Charles May

July 14, 2020

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

I am currently reading your novel, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, with my 10 year old son.  He is autistic and we read together every night before bed to help him strengthen his verbal skills.  He reads to me and I help him if he has trouble vocalizing.  This book has been a great deal of fun  I usually read a few chapters ahead to check for names or words my son may find difficult.  Last night we read chapter 11 in which the boys meet Rat and her Uncle Flipping while attending the first night of the James Dean festival in which “every night the Snark theater was showing a James Dean film along with something else”.

In chapter 16 you have Winston and Walter going to the Snark the very next day to meet Rat and search for Uncle Flipping.  You state that the boys saw “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” and “Gaslight”.  Nether of these movies are James Dean films and would not be part of the James Dean festival.  Ordinarily I would not care about such a continuity error; however my son, like many people on the autism spectrum, tend to get fixated on thing rather easily.  Do you have an explanation you would like me to tell my son or do you mind if I do with the everyone makes mistakes stand by?

For the record he is very much enjoying the novel.

Hope all is well with you.

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond (if you chose so to do).

Sincerely,

Charles H. May

Chicago, IL

 

It's quite simple. James Dean, before becoming a famous actor had a small uncredited part as an extra in Gidget Goes Hawaiian. Practically no one knows this, but the person who schedules the films for the Snark Theater has an encyclopedic knowledge of film lore, and thus included the film just to enjoy partially informed people such as yourself saying, "But why is this movie in the middle of a James Dean festival?" whereupon the scheduler, who is also the owner of the theater, and the brother of the owner of the popcorn company that supplies the lobby snack bar, can explain that Dean appears for a total of 15 seconds in the movie.