GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #32

NICK & NORA CHARLES

This husband-and-wife team was Dashiell Hammett's most popular creation, largely because of a successful series of motion pictures and long-running radio and TV series.  They represent Hammett's strongest attempt at humor.  (Nora: "I read where you shot five times in the tabloids".  Nick: "Not true.  He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids".)  Their one novel, "The Thin Man" (1934), is narrated in the first person by retired private detective Nick Charles (his real name - Nick is of Greek descent - is Charalambides).  He is a hard-drinking, fun-loving, wisecracking, once-tough playboy...and his wife Nora is more of the same.  A former operative of the Trans-American Detective Agency of San Francisco, Nick is now married to a millionairess and is content, even anxious, to give up the rough life and concentrate on drinking.  It is Nora who insists that he take on the case of the Thin Man, and, although he just wants to be left alone and go to parties and count her money, Nick eventually enjoys the caper.  Nick and Nora are a phenomenon in modern literature - a married couple who like each other.  Lillian Hellman, Hammett's companion for three decades, served as the model for the fun-loving Nora.  The "thin man" of the title, incidentally, is not a reference to Nick but to a missing corpse.

Hammett would write the original screenplays for the second and third films in the MGM film series.  These stories, completed in 1935 and 1938, were the last pieces of literature that Hammett would ever write.  It should be noted that the last story "Another Thin Man" was heavily borrowed from a Continental Op story - "The Farewell Murder" - published in Black Mask in January 1930.  He simply reworked it to fit the Nick and Nora Charles characters.

FILMS

"The Thin Man" MGM, 1934.  William Powell (Nick), Myrna Loy (Nora), Maureen O'Sullivan.  Director: W.S. Van Dyke.  Hammett's book was made into the first film, and Depression audiences were delighted with the sophisticated American couple who mixed martinis and mystery, and for whom living was carefree and even sexy after marriage.  The film was an instant success.  It opened at Radio City Music Hall on Christmas Day and the lines were around the block.  Like the book, the case concerns the disappearance of an inventor - he is the "thin man" of the title.  Nick's white terrier, Asta, later discovers the charred body of the inventor in the ruins of his bombed laboratory.  At the climax of the film Nick uses a wild dinner party and much drinking to close in on the guilty party.  Public enthusiasm for the film triggered a sequel (cautiously offered two years later, while every other studio rushed to produce mysteries involving similar couples), and in the process the dapper William Powell as Nick Charles became known throughout the subsequent series as the Thin Man.

"After the Thin Man" MGM, 1936.  Powell, Loy, James Stewart, Elissa Landi.  Director: Van Dyke.  Nora's cousin is accused of murdering a wayward husband and Nick, though "retired", comes to her defense, and in the end exposing an unlikely killer.

"Another Thin Man" MGM, 1939.  Powell, Loy, C. Aubrey Smith, Virginia Grey.  Director: Van Dyke.  The title refers to the Charles' newborn son, Nick, Jr., and the case revolves around an elderly munitions manufacturer who is killed on a family estate crowded with suspects.

"Shadow of the Thin Man" MGM, 1941.  Powell, Loy, Donna Reed, Barry Nelson.  Director: Van Dyke.  Nick goes to the races, a frequent diversion, but this time his concern is the death of a jockey.  At home he drinks milk instead of martinis at dinner to set an example for his growing son (now 8 years old).  The film ends with the usual domestic denouement.

"The Thin Man Goes Home" MGM, 1944.  Powell, Loy, Lucille Watson, Gloria DeHaven.  Director: Richard Thorpe.  The Charleses go to the peaceful hamlet of Sycamore Springs for a visit with Nick's elderly parents.  A local youth is mysteriously killed, and Nick cleverly links the lad's amateur paintings with an espionage ring and stolen plans.

"Song of the Thin Man" MGM, 1947.  Powell, Loy, Keenan Wynn, Patricia Morison, Gloria Grahame, Jayne Meadows.  Director: Edward Buzzell.  Nick and Nora, investigating the shooting of a bandleader aboard a gambling ship, tour a great many jazz haunts in search of clues.  Dean Stockwell (who recently died) portrays an almost fully-grown Nick, Jr.

RADIO

"Lux Radio Theater" did a one-hour adaptation of the 1934 movie with Powell and Loy reunited on the radio version that aired June 17, 1940.

"The Adventures of the Thin Man" was a weekly half-hour radio series that debuted on NBC on July 2, 1941 and ran until December 23, 1942.  It aired on Wednesday nights and was sponsored by Woodbury Soap.  The show then moved to CBS from January 8, 1943 until December 26, 1947.  The new sponsors were General Foods, Post Toaties, Maxwell House, and Sanka.  From 1948 until September 1, 1950 (when the show ended), Pabst Blue Ribbon beer sponsored the series.  Each episode began with the narrator saying, "Pabst Blue Ribbon presents the new adventures of the Thin Man with Nick and Nora Charles, the happiest married couple in radio."  Each show ended with Nora calling, "Good night, Nicky!"

TELEVISION

Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk played Nick and Nora in "The Thin Man" TV series, produced by MGM and airing on NBC.  They were sophisticated and competent (Asta costarred) but the half-hour format permitted little development of either comedy or mystery.  The series ran for two seasons, September 20, 1957 to August 28, 1959, resulting in 72 episodes.

"Nick and Nora" was a made-for-TV movie that aired on late night TV on ABC on March 4, 1975.  Craig Stevens and Jo Ann Pflug appeared in the title roles, along with veteran actors Nita Talbot and Whit Bissell.  

STAGE

A 1991 musical, "Nick and Nora" opened on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on December 8, 1991.  The show starred Joanna Gleason and Barry Bostwick as the married sleuths.  Highly anticipated, the musical was a huge flop and closed after 9 performances.