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In 1960, a year before the A6 Case, Harold Pinter had his first major play performed, called The Birthday Party. In my opinion it remains a powerful piece of work and was impressively produced by the BBC some years ago, with Pinter himself and Julie Walters taking two of the parts.
The reason I mention this is because of Graham’s very clear account of the circumstances regarding how Alphon and Hanratty found themselves guests (though not apparently at the same time) in the Vienna Hotel. Pinter’s play is set in a seaside boarding house, run by a middle-aged couple, and seems to be a rendition of empty, humdrum existence until two menacing characters appear on the scene. They clearly have a mission to carry out but their precise reasons for coming there are never made clear. It seems they have been directed to the boarding house after failing to find other accommodation. There is also a suggestion that some of the characters have met before and that one of them is being targeted. The menacing characters are clearly assuming false names- one calls himself Goldberg - and their behaviour switches from extreme politeness to threatening violence depending on who is around them at the time. A disturbing play which poses more questions than it answers.
Which takes us back to the hotel arrangements of Alphon and Hanratty at the relative times. Hanratty intended to leave for Liverpool on the evening of the 20th August but was too late to catch the train, so sought accommodation at Broadway House only to be redirected to the Vienna Hotel. His claim that he then left the following morning, the 21st August, for Liverpool would seem reasonable behaviour in the known circumstances. Changing his mind and heading for Taplow carrying a load of ammunition on the chance of a hold-up is not impossible, but far less likely.
Alphon was effectively a day behind. He left Southend on the morning of the 22nd August, met his mother at her work, went to see a film, tried to lodge at Broadway House, then went to see his mother again near her home before arriving at the Vienna Hotel around 2300 hours. It would be interesting to know which film Alphon watched and also why he needed to see his mother in between his two hotel visits, since he had already seen her earlier in the day. His alibi for the afternoon of the 22nd August rests on the cinema, his mother and the hotel manager of the Vienna Hotel. From memory, his mother was not absolutely certain of the day of his visit and the hotel manager gave a series of contradictory statements relating to rooms, although he always stated Alphon did indeed check in at the hotel. There is an asterisk against his name in the hotel register which we are told signifies the last occupant to arrive on a particular day. He checked out calmly on the morning of the 23rd according to the manager.
Which takes us back to Pinter and the Theatre of the Absurd. We have Ryan (Hanratty) arriving by chance from Broadway House and staying in Room 24, later to become Room 6, before becoming Room 24 again. The day he leaves, Durrant (Alphon) is also redirected from Broadway House and is allocated Room 6, which becomes Room 24, becoming Room 6 again. Of that Glickberg (Nudds) is eventually certain. Nudds confesses he was trying to help the police fit-up Alphon (who he has never met previously it seems) but is now telling the truth to help convict Hanratty, a known criminal like Nudds himself, but who do not apparently recognize each other as such. This non-descript hotel has now housed the two major suspects in the most horrific crime in recent memory, but no one is remotely aware of this at the time since the crime has not happened yet.
It is only after the crime, when bullet shells linked to the crime are found in Room 24, that the significance of the hotel becomes apparent. These shells have lain undiscovered, in the folds of a chair, for a number of weeks. Nudds by his own account is a man eager to help the police, yet he (or his cleaning staff) failed to detect a vital piece of evidence which was under his nose.
As Graham says, it is unlikely the Vienna Hotel was the ‘dosshouse’ it is often called in accounts of the A6 Case. Hanratty was a flash git whilst Alphon saw himself as a bit of a toff; they both had the option of staying with family or friends rather than lodge in a dosshouse. Rather like the boarding house in Pinter’s play, the Vienna Hotel seems to be the focal point of something that belies its low-key façade. A knocking-shop where illicit sex can be conducted? A safe-house for police informers like Nudds himself? A place where criminal equipment (such as revolvers) can be safely stored and re-distributed? A place where ‘bent’ cops can settle up with criminals? I don’t have Pinter’s grasp of mystery or vision, yet I am sure that there is something rotten in the heart of Vienna.
