Hammett news page A short biography The Continental Op Blood Money Red Harvest The Dain Curse The Maltese Falcon; The novel The movie The 75th anniversary The Glass Key The Thin Man Woman in the Dark The short story collections The novels in one volume Books about Hammett Interview with Hammett authority George J. "Rhino" Thompson Chronology of Hammett's fiction Hammett's army days "Dashiell Hammett Place" Hammett's Post Street apartment: A photo tour (2005) Declared a landmark (2005) The Flood Building Links to other Hammett sites Contact Mike mikehumbert.com homepage This site is dedicated to all the people like Don Herron, Bill Arney, Richard Layman, William F. Nolan, Josephine Hammett Marshall, Julie M. Rivett, Steven Marcus, Joe Gores and others who have kept 1920s San Francisco in the here and now. Special thanks to Vince Emery for his many helpful contributions to this website. Entire website copyright 2003, 2004 & 2005 by Mike Humbert.

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THE THIN  MAN

Nick Charles is a former detective who wants no part of the investigation of a missing inventor – he’d rather spend his Christmas vacation in a pleasant alcoholic daze.  But wife Nora insists, and the tipsy-but-tenacious Charleses are on the case. Hammett lightened the tone for what turned out to be his final novel, and in the process invented the wise-cracking-husband-and-wife detective genre.  Written in two weeks simply because he needed the money, Hammett based the Nora character on his close friend Lillian Hellman (see below). The 1934 movie version starred William Powell and Myra Loy and spawned a rash of sequels. The Thin Man also became a popular radio series, and was on television for a time as well. Pop quiz: What does The Thin Man have in common with Frankenstein? Answer:  Confusion over to whom the title refers.  “Frankenstein” was the mad scientist, not the monster; the “thin man” was the missing inventor, not Nick Charles.  In both cases, movie sequels only compounded the confusion.

NICK AND NORA AND DASH AND LILY

Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett met in 1930 at a party.  Hammett was coming off of a five-day drunk, and Hellman was immediately taken with him.  Although they were both married at the time (and Hammett never legally divorced), the two began a 31-year, on-again-off-again, relationship that would last until Hammett’s death in 1961.  During this time, Hammett abandoned his writing career, while Hellman built a reputation as a playwright.  Following his death, Hellman regarded Hammett’s legacy as her personal property.  Feeling that her “memories” (both fact-based and otherwise) should be the only record of Dashiell Hammett’s life, she vigorously obstructed the writing of any Hammett biography over which she couldn't dictate editorial control. In addition, through some legal maneuvering, she gained control of all of Hammett’s copyrights, which she held until her death in 1984.  Through additional legal wrangling, the rights eventually returned to Hammett’s heirs.

THE FIRST APPEARANCE

His pulp days behind him, Hammett's Thin Man first appeared (in condensed form) in Redbook magazine, December 1933 issue. The Thin Man again appeared in magazine form in (of all places) the February, 15, 1936 issue of Australian Women's Weekly.

SAMPLES OF VARIOUS EDITIONS

1) Knopf, 1934 (hardback with dust jacket.  The later Grosset & Dunlap version is very similar) 2) Pocket, 1942 (paperback) 3) Perma, 1961 (paperback) 4) Dell, 1966 (paperback)

5) Vintage, 1972 (paperback) 6) Penquin, 1980 (paperback) 7) Vintage Crime, 1989 (trade paperback)

8) Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 1992 (trade paperback) 9) Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2004 (trade paperback)

AUDIO EDITIONS

1) AudioPartners, 2005 2) German edition (details unknown)

THE MOVIES

1) The Thin Man, 1934 2) After The Thin Man, 1936 3) Another Thin Man, 1939 4) Shadow of The Thin Man, 1941

5) The Thin Man goes Home, 1944 6) Song of The Thin Man, 1947 6) The first movie on DVD 7) The new DVD box set of all six movies

AFTER THE THIN MAN

Hammett was asked to write the film treatment for the first Thin Man sequel.  It remained unpublished until 1986, when it was serialized in issues 5 and 6 of The New Black Mask. "After the Thin Man" also appeared (in one chunk this time) in the UK publication Crime Wave.

THE ONGONG INFLUENCE

Nick and Nora were the first in a very long line of "Detective Couples," a fact that was examined in the book Investigating Couples by Tom Soter.