REPOST: Travis McGee
Theo Gibson
[My news admin says sendnews is working now. My apologies if you've
already seen this post.]
Anyone ever check out any of the Travis McGee novels by John D.
MacDonald? I think on Coconut Telegraph, there's a cut called
Incommunicado. It starts out:
'Travis McGee's still on Cedar Key.
That's what ol' John MacDonald said.'
When I first bootlegged CT from my brother, I had no idea who either
McGee or MacDonald were. Most of my Buffett friends, didn't care for
CT, (they thought Jimmy had sold out, so I never asked any of them)
but I thought it was excellent (as I did Somewhere Over China).
Anyway, this catchy tune had been running through my mind for a long
time, when I was browsing around a bookstore one day, and came upon a
copy of Bright Orange for the Shroud. On the cover it said, A Travis
McGee Novel by John D. MacDonald. My mind went click and I bought the
book. After reading it, I rapidly devoured all the McGee novels one
after the other.
For those who don't know, Travis McGee is a boatbum and self
proclaimed 'Salvage Consultant' who helps people recover their losses
when they've been ripped off and the law can't help them. Since his
adventures are almost always set in Florida and McGee lives on boat,
works for no one and operates on the edge of the law (always for the
good of his friends), it's impossible to love Buffett and not love
McGee.
MacDonald died a few years back, but I've read all the McGee novels and
most of his other 'Good Old Stuff' thanks to JB. In Tales from
M'ville, the main character in [the story about] Take Another Road
counted a complete set of Travis McGee paperbacks among his few worldly
possessions. JB must be quite a fan...
Anyone know of any other references to Travis McGee in any of Buffett's
work or play? I always think of McGee when I hear SOASOAS, "read dozens
of books about heros and crooks.."
Thanks for the bandwidth. I've only been following this group for a
few weeks and love hearing from y'all. Sorry if you've already been
through this thread, I just wanted to share.
--
Ted Gibson
"Was that your husband 'just passed us in that station wagon full of kids?
We gotta get outta here!" JB in RTD
alt.fan.jimmy-buffett aliased to alt.coconut.telegraph
Dave April
tgi...@neon.afsac.wpafb.af.mil (Theo Gibson) wrote:
>
>
> For those who don't know, Travis McGee is a boatbum and self
> proclaimed 'Salvage Consultant' who helps people recover their losses
> when they've been ripped off and the law can't help them. Since his
> adventures are almost always set in Florida and McGee lives on boat,
> works for no one and operates on the edge of the law (always for the
> good of his friends), it's impossible to love Buffett and not love
> McGee.
I agree... I got into and read the entire McGee series because of Buffett.
I was in Florida at the time, so the local references were particularly
enjoyable.
I'm still hoping for a final novel. MacDonald never used BLACK in any
title (all the McGee books have colors in the titles...) and I had heard
rumors of a final book having been written which was to be released X
number of years after his death? Any truth to the rumor?
These books are definitely MUST READs for all JB fans! very
Buffett-esque...
>
> Anyone know of any other references to Travis McGee in any of Buffett's
> work or play? I always think of McGee when I hear SOASOAS, "read dozens
> of books about heros and crooks.."
>
Dave - "there's no place like home when you're this far away... - JB"
JB mentions MacDonald in "Prince of Tides" off "Hot Water" - "with Goodman,
Trevino & John MacD, they were such good friends to me..."
Mike Farren
>In article <tgibson....@neon.afsac.wpafb.af.mil>,
>I'm still hoping for a final novel. MacDonald never used BLACK in any
>title (all the McGee books have colors in the titles...) and I had heard
>rumors of a final book having been written which was to be released X
>number of years after his death? Any truth to the rumor?
Not likely at this point. Any final McGee novel would have been worth
a mint, and there would have been no reason to wait this long to publish
it. Even if there were only a fragment that needed considerable rewriting,
we'd have seen it by now. I'm forced (sob) to presume there is no more
McGee anywhere in the pipe.
--
Michael J. Farren far...@netcom.com
Ted Gibson
ap...@ils.nwu.edu (Dave April) writes:
>I agree... I got into and read the entire McGee series because of Buffett.
>I was in Florida at the time, so the local references were particularly
>enjoyable.
