The Fun of Regulated Reading

Do you ever regulate your reading?

I was struggling over what term to use so let me just explain. Last year, I did a little experiment. The book of Proverbs has 31 chapters. I decided that for every month that included 31 days, I would read a chapter of Proverbs per day. To keep things interesting, I changed translations every month. Then, at the end, I was able to go back and compare notes and compare verses that I underlined. It was a pretty fun experiment and, except for the transition from July into August, I never had a back to back month.

To January 2021. As I often do, I start to cycle through all of the things that have major anniversaries. Anything with a year ending in one or six are the key ones this year. In the first week, it was the 50th anniversary of Chicago III. That got me to thinking about music and what albums we’re gonna be celebrating major milestone anniversaries. It was my son – – an avid musicologist – – who reminded me I had a book on the shelf about the year 1971 in music. Why not just read it.

The book in question is titled Never a Dull Moment: 1971 The Year Rock Exploded by David Hepworth. It came out in 2016 and I think I might’ve had it since then. Born in 1950, Hepworth came of age about the same time that rock ‘n’ roll did. Those, he was 21 years old during 1971. He has written extensively about music since the 1980s. 

What got me excited about reading this book in 2021 was a table of contents. It is broken out by month. 12 chapters, 12 months, plus an introduction.

As soon as I saw that, I had a brilliant idea: read each chapter at the beginning of each month here in 2021 and go through the year 1971 with Hepworth. I had to read chapter 1 this week, but I'll get to chapter 2  on Monday. and then continue from there. That means Led Zepplin IV is in my future. So is Sticky Finger, Nursery Crime, Hunky Dory, What's Going On, Bryter Later, and Madman Across the Water. That's just the albums I know about. I can't wait to discover new-to-me albums.

And, if chapter one is any indication, this is going to be a blast. Hepworth writes in an engaging style, but primarily he writes only from the limited perspective of that month. He tells you what Bruce Springsteen was doing, the status of the band Slade, and how Yes was reimagining how music was recorded. He even drops a cliffhanger of an ending as the chapter closed about a woman who invented the album business.

But what makes these chapters special is that Hepworth includes a short playlist of songs that were popular in that month. I already made a January 1971 playlist and dang if I haven't discovered a new-to-me band: Badfinger.

Anyway, I don't know if you read books in this regulated manner or not, but I do, and I look forward to learning about 1971 fifty years later.

Are there other books that could be read in a regulated way?

Searching for the Yellow Paper and Finding a Gold Mine

I wanted it to be like it used to be, back in the day.

If you read this blog, I wax nostalgic about a lot of things. Ever since last year's 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, I've been in a forty-years-ago vibe. Not sure why. It's likely because 1980 was one of the big transition years: graduated elementary school and started middle school. Sure, getting to high school's a big deal, but for me, this was a huge one. It was the first time I went to a new school (I attended Chambers Elementary in Alief all six years), I started learning to play the saxophone, and it was a new decade.

Part of that forty-years-ago vibe is comics, and recently, I picked up my copies of The New Teen Titans. I am enjoying them and aim to keep re-reading them, now with my adult outlook on life.

As Inauguration Day 2021 occurred this past Wednesday, another image came to mind: Inauguration Day 1981. The teachers wheeled the TV into the classroom for us all to watch the swearing in of Ronald Reagan. By the way, for those old enough, was there ever a better thing to see when you entered a classroom than a TV or a film projector? You know the answer.

It was one of the first split screens I had ever witnessed. The American hostages, imprisoned for 444 days, were released on 20 January 1981, after Reagan was sworn in. I have no memory of what I thought on that day, but everything just seemed brighter. Throw in the space shuttle Columbia's inaugural launch in April and the spring of 1981 was a pretty good season for a sixth grader.

By 1981, I had already discovered the two comic book stores here in Houston: Roy's Memory Shop and Third Planet. My family didn't go out shopping during the week too often, so Saturdays were the days that included Shipley's Do-Nuts, Saturday morning cartoons, and trips to the comic store to pick up a few issues using my allowance. Great times.