The reason I mention this is because of Graham’s very clear account of the circumstances regarding how Alphon and Hanratty found themselves guests (though not apparently at the same time) in the Vienna Hotel. Pinter’s play is set in a seaside boarding house, run by a middle-aged couple, and seems to be a rendition of empty, humdrum existence until two menacing characters appear on the scene. They clearly have a mission to carry out but their precise reasons for coming there are never made clear. It seems they have been directed to the boarding house after failing to find other accommodation. There is also a suggestion that some of the characters have met before and that one of them is being targeted. The menacing characters are clearly assuming false names- one calls himself Goldberg - and their behaviour switches from extreme politeness to threatening violence depending on who is around them at the time. A disturbing play which poses more questions than it answers.
Which takes us back to the hotel arrangements of Alphon and Hanratty at the relative times. Hanratty intended to leave for Liverpool on the evening of the 20th August but was too late to catch the train, so sought accommodation at Broadway House only to be redirected to the Vienna Hotel. His claim that he then left the following morning, the 21st August, for Liverpool would seem reasonable behaviour in the known circumstances. Changing his mind and heading for Taplow carrying a load of ammunition on the chance of a hold-up is not impossible, but far less likely.
Alphon was effectively a day behind. He left Southend on the morning of the 22nd August, met his mother at her work, went to see a film, tried to lodge at Broadway House, then went to see his mother again near her home before arriving at the Vienna Hotel around 2300 hours. It would be interesting to know which film Alphon watched and also why he needed to see his mother in between his two hotel visits, since he had already seen her earlier in the day. His alibi for the afternoon of the 22nd August rests on the cinema, his mother and the hotel manager of the Vienna Hotel. From memory, his mother was not absolutely certain of the day of his visit and the hotel manager gave a series of contradictory statements relating to rooms, although he always stated Alphon did indeed check in at the hotel. There is an asterisk against his name in the hotel register which we are told signifies the last occupant to arrive on a particular day. He checked out calmly on the morning of the 23rd according to the manager.
Which takes us back to Pinter and the Theatre of the Absurd. We have Ryan (Hanratty) arriving by chance from Broadway House and staying in Room 24, later to become Room 6, before becoming Room 24 again. The day he leaves, Durrant (Alphon) is also redirected from Broadway House and is allocated Room 6, which becomes Room 24, becoming Room 6 again. Of that Glickberg (Nudds) is eventually certain. Nudds confesses he was trying to help the police fit-up Alphon (who he has never met previously it seems) but is now telling the truth to help convict Hanratty, a known criminal like Nudds himself, but who do not apparently recognize each other as such. This non-descript hotel has now housed the two major suspects in the most horrific crime in recent memory, but no one is remotely aware of this at the time since the crime has not happened yet.
It is only after the crime, when bullet shells linked to the crime are found in Room 24, that the significance of the hotel becomes apparent. These shells have lain undiscovered, in the folds of a chair, for a number of weeks. Nudds by his own account is a man eager to help the police, yet he (or his cleaning staff) failed to detect a vital piece of evidence which was under his nose.
As Graham says, it is unlikely the Vienna Hotel was the ‘dosshouse’ it is often called in accounts of the A6 Case. Hanratty was a flash git whilst Alphon saw himself as a bit of a toff; they both had the option of staying with family or friends rather than lodge in a dosshouse. Rather like the boarding house in Pinter’s play, the Vienna Hotel seems to be the focal point of something that belies its low-key façade. A knocking-shop where illicit sex can be conducted? A safe-house for police informers like Nudds himself? A place where criminal equipment (such as revolvers) can be safely stored and re-distributed? A place where ‘bent’ cops can settle up with criminals? I don’t have Pinter’s grasp of mystery or vision, yet I am sure that there is something rotten in the heart of Vienna.
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