Anyone else? I knew I wasn't alone. Make this summer special:
read one Travis McGee Novel by the end of September (if you haven't
already.) There *will* be a quiz.
>I'm still hoping for a final novel. MacDonald never used BLACK in any
>title (all the McGee books have colors in the titles...) and I had heard
>rumors of a final book having been written which was to be released X
>number of years after his death? Any truth to the rumor?
An article that appeared in my hometown paper "The Columbus Dispatch"
shortly after John MacD's death, indicated that there were two
unfinished T. McG. novels. The article speculated that his widow and
publisher were negotiating their completion. Haven't heard anything
since.... I seem to remember that the U of Florida English Dept was
involved.
>These books are definitely MUST READs for all JB fans! very
>Buffett-esque...
DEFINITELY, particularly for those who posted their passion for
boating and Buffett. Head out on the Bay some Saturday with some
Buffett CDs and a McGee novel, set yourself adrift and.... I can
only imagine - being landlocked like I am. :-(
>JB mentions MacDonald in "Prince of Tides" off "Hot Water" - "with Goodman,
>Trevino & John MacD, they were such good friends to me..."
Thanks. I missed that one.
>Dave - "there's no place like home when you're this far away... - JB"
Ted - "we'll burn that bridge when we come to it... - JB"
Ted Gibson
>I did it the other way around. I started reading MacDonald books
>when I was in college 15 or so years ago, and have since become
>a JB fan. I'm looking forward to reading Tales from M'ville and
>Joe Merchant. My favorite McGee book is "The Empty Copper
>Sea." The book really conveys the feel of southern Florida.
That one was made into a TV movie in the early eighties. Not sure if
the Title remained the same. Anyone else see it? Anyone know who
played McGee?
Ted Gibson
C.E.T.A Corporation
Running freely up and down the bell-curve of systematic deviation.
Gary Cervak
> That one was made into a TV movie in the early eighties. Not sure if
> the Title remained the same. Anyone else see it? Anyone know who
> played McGee?
>
I concider myself a big MacDonald fan, and I didn't know that.
Did you know that the movie Cape Fear was based on the the
MacDonald novel "The Executioner"? If somebody knows the
retitle of the Empty Copper Sea, please post.
Gary
ga...@whiting.mcs.com (Gary Cervak)
Mike Farren
> That one was made into a TV movie in the early eighties. Not sure if
> the Title remained the same. Anyone else see it? Anyone know who
> played McGee?
It's been a while, but I believe the TV movie was titled simply "Travis
McGee". In any event, it was an *excellent* adaptation of Empty Copper
Sea. McGee was played by someone whose name I can't recall (Sam Waterson?),
but who was young, tall and lanky, and had a mustache - none of which
fit *my* image of McGee, but it worked real well just the same. And
the guy that played Meyer *really* fit my image of Meyer.
KM...@psuvm.psu.edu
Karl Reichard
Dave April
> > That one was made into a TV movie in the early eighties. Not sure if
> > the Title remained the same. Anyone else see it? Anyone know who
> > played McGee?
> >
I believe Darrin McGavin (of Night Stalker fame) played Travis in the
movie. He also reads the Travis McGee books on tape. This makes for a
great complimentary addition to listening to Buffett tapes on a long
roadtrip to the next Parrotthead gig.
>>CINNAMON SKIN (1982)
>>Darker than Amber(1970)
>>Deadly Shade of Gold (197?)
>>Deep Blue Goodby (1964)
>>Dreadful Lemon Sky(1975)
>>Dress Her in Indigo(1971)
>>Empty Copper Sea (1978)
>>Free Fall in Crimson(1981)
>>Green Ripper (1979)
>>Lonely Silver Rain (1985)
>>Nightmare in Pink (1976)
>>One Fearful Yellow Eye (1977)
>>Scarlet Ruse (1980)
>>Turquoise Lament (1973)
>T he Long Lavendar Look (1970)
>The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper (1968)
>A Purple Place for Dying (1964)
>The Quick Red Fox (1964)
>Pale Gray for Guilt (1968)
>A Tan and Sandy Silence (1973)
>Bright Orange for the Shroud (1965)
>
>You can tell the McGee titles because [as previously mentioned] they all
>contain a color.