Cut to this past Saturday. After I consumed some Shipley's do-nuts and watched Saturday morning cartoons on MeTV (and Wandavision), my son and I planned on going to Half Price Books. It had been awhile and we were both looking for some new-to-us music. But I also made a little promise to myself. I would look through the comic book section and buy an old comic. It didn't matter what it was or if there was only one. It didn't matter that I could easily download old comics on my iPad. It didn't matter that I could order a collection via Amazon and have it delivered.

I wanted to buy a comic, just like the old days.

How would I know what comic to buy? Easy. Just look for the yellowed paper.

Half Price gets comics of all shapes and sizes. Some are bagged and most are modern comics, so it's pretty easy to spot the older ones. Plus, those thick annuals are even more of a treasured find. A 64-page comic for a dollar? In fact, it was one of those that first caught my eye. A Bloodlines annual from 1993. Holy cow. When did a 1990s-era comic become old enough to be yellowed?

But a few comics away in that very same row was a group of comics, all with yellowing paper. My fingers walked to that stack and revealed the title: Atari Force #2. My fingers kept walking. There was issue three, four, five. I started counting until I got to issue twenty, advertised on the cover as the final issue. I quickly went back to two and flipped the comic in front of it. Special #1.

Holy cow. This was the entire run of a comic title I remember from the 1980s but never read. Here I was awash in nostalgia for the early 80s and wanting to buy an old comic. Why not twenty?

Sold.

As it turned out, Special #1 was not, in fact, the first issue. It was an issue released a year after the run ended. But my son--not a comic book collector at all--had actually picked up a few Atari Force comics at a Free Comic Book Day a year or two ago. Viola! He had issue #1.

Serendipity. 

Atari Force was originally a 5-issue series created by Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, and Jose Garcia Lopez to accompany sales of Atari video game cartridges in 1982. This run started in October 1983 (cover date January 1984) and ran for twenty issues.

Just like the old day, I laid on the floor and read issues one and two and am already digging it. Where the letters column would have been was a short essay by editor Andy Helfer, bringing readers up-to-speed on what Atari Force was and is. Issue two has an origin story of the series penned by Conway along with Fact Files that focuses on the main characters, including major events in their lives. Fun to see some of those dates is still in our future here in 2021 while others are already in our past.

I'll write about the series when I finish, but one thing literally jumped off the page: Lopez's layouts. They are not always your standard number of squares on a page with white borders. He clearly had fun playing with borders and colors and styles and it's a joy to read.

What's also fun are the ads. From spaceship models based on Return of the Jedi and action figures based on DC properties like Warlord and Sgt. Rock (sold at Kmart) to Superman peanut butter and the NBC Saturday morning cartoon lineup (The Flintstone Funnies with Fred and Barney dressed as cops?), I enjoyed remembering those old days, even if for only a few minutes.

A Different Kind of Writing Block

How often do you restart a novel you’ve set aside?

I am an obsessive saver of things when it comes to my writing. I’ve got paper and digital notes all over the place. Most of the time, I date them so that I can have a record of a novel’s progress. Perhaps it’s the historian in me who wants to catalog every step of a process.

I keep abandoned drafts as well, again, both in paper and digital. Sometimes, I return to these fragments and pick them up to see if I can use them. For the ones that get a second life, there’s generally two philosophies on new usage: edit what you wrote or write the entire thing from scratch.

It’s a safe assumption that however long the document has remained unused, you’ve become a better writer. There have been times in which I’ve returned to a piece, read it, and was shocked that my Younger Self thought it was good. Other times I’ve re-read something and nodded my head having been reminded I can string some words together in a nice manner.

I’ve been thinking about this most of this month as my first writing project in 2021 is to restart a novel I’ve set aside more than once. Back in 2013, I wrote the entire novel that summer. It was a bloated affair, but it was complete. In fact, it was the second manuscript I ever completed, but it needed work.

In the past few years, I picked it up and created a 2.0 version but it didn’t pan out either. I had an amalgamated 3.0 version consisting of about 23,000a words and that was what I started with on New Year’s Day 2021. I nipped and tucked, tweaked and expanded the story until I reached about the 19,000-word mark. That’s when things went off the rails.

