Meet Me in Manhattan

by Douglas Brode

Anyone familiar with the work of Doug Brode, a well-known Syracuse writer, personality and professor, will know that there are a few things with which he has been, and remains fascinated: movies (especially classics), the "old west," New York City, and a rousing story.

Earlier this year, he offered me a chance to read his forthcoming novel, "Meet Me in Manhattan," a book that combines pretty much all these elements. So of course I was happy to oblige. I started to read a draft before I recently got the final version, complete with a compelling cover and period photos scattered throughout the book - because the story is based on real characters, and the images give the entire work that "film" style Brode loves to explore.

The book is based on the famous, and infamous, "Hole in the Wall" gang, aka "The Wild Bunch - Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker), the Sundance Kid (Harry Alonzo Longabough), and their female friend/lover/companion in crime, Etta Place. The three were the core of the crew that rustled cattle and horses, robbed banks and trains, but, at least in Brode's telling of their story, refused to take lives. All else, at least in Brode's version, was fair in crime and war.

His story is a fascinating blend fact, imagination, a focus on the femme fatale of the piece, and his own particular interest in the period - that moment in time at the turn of the 20th century, when cars begin to replace carriages, "movies" move onto center stage, and The Old West and the Chic East meet for 17 days of self-discovery in The Big Apple. 

As Etta, Sundance, and Butch all converge on the city - each having encountered a bit of their own history and the path by which they found one another, broke with the west, and made their way east - the three discover love (of one another, and some surprising combinations thereof), new opportunities, life, and death.

What follows are some questions for, and answers from, with the writer.

Q: There are so many details - the relationships, Etta dating virtuoso singer Enrico Caruso and breaking into film, the trio being tracked to NYC by bounty hunters, the three meeting up with Annie Oakley and staging a boxing match, the suffragists and women's rights activists, the Mafia, Harlem ... Bat Masterson serves as a point of contact for the three, and he did, in fact, work for a newspaper later in his life as you note in the book. What's the line between truth and fiction?

A: Bat Masterson and his wife Emma lived in precisely the boutique hotel that I describe. Likewise, the boarding house where the threesome stay is described precisely as it was. On the other hand, I eliminated the known names of the proprietors and replaced them with the totally fictitious ‘Kathryn’ (who becomes a lover of one of the three) because it served my purpose for drama. The notion of Theodore Roosevelt secretly handing Bat a badge is fact. But many of the adventures which I describe are either fiction or ‘compilations’ of actual events. For instance: The attempted kidnapping of the opera singer, Caruso. That actually happened, though several years later, and the blizzard in which it occurs actually took place three years earlier. Likewise, though the street festival in Little Italy is a precise description of such an event, one was not in progress when the Mafiosos (their names are all real) tried to kidnap him and Petrosino foiled them.

Again this is an attempt, in historical fiction, to ‘crystalize’ everything exciting that occurred in New York during a four to five year period into a single story. The story is essentially fiction; but the events . . . and places . . . are as true to history as I could make them, if always with an eye toward providing entertainment for a reader in addition to (let’s face it, I’m a life long teacher) an education as to a moment in time that’s always fascinated me.

Q: There are a number of themes that seems to play a part in the story, notably love - romantic, physical, typical and not; the women's rights movement; American values as depicted in the Old West and the intellectual East; culture, philosophy and ethnic identity in a new world; fame, politics, self-actualization and self-fulfillment. That's a tall order!

A: I very much hoped to present a picture of America at a key juncture in history, a moment of transition from the 19th to the 20th century. I’m fascinated by the notion of ‘change’ in society – how, why, and when it occurs . . . and always it does so owing to contributions of individual geniuses but also takes on a life of its own, like a snowball rolling downhill. The idea was to offer a Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid/Etta Place – partly based on facts but also figures of my own creative imagination – who could be employed in this text, this version of the legendary tale, to portray the more general theme of people adjusting, or at least trying to adjust, to ‘the good old days’ disappearing (not, of course, that they were ever really all that ‘good’ other than in nostalgic memories and idealizations of the past) even as Modern Times set in. Some people can make that transition. Others can’t I wanted to illustrate this idea. And to offer a kaleidoscopic vision of New York City at that time. Other than that they bought jewelry in Tiffany’s, had dinner in Delmonico’s, and went to Coney Island, there is no record of what the threesome did during that 2 1⁄2 weeks. As to those factual/historical moments, I felt free to invent and draw a pageant of the remarkable ‘time on the march’ that was happening. There is of course no evidence that they became involved with the amazing array of people that they do in my book. Then again, this is historical fiction . . . history is but an adjective; the noun is fiction. I try to establish that in my preface.

