0:05

Hello and welcome to me this pod episode 17. I'm your host D

0:09

Mitas. This episode story is driving Lauren Bacall. And it

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comes to us from Jackie McKarrick. And as told by Gordon

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Rockford the US alone and me. Jackie McKarrick is an award

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winning writer of plays poetry and fiction. Her debut short

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story collection, the scattering was published by sarin books and

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was shortlisted for the 2014 edge Hill prize. The collection

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includes her story the visit, which won the 2010 wasa theory

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of Short Fiction Prize, and was included in Best British short

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stories published by salt in 2012. On the basis of her debut

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collection, Jackie was long listed in the 2014 inaugural

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Irish fiction laureate, her play, Leopoldville won the 2010

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Papa Tango prize for new writing. And her play the

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naturalists premiered in 2018 in New York to rave reviews.

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Impeccable, a gift to its actors. So the New York Times

1:04

beautifully performed Southern New Yorker. Her play Belfast

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girls, developed at the National Theatre studio, London was

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shortlisted for the 2010 Susan Smith Blackburn prize and the

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2014 BBC Tony Doyle award. It premiered in the US in Chicago

1:20

in 2015. Too much critical acclaim has since been staged

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widely internationally with recent premieres in Australia

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and Sweden. In 2016, Jackie was selected for screen Ireland's

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Talent Development Initiative, and has recently completed the

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screen adaptation of Belfast girls. She is currently working

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on her second collection of short fiction and her first

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novel, the family wolves. Jackie also writes critical pieces for

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the Times Literary Supplement, Irish Examiner, poetry, Ireland

1:49

review, and other publications. Needless to say, I'm thrilled to

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be producing this piece for Jackie. Jackie. Sorry it took so

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long performing the story are Gordon Rockford myself and the

2:03

Salone worden Roquefort is the host of those conspiracy guys

2:06

podcast. The US alone is a full time professional voice actress

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specializing in video games, animation, commercial elearning

2:14

and the occasional audio book. The US started as a theater kid

2:17

and has been studying acting in various formats for over a

2:19

decade. She has since expanded her client base to more fan

2:23

based projects. In addition to paid voice work for corporate

2:26

and non union and university Thea majored in vocal

2:29

performance received training as a classical opera singer, namely

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as a contralto and mezzo soprano. Since July 2020, Thea

2:37

has acquired over 300 plus characters to her name on

2:40

casting call club. That's where I founder and as cherished every

2:44

moment, he is always grateful to the big dude, her clients, her

2:48

team and her peers. For without them this would not be possible.

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She looks forward to plenty more adventures to come. links to

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where you can find their work online will be in the show notes

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for this episode. Means pod now has chapter images and other

3:04

podcasting 2.0 features that are not available on legacy apps

3:07

like Apple, Google or Spotify. Get a new free podcast app at

3:11

new podcast apps.com. That was not an ad read. We don't do ads

3:15

here at metus media. I just put a lot of work into the show and

3:18

want my listeners to get the full experience. Without further

3:22

ado, driving Lauren Bacall my Jackie McKarrick

3:36

Jimmy Feeny wasn't my best friend in London. The man who

3:40

had that honor was Pat McCarthy from Cork. Nor did Jimmy keep in

3:45

touch once I followed my wife back to Ireland. We promised he

3:48

would. But he was the most memorable of my London friends.

3:55

I imagine because of what he and his family have gone through.

3:58

Course, for all I know, he made the move to himself since I left

4:03

the city. But I did it somehow. Jimmy had never anything good to

4:08

say about Ireland wasn't difficult in the end for me to

4:13

go home. My wife had inherited the house with the four kids and

4:18

what was I had in London. Mostly fucking her in Shepherds Bush.

4:23

That's what so I had to move back really. In time the

4:28

children did well at school. My wife became less pensive than

4:32

she'd been in England. I didn't put up a fight about the move.

4:37

Though I do still have a fondness for my London days.

4:40

Even the worst of them the most lonely and desperate. They were

4:46

a lot more interesting than those I've had in the dark or

4:48

small town. I ended up in the canteen, which is all No, that's for sure. Jimmy and I met

4:57

the dogs in White City. He was from Limerick, a city he left

5:02

when he was 14. So you wouldn't have guessed it from the

5:05

freshness of exactly an emerging star in the world of building contracting in London.