What the heck had I written? Seriously, Scott, you call that good?

No, it wasn’t. It needed some serious work.

That work was not easy. I had the actual prose printed out in front of me. I had the revised story structure via notecards next to me as well. How to reconcile?

My 5am writing sessions are limited to about 60-70 minutes. I have a hard stop where I put aside the fiction writing in favor of getting ready for the day job. I also don’t return to the fiction until the next day’s 5am writing session.

This particular section tasked me for about four days. Originally, I tried to simply read and edit and add in new words in and around the old words, but that proved too slow. My 2021 brain and writing chops would start going off on tangents I didn’t expect.

That was when I realized the 2021 Writing Brain was taking over. And I let it.

In the end, I ended up rewriting most of the chapter from scratch. It is a much better chapter than before and I’m pretty jazzed about it.

This particular section was a hurdle for me. I kept banging my head on it and it wasn’t until I allowed the skill and experience I acquired in the years since I first wrote the original prose to take over that the hurdle was surpassed.

It was a wonderful relief.

Do you have experiences like this? Do you give way when your more experienced self intuitively knows what to do to fix and old piece you wrote?

Do you have a writer’s haven? (Plus the math of the business)

I’m an optimist by nature and nurture so I always see the bright side of things. The glass is half full kinda guy. But there’s a lot of sucky stuff going on right now in the world. I see it on my Facebook and Twitter feeds. I read about it on the internet. It dominates the nightly news and the late talk shows. It rears its head at the dinner table and on phone conversations with family and friends. It is everywhere.

Except when I write.

When it’s just me, the keyboard, and my imagination, the world is a thousand miles away. I don’t let anything interfere with my writing time. I keep the world out.

Now, the “when” plays a huge role. I’m a 5am Writer, at least on the weekdays. Weekends involve some sleeping in, but I’m still a morning writer. Fundamental to my writing schedule is a simple directive: don’t let the outside world in—in any capacity—until after I’ve done my writing. The only thing open is my imagination. There will be time enough for all the other stuff later in the day.

On most mornings, I have about an hour where I do nothing but write. That’s 60 minutes. However many minutes you have, be sure to make them count.

Speaking of count, here’s the math part of the post.

This week on Twitter [Sounds like a segment on the local news, huh?], I replied to a question” What do you say to the writer who says “I don’t have time to write.”

My answer is simple: Do you have a spare 15 minutes in a day?

If so, you could write 250-500 words a day, 1,750-3,500 a week, 7,500-15,000 a month, and 91,250-182,500 a year. That’s more than enough to write more than one novel and many short stories. Everyone has a spare 15 minutes. Just choose to write.

And keep the world at bay.

Nick and Nora Go Out on a High Note in Song of the Thin Man

You know this movie might be different when Asta wasn't called out in the opening credits. Turns out, it was a return to form.

The film opens on the S.S. Fortune at a charity gala where a big band orchestra with a singer in entertaining the crowd. A couple of former hoods gives some running commentary, especially about the dames, and we get our introduction to Nick and Nora Charles in 1947. Nick gets the first line: "Boys, boys, in polite society, we don't say, Yoo-hoo. We say Yoo-whom."

And we're back!

I think it's safe to say that if you were to be shown stills of William Powell and Myrna Loy in these six Thin Man films, you'd be able to identify the film just by the hairstyle. Nick now wears his hair combed to the side with way less hair product. Nora's style is much more simple, similar to how she wore it in the fifth Thin Man movie, The Thin Man Goes Home (1945). But it's understandable. Not only are we in post-war America, but Powell is 56 and Loy 42. They are middle aged now and the times have changed.

It doesn't take long before we see some shady dealings. Band leader Tommy Drake is irritated with David Thayer, the charity sponsor, for low wages. Drake's got a new gig: he's going on tour where he can make more dough. The only problem is he owes gangster Al Amboy $12,000. When Amboy hears about Drake's plans, he demands the money right then.

Phil Brant, the owner of the gambling boat, is in love with Janet Thayer. They're ready to elope the next day considering her father, the sponsor of the event, doesn't like him. That's all well and good until they became the prime suspects in a murder investigation. Tommy Drake sneaks into Brant's office to break open the safe and abscond with the money. He is shot dead.  

