Minor Fictional Characters in The House of Daniel

This article lists the various minor fictional characters who appear in The House of Daniel. These characters play at best a peripheral role in the novel. Most were simply mentioned or had a very brief, unimportant speaking role that impacted the plot minimally, if at all, and never appeared again. Some were not even given a name.

Joel Alson
Joel Alson was a famous singer. When illustrating a rhetorical point for Jack Spivey, Wes Petersen explained that what Joel Alson was to singing, Carpetbag Booker was to pitching.

Literary comment
Joel Alson is named for Al Jolson (1886-1950), arguably the most prominent singer of the interwar years.

Arnie
Arnie owned a pool hall in Enid, Oklahoma. In May, 1934, he told Jack Spivey that Big Stu was looking for him. When Spivey found him, Arnie was reading a vampire pulp. Spivey thought Arnie was as pale as a vampire himself. He also spoke in a voice only slightly more expressive than a zombie's

Bigfoot lumberjack
When the House of Daniel went to Klamath Falls, Oregon, Jack Spivey encountered bigfoots for the first time. Spivey had a conversation with a bigfoot, who enjoyed waffles and pancakes, but didn't like trying to make them in the wood. So he preferred to work as a lumberjack in Klamath Falls and buy his waffles at the diner. When Spivey asked the bigfoot if he played baseball, the bigfoot said he was too slow, but that Klamath Falls had a basketball team that hadn't lost in years.

Benjamin Harrison Caesar
Benjamin Harrison Caesar was one of the best pitchers in professional baseball history, playing for the Philadelphia Quakers and St. Louis Archdeacons during his 20-year career. He left the big leagues, reportedly due to alcoholism, and joined the semi-pro House of Daniel. Unlike most members of the House, famous for their beards, Caesar remained clean shaven during his time with them, which also was ended by the bottle.

Jack Spivey played for the House in 1934, and learned that Caesar had left the team around two years earlier.

Literary comment
B.H. Caesar is an analog of Grover Cleveland Alexander (1887-1950), with Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland being consecutive US Presidents, and both Caesar and Alexander being ancient empire-builders.

Charlie Carstairs
Charlie Carstairs sold farm equipment in Enid, Oklahoma. He'd previously had dealings with local criminal Big Stu Kesselring. However, Carstairs owed a debt to Big Stu, and refused to pay it. Big Stu decided the best way to put the squeeze on Carstairs was to arrange for Carstairs' younger sibling to be beaten up in Ponca City. Big Stu paid one of his regular employees, Jack Spivey, to do the job, as Spivey also played semi-pro baseball with the Enid Eagles, and they were scheduled to play in Ponca City in the next couple of days.

Conjure Man's Helper
A smooth-talking conjure man's helper tried to get Jack Spivey to come with him to meet his employer. The helper suggested that his boss could take away Spivey's pain. Spivey knew this mean the conjure man would turn him into a zombie. Spivey ran instead, but the helper did not follow.

Cornelius
Cornelius was a conjure man who worked for the Amarillo Metros. Although he was colored, he was allowed to sit wherever he wanted in the otherwise segregated Metro Park. Cornelius gave the Metros some help in their game against the House of Daniel. Members of the House realized that Cornelius was a conjure man based on his appearance: he wore a lime green suit, a pumpkin orange shirt, and a blood red tie with skull on it.

During the course of the game, Cornelius ensured that the Metros' pitcher threw fast\ and curve ball, and that the House of Daniel committed a number of errors. However, the House's manager, Harv Watrous, responded by Watrous began citing verses from the Book of Daniel, and in short order, Cornelius fled for the men's room with diarrhea. When Cornelius returned, he was carrying a live chicken. He did something to it, and soon the Metros played better. Watrous began praying again, and this time, Cornelius was rendered unconscious. The House of Daniel won 9-4.

Cliff Ditto
Cliff Ditto was the manager of the Walla Walla Bears. Jack Spivey found his name funny.

Literary comment
In the Author's Note, Harry Turtledove explains that there was a historical Cliff Ditto from Walla Walla, but the Daniel version is approximately 40 years older than the OTL man.

