----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Kristine Butler writes: "I'd like to elicit a mass brainstorming effort: I'm working on an idea concerning films in which a pre-recorded message plays a part in conveying narrative information (an answering machine, a tape player, etc.). Example: in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Pepa's boyfriend exists primarily as the messages he leaves on her answering machine. Anything you can think of would be greatly appreciated. More on this later. Thanks!!" Do you mean only *electronically* pre-recorded messages? There are many, many examples of *print* messages having a role in the narrative. Two electronic sources that come to mind are the original film verison of DEATH OF A SALESMAN, which includes a wire recorder, and the giant on-the-wall reel-to-reel answering maching in Mike Hammer's apartment in KISS ME DEADLY. Don Larsson, Mankato State U. (MN)