The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammettt (Knopf, 1933, 201 pages, $13.95)
Did
you know Dashiell Hammet was from Maryland? And that Allentown makes an
appearance in The Thin Man? And that Hagerstown
is mentioned in Chapter 14?
Asta
I’ll
wager you DID know that Asta the dog
played a part in The Thin Man
– a very small one, in the book. Smaller than in the MGM movie series (of seven)
starring Myrna Loy and William Powell. Did you know Asta once bit Miss Loy?
Times
change. Just as dogs no longer ride in crates on top of cars, this dog trainer/book
reviewer was surprised to read on page 150, “Let’s send the pup downstairs for
the night and turn in and do our talking after we’ve had some rest.” Do wealthy
dogs staying in New York City hotels not sleep in their people’s hotel suites
but perhaps in a kennel downstairs in the hotel? At least in 1932?
Growing up with Nick and
Nora
I
grew up with Nick and Nora and, of course, Asta (a Schnauzer), in the TV series*
of the 1950s (35 episodes) with Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. I knew they
were wealthy but reading The Thin Man
has told me Nick was 41, Nora was 26 and independently wealthy – the reason
Nick left his job as a crackerjack detective in New York City to run Nora’s
business enterprises from San Francisco.
Delightfully Light
Murder (with Martinis, of Course)
Nick
and Nora’s crowd often stayed up til 4 or 5 a.m. and even downed a couple of
drinks before breakfast. I guess that was all the rage in 1932! Even some of
the writing was a bit different.
Will the Real Thin Man
Please Stand Up?
I
recently found out that Nick was not the thin man but now I know ‘the rest of
the story’ from the original book. The antagonist was a very thin man, very
thin indeed. “Nobody sees him come, nobody sees him go. What was that joke
about a guy being so thin he had to stand in the same place twice to throw a
shadow?” (page 190) So, the nickname and titles probably come not from the
protagonist but from his first case.
Nick
keeps telling everyone throughout the book that he is not working on the case,
but he acts like he is and the police and the family in question continually
ask him to become involved and take the case. (He eventually solves it.)
You
may have to reread some passages due to the fast-paced repartee (if watching
the movie or TV series, be ready with the replay button!)
“Swell”
For
those of you who like stories composed primarily of conversation (and short
chapters), you will love The Thin Man.
For those of you who like convoluted plots and speakeasies, it’s for you, too.
You
will also come across a lot of ‘swell’s’ and even ‘a moving picture’ (the movie
theater) and police beating up the (supposedly) bad guys that continued on into
the 50s with Dragnet, the radio show.
The noun, dido, however, still has me stumped. And then there’s cuspidor, and
vetch, and noodle, and cracking down, and folding seats in taxis (I remember
those!), and mugg, and earysipelas!
Quaint
When
Nick and Nora Charles come to NYC over Christmas to escape their families, they
stay in a Park Avenue hotel where the phone is in the bedroom not the living
room and, without a kitchen, they ust eat out or order in for meals – and take
taxis everywhere.
And, Finally, the Plot
A wealthy
inventor escapes to the countryside to work alone. His divorced wife, her new
husband, and her two young adult children deplete their money supply and depart
Europe for New York City to ask the wealthy inventor for more. His secretary is
murdered and everyone is a suspect. The family is so totally dysfunctional that
everyone is a suspect at one time or another – except for the one who actually
did it and another and another. The plot goes ‘round and ‘round with everyone
implicating themselves and fighting and hitting and getting drunk and partying
and partying and partying. It finally accelerates towards the end and will
convince you to watch both the movie and TV series of The Thin Man!
*Asta became a wire-haired fox terrier on TV
No comments:
Post a Comment