Double-Double
Aaron "Double-Double-A" Aardsma, most commonly "Double-Double" played right field for the House of Daniel in early 1934. He was a lanky Dutchman. In the game between the House of Daniel and the Ponca City Greasemen, Double-Double collided with center-fielder Rabbit O'Leary when they both tried to catch a fly ball. Both collapsed onto the field, and lay there until a doctor was called in. Double-Double was carried off the field, his ankle in a splint. The crowd cheered, and he gave a feeble wave. O'Leary needed artificial respiration until he could breath on his own, and then he, too was carried off the field. Then the game continued.

Walt Edwards
Walt Edwards was the pitcher for the Ponca City Greasemen. He'd played in the pros until he permanently injured his throwing arm such that he could no longer throw fast enough and hard enough to compete with the other pros. He was an oil worker, and had a good enough arm for semp-pro games. He pitched for the Greasemen in their game against the Enid Eagles in May 1934, the last game Jack Spivey played as an Eagle.

Rod Graver
Rod Graver (b. c. 1904) was the manager and shortstop for the Enid Eagles. He had made it in the minors, but his brother hurt himself, and Graver had to return to Enid to take over the farm.

Graver had ties to Big Stu Kesselring. When the Eagles played in Ponca City, Graver indirectly asked Jack Spivey if he'd carried out the beating of Mich Carstairs. Spivey hadn't. Realizing Graver had a line to Big Stu, he told Graver to mind his own business. When Graver realized that Spivey hadn't done what he was supposed to do, he warned Spivey that Big Stu wouldn't like it. Spivey told him that Big Stu would have to lump it.

Professor Houlihan
Professor Houlihan taught a magic class at Mesa State College. His proclamation that zombies were incapable of rising up against their masters, was spectacular disproven by the Great Zombie Riots of 1934.

Iverson
Iverson was a writer of pulp fantasy. Fidgety Frank Carlisle was fond of Iverson's work. In one story published in Amazing, a character repelled a werewolf by tossing a silver coin at it - a feat which Carlisle successfully duplicated, much to Jack Spivey's admiration.

Literary comment
Iverson appears to be a self-caricature of Harry Turtledove, whose early works were published under the pseudonym Eric Iverson, including the Elabon Series, which has several "Were" characters in it.

Lightning Bug Kelly
Lightning Bug Kelly played catcher for the Enid Eagles. He always had a cigarette going, even when playing.

Mike Lee
Mike Lee and three of his brothers ran a laundry service in Alamogordo, New Mexico. They were Chinese-Americans. Mike was also a semi-pro baseball player with the Alamogordo Rebels. The fact that his name was Lee made it seem suitable that he was on a team with Confederate nomenclature.

Lil
Lil was a waitress at Big Stu's diner in Enid, Oklahoma. She was the same age as Jack Spivey's late mother. Unlike Mrs. Spivey, Lil wore powder and paint. She was generally kind to Spivey, giving him stew and coffee while he waited for his meetings with Big Stu.

Miss Louise
Miss Louise owned a barbecue restaurant in Pampa, Texas. In May, 1934, the triumphant House of Daniel visited her place after a game. Miss Louise thanked them for coming in, acknowledging that, while things weren't as bad in Pampa as in some other places, they were still tough.

Ace McGinty
Ace McGinty was the number two pitcher for the Enid Eagles. In May, 1934, after Jack Spivey (who also played with the Eagles) agreed to beat up Mitch Carstairs for Big Stu Kesselring, he told McGinty that he was going to Ponca City for personal business. McGinty, who was sitting a bar trying to get drunk on 3.2 alcohol, grinned and assumed Spivey was going to meet a woman.

When McGinty and the rest of the team arrived at the rooming house in Ponca City the next day, they gave Spivey a hard time for his supposed assignation.

Ace McGinty also had the distinction of being the last Enid Eagle Spivey ever saw. After Spivey joined up with the House of Daniel in Ponca City, the team's bus headed to Texas. To Spivey's horror, the bus passed through Enid. While Spivey did see Ace McGinty staggering down the road, McGinty didn't see Spivey.