5:11

He was known for two things besides his building skills,

5:14

which were considerable. These were his towering presence. And

5:20

the fact he had every one of his siblings living within walking

5:22

distance from his house and Cricklewood. In fact, one of

5:27

them I believe, lived in the same street. No need to go home

5:32

Connie would say to me, not want a whole lot of them are here

5:35

with me now. It was a remarkable thing about Jimmy, that when so

5:41

many Irish in London had failed to help each other, whether in

5:44

terms of money or legs up the ladder, so to speak, unlike most

5:48

other ethnic groups of the city. Jimmy's love for his family was

5:52

such, he said all his family members up with jobs and places

5:56

to stay upon arrival in London. So there wasn't a day that they

5:59

had to struggle, not at first anyway. His love for each of his

6:04

siblings was immense, and impressive. And there were six

6:08

or seven of them, I think. Anyway, when I first met him, I

6:12

knew he was unlike me and the rest of the lads, we hung out

6:15

with the rest of us, we're not all settled. It was the usual

6:19

problem of the Irish in London, the pull of home. Of course,

6:23

when I did return to Ireland wanted to go straight back to

6:26

London, to immigration works, it seems to me. But Jimmy was

6:31

determined and steady and very settled. His family was close by

6:36

or near enough and he loved London, he wasted no time with

6:41

useless dreams of leaving it. However, everything changed

6:46

after I knew the mind five or six years. His sister, Carmen's

6:50

eight year old son Joseph, went missing. And after a month

6:55

looking for the boy, I went out myself on trips with Jimmy to

6:59

parks all over the Capitol. The child's body was found in a

7:03

canal by Kings Cross. Let's just say he'd not fallen in the bastard who did it was

7:11

eventually God and sent the president. The whole business cast a shadow over Jimmy for many years, as it

7:18

did everyone in the Finney family. He lost his business and

7:22

soon left construction altogether. At some point, that

7:27

kind of acceptance came over Jimmy so that those who met him

7:31

years later could not believe that there was this horrible

7:33

story in his background. So they will express the shock to me or

7:37

others in our circle, but rarely to Jimmy himself. In the years

7:43

that followed, he would look out for my own children, sensitive

7:47

as he was, I suppose, to their fragile presence in this world.

7:51

All his sweets and toys he bought them. And as a cab driver

7:56

for many actors performing in the West End, he would often be

7:59

given free tickets to shoes and once he personally brought my

8:02

eldest, Aladdin on ice, she was never to forget his kindness.

8:08

Then 12 or so years after the arrest of little Joseph killer,

8:13

I began to see another change in my friend. He became this time

8:16

markedly sullen, withdrawn. I told him I had been the

8:21

nightshift he was working in his cab. What's up I said, it's

8:26

McHugh. He's getting out in the summer. Jimmy Feeny

8:29

said, his face, Ashen. Fuck said, I put my hand on the man's

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shoulder. The power of his strong frame was palpable

8:39

beneath my fingers. For months, then whenever I go meet him at

8:43

the dogs or in the Blackstar the bar I worked in Kilburn, he

8:48

would have had the same depressed look as if Joseph

8:51

disappearance was happening all over again. He was not just

8:56

morose but distracted when he talked. He became precise in

9:00

these habits. He drank steadily. Only one point when in the past

9:05

he might have had three or more. He looked firmer in his body to

9:10

wiry as if he'd been working out. I began to think that this

9:14

mild mannered giant for he was over six foot six inches tall,

9:18

was planning something I went straight for the jugular you're

9:23

not thinking of doing that without McHugh Are you? And you

9:26

by him that he understood perfectly what I meant.

9:29

I can't talk about it calm, the less you know, the better.

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Which as far as I was concerned meant he will always planning

9:36

something possibly in cahoots with members of his own family.

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His brothers maybe I can't say I blame them at all. I would join

9:45

them if they'd asked me. They will be watching you. I said the police. They'll know

9:53

you'll be wanting to do things to the bastard. Don't be stupid. Say no more.

10:00

are in June then just before McCune is released, Jimmy came

10:03

in to see me again at the Blackstar he stood up on his

10:06

usual barstool. This time he was more vivacious, the color

10:10

returned to his fat dimpled cheeks. It was a joy to see him

10:13

this way. After all the pain had gone through, especially of

10:16

late. No doubt having to revisit in his mind, the time of his

10:21

nephews disappearance and vile demise. I thought perhaps he

10:27

made some kind of peace with the news of Macuser imminent

10:30

release. What's the matter, Jimmy? I said,

10:34

You won't believe me. Come on. Hope it's not the duty. You know who? Jimmy shook his

10:40

head. No, con, nothing to do with that. I'm driving a Hollywood

10:44

star on the police for the next few weeks. She asked especially

10:47

for me as a hetero niqab once before and we hit it off that

10:51

time. Who is he asked Racquel Welsh. Jimmy licked his lips and pulled

10:58

forward across the bar. No, actually, is Lauren Bacall. And she's working on film in

11:05

London. And I'm her driver.

