking for her daughter. Her daughter was named Persephone. Apparently, one
of New York’s biggest hit men had kidnapped her while she was in the city to see the
ballet with her aunt. This criminal was known as Baby Face Scali because of his power over
most women. It seems that while Persephone and her aunt were waiting for a taxi after the
ballet. A handsome and very charming young man approached them. This young man asked if he
might escort Miss Persephone to dinner the following evening. Without another thought
Persephone accepted. That following night she was picked up in a black limousine, but she
was never brought back. The word around the street was that Baby Face was deeply in love
with this girl and he kidnapped her for the slight possibility she might love him back.
Mrs. Winster wanted her daughter back, and from the picture I could see why: she was
gorgeous. Mrs. Winster was married to one of the country’s car manufacturers. Her
family was very well respected and very high on the social totem pole. She needed me to
find them and I was all too willing because she gave me five hundred dollars up front. I
took the job, going against my instincts. She handed me a picture of her child reluctant
to give it up. I sent my right hand man, Johnny Bonidero to shake up the local stoolies to
see what was up. If I knew what was to happen I would have never sent him out.
The next day Johnny was dead. He was shot in the back in a dark alleyway. The dame
returned to see me that morning. She was upset over the murder of my colleague. My
secretary, who always tied up my loose ends, comforted her. This was a nice doll, her
daughter was kidnapped, but she was worried about the Johnny’s family. Mrs. Winster
explained to me that she couldn’t go on without her darling baby girl. They had a
relationship that was tighter than that of any other mother and child.
I tracked Baby Face to a warehouse in Brooklyn. I lit a cigarette, put on my hat, stuck my
trench coat lapels up, and was on my way. When I got to the warehouse it was dark and
extremely foggy. I put out my cigarette and walked to a back door. I crept in through the
door to see what was happening. In a lovely blue gown I saw Persephone sitting at an
elegantly set table for two. That was the gown she had been wearing to the ballet. I could
tell by the description that Mrs. Winster gave me. The only thing wrong with this picture
was that she was tied to the chair and no one was sitting with her. I felt sorry for her.
I wanted to free her, but the way those thugs sitting nearby looked I didn’t feel
that sorry. I didn’t tell Mrs. Winster about where Persephone was because I
didn’t want her to get in over her head. Besides, I saw how Mrs. Winster was slowly
cracking under the pressure.
I staked out the joint for the next two weeks. Day by day I noticed the changes. I saw how
they had changed. I observed how the feelings between Persephone and Baby Face grew. For
many nights Persephone didn’t even glance his way. One evening when Baby Face began
his daily dialogue with Persephone, he began to tell the uninterested Persephone about his
life as a child. “I grew up in a small neighborhood in Queens. I always felt trapped,
like I was kept in a cage. I thought that there was no way I could escape the claws of
poverty. I suppose I never have. I have money, but what else do I have? Nothing, I’ve
gotten nothing.”
At that moment Persephone finally said something. She had been very shocked by that
statement. “I, too as a child felt very trapped. The money surrounded me and never
allowed me the freedom to experience life. I have never been able to do anything
successfully by myself. I don’t have anything either.” They shared a common
bond. They shared the feeling of loneliness in a shut-out world. It was then and there
that they began to fall in love.
I finally told Mrs. Winster about her child. I told her about all I’d discovered, the
conversations, the dinners, the warehouse, everything. She was furious, as if I
didn’t expect that. I knew what was to come. She stormed down to the warehouse, but
no one was there except two big thugs. Those thugs did not understand this situation; we
had to battle it out. I lit cigarette and sat down where Persephone had once sat in agony.
We waited for hours before anyone made a move.
The happy couple walked in the door smiling and laughing, Persephone still in that blue
gown. They were married. They had been happily married for a whole two hours. It was too
late for Mrs. Winster, her daughter would no longer be hers. Persephone belonged to her
husband, a hit man. What was Mrs. Winster to do? Her family could not survive the
humiliation of having a hit man in their family; on the other hand, she could not stand to
have her daughter unhappy. It was then that I interrupted. I proposed a plan. My idea was
that Persephone would stay with Baby Face in the city for six months and Persephone and
Baby Face could live in Winsterville for the next six months. Mrs. Winster objected. She
refused to leave her daughter with a hit man. Once again, I intervened. I presented the
idea that in order for Persephone to stay with Baby Face he had to stop his days as a hit
man.
In this interpretation of Persephone and the Pomegranate the “pomegranate” is
the concept of being loved and having the opportunity to be loved. Though these characters
have been modeled after gods, they possess the basic instincts to be accepted and loved.
Teletubbies, Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa, and Po.
