The ‘Real’ John Robie, Francie’s Car, and the Explosion of Calypso Music

Dear Friends & Readers:

Here’s my latest newsletter. In it, you’ll find interesting research discoveries I came across for my first book. You’ll also learn about my experiences developing a website. 

I’m trying to work all of these discoveries into my book, so look for them when it’s published. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the newsletter!

If you do, please share it with others. 

John Robie’s World

The original To Catch a Thief was written by David Dodge, a noted mystery and travel writer. While living in the French Riviera in 1950, Dodge and his wife departed for Italy at the exact same time their neighbor’s villa was burglarized by a muscular, acrobatic man who apparently climbed 3 stories up a drainpipe to steal a fortune in jewels. Click here for more on this amazing story from Randal Brandt, UC Berkeley librarian, curator of the California Detective Fiction Collection, and publishing consultant. 

Author David Dodge with his wife and daughter

Authorities immediately focused on the missing neighbor -- David Dodge -- as the main suspect. Not for long, though. Soon the actual thief, going by the alias Dante Spada (real name Dario Sambucco) was arrested. 

By all accounts, Spada was handsome (similar in appearance to the French actor Jean Marais) and acrobatic, often called ‘Tarzan’ because of his physical exploits. Spada ran, swam, and climbed trees to stay in shape. His robbery victims included Elsa Maxwell, the famous gossip columnist, Jack Warner, the Hollywood mogul, and Ilsa Schiaparelli, the renowned fashion designer. 

Jean Marais on the right

As you can imagine, David Dodge saw the potential of a fictionalized version of this story and often said To Catch a Thief was the ‘easiest eighty thousand words ever put together.’ He added, ‘The book practically wrote itself.’

Not surprisingly, To Catch a Thief became David Dodge’s most successful novel. 

Francie’s World

One of the most famous scenes from the film To Catch a Thief had Grace Kelly, as Francie Stevens, driving a Sunbeam Alpine MK 1 convertible. 

I love that scene so much that I have an image of it on my website, my Twitter account (@JohnRobieIsBack), and near my writing desk (more on that in a future newsletter). 

I’ve often wondered why that image and car appeal to me. I believe it’s because of what the car represents and how Francie Stevens embodied those principles.

Convertibles have always represented luxury to me. Let’s face it: they’re not practical and are expensive. So, to me, they’re aspirational. There’s also a carefree element to a convertible, where the occupants experience the sun and the wind unfiltered; the world comes at them, and they meet it with a smile. But there’s also an element of danger; convertibles are not the safest cars on the road. 

And those are the exact traits Francie Stevens conveyed. In the original book, she was wealthy, carefree, and relaxed in her demeanor, but she was also drawn to excitement and intrigue. I’d like to think that was me, but I was never wealthy, more anxious than carefree, and somewhat risk-averse. Still, I admired Francie Stevens, and the connection between her personality and her car was perfect. 

I’ve got to put Francie back into a convertible; it may not be a Sunbeam, but it will represent Francie’s essence. 

Riviera Life

Modern calypso music originated in Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean country. Calypso is famous for its catchy and soothing sound. The lyrics use the chantwell style, a call-and-response between a main singer and a chorus, and the music relies on steel drums, bongos, guitars, and horns. It’s an amazing genre; the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate it. 

Calypso often included veiled social critique. A great example is ‘Rum and Coca-Cola’, originally written and performed by Lord Invader, then revised into a huge American hit by the Andrews Sisters. It’s an incredibly upbeat, captivating song, but look closely at the lyrics, and you’ll see some commentary on prostitution.  Check it out, then click on ‘Lyrics’ to see for yourself. I’ve never seen anything so critical packaged up in something so lyrical.

Even though it was the biggest-selling song of the year, it was banned in the US by network radio stations because of the mention of alcohol and the allusion to sex work.

The Andrews Sisters

Anyway, the 1950s saw an international explosion of calypso, mostly due to Harry Belafonte; remember the ‘Banana Boat Song,’ also known as ‘Day-O.’ My first exposure to this song was in the James Bond film Dr. No. I’ve been hooked on spy stories—and calypso music—since then. 

Calypso was perfect for its time. The world was throwing off the yoke of WW2 austerity, looking to celebrate, dance, and relax. In those early days of globalization, calypso music was bound to be popular. 

I’ve gotta find a home for it in my book. 

My World

Authors are expected to have a website to help build readership and promote their work. 

Promoting myself or my work goes against my nature. Also, I didn’t know where to start. So, my first step was to review other author sites to see what the basic requirements are. 

One requirement was having a regular newsletter. It was intimidating to think about, but then I realized something: Every newsletter has to have two key elements: it has to be engaging to the reader and sustainable for the author. After thinking about that, I decided to share the best part of my writing journey—the little nuggets of research I’ve encountered. 

The next step was the hardest and most expensive part -- building the site. I discussed this with my son, John, and his wife, Danielle. Both are engineers with experience designing and building websites and publishing online newsletters.

Thankfully, both of them volunteered to build it for me. And what an incredible job they did -- picking a template company, a color scheme that matched the book's tone, and great advice on simplifying the navigation. Then, there were technical considerations, such as transitioning my URL to a hosting site, ensuring all operations work, linking to a newsletter service, etc. To make it even better, they didn’t charge me a penny, which speaks to their character.

The result is thrilling! John still guides me on the monthly newsletter procedures. Someday soon, I’ll be able to handle it all myself. But I won’t tell John that; who wouldn’t want another touchpoint with their son?