#mrs. pollifax

[darklingichor]

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari; Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station, by Dorothy Gilman

There are quickly turning into this year's brother Cadfael (I still have to finsh those, I just keep getting handed more books by coworkers and I never have the heart to tell them that I have a TBR pile as tall as I am)

It helps that they are included in my audible membership.

Mrs. Pollifax on Surfari has a reappearance of one of my favorites of Emily's companions. She is sent to Africa on a mission to get photos of the group in her sight seeing Surfari, because obe of them is an international Assassin.

On the trip, one of the party becomes infatuated with her. It's cute that Cyrus and Emily start a relationship, but honestly, it's sort of unnecessary considering the books revolve around Mrs. Pollifax getting herself into various scrapes, having a love interest just opens things up for the worried boyfriend getting himself in trouble because he things his girl is helpless despite the fact he has seen evidence to the contrary.

Other than that, this adventure is just as fun as the others. I really love the descriptions of all the things thatEmily sees on her travels. They are lovely without being overly detailed.

Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station

This one is really cool, it's a little like the first book and the third book combined

There's a jail break and a twisted set of characters. It was hard to figure out just who was the bad guy and who was going to be Emily's contact. I figured out one but not the other, and I find it fun when a book can fool me, but also give me enough clues to figure out part of the mystery.

[girlsandmachines]

The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax, 1971

[mrgriffiths]

"𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆?

𝑮𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆.."❤️‍🔥

Thomas Ian Griffith as Jack Farrell in The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax circa 1999.

🎶: Tadow - Masego

Find me on X and Instagram!

[dabblingreturns]

This may be hypocritical from a girl who doesn't read much written before 1950.for pleasure.

But you might be missing out on the Mrs Pollifax books by Dorothy Gillan

They are about an elderly widow turned CIA agents in the 1960's

And they are wonderful. They are what my parents used to play on long car trips.

They are clean and simple enough for a advanced 8 year old to listen too....but also smart enough to keep adults entertained.

And Debroha Rosenblatt us an excellent narrator. And my have slightly contributes to the tone of my inner voice

Anyways....if you have ever wondered about how geese can be utilized to brake people out of Bulgarian prison. You can find the answers in there books

[geekynerfherder]

'Mrs Pollifax - Spy' by Frank Frazetta.

Artwork from the movie poster for 'Mrs Pollifax - Spy', released in 1971.

[msbarrows]

I mostly buy ebooks rather than dead tree books these days, so I don’t have a nice stack of Christmas reading to show off, but I can screenshot my Calibre library screen, so here’s that.

I went and spent probably more than I should have this morning on a combination of stuff to read over Christmas, plus working my way slightly further through replacing old paperback favourites with ebooks (and in one case, both at once). Not sure which of these I’m going to dive into first; I’ve heard good things about both the first and last things on that screen, plus I usually love Guy Gavriel Kay books (which are almost always ‘pack tissues’ reads).

[iklees]

Mrs Pollifax 13-14 / Dorothy Gilman

Mrs Pollifax #13, Mrs Pollifax #14

Twee opeenvolgende boeken, die zich allebei afspelen in het Midden Oosten. In Mrs Pollifax: Innocent Tourist (13) gaat Mrs Pollifax mee met Sebastian Farrell, die in Jordanië contact moet leggen om een manuscript van een oude vriend te bemachtigen. Hij leent Mrs Pollifax van de CIA om de onschuldige aard van zijn bezoek te benadrukken. Helaas is Mrs Pollifax zo'n geweldige "onschuldige toerist" dat iemand in het vliegtuig op weg naar Amman zonder haar medeweten iets in haar bagage stopt om dat het land in te laten smokkelen. Met als gevolg dat Farrell en Mrs Pollifax op een gegeven moment achterna worden gezeten door verschillende partijen die iets in handen willen krijgen. Daarna stuurt Carstairs het tweetal in Mrs Pollifax Unveiled (14) naar Syrië, om een ontvoerde Amerikaanse op te sporen en, zo mogelijk, te redden.