The next morning, we get our first glimpse of the domestic life of Nick and Nora and Nick Jr., played by Dean Stockwell. As a Generation X guy, I know him best from the TV show Quantum Leap and his roles in movies like The Player and Air Force One. Their New York apartment is just as swanky as you'd expect, but what's quite fun is seeing Nick and Nora now as parents.

What is also quite obvious is the witty dialogue is back after a one-movie hiatus. James O'Hanlon and Harry Crane are both credited with additional dialogue so I suspect director Edward Buzzell brought them in to spice up the old repartee. It shows and it's very welcome.

Nick starts sleuthing (without Nora!) and sneaks onto the gambling ship. He finds a piece of sheet music with a receipt from Amboy for the full amount. Our detective also meets clarinetist Clinker Krause who unknowingly has the sheet music in his clarinet case. Back to the dialogue, Clinker talks jive about the then-current jazz styles in such a way that befuddles the Depression-era Nick and Nora (who has now joined Nick). It's a funny ongoing bit, especially considering Nick and Nora probably frequented jazz joints in the 1920s.

Unfortunately, Clinker burns the sheet music so Nick has to solve the case without a crucial piece of evidence.

When Nick realizes a clue and decides to visit Janet Thayer at 4:00 am, a sleepy Nora says that, "We're in this together" and finally(!) Nick doesn't ditch her. Too bad it took until the last movie for this to happen. In fact, she even takes initiative and circles back to a rest home where our insane clarinetist, Buddy, is holed up. He confesses to killing Drake and even tries to shoot Nora.

One of the aspects of these Thin Man movies is that Nick and Nora rarely are threatened or in danger. However, with this last entry, there’s a sequence where young Nick Jr. is missing while the parents are away. All joking ceases as Nick and Nora worry until he is found and Nick learns the real reason.

If wouldn’t be a Thin Man movie without the final reveal, and this time, it’s back on the S.S. Fortune. It’s great seeing Nick and Nora comment on each of the suspects as they arrive and are seated. Again, Nora shines by noting something her husband missed: the necklace worn by the moll of Amboy matches the earrings of the lady with booking agent Mitchell Talbin. Nick then reckons the necklace was worth $12,000, the exact amount owed.

Teamwork. Man, if we had more of this earlier in the franchise. Frankly, it’s what I expected from the get-go. It’s how I remember the TV show Hart to Hart being and it’s certainly how Castle was in its run. Probably Remington Steele and Moonlighting, too, except those latter three all started with the romantic leads at odds with each other.

The final confrontation is rather violent for this series, another outcome from World War II.

“Now, Nick Charles is going to retire,” Nick says. “From detective work?” Nora retorts. “No, to bed.”

Final Thoughts

I can’t help but suspect everyone involved knew going in this was likely going to be the final Thin Man film. Being the only one that didn’t make a profit probably sealed the deal. 

Song of the Thin Man is the final Thin Man film and final film for which the pair starred together with equal billing. Loy evidently makes an uncredited appearance in Powell’s 1947 film The Senator was Indiscreet, making it their actual final film. I’ve been wanting to see this entire franchise for quite a long time and I’m glad to have finally done so. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of them, but if I’m being honest, the fifth film, The Thin Man Goes Home, was the weakest one for me. It seemed to have forgotten what made these films special, something the sixth film rectified.

Seeing each of these movies first thing every morning has been a treat, and I’m not shy to say I’d have enjoyed more if there had been more. The way Dean Stockwell portrayed Nick Jr. makes me wonder why no-one has every done a story with Nick Jr. as the detective. The stories almost write themselves.

And I’m curious why there hasn’t been another Thin Man movie made since. Johnny Depp was going to have a modern remake, but that project was cancelled. David Niven and Maggie Smith play Dick and Dora Charleston in the 1976 movie Murder by Death and that’ll be next on my list. I’ve mentioned Castle, Remington Steele, Moonlighting, and Hart to Hart as shows that have taken inspiration from Nick and Nora. Castle is one of my all-time favorite TV shows, but I’m going to go and find some Hart to Hart episodes somewhere. The recipe of a husband-and-wife detective team is too delicious to pass up. I do wish the Nora we saw in Song of the Thin Man had arrived sooner.

