Introduction

This is the main page for a hootoo panto. It’s going to be a panto with a Film noir feel. If you think of the films like “The big sleep”, "The Maltese Falcon" and “Notorious” you'll get the genre and then mix the thing with a panto, and you get the feel for the whole thing! All snap brim fedoras and .38 cal Smith and Wesson’s, smoke and sour mash bourbon!

The Story Begins

The offices of Phillip Morrison are on the third floor of a seedy building near the docks. The front office contains a desk with a typewriter and telephone, filing cabinets, a scarred wooden bench for visitors, a coat tree and waste paper basket. Behind the desk sits a secretary, Alice Long, filing her nails with a bored look on her face. The second room is the main office of Phillip Morrison and is much the same as the outer office, with a battered desk and little furniture. It does include, however a beat-up chaise lounge and two wooden chairs facing the desk. The carpet on the floor in front of the desk might have been red at one time, but is now a mottled brown with numerous cigarette burns. The window has a view of a blank brick wall of the neighbouring building, but if you climb out onto the fire escape and look left, you can see a little of the muddy water of the harbour.

It's midday and on the chaise lounge Phillip is still sleeping. On the floor, a bottle of sour mash lies empty. Outside the rest of the world is having lunch and Alice gets up to get her own lunch from the deli down the block. She opens the outer door to find Rosa “Slim” Duvall standing in the shadows.

“Is Phillip Morrison in, I need to speak to him” slim says.

“Well, if you can wake him, you can speak to him. He’s in his office.”

Rosa walks past Alice and into Morrison's office. She opens her purse and takes out her cigarettes and lighter and sits in one of the wooden chairs. As she lights a cigarette, Phillip slowly sits up on the couch, rubbing his head. He looks at Rosa twice.

“So, what’s your story” he manages to grunt.

“Are you Phillip Morrison, private detective?”, she asks, and when he nods, she uncrosses and crosses her legs, then stubs out the cigarette. “I need you to find someone, with something of mine. I want it back!”

Cast of Characters