The Mystery of the Magic Circle - M. V. Carey [14]
“I was reading about Madeline Bainbridge,” said Pete. “I went back into the microfilm files.”
The Second Investigator took an untidy sheaf of papers out of his pocket and began to read his pencilled notes.
“She came here from Fort Wayne, Indiana, when she was eighteen. She’d won a beauty contest and the prize was a trip to Hollywood. Alexander de Champley spotted her while she was touring the Film Art Studio. Three weeks later she had a contract with Film Art and was set to play Mary Queen of Scots in Champley’s version of the picture. That’s some kind of an all-time record for getting discovered and cast in a motion picture.”
Pete looked up at his friends. “All the stories said she was very, very beautiful.”
“She’s still beautiful,” said Jupe. “I saw her today. Anything more, Pete?”
“Just general stuff,” said Pete. “She seems to have been a pretty quiet person. She didn’t get into scandals. She made a lot of very good pictures. Most of her roles were historical, like Cleopatra and Catherine the Great. She had the best leading men, but she never bothered with them much once a picture was finished. She didn’t make lots and lots of friends. She was sort of a loner, and there was never any gossip to link her romantically with any actor until the last of her leading men — Ramon Desparto.”
“What about him?” asked Bob.
“He died shortly after he finished making the picture The Salem Story. That was a very strange picture about the witch trials in Salem and—”
“And there we have witchcraft again,” interrupted Jupe.
“Right. But this movie was very hokey. The plot was weird. Bainbridge played a Puritan maiden who is accused of witchcraft, and who saves herself by running away with an Indian brave so that she doesn’t get hanged. Ramon Desparto played the Indian brave, and he also got engaged to Madeline Bainbridge just before shooting started on the picture. There was some nasty talk that the engagement was just to help his career. He got engaged a lot to his leading ladies. Not long after The Salem Story was finished, he was killed in a car accident. It happened after a party at Bainbridge’s ranch, and Bainbridge had some kind of nervous collapse. She never worked again.
She bought up all of her pictures and spent the next thirty years keeping out of sight.”
“And avoiding her old friends?” said Jupiter.
“There may not have been that many old friends,” said Pete. He unfolded a photocopy of a picture that he had tucked in with his notes and handed it across the desk to Jupe. “This picture was taken at the Academy Awards dinner the year The Salem Story was made,” he said. “That group of people is called ‘Madeline Bainbridge’s magic circle’ because they’re the ones she spent her time with. There aren’t so many. Marvin Gray isn’t in the picture, though.”
“He wasn’t a friend then,” Jupiter reminded Pete. “He was still just the chauffeur.”
Jupe studied the picture and read the caption. Madeline Bainbridge and the darkly handsome Ramon Desparto sat at the head of the table. On the star’s other side was Jefferson Long, looking very young and handsome. The caption identified a man named Elliott Farber as Bainbridge’s favourite cameraman. An actor named Charles Goodfellow sat next to an actress named Estelle DuBarry. Nicholas Fowler, a scriptwriter, was there, and so was Clara Adams, who sat next to a character actor, Ted Finley. Janet Pierce was identified as costume designer for the Salem picture, and Lurine Hazel and Marie Alexander were actresses. A very plain girl named Gloria Gibbs stared straight ahead, and was referred to as Desparto’s secretary.
“How interesting!” said Jupiter Jones. “A magic circle indeed! There are thirteen people here, and thirteen at a table is considered unlucky — unless you are a witch.
For a coven, thirteen is the right number!”
Jupe beamed at his fellow investigators. “Bob, your notes indicate that August first is one of the four great Sabbats of the year. This happens to be the first of August.
Was Madeline