The Butler Did It!

Those of us who have been performing in Murder Mysteries over the years have our favorite stories to tell about crazy audience members and our little pet peeves.  I guess I should start out by saying that we have more fun stories than annoying ones, but it's true that since the audience plays a big role in our shows, we never know what's coming.  Speaking for myself, it drives me absolutely crazy when people loudly proclaim, "The butler did it!"  Each and every one of the thousands of participants who have shouted this axiom beam with pride as if they were the first to ever say such a thing.  I suppose that this bothers me in particular because I played the butler in my very first murder mystery.  And, no, I didn't do it.

Pondering over this fact, I suggested to the Mystery Engineers at Newport Murder Mystery that we do a show called "The Butler Did It" in which every suspect was a butler.  Perhaps the setting could be a butler's convention.  We took off with the idea, and our Mystery Engineer Emeritus, Patrick, came up with a much better story line (which I won't divulge here because it's the next show at the Newport Art Museum starting in February!).

That led me to think about other little things people do at Murder Mysteries that drive me a little bonkers or make me laugh.  Here are a few of my favorite stories.  If any of you have acted in or attended one of our murder mysteries, please feel free to comment with your own favorite stories!

Favorite Moments With Newport Murder Mystery

• At a recent Murder Mystery weekend one of our guests, who will forever be remembered as one of my favorites, showed up for breakfast with a little pot belly we hadn't noticed.  I took little note until I noticed that it kept growing throughout the day.  She boldly announced to the crowd that she was pregnant (a remarkable feat given her age) and even wore the belly around town all day.  I recently visited a wine shop where we sent some guests and the shop keeper commented, "It was very odd when the lady who was clearly too old to have children did her wine tasting while very pregnant."  No worries, everyone.  It was all a part of the act.  A secret that even the writers of the show didn't know about!

• Mystery Engineer Jessica was playing a rather broad characterization of Consuelo Vanderbilt, famous resident of the Marble House.  At the time we were performing at the Beechwood Mansion right next door to the Marble House.  Jessica arrived to the party with the other guests, waiting in line to get tickets.  Now, I knew that she was playing Consuelo and that her take on Consuelo was as a rather odd young girl with an inexplicable cockney accent, but I had no idea that she would show up with a huge rod down her back (something the historical Consuelo was forced to wear to keep good posture) and twigs in her hair from where she crawled through the bushes.  It's one of the few times I actually broke character and laughed.  I still chuckle when I think about it.

Me as Colonel Mann with Jessica

• I once played a very nasty character loosely based on newspaper editor Colonel Mann.  I played him as a skeezy, slimey, creepy, old man.  I would cough loudly on people and make crude remarks.  One lady in the audience was truly appalled and told everyone around her, "I hope he gets killed."  Well, as fate would have it, I died during the night, and the poor lady was accused by everyone sitting around her.  It was hilarious how this lady who wasn't in the script became a prime suspect.

If you'd like to create some of your own Newport Murder Mystery memories, come see one of our shows! We perform regularly at the Newport Art Museum, and we're offering three-day, one-of-a-kind murder mystery weekends at the Architect's Inn.  What are you waiting for?  I just told you, the butler did it.