Murder Mystery Party: Golden Age of Hollywood

In May, I reached out to my murder mystery peeps, to set up a September party!  The party could accommodate up to 13 players!!!  Before I go any further, I want to put in a disclaimer that some of the pictures came from Tabitha, so they are not all mine, but many of them are!

When I checked in with the guest couples, I had a few whose fall sports schedules would not allow for them to come to this party, so I had Emily and my mom narrow the suspect list using the spoiler rectangle in the book.  I still wanted to be able to play, so I had them make a random list of the critical suspects, and then toss in an appropriate number of 'other' suspects.  

For some reason, my excitement for this party didn't really happen until after I sent out the invitations.  But once I did that, the anticipation started to build!  And I knew that I wanted to recreate the Hollywood sign.  I did attempt to be lazy and buy a backdrop of the Hollywood Hills from Amazon, but luckily for my party budget, they didn't have one.

Using giant boxes, scissors, a knife, tape, and stapler, I created the nine Hollywood letters!  They were almost four feet tall!

When I went down to the basement to see what we had in the way of paint, I found some white primer, and decided that that would be fine!  It coated well, and dried fast, but was it ever so sticky!  I ended up using almost an entire can of Goof off just to get my hands clean, but didn't have enough to properly clean the paintbrush.

So, that night, while William and I were waiting for his robotics meeting, we ran some errands, including a trip to ace.  Turns out they now have a water-based primer by that brand, which would have been awesome, but wasn't what we had on hand.  I bought more goof off, and some paint thinner for oil-based products.  Thankfully, after letting it soak, the liquid broke down the primer, and now my brush is ready for the next project!

It was windy and chilly on party day, but Alice came out and helped me set up, since Emily, Grace, and Billy, my usual helpers, were all elsewhere!

I ended up using the chairs that my mom (mostly my mom) and I had collected to prop up the letters, and thought it came out really cute!

The red carpet was short, but great for showing off those who wanted to walk it!

INGRID MARX: Natalie - Filmstar

OMAR MARLON: Steve - Lead Understudy

HUMPHREY GARNER: Michael - Director

VALENTINO SALVATORI: Billy - Chef

GENE FAIRBANKS: David - Producer

MERYL MAYER: Tabitha - Casting Director

RITA FORD: Tami - Newby Actress

HEDY GARLAND: Kristy - Make-up Artist

*******SPOILERS*******

I was convinced it was Billy from the time I read his character description, but he really wanted to guess one of the non-critical characters.  Turns out, they had a massive typo and one of the characters that was not even part of our party was the murderer!!!!  So, Billy got one of the solutions and definitely deserved the best detective award!  The second ending that the game provided (so that you could play it again, with the same clues, but a different solution?) it was Billy!  Billy is always the murderer! 

I didn't care much for this style of game.  They tried to use too many party game elements, and I definitely prefer the script and question style of game.

The best costume award was given to Michael, he nailed his character!

We finished early enough in the night, that we wanted to play a second round! Sadly, Natalie and Steve had morning plans, and couldn't stay for another game, but we awarded Steve best Accent!

The second game was set in a Chicago dive bar.  Billy ended up using AI to find us audio of the game cassette, because the tape was old and not playing loudly enough.

Phil Muggs - David, bartender at Dex's Place. 

Marlena -Tabitha, 'mystery lady.' 

Willy Krash - Michael, senior pilot for a large commercial airline.

Dolores Delgatto - Kristy, waitress at Dex's Place.

Marshall Hartz - Billy, own a karate school for kids a few blocks from Dex's Place.

Ginny Tonick - Tami, an attractive 'barfly' writer.

It was super fun to play another game, while being fed a script and questions to ask in our booklets!

********Spoilers*********

This time I didn't even suspect Billy!  I really thought it was going to be me, based on my first page 'keep it a secret' info, but Michael also looked pretty suspicious, being in the drug trade!  Luckily for me, I got to be the murderer again!!  Contrary to what you might think, we both slept well that night! = )

I wish the weather had cooperated at little bit better, but it was a fun party and any excuse to dress up is a good one!  As always, I feel so thankful for finding a group of people who will put time and energy into their characters, and make the night so fun!

later days

edit 9-21-25: backdated for continuity.

Oklahoma

I haven't been to the south since we moved to Michigan in 2017!  Which means, I hadn't seen my Grandma since then either.  She's had a few scary falls this past year, and has been put on hospice, so I went down to visit.  It's the first solo trip I've made in a long, long time!

I don't hate flying as much as I did prior to our recent trip to Germany, but I'm still a little bit of a nervous flier, so I arrived to the airport an hour and some change early.  I ended up having to go through security twice, because I forgot to take out my pocket knife (it just lives in my purse usually.)

Before we left, the sun came up in a splash of color.

I sent pictures to the kids each time I found something fun or interesting.  On our camping trip, they all brought cables, but forgot their bricks.  I was showing them that at the airport that wouldn't be an issue!

The inside of the little plane that flies between Lansing and Chicago (It's a 30ish minute flight, no food service.)

We landed in Chicago, and gained an hour.  There were at least 4 Starbucks between the gate at which we landed and the one from which we left!

A sink with 5 spigots!