I enjoyed these films so much that I’m going to seek out and find the other films Powell and Loy starred in together. But only after watching the documentaries that were packaged with the DVD box set. I’ll review them next year.

Nick and Nora Charles. William Powell and Myrna Loy. Boy, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore, do they?

Quotes:

Nick: Who are they?
Nora: Just the people who invited us.

Nick: If this rampage of respectability persists, we're going to have to get you a bulletproof girdle.

Nora [commenting on Nick's swell attire]: You look just a page out of Esquire.
Nick Jr.: Not the page I saw.

Nick's neighbor [after hearing a gunshot]: Was anybody hurt?
Nick [commenting on the shattered bottle of scotch]: Yes, an old friend of mine went to pieces.

Nick Jr.[at 4 am] : How about a story.
Nick: Not tonight.
Nick Jr.: But your stories always put me to sleep.

Nick: Sometimes I amaze even myself. [And the Star Wars fan in me just then wondered if George Lucas was a fan of the Thin Man films and picked up this line for Han Solo.]

Nick [in the lead-up to the finale]: If this party gets rough, duck under the table.
Nora: I’m ready to do that now, although not the way I like.

The War Changes Nick and Nora in The Thin Man Goes Home

I guess the desire to uncover the backstory of fictional heroes isn't new.

Two things instantly jump out in the first three minutes of The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), the fifth Thin Man movie. One is Myrna Loy's clothes. In the previous four films, Nora is always dressed to the nines, but those pictures were all pre-war. Now that America is neck deep in World War II (this film was released in January 1945, the first movie in the franchise not to be released in the holiday season since The Thin Man), it seems Nora's attire reflects the mood of the nation. The train station in the opening scene also shows a few sailors and I'd be hard pressed to say if I saw any soldiers in the earlier films. 

Oh, and William Powell literally pratfalls, twice. Is that a harbinger of things to come or is he drunk? Well, he's not drunk. The husband and wife are on the way to visit his parents and they don't like drinking. Nick's trying to get on the wagon--at least for this trip--another tip of the hat to wartime life: alcohol rationing. "A couple of weeks on this program and I'll be a new man," Nick says. "I rather liked the old one," Nora replies forlornly.

We meet Nick's mother and father, a doctor in Sycamore Springs. Nora and her mother-in-law talk about the difficulty between father and son and they pine for a chance to have Nick demonstrate just how good a detective he really is. 

In one sequence, Nick is dressed in his old clothes and, for the first time in five movies, Nick looks like a wrinkled slob. 

A half hour into the movie, we finally get some criminality. A guy and a gal are after a painting by a local artist, the latest of which Nora buys for Nick. That very night, a young man shows up at the Charles house. No sooner does Nick open the door than the man is shot dead. Peter Burton. On the surface, Nick's not involved, but he's got a nose for these things. He slips out of the house and beats the cops to Burton's hotel room. After switching the room numbers, he slips in, but not before we see a shadowed figure inside the room. By silhouette alone, it appears to be the town oddball, Mary. She promptly knocks Nick out. 

There's a short monologue Nora gives to Asta in which she mimics Nick. After five films, it's pretty fun to see.

As Nick starts to ask around, some of the locals start to threaten Dr. Charles's dreams of a hospital in town. Nora suspects an old friend of Nick's as the culprit and follows him around town. Irritatingly, Nick still has the habit of ditching Nora. The detective asked Brogan to lead Nora on a wild goose chase. In the previous two films, Nora seemed like she was becoming more of a sleuth. In this sequence, she reverted back to being a comic sub-plot. She was approached by a man named Drake to buy the painting for $500, something that helps Nick with the case.

Still, she accompanies him on a few trails and to a couple scenes of crimes, more so than in previous films. 