>
>I know this is a little off beat for this group, but I can't recommend these
>highly enough for Buffett fans. If you read them, don't read them in order.
>The later ones are much better.
I agree that the latter books are better, but as someone else mentioned,
the series is a pseudo-serial, making references to previous episodes now
and again. IMHO, reading them in order tends to flesh out the characters
more.
Plus - like Buffett, MacD tends to make a lot of references to popular
culture of the time. It's fun to see how lifestyles and attitudes have
changed by reading a book series that spans 20 years! (Just think how funny
it is on "You Had To Be There" when on "Miss You So Badly" JB starts
singing about Coneheads. I mean, talk about a dated reference.... what?....
there's a new Conehead movie coming out?.... oh, well - you get the point.
:) )
Dave - "Strange Situations, Wild Occupations, Livin' My Life like a Song"
-----------------------------------
David S. April
Institute for the Learning Sciences
Northwestern University
ap...@ils.nwu.edu
Bryan H Jones
April) wrote:
> >
> >If you read them, don't read them in order.
> >The later ones are much better.
>
> I agree that the latter books are better, but as someone else mentioned,
> the series is a pseudo-serial, making references to previous episodes now
> and again. IMHO, reading them in order tends to flesh out the characters
> more.
Well this is a quandary! Which one do I read first? I went to my local
bookstore to discover Travis McGee novels (as a result of all these
postings) and they had every one in stock. I've opted for the
chronological order approach, so I bought The Deep Blue Goodbye and
Nightmare in Pink. Going sailing through the San Juan Islands in 2 weeks,
so I now have appropriate reading material in hand, thanks to all you JMacD
fans! (I guess I could have opted for Mark Twain or Don Blanding, or that
contemporary new American novelist Jimmy Buffett, but I've read all of JB's
stuff and the enthusiasm level has been high for JMacD.)
>(Just think how funny
> it is on "You Had To Be There" when on "Miss You So Badly" JB starts
> singing about Coneheads. I mean, talk about a dated reference....
I have a friend who wasn't living in this country during the early days of
Saturday Night Live, so I had to explain the line: "consume mass quantities
of fiberglass, and get drunk on cheap-ass beer"!
- Bryan
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bryan H Jones FinsUP!
bjo...@bvu-lads.loral.com '81 R100RT
Loral Advanced Distributed Simulation (ph)206.957.3274
Greg Bandy
Apparently in an interview several years ago (he died in 1986),
MacDonald said that he had written a book called "Black Shroud
for McGee", in which Travis dies. Whenever he got into a dispute
with his publishers he would threaten to send them that book,
which would cause his publishers to back down.
Whether or not he really wrote such a manuscript is open to
speculation.
________________________
Greg Bandy
Richmond, VA
USA
gba...@hunter.win.net
CIS 71331,142
Michael G. Palmer
>> Going sailing through the San Juan Islands in 2 weeks,
>> so I now have appropriate reading material in hand, thanks to all you JMacD
>> fans! (I guess I could have opted for Mark Twain or Don Blanding, or that
>> contemporary new American novelist Jimmy Buffett, but I've read all of JB's
>> stuff and the enthusiasm level has been high for JMacD.)
>>
Don Blanding was a poet earlier this century. Some of his work has
influenced Jimmy Buffetts lyrics. In the liner notes of the Volcano
album (the flip open vinyl cover :) is the poem "Mystery South Of Us"
by Don Blanding that starts out:
Florida thrusts like a guiding thumb
To the southern islands of rhumba and rum
There is also a quote in the Floridays liner notes (again, in the flip
open vinyl version -- all of my cds have a simple paper slip with none
of the original liner notes in them, and they cost much more than the
vinyl, too). The quote is:
I have loved many lands, and loved them well,
Changing cameleon like to spell ....
I will post the complete text of these poems later today.
I have three of his books -- Vagabond's House, Mostly California, and
Floridays (wonder where the title of that album came from?) I can post
the words to some of Blandings poems, if anyone wants (much like posting
the lyrics to Buffetts songs)
> Mark Pettit (pet...@ACM.org) ! moves me so much / Why all the fuss? /
>Parrotheads of the Internet, UNITE! ! It's only two humans being.."
--
Michael G. Palmer
DoD #0886