Popcorn vending machine in Chicago.  I didn't get any.  Our flight was delayed by an hour or so in Chicago, due to weather.  I could see the storm rolling in.  Then, we sat boarded and in the plane for a long span, and were a couple hours late getting into OKC.

The flight was quite turbulent, and they were not sure if we would even get drink service! (And let me tell you, those flight attendants are fearless, but when they can't stand, they have to call it.)  Thankfully, we found smooth air, so we weren't bouncing around the entire time!

The inside of the larger plane.  It's not much bigger, but a few more people per trip.

Oklahoma City was warm and cloudless.  Their airport is really quite nice!

I rented a car for the first time in my life!  I read through the literature, and made sure to document this little scratch, lest they try to tell me that I did it!  I was thankful for out of state plates, since I didn't know where I was going.

The path I took was different than the one I had researched, because the interstate was super easy to locate.  I started out on 240, but when I found 44, I thought, oh, it will cross 35 eventually, but then it turned North, and I'm like, oh, maybe not.  So, when I saw 40 I'm like, well 40 goes to Arkansas, so it must cross 35, and it did, but I ended up all the way downtown.

It was an uneventful drive down to Ardmore.  I stopped to grab some provisions on the way to Grandma's house, but didn't grab lunch, since Haley and her crew brought chicken express (with a large 1/2 & 1/2 sweet tea!)

After lunch, we celebrated Avia's birthday with a cake that Haley made, and took some pictures of the birthday girl with people who love her dearly!

I don't remember what was happening here, but Leon was the chosen sacrifice. lol.

After Haley and her crew left, the house felt so empty! I had to go move my car out of the drive, which was for the best, because apparently the renter is responsible for hail damage, should any occur!

On night one, it was still a little light out when bedtime rolled around, but I was tired from the trip, and welcomed bedtime.

My only full day there, Grandma and I watched some gameshow reruns: the Match Game*, Wheel of fortune, Master Minds, and a tiny bit of Split Second. We also enjoyed some BBQ that Avia went to pick up from Rib Crib, Grandma had saved a gift card she'd gotten for my visit! Later in the day we cleaned out a couple of drawers, and looked through some picture albums.  For dinner I had some leftover chicken express. = )

It was a really pleasant way to spend the day; not going anywhere or doing much of anything.  I am overwhelmingly disappointed with the recycling culture of Ardmore.  We threw away so many things that I would recycle (or repurpose) at home!  But there's just nowhere to take it!  We didn't break 100F, and on day 2 I had to go outside to warm up, because my hoodie was not cutting it!

I enjoyed spending time with my mom and Grandma.

The next morning was leisurely, with time to clean out one small drawer. Just before leaving, I got to meet one of her nurses. I left with enough time to hit traffic, stop for gas, return the rental car, and still be at the airport the recommended two hours early.

Driving on Interstate 35 felt so much like home, is it weird to have a favorite interstate?

My nerves curtailed my appetite, but I bet these tacos (from my vantage point at the gas station) are pretty good!  OKC was overcast, and slightly cooler when I arrived than when I'd departed Grandma's.

I got the car returned, stood in a bit of a line to get through security, then had hours to while away.  First stop was to change back into jeans. I spent the first part of my wait being a tourist.  The hand sanitizer dispenser has the airport logo on it (Will Rogers World Airport.) 

They also have a Will Rogers mosaic on the floor.  It was hard to get a picture without people crossing over!

You can see oil pumps from the terminal (and all along the roads to and from the airport.)

Apparently the capital has some recycling options!  There was also a paper can!

I would say that the flight from OKC had worse turbulence than the flight in, because it would be smooth, then turbulent.  Drink service was started and stopped 3 times!!

My longest layover for this trip was in Chicago, I had a couple of hours to explore the airport.  It's massive, and heavily populated, and made me so glad that I don't have to go through security there!

I found a place at which I would have been happy to spend a few hours chatting with my Billy!

My flights were in wings L and G, but H was huge, so I spent some time sending my dear ones pictures of the cool vending machines that I saw!

Cupcake vending!

Salad vending!

Licorice Vending!

I was surprised by all the vending machines, until our flight was delayed and delayed and delayed, and the shops started to close down!  If you come to the airport in off hours, they still want you to be able to have a variety it seems.

Our gate was also moved around several times.  This was down in the 'basement' area of the G wing.

While charging my phone at one of the many outlet banks they have for such purpose, the fire alarm started to go off.  No one seemed too bothered by it, but I had no desire to burn in Chicago, so I took myself out of the wing.  I drew in the alarms, since it's not easy to picture.

I found some plugs on the floor, with a view of the wing, but outside of the alarm area.  They shut off the alarm after 5 minutes or so, but that felt like an awfully long time for a 'false alarm.'  And, they also weren't letting the arriving airplanes disembark.

We finally made it back to Lansing, following more turbulence, and a pilot in training just a couple of minutes before midnight.

All 5 of my babies were still awake to greet me!

Grace and Juliet had marked down each time they missed me.  This is what they gave me upon my return!

Despite still trying to recover and get back into the swing of things, I'm so glad I went.  It was really great to see Grandma and Haley's crew!  (And of course Avia, but we see her more often than the others.)  Maybe I'll get another opportunity to go again.

later days

*Gary Burghoff was on it as a guest star!

edit 7-20-24: backdated for continuity.