Murder Mystery Memory #12: Bruce Cooke – Part 1
Bruce Cooke was fabulous enough to have sent me dozens of Eddie May memories, so I’m including his entry as a two-part series in order to include as many as possible. You may notice that some parts are in italics: that’s Noel Counsil (Eddie May Crime Minister) putting in his two cents. Enjoy!
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Bruce Cooke
BC: I forget the guy’s name. He was a weird guy who kicked me out of my room in Quebec because he wanted to meditate. Anyway, he surely holds the record for the world’s longest death. I figure it lasted about 50 miles! He was supposed to walk in… go all the way to the other end of the rail car, shoot himself with a hair dryer, and then stagger all back through the rail car so that we would only have to carry him about 5 feet into the safe car. Instead, he shot himself, staggered all the way to the far end of the rail car, died, then we had to carry him all the way back through the car, and every two rows he would come back to life!
NC: What was the name of that weird guy? You almost got a hernia carrying him through the train car.
BC: We played in long thin places (the urban pear), huge places (pick a hotel banquet room), trains, impossible places. The white house in Stittsville. Four rooms on the main floor of the restaurant, no sight lines, we had to walk from room to room and repeat every line so all the guests could hear us.
NC: The Ottawa River Boat … after we killed Jeff Lawson we had to hide him on the front of the boat. It was cold and windy and there was some spray. We buried him under blankets and brought him hot drinks from time to time. He said he was tempted to jump off and swim for shore rather than freeze till the end of the show.
BC: Remember the hockey show and that guy (name gone again) on the roller blades rolling around the pub with 100 people!
NC: John Vautour. He ran over an actress’ foot, maybe Chris Short.
BC: The other story I love is the time we were at Strathmere and we were in the house, in the banquet room down at the back. The stage was at the north end of the room, and Norm was questioning a suspect about his role in Johnson Moretti’s death. Just then, who walks by the window in that way that only he can walk, with his suitcase and his plastic shopping back on his way out to his car to head back to town… in front of the entire audience who is looking directly at the window as Norm is leading the questions!
NC: He was wearing a straw hat, very casual. A dead guy never looked more comfortable.
BC: Then there was the time that we played the Tannery in Carleton Place. It was one of those semi-corporate shows where we booked a large group from a company and filled the remaining seats with walk-ins. The company in question chose that particular Friday afternoon to lay off most of the people that were coming to the show. One lady was particularly tough to handle! Was that also the night that I left the room, and then forgot something and strode back through the swinging door and knocked you senseless?
NC: Yep. But only after that 60 pound art display made out of antique iron tools collapsed and fell on me. Almost knocked me cold. I started to crawl out of the room on my hands and knees and when I got to the swinging door, out you came. Ka-blam. I went down for the count. Next thing I knew you had me on my feet and were walking me into the kitchen. I still have the scars…
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Eddie May Murder Mysteries celebrates 25 years with a bang! For this silver anniversary celebration, the company stages a murder mystery musical Eddie Get Your Gun, created by Noel Counsil and Dan Lalande, directed by Thea Nikolic. The show plays Saturday evenings through the summer at Scarlett’s Dinner Theatre in the Byward Market. For more information, please call 613 850 9700 or visit www.eddiemay.com