Another important theme to me is that of Jewish identity. As an American Jew, it’s something that I’ve had to deal with all my life, experiencing the opposites of anti-Semitism and Jewish community since childhood. For most of us, it’s difficult to discover a perfect balance. How much ought we (or, more specifically, any individual Jew) allow ourselves to join the American mainstream in order to survive? To what degree ought we to maintain our sense of ‘a moveable nation’ (the wandering Jew of ancient mythology) in order to be true to our birthright? I’ve wrestled with this always, leaning one way and then the other. And I have tried to address that issue in ‘autobiographical fiction’ though that never worked for me. I’m too close to my own experiences in the past, good and bad. But by dealing with this issue via fictionalized versions of factual people, I was able to be objective enough to analyze my thoughts on the subject and attempt to dramatize them in what I hope is an entertaining way, rather than a simple ‘message’ piece.

Q: There are bits and pieces of lore in the book that the may surprise some readers (like me!). Such as Washington Irving's being the first to call NYC "Gotham," as in Batman! The photos add so much information in each shot - giving the reader a look at the clothing, the streets of New York, dancing in a club or outside a famous landmark location in the city. This details definitely adds a "film" feeling to the story.

A: I love the idea of an ‘illustrated novel.’ They have largely disappeared, except for books designed for children. But go back and check the original Alice in Wonderland and the images are as famous and iconic as the text. I did my best to describe people and places as vividly and accurately as I possibly could, with many years of research preceding the actual writing of the book. But I know my limitations as a writer. And I thought that whatever I was able to provide would be greatly enhanced by the photographs. They are all public domain as a copyright only lasts 100 years and these were taken approximately 125 years ago.

Q: Another "film" element is the reliance on dialogue as the narrative style.  At first it took me a while to figure out who was speaking in a particular exchange - and finally got into a rhythm, realizing it read like a movie with quick scenes and dialogue. Do you / did you think of it as a possible film project?

A: Does anyone write a novel not hoping it might be picked up by Hollywood. Of course there is always that hope. And always it is a LONG shot, so I’m not holding my breath. On the other hand, you are right to note the impact of cinematic storytelling on the writing. This certainly does not begin with me! 

Numerous literary critics have pointed out the major degree to which print fiction has altered since the invention of movies. I absolutely did have a sense of ‘shots’ (long, medium, close) in mind while I described scenes via the camera in my mind. Montage, or editing, is what I was going for with the quick cutting from one speaker to the next. 

Always, though, Etta dominates. A short chapter narrated by her will be followed by one with Butch speaking/thinking, then Etta again, then Sundance, then Etta. It was always my intention to emphasize her. In the beloved 1969 movie, she is the least developed character. I wanted her to dominate and be fleshed out. Much of what I write about her background is pure fiction - no one knows where she came from or where she went ‘after’ their adventures.

Again, my Etta is a fictional character who shares a name and certain experiences and known character traits with a factual woman of that name who once really did exist. In addition to fleshing her out as a three-dimensional character, I also wanted to make her a representative figure of feminism . . . a woman’s gradual if steady growth from what she was always told ought to be her role (dictated by men) to her emergence as a free spirit. It’s so important that ‘my’ Etta agrees with suffragists on some issues but not all. If the famous suffragists in my story help to liberate her from an earlier version of herself, she must go on to liberate herself from her liberators. This is not only a narrative device but an expression of my own values. “Thank you for individual perception” Mort Sahl often said. Nothing is more important to me than forming one’s own unique philosophy on life and living by one’s own values – not those imposed on people by any ‘’school’ of that, radical or reactionary. In fact, every idea developed in the book is my own subjective perception of life. I distilled everything I most deeply believe into a piece that I hope will on the surface be an enjoyable and involving read but which I also hope will, on a deeper level, immortalize my own ‘world view’ for a time when I’m no longer around to actually view the world myself.

Q: There seems to be so much research involved in a story like this, based on real characters and about whom there's been a lot of speculation. What kind of research did you do, and where?

A: Research, research, research! I’ve always been in love with The Old West and Little Old New York. Always read everything I could about both/either. And, as a writer, wanted to express my love for each in a work of fiction. I’m not certain when I first realized that the story of Butch, Sundance, and Etta, or more correctly MY version of the story, would allow me to cover both those "worlds" in a single work. But once it occurred to me, it was full speed ahead, over a seven year period, putting individual romances and adventures, as well as themes and ideas, in an order that I believe/hope/pray "works."

And with that, you readers can now enjoy this work of a lifetime's fascination with The West, film, unique women and pivotal moments. "Meet Me in Manhattan" is now available for purchase! (Adult themes included.)