Altijd leuk. Innocent Tourist is een nogal standaardvervolg in de series. Unveiled vond ik interessanter, door de inzichten van Mrs Pollifax in haar ontwikkeling als spion, terugwijzend naar veel van de eerdere boeken.

He stopped, and when he turned to look at her a chance ray of moonlight illuminated his face and she saw that his eyes were glazed with terror. "One mile," he said, and then, "Someone is following us. We are being followed." "How do you know?" she whispered, alarmed. "Listen," he said. She listened but heard nothing. Farrell and Joe, returning to her side to ask why they'd stopped, looked at her questioningly. "He says we're being followed." "Oh God," murmured Farrell. "What does he hear?" Joe whispered to Antun in Arabic. "He says he has heard the snap of trees being cut—off to our right—and he has seen birds fly away—and he knows how to listen." Amanda returned to join them, saying, "What—" "Sssh," whispered Mrs. Pollifax, and in the silence that followed they could hear at some point behind them the snap of a thorn tree branch, and suddenly Mrs. Pollifax realized that she was the eldest member of this group and that, tired as she was, Carstairs had placed her in charge. When Farrell hissed, "We can't stop like this, we've got to make a run for it," she said,"No."

[jolenes-book-journey]

Enjoying the New Year and Staying Warm

I hope everyone had an enjoyable New Year and is staying warm out there. It seems we are all being chilled by Mother Nature around the northern hemisphere here lately which, naturally, spreads the flu and COVID around even more. We have had that and more going through our household these past few weeks. Today is sunny and cold so the cats are sitting in the windows enjoying a snooze and I am…

[thomasiangriffith31862]

[whimseysthrone]

Mrs. Pollifax, elderly women as spies cont.

Mrs. Pollifax, elderly women as spies cont.

As I was writing last week’s post, I knew that I was forgetting something. I’d read fun stories about an elderly woman involved in espionage before. Or more accurately, I’d listened to them: some of my childhood’s many long car rides were filled with hours of Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax books on tape. Young Henry thought those books were both hilarious and excellent. I haven’t read them…

[virgo-mess]

The time has come that @karatekels and I gift you guys the link to all the TIG movies we have been able to find. It will also be routinely updated if we happen to get hold of another one! There's 12 movies on here, and the two part episode of In the Heat of the Night TIG guest starred on as the hunky carnie Luke Potter 🥵! The Secret of Giving was curtosey of whichever lovely person posted the link for it during Christmas. I wasn't able to find your account again, but if you see this, thank you, and I hope you don't mind. We put it in this folder. And once again, thank you to whoever shared Beyond Forgiveness with me ages ago 🩵🩵🩵. I hope you guys enjoy it, and I'll be sure to notify you if a new movie has been added 💜

Movie List-

Excessive Force

Black Friday aka The Kidnapping

Rock Hudson

The Secret of Giving

The Heat of the Night two part episode

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

KK3

Ulterior Motives aka Kill Fee

Vampires

Black Point

Hallow Point

Beyond Forgiveness aka Blood of the Innocent

Kull the Conqueror

High Adventure

Seawolf aka The Pirate's Curse

Crackerjack

Avalanche aka Escape from Alaska

Timecop 2

Final Encounter/ For the Cause

Behind Enemy Lines

[darklingichor]

Mrs. Pollifax 1-4, by Dorothy Gilman

These are just fun!

If you have been reading this blog for any amout of time, you have probably figured out that I have a job that alternates between crazy making, annoying, and mind numbingly dull. This week was the last one, I had to keep something playing in my ears so I didn't fall asleep.

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

Emily Pollifax, is a widow with two grown children and a busy comfortable life. She likes people, likes to listen, but a her various volunteer positions don't really give her the opportunity to get to know people, or really help them. At a check up her doctor wonders if she is depressed, she doesn't tell him that when on the roof of her apartment building, tending her geraniums, she'd been tempted to step off, until a neighbor, terrified, told her to get away from the ledge, what if she fell?