11:10

I can be the jealous type. Always better about my wholesale

11:13

failure in that wonderful city. I've long since left. But it was

11:17

not bitter but are jealous of Jimmy's news. He had often

11:22

celebrities in his cab, though. I did not remember him telling

11:26

me about his earlier stint with Bacall. I would have remembered

11:29

that. To this was good news. Indeed. Some excitement and

11:35

glamour, if only reflected for the man at last. find anyone to

11:41

serve to boost it was he? I've often thought since I had

11:46

circumstances been different. Jimmy himself might have done

11:49

well in Hollywood. A handsome enough man. He was drawn to

11:53

theater musicals and loved and had great knowledge of the old

11:57

black and white films, the movie stars of all. So this kid was

12:01

right up the street. What's she like? I said,

12:05

so far she's a sassy one. Gives me the lowdown on all the actors

12:08

she's working with. Vanessa Redgrave Albert Finney. On doors

12:13

the director wants to film that she say some Agatha Christie

12:18

story. Murder on the Orient Express. I think it is.

12:22

The She asked you about your life. She does. Did you tell her

12:26

but Joseph I did. And she went all quiet. When I told her

12:32

a real life murder. That's why the celebrities are shielded

12:36

from that, you know, real life. I said I Jimmy said returning to

12:42

start. I suppose you didn't tell her with a certain plan. You

12:46

seem to be cooking up back there. Of course I fucking didn't.

12:50

Over the next few weeks. Whenever he came into the pub,

12:53

he'd been glowing. He tell me about what new star he'd met at

12:57

Ealing studios. Who else had been in the cab with Lauren

13:00

Bacall, who he said, had booked him to show for her to shoots

13:06

interviews in restaurants for the period of three weeks around

13:09

London. He said she had a great sense of humor and talked

13:13

politics with a non stop and that Vanessa Redgrave and she

13:17

had hit it off. We're both rebels. two peas in a pod. Boat

13:24

he said had a compelling sense of justice.

13:27

A lot of smoke in the car to marine says I reek. And you

13:32

know, you're right Khan.

13:35

I looked at him quizzically. I did

13:37

tell her Lauren Bacall what we're planning to do to McHugh.

13:42

Jimmy seemed unfazed by the revelation. So he's are doing

13:47

something. What'd she say that?

13:50

She said, I don't blame you. But it isn't smart. Yeah. Yeah.

13:55

Well, she's right. Prepare she has. She's Lauren Bacall.

13:59

Jimmy smiled. Then dove his lips into the black of his paint.

14:05

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I suspected there was

14:08

still some plan afoot. But I let it go. Stupidly, perhaps. I

14:14

don't know why I suspected except that Jimmy seem so

14:18

particularly unraveled. More caulk shortens usually quietly

14:22

confident self. The specter of McHugh no longer haunting him as

14:28

plainly as it had. When I originally envisaged the Finney

14:33

family taking revenge, I thought it might be a case of roughing

14:36

McHugh up but the Finis were neither fighters or killers. So

14:42

I decided not to fret on Julia but my friends and tensions

14:45

which he insisted he no longer had. One night around about this

14:51

time. He offered to give me a ride home to my gaff once my

14:55

shift was finished for your charge Do you want to meet her?

15:05

He said, As we drove north along the Kilburn high road, who I

15:10

said, Oh, do you bloody think?

15:13

I laughed? We took a ride onto me Grove Road and drove into

15:16

West Hampstead and from there to Hampstead, robocall stain.

15:20

She's got to shoot tonight she won't mind I've already

15:22

mentioned yet. What could he possibly have to say about media a Hollywood

15:25

star? I have no idea. And I did not ask. We pulled up outside

15:34

her house a tall Victorian red brick property on leafy Street.

15:38

An old oak tree hovered over the house, sheltering it sort of. In

15:43

many other parts of London this would have been chopped down.

15:45

But here in Hampstead there were so many tall blowsy Trees

15:48

leaning into houses that the oak seemed right at home. Jimmy said

15:54

I should go with him to the front door of the house and

15:56

canceling surprises passenger once he got in the cab. I exit

16:01

the car and immediately heard the hood of an hour. Jimmy and I

16:05

both looked up at the Open Solar round Farrell head of the bird

16:08

staring straight at us. It was moments like this that my wife

16:12

had said she missed most about Ireland. Her time with nature

16:15

and wildlife. And you hear was in London right in front of me.

16:21

As we approach the door of the host Lauren Bacall appeared on

16:24

the porch. This is Khan. I'm dropping them off on the way the tall,

16:29

neatly curved woman standing regally before me offered her

16:32

hand and I shook it a real pleasure to meet you, Miss

16:35

McCall. I said Kim I'd like it was a bottler or some class of

16:40

kept hoping fool anyway. Call me Betty.

16:50

I sat in the front of Jimmy's cab and his more dazzling

16:53

passenger sat in the back. She was mesmerizing. Her neck like a

16:58

swans, her eyes pale and hooded. And of course, there was that

17:04

voice smokey direct.

