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WOLFES_OFFICE
October 24, 2013
Nero Wolfe is essentially an
agoraphobe who avoids leaving his NERO_WOLFE
home, if possible, thus the main
setting is Wolfe's office. The
narrator (Wolfe's Watson, Archie
Goodwin), is not strong on any sort
of description, but Wolfe's office
gets much attention. I once (with An unresolveable point:
the assistance of The Toadkeeper) put where is the safe? Goodwin
some work into compiling the various makes it sound like a large
hints to the layout of the office, floor standing model. It
trying to work up a definitive floor must be prominent in the
plan. This is not an unusual impulse room. It doesn't appear to
among Nero Wolfe fans, and I'm afraid be near Goodwin's desk (he
that this is a bad sign: there's an typically "steps to the
odd sense of unreality about it that safe", he doesn't reach
creeps in... over to it, or swivel to
it). It might be in the
I'm of the opinion that there really corner near the door, it
isn't a single arrangement that can be might be near the couch...
made to work. E.g. if there's enough
space for all of the additional chairs
that are sometimes added, then people
sitting on the couch would need to
shout to be heard at Wolfe's desk.
This much is more-or-less known:
|
-----------.
|alcove & .
|spy hole .
----------------------------------------[ ]---|
w | _ waterfall |
i . |_| painting |
n . ------------ red leather | h
d | | NW | _ chair | a
o | | desk | |_| / l
w | ------------ / l
| | w
m | ---- miscellanious | a
i || AG | _ yellow chairs __| y
r --> || dsk| |_| | |
r || | yellow carpet |b|
o | ---- |o|
r |--------| |o|
| / globe _ |k|
| bath / ___________ (_) |s| <--\
| room | | couch | . _________| | \
| | |___________| / |books | \
--------------------------/ ----------------- \
\
front room The television
series with
Maury Chaykin &
There are problems even with this much. Timothy Hutton
has an extra
The position of the spy hole has it door here,
looking at the back of the head of allowing them
someone in the red leather chair. to shoot a
From the stories, one gets the sense diagonal line.
it commands a better view than that.
Their choice for the
Wolfe is positioned where he can see safe is to embed it
the full body of someone in the RLC, up in the wall where
but Goodwin is positioned badly to the window was
act as a body guard. originally. This
adds a point of
The position to the right of the main visual interest, and
door would be prominent, but nothing keeps Archie from
of any note is described there. Some needing to squat in
storage cabinets, perhaps. It might front of it, but it
be where the safe is, but no one ever seems oddly phoney
comments on that... (Here, I've there-- there would
decided the door must swing open to be no space to put
the right as you enter, so that it it in the wall, it
hides whatever is there). seems too heavy to
want to mount that
high... and also, it
*is* phoney: for the
TV series, that was
If I were staging it as a play, I a removable wall for
would slice the view plane from the camera access.
globe to Archie's desk, viewing the
scene from the corner where the
bathroom is. Wolfe's desk would need
to be slid stage left, and Archie's
would need to be up-stage... Even so,
there would be a problem with this
layout hiding Wolfe, burying him
behind the desk. But then, Wolfe can
be featured in some scenes glaring at
the globe, or scanning the book
shelves.
At least entrances would
Wolfe at his desk be very prominent, with the
should look main door featured in the
solidly imposing, middle of the set, giving
like a pyramid. actors an excuse to pause
in 3/4 view. The door to
Make the chair a little high, and the front room I think I
the desk a little low, put a motif would cheat on, and stick
on the front of the desk (two between the two desks, over
verticals, angled inwards toward on stage right.
center) to emphasize the pyramid.
Wolfe is framed by an orchid (and
beer bottle?) to the right, and
possibly the dictionary stand to
the left.
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