Mort Milligan
Mort Milligan was the first baseman for the Ponca City Greasemen. He played in Jack Spivey's last game with the Enid Eagles. After Spivey bunted a pitch from Walt Edwards and got to first base, Milligan described the hit as "crap". As Milligan was considerably larger than Spivey, Spivey just grinned back.

Later in the game, Spivey was able to make a crucial catch and throw that got Milligan out as he was rounding bases. Milligan called Spivey a son of a bitch.

Ironically, the very next day, Milligan vouched for Spivey's abilities as a fielder when Spivey tried to sign on with the House of Daniel.

Rabbit O'Leary
Rabbit O'Leary played center for the House of Daniel. He was tall and lean, and ran as fast as his nickname suggested. He batted left.

He played in the game between the House of Daniel and the Ponca City Greasemen. He dodged one of Close Shave Simpkins' beanballs his first time at bat. When the Greasemen were at bat, House of Daniel pitcher Fidgety Frank Carlisle hit their batter in the chest. Things escalated from there. Finally, House of Daniel right-fielder Aaron "Double-Double-A" Aardsma (most commonly "Double-Double") collided with Rabbit O'Leary when they both tried to catch a ball. Both collapsed onto the field, and lay there until a doctor was called in. Double-Double was carried off the field, his ankle in a splint. O'Leary needed artificial respiration until he could breath on his own, and then he, too was carried off the field. O'Leary was taken to the hospital for a broken collarbone and a similarity scan for his skull.

Don Patterson
Don Patterson was the top pitcher for the Enid Eagles.

Ponca City Vampire
Immediately after Jack Spivey ran from a conjure man's helper who accosted him on a Ponca City street, a vampire leaped from darkness and demanded his blood. Spivey noticed the vampire's local accent. He produced his cross, which flared brightly, and set the vampire back. When Spivey told the vampire to feed on a cow, the vampire retorted he'd been doing it too long, and that he needed something with flavor. Spivey chased him off, observing that he was a miserable excuse for a vampire, and probably had been a miserable excuse for a person in life, too.

Close Shave Simpkins
Clove Shave Simpkins was the second pitcher with the Ponca City Greasemen. He earned his nickname from his ability to send a pitch close to a batter's chin. He played in the game between the Greasemen and the House of Daniel, and started it down a rougher course when he tried to bean Rabbit O'Leary when the House of Daniel was at bat.

Hal Snodgrass
Hal Snodgrass was the backup outfielder for the Enid Eagles. He was slower than an armadillo. For that reason, Jack Spivey decided he had to play their game in Ponca City, even though he'd effectively double-crossed crime boss Big Stu Kesselring.

Ma Spivey
Jack Spivey's mother (d. 1915) died in child birth when Jack was five years old. The child she gave birth to also died. Spivey barely remembered her, but her death haunted him into his adulthood.

Sarah Jane Spivey
Sarah Jane Spivey was the first-born child of Jack Spivey and his wife Mich Carstairs.

Second Spivey child
A year or two after Sarah Jane Spivey was born, her parents Jack and Mich were expecting again. Jack hoped the new one would be a boy.

Literary comment
The novel ends as Jack announces this pregnancy, leaving any further details unrevealed.

Mudfoot Williams
Zebulon "Mudfoot" Williams was the third baseman for the Enid Eagles. He hated shoes and preferred to go barefoot as much as possible. Hence his nickname.

When Mudfoot and the rest of the team arrived at the rooming house in Ponca City the next day, Mudfoot joined Ace McGinty in giving Jack Spivey a hard time for his supposed assignation with a woman the previous night. Williams and Lightning Bug Kelly and Don Patterson shared Spivey's room.

Heber Orson Woodruff
Heber Orson Woodruff was a pitcher for the Brigham City Peaches. When Jack Spivey suggested that Woodruff go into professional baseball, Woodruff replied that he considered his family's peach farm to be a more important venture. He also intended to spend two years on a Mormon mission.