As is the pattern, Nick gathers all the characters into a room, this time Dr. Charles's laboratory. In yet another bit of meta commentary, Nora explains to her father-in-law how these things work, with the killer always cracking under pressure. For the first time, however, Nora admits she knows the bad guy so finally, she's in on Nick's sleuthing. Her running commentary to her father-in-law is kind of funny. I can't help but wonder if Loy asked for these changes. 

The reveal was actually pretty good, especially considering the suspects were either friends of Dr. Charles or Nick himself. And, yeah, old man Charles is proud of his son so all's well. 

Of the five Thin Man films to date, this one is the most staid. That's probably because of the setting but it also might be the era. This film was released just after America's fourth Christmas at war. There was likely a weariness in the audience and the filmmakers, but I'm going a bit farther than that. 

Generally speaking, the Golden Age of Detective Fiction was between the world wars. After the second, crime and mystery fiction changed from the gentlemanly puzzle stories to the hard-edged tales to which veterans could relate. While the war isn't over yet with the fifth Thin Man film, you get the sense that World War II has changed the franchise. What was once a set of characters and situations designed to take Depression-era viewers away from everyday concerns almost feels frivolous in the middle of a world war. Sure, viewers in 1944 on the home front needed things to take their minds off the horrendous cost of defeating fascism, but there's a little bit of just going through the motions with The Thin Man Goes Home. 

Nick and Nora certainly rattle off one-liners like in every other film, but the energy is not as high as the first four, especially the first two. Again, the on-screen chemistry between Powell and Loy is apparent (this is their 12th of 14 total films they made together) and even the trailer plays up this aspect. It is also the first Thin Man film not to be directed by W. S. Van Dyke, a director known as "One Take Woody" for his swift work ethic. 

The Thin Man Goes Home isn't a bad film by any stretch. The final reveal when we learn what's going on is quite good and germane to the war. But this one just feels different. Now, I'm very interested to see the last Thin Man film, Song of the Thin Man (1947) and see what the post-war world does to detective fiction's First Couple.

Quotes:

Nick: What happened?

Nora: It was the table you fixed. It fainted again.

Nick's Dad: Is it always like this?

Nora: Always.

Nick's Dad: You have my deepest sympathies.

Shadow of the Thin Man Softens Up Nick and Nora

Released the day after Thanksgiving 1941, Shadow of the Thin Man is the fourth film in the six-film series. The film opens on domestic bliss. Nick, young Nick Jr., and Asta are walking in the park. The fairy tale he tells his boy is the racing betting odds. After Nora starts shaking a cocktail, Nick hurries home, showing more drinking in the first ten minutes of this movie than in all of Another Thin Man. Cut to a dining room scene a little bit later in the movie and Nicky convinces his dad to drink a glass of milk versus the cocktail in his hand. "You wanted to be a father," Nora says before Nick downs the milk. In what must have been an unscripted scene, Myrna Loy all but cracks up as William Powell attempts to down the drink. We even get a bit of true laughter. 

A trip to track reintroduces us to Lt. Abrams, last seen in the second Thin Man film, After the Thin Man. It seems a jockey has been killed after throwing a race the previous day. Soon, Nick talks with Paul Clarke (future first James Bond actor Barry Nelson) and Major Sculley about a gambling syndicate in the area. The dead jockey was their first real witness and he was bumped off to keep from talking. 

Nick and Nora show up at a wrestling match and we get a little sub-plot with a reporter, Whitey, trying to extort the moll. Later on, we see Whitey meeting with Link Stephens, who appears to be the leader of the syndicate. Donna Reed plays Link's secretary who's also in league (and engaged) with Clarke who takes her keys back to Link's office. Sure enough, he finds the evidence but Whitey catches him red handed. A fight ensues, Clarke gets knocked over the head while Whitey gets shot dead. The law thinks Clarke's their man, but no so Nick.

Nick heads back to the racetrack showers and finds the gun. He and the lieutenant know that the same gun killed both the jocket and Whitey but they tell the reporters a different story. Meanwhile, Nora uses her whiles to get some info from Maguire and passes it off to Nick while he's on a merry-go-round. 