The doctor advises her to do something she always wanted to do but never had the time for.

This plants the seed, Mrs. Pollifax had always wanted to be a spy.

She decides, there's no harm in asking, so she goes from her home in New Jersey to Washington DC and walks into the home of the CIA.

Through a small comedy of errors, she is assigned as a currior on a mission to Mexico. She is to pick up a certain book from a certain store on a certain day, other than that, she is to behave like a tourist.

Things go pear-shaped, of course, and Mrs. Pollifax and another agent find themselves held prisoner in Albainia. The rest of the book is how this whip smart, optimistic, sweet lady executes a prision break and a dash to safety.

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax

This time our lovely Emily, is going to Istanbul to help a long time double agent get out of the country. Again, she us a corrior, she's supposed to get this person a passport and other papers. Again things don't go as planned, but because of her incredible knack for making friends is strange places, she is able to navigate kidnappings, shoot outs, murderous mobs, and a murder frame up.

The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax

Our CIA courrior is going to Bulgaria with passports in her hat, for some resistance fighters and ends up in a race against time to save a young traveler who seemed to make the wrong friends at just the wrong time.

A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax

Emily was given a "promotion" for this mission. Sent to a high end hotel/clinic in Switzerland, to find stolen plutonium. True to form, she makes friends in odd places, and uncovers a plot more devious than the CIA ever thought of.

These books were written right in the thick of the cold War, so there is a lot of communist vs. Capitalist stuff, but, no one other than those who actually hurt people are painted as villains. This person might have different ideas from Mrs Pollifax, but that doesn’t make them bad, she reserves judgement for how they behave, and a lot of people, no matter the politics, are decent and become allies.

The plots of these books are fun, the recurring characters are wonderful and the ones that are unique to each adventure are interesting.

[film-classics]

Rosalind Russell - The Miracle Woman

Catherine Rosalind Russell (born in Waterbury, Connecticut on June 4, 1907) was an American actress known for playing sassy, wisecracking women in 1930s and '40s comedies. Despite going through postpartum depression, the deaths of her siblings, breast cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis, she thrived as a charismatic actress on film and the stage, earning the nickname "The Miracle Woman.”

Raised in a strict Irish-American, Catholic family. She attended  Rosemont College and Marymount College, before graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, unbeknownst to her parents who believed she was studying to be a speech teacher.

Against parental objections, she began her career as a fashion model and took acting jobs in upstate New York, Connecticut, and Boston before eventually appearing in Broadway.

In 1933, Russell went to Los Angeles, where she was hired as a contract player for Universal Studios but did not appear in a movie. Unhappy at Universal, she moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she broke through in the classic screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940), directed by Howard Hawks.

She took a break after giving birth from her career, but made a comeback with RKO Pictures and then with Columbia Pictures. She continued to appear in critically acclaimed movies and Broadway shows through the mid-1960s, including the title role of the long-running stage comedy Auntie Mame (based on a Patrick Dennis novel) as well as the 1958 film version.

After years of battling breast cancer and even getting a double mastectomy, she died at her home in Beverly Hills, California at 69 years of age. Months after her death, she was honored by her acting colleagues with the “Interlude With Rosalind Russell” at the Shubert Theater in Broadway.

Legacy:

Nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in My Sister Eileen (1942), Sister Kenny (1946), Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), and Auntie Mame (1958)

Won all five of her Golden Globe Award for Best Actress nominations: Sister Kenny (1946), Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), Auntie Mame (1958), A Majority of One (1961), and Gypsy (1962)

Won the 1953 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Wonderful Town and was nominated for the 1957 for Best Actress in a Play for Auntie Mame

Nominated for the 1959 BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress

Won the Golden Apple Award in 1942 for Most Cooperative Actress

Awarded the Look Magazine Award for Film Achievement Award in 1947

Covered Time magazine in 1953

Was the namesake of the Rosalind Russell State Theater in her hometown in 1955

Wrote the story for the film The Unguarded Moment (1956) and adapted the novel, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, into the screenplay for Mrs. Pollifax-Spy in 1971, under the pen name C.A. McKnight

Won the Golden Laurel for Top Female Comedy Performance for Auntie Mame (1958) and was nominated five more times

Presented with a medallion by the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1962

Honored for her distinguished service by the UCLA in 1964

Named the Woman of the Year by Hasty Pudding Theatricals, a student society at Harvard University, in 1964

Is the recipient of the Floyd B. Odlum Award by the Arthritis Foundation in 1971

Appointed by Congress to serve on the National Commission on Arthritis and Related Musculoskeletal Diseases during the 1970s

Received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1972

Appeared in John Springer's "Legendary Ladies" series at The Town Hall in 1973

Awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1973 by the Academy for her extensive charity work

Presented her with the National Artist Award in 1974 by the American National Theater and Academy

Awarded the Life Achievement Award in 1975 by the Screen Actors Guild Awards

Hosted by First Lady Betty Ford at the White House in 1976

Honored with the Rosalind Russell Week in 1977 by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley

Co-authored her autobiography, Life Is a Banquet, in 1977

Is the namesake of the Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center for Arthritis  at the University of California, San Francisco, created by a Congress grant in 1979

Inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 2005

Ranked #28 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time in 2006 for His Girl Friday (1940)

Honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for July 2008

Inducted in the Online Film and Television Association Film Hall of Fame in 2014

Was the subject of a 2016 exhibit at the Mattatuck Museum in her hometown

Honored by the Berlin Film Festival‘s 27-movie tribute in 2022

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame��in the 1700 block of Vine Street for motion picture

[dabblingreturns]

So I was relistening to the Mrs Polifax series again by Dorothy Gillman. And this time i was struck by Mrs polifax's lack of comment on the late Mr. Virgle Polifax.

Because they were married for years and raised two children together. Buy she goes books without mentioning him.

I'm lucky enough to only have a handful of people to greaves.

But when you love someone and go out into the world and see things. You find yourself going, "so and so would love this."

And after they die, you don't stop going, "so and so would love this" you see things, hear this, and remember your loved ones joy, sometimes it comes from a large pair of sunglasses, or a funny bit of malicious compliance, or a cookie, or a new fact.

And you thing about thier smile, and thier joy.

And Ms. Pollifax travels though 5 countinents and never sees a thing that re minds her of Virgle. And that's so very damning to me.

After i finished the last book I listened to an interview with Dorothy Gillman and I learned that she wrote the first Mrs pollifax book right after her divorce.

And Mrs pollifax is a widow, not a divorcee....but I think that says more about a no-fault divorce accessibility in mid century America than it does about Mrs pollifax "love" for Virgil.

[healerqueen]

I responded to the booklist question! I'm sure I forgot some but whew it still took forever to write.

What about you? What are some of the books youve read the most?

Good question! I finally started keeping a list, so I have something to work from. That way I won't draw a blank.

My top five or six favorite authors and series are: J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis's Narnia books, Rosemary Sutcliff's Dolphin Ring series (beginning with Eagle of the Ninth), Enemy Brothers and The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner, and The Mysterious Benedict Society (original trilogy and prequel) by Trenton Lee Stewart.

There are many other books and authors I love. I listed several of my childhood influences in this post featuring my 50 favorite children's books (focusing on ones I grew up with as a young person).

