Blogs by Flo Fitzpatrick
Scarecrow's Dream: And the Ghost Fell in Love with the Dead Man
11/23/2025 5:45:47 AM
A disclaimer since Wicked part two was just released. This has absolutely nothing to do with the movie...or the musical...or The Wizard of Oz (Although I've seen the latter more times than I can count and managed to snag orchestra seats center for the musical when I lived in NYC!).
The movie, “The Best of Everything” (1959) is soapy, not-exactly-feminist-oriented, but features some surprisingly good acting with a cast that includes Joan Crawford, Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Louis Jordan…and Stephen Boyd. Trashy doesn’t begin to cover this film. I admit it. I love it.
I put those ellipses in front of Stephen Boyd’s name for a reason…to set him apart. Because I was always intrigued with him as an actor. Most people remember him as the truly villainous character Messala in “Ben Hur” (1959) or in the musical “Billy Rose’s Jumbo” (1962). I checked out a few of his other movies and discovered he was an incredibly versatile actor… as well as being damned handsome! Tragically, he died young in 1977 at the age of 45. By the time I first saw “The Best of Everything” on DVD, Boyd had been deceased for more than 20 years.
So…I’m watching the movie (for the umpteenth time) and thinking how sad it was that Boyd died so young and one of those writer-type thoughts comes slamming into my brain. “What about having a heroine watch an old movie and fall in love with one of the actors who’s deceased?” I didn’t want her to step into the movie…that would be stealing from “The Purple Rose of Cairo”. And I didn’t want the dead actor to suddenly come popping out of the film either. I needed a different hook. Since I love using songs as book titles I started going through my stash of music to see if anything screamed, “use me!”
“Scarecrow’s Dream.” One of my favorite artists (who also passed away too far soon) is Dan Fogelberg. And “Scarecrow’s Dream” from his NetherLands album is such a beautiful song, with a haunting melody and poignant lyrics. One of the most intriguing lines is “between the world of men and make-believe I will be found.” I put on the CD. I’m singing along and my little paranormal imagination goes soaring into its own nether-land with “this book could be about a ghost or a time traveler or simply a serious dreamer having issues with reality.”
Like, for instance, a ghost wandering around Manhattan trying to remember her death falls in love with the dead man she sees on screen. And tries to figure out how to reconnect. Talk about between the worlds of men and make-believe 🙂
I often incorporate themes or messages in my books. At the time I wrote “Scarecrow’s Dream” there was a big surge in the Black Lives Matter movement thanks to the many tragic deaths of black men…especially teens or young adults. Plus, we were still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I knew my “ghost” (Holly Malone) would be a fierce protestor of injustices and I created a circle between what was happening with race and war in the early 1970s and America in 2011 and added the element of racial issues by making my hero, Shane Halloran both black and Irish.
“Scarecrow’s Dream” ended up as one of my more “Ungenreable” novels. It has the paranormal element. It’s a romance. It’s a mystery. It has messages.. It has humor (often thanks to Holly’s quirky aunt Addy and her puppy Miss Adelaide). And more than one twist. I’m a dancer. I HAVE to have twists!
Scarecrow’s Dream bit.ly/3Xy6Uj8
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