Various clues and scenes lead us to the inevitable final gathering of all the suspects, cops, Nick, Nora, and Asta. As usual, Nick has a bunch of pieces to the puzzle, but doesn't quite know how they add up. That is, until he makes this observation: "If you let somebody talk long enough, they'll spill they beans. And they have." At which point the camera cuts to each of the suspects. Until the culprit pulls Nick's gun and threatens to shoot our detective.

At which point Nora does something completely unexpected: she jumps in front of the culprit to protect Nick. Yes, really. I've been noticing Nora's gradual involvement in these cases increase, but this was rather unexpected. Nice to see.

What is also pretty fun to see is Nora's hats. She wears a few in this picture, most of which hang half off her head. She walks as if she's balancing her posture to make sure the hats don't topple. 

If the third Thin Man film showed a more mature Nick and Nora, this one tries to up the ante a little. There's a funny bit at a wrestling match where Nora, anxious in watching the bout, puts Nick in a head clamp. Powell and Loy seem to be having fun as always, but it's really a treat to watch Loy when Nora isn't speaking. 

The mystery is a twisty-turny one and you'd need a scorecard to follow all the clues. But when Nick outs the real killer, the final clue is pretty darn obvious. 

It is fascinating to see the transformation of these central characters over four films so far and from 1934 to late 1941. The edginess of the first two has smoothed out into the palatable yet still enjoyable latter two. I think the broad appeal of the Thin Man movies to a general audience (likely including kids) is responsible for the breezy nature of this film. The sex appeal between the two leads is also softened. Where in the first two, there was definite marital/sexual chemistry, by 1941, it, too, is smoothed over. Here's a short quote that'll give you an idea of what I mean.

Nick: I tell you what, you go home, cold cream that lovely face, slip into an exciting negligee...

Nora: Yes.

Nick: And I'll see you at breakfast.

Nick drinks more on screen but Nora doesn't, even though it's hinted at. Powell's hair is likely dyed at this point because it is very dark. It was also fun to see Nick Jr. old enough to recite lines back and forth with Powell and Loy. He fits right in with the Charles family. 

This is the last Thin Man film before the Pearl Harbor attack only a few weeks after Shadow of the Thin Man drops in theaters. I am very curious to see what the war experience does to this franchise.

Quotes:

Nora [to her maid]: He's [Nicky] becoming more like his father every day.

Stella: He sure is. Yesterday I saw him with a corkscrew.

Lt. Abrams: That jockey that threw the race yesterday was shot.

Nora: My, they are stict on this track.

Stevens: You're going to see some great wrestling tonight.

Nick: How do you know? Were you at the rehearsal.

Another Thin Man Sobers Up Nick and Gives Nora Something To Do

Unlike the second film, the mystery in Another Thin Man (1939) is set in motion within the first five minutes. As soon as Nick and Nora arrive in New York City, Colonel MacFay, the old gent who minds Nora's inheritance (and was partners with Nora's father), calls them and insists they come on out to his estate on Long Island. On the drive up with the new nanny they picked up in New York, Nick sees a body, but when the limo stops, the body's gone. 

When our heroes finally get to the estate, they find the old colonel in a fit. He thinks Phil Church--a former business partner who went to jail for ten years after a business deal went awry--is out to kill him. He's got a bunch of guards welding shotguns. His daughter, Lois, and her fiancee, Dudley, are there, along with the chauffeur, MacFay's secretary, Freddie, and his housekeeper, Isabella. We viewers are about to get the lowdown over dinner when Nora finally gets a little victory: she pickpockets the colonel's keys and slips them to Nick. "I haven't been married to you for nothing." After two movies with next to no sleuthing, it's great to see Nora involved in the action.

After Lois's dog is killed and the swimming pool house is burned, we learn from Dudley that the beef Phil has with the colonel is simple: their business deal meant Phil did a few illegal things that would reap Colonel MacFay all the profits without knowing too many of the details, but if things went south, Phil would be left holding the bag. 

Nick walks over to Phil Church's house--under surveillance by the cops--and stays long enough to get threatened by him and his gal, Smitty, and his Asian servant, Dum-Dum. When the trio gets to New York, we learn Smitty's married to a guy in jail but Phil's