Here's my list of favorite books I've read the most or ones I think are worth rereading: The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye (a delightful original fairytale about a princess who refuses to stay in her tower)

The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo (romantic comedy fairytale retelling, with an emphasis on the comedy) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (adventure about a mother mouse seeking to save her family) The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall (middle grade fantasy adventure)

Dragon Slippers and Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George (original fantasy in the style of fairytales) Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (fantasy adventure and coming-of-age story about a group of girls who attend school for the first time)

The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart (urban light fantasy with dystopian elements) The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (middle-grade, post-apocalyptic dystopian) The Arrival by Shaun Tan (a wordless graphic novel that conveys human experiences through surrealism)

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (vintage contemporary about a lively family) Derwood, Inc. by Jeri Massi (modern contemporary mystery about another boisterous family) The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (quirky vintage mystery with an interesting cast of characters) Historical Fiction: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham Caddie Woodlawn, Family Grandstand, and other books by Carol Ryrie Brink Rebecca's War by Ann Finlayson Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher Knight's Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Lost Baron by Allen French The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman A Single Shard and Seesaw Girl by Linda Sue Park The Bronze Bow and The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell A few books I discovered more recently that are now all-time favorites: Seventh City by Emily Hayse, The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt, Valiant by Sarah McGuire, Out of the Tomb by Ashley Stangl, the Mistmantle Chronicles by M. I. McAllister, Escape to Vindor by Emily Golus, Chase the Legend by Hannah Kaye, The Key to the Chains by Allison Tebo (sci-fi), Rebel Wave by Tor Thibeaux (undersea dystopian) Historical fiction: Listening for Lions and Angel on the Square by Gloria Whelan, Courage in Her Hands by Iris Noble, Victory at Valmy and Word to Caesar by Geoffrey Trease, historical fiction Westerns and mysteries by author Elisabeth Grace Foley

Mystery/suspense: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman, The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart

[iklees]

Mrs Pollifax 7-8 / Dorothy Gilman

Mrs Pollifax #7, #8

In Mrs Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (#7)moet Mrs Pollifax gaan kijken wat er aan de hand is met het CIA contact in Hong Kong -- informatie die haar kennis Sheng Ti (zie Mrs Pollifax at the China Station, #6) zou kunnen verschaffen. Mrs Pollifax merkt al snel dat er dingen niet kloppen, maar in wat voor wespennest ze is beland, weet ze pas als het haar bijna haar leven kost. De gebeurtenissen in Hong Kong waren zo heftig, dat ze toch even aarzelt bij haar volgende opdracht, in Mrs Pollifax and the Golden Triangle (#8).

Cyrus, regarding Bishop steadily, said, "Not sure that Emily—after the Hong Kong misadventure—ought to tackle anything for you so soon. Just getting over it, you know. This trip—pure holiday—is actually to—" Bishop's face sobered as he turned to Mrs. Pollifax. "Still nightmares?" She shook her head. "Not now, no." She smiled. "Cyrus recommended some wonderful therapy for me, I've been taking lessons in magic from a retired magician." Bishop whistled. "Good heavens! Karate, yoga and now magic… Have you sawed anyone in half yet?" She grinned. "No, but I'm growing rather clever at palming coins." He nodded. "Okay, you no longer have nightmares and you can palm coins but how is your back?" "Healing." Bishop looked at Cyrus and then at her and shook his head. "I must be losing my grip but I suddenly realize I can't push this Chiang Mai errand no matter how uncomplicated it is. The Department can be quite ruthless, you know, but damn it I can't. If you're still recovering from Hong Kong I'll cease and desist and leave quietly." Mrs. Pollifax considered this thoughtfully. "On the other hand," she said softly, and hesitated. "On the other hand don't they say that when a person has fallen off a horse the best prescription is to climb back on the horse at once? If it's just a small errand—" Cyrus said, "It wasn't a horse you fell off, Emily." "No," she admitted, "but—is that all? Just collect a small package?"

Allebei deze boeken heb ik eerder gelezen -- in het Nederlands -- en nooit herlezen omdat ik me kon herinneren dat ik één ervan erg akelig vond, maar niet meer wist welke van de twee. Het moet deel 7 (Hong Kong) zijn geweest. Wat Mrs Pollifax meemaakt is wel ernstiger en gevaarlijker dan in de andere boeken, maar het had op mij nu niet meer zo'n sterk effect. Misschien omdat ik er nu niet door verrast werd?