17:07

I've heard a lot about UConn. I watched her in the mirror. She sat back to light up a

17:12

cigarette. She hauled furiously on it and exhaled. I tell you, I

17:18

was quite happy that entailed a thick minty smoke and willingly

17:22

let her expanded breath warm my lungs. Hope it was all good. I

17:30

said how it was. He says you're thinking of going back to Ireland. He will

17:36

miss you. I think a Jimmy. Jimmy laughed. And I could see he was blushing. I couldn't

17:42

imagine he'd have anything nice to say about me to anyone, let

17:45

alone Hollywood royalty. adds the wife Betty. She misses the

17:52

place. And as it looks like she'd be inheriting a house

17:55

there soon I might have a little bottle on my hands. Lauren

18:00

Bacall smiled and turn to look at the window. The night was

18:05

clear and the streets were full of people coming home from pubs

18:08

and nightclubs. My daughter is the most liked Bogey, my first husband. They

18:14

both believe or believed I should say in the case of bogey.

18:18

Where do you do the thing where you can give the most be of

18:22

service for everyone's good, sort of like an act of love that

18:27

has stood us all in good stead I think so keep that in mind calm.

18:32

No need to battle with your dear wife. A file

18:35

of smoke no hovered in the middle of the car. I wanted to

18:39

cough but I suppressed the urge with all my might. Mainly

18:43

because I felt so enormously lucky to be receiving advice

18:47

from such a woman. Though I did not know precisely what she

18:50

meant. I do remember looking over at Jimmy then he was

18:54

clearly turning her words over in his mind making his own sense

18:58

of them. He led me on Boscombe road. By now it was past

19:03

midnight and Shepherds Bush was quiet. I walked to the house all

19:08

dark inside apart from the low glow of a lamp in the living

19:11

room where I knew my wife will be waiting for me. I couldn't

19:15

wait to tell her of my encounter with Lauren Bacall. By the end

19:21

of the month, McHugh was dead. He had been hit at high speed by

19:26

a car which had driven over his body several times and with such

19:30

brutal force, the man had been decapitated. It had happened at

19:35

night on a street in Muswell Hill, and the car was not seen

19:40

are reported. The police went to see Jimmy immediately knowing he

19:46

was a cabbie, knowing he and the other men and women of the Feeny

19:49

family had a serious score to settle with McHugh. But Jimmy

19:55

had a cast iron alibi, which the police had double check More

20:00

times than was needed. No doubt the glimpse again the smoky

20:04

voice goddess of the film's they've grown up with Lauren

20:07

Bacall confirmed that at the time the hit and run was

20:10

supposed to have happened. Jimmy Feeney had been driving her from

20:14

a late night cigarette and whiskey run. He was her driver

20:17

after all. Before I left London, finally, to go back to Ireland,

20:24

the greatest regret of my life I must say I met with Jimmy one

20:26

last time. We shared a pot of tea and Venus cafe in the north

20:31

end of Kilburn. Jimmy seemed aloof. He looked at constantly

20:37

at the new row and saplings been planted on the verge of the high

20:40

road. When I told him the details about my wife's

20:44

inheritance, he passed no remarks. I didn't feel easy

20:49

enough for them to mention the dead McHugh. I tried to give him

20:53

money. I told him buddy wouldn't accept it. Jimmy said you'd

20:57

visit me in Ireland but he like Pat from Cork and most of my

21:01

London pals. They never did. Though he did tell me he'd quit

21:06

capping. That after driving Lauren Bacall around for three

21:09

weeks he could hardly go back to teenagers vomiting in the back

21:13

of his Mercedes on Saturday nights. I've since heard he did

21:18

eventually go back to it. I believe he was hired again by

21:21

Miss McCall or Betty, as she was known to her friends. Jimmy and

21:28

I shook hands when we left each other. And I realized that it

21:32

was the first time we've ever done that touched each other

21:35

skins on. His hands were gentle and soft. I noticed his shake,

21:41

limp, which I remember thinking from a powerful big bone man

21:46

like him was surprising. Everyone I knew during my own

21:51

wife thought it was Jimmy who plowed over McHugh. But once I

21:55

chickened the man's hand, I was not so sure. Though, over time,

22:02

I've come to understand that there are people in his life who

22:04

are capable of turning against their own nature, good or bad

22:09

for something they perceive as more important, such as love our

22:14

family perhaps all of the stories told on me as pawn are properties of their

22:27

authors mean as part of the production of metus media all

22:30

rights reserved unless otherwise stated. Our theme music comes to

22:35

us from odd Sprite. You can hear more of their music and odd

22:38

sprite.com We'll see you next time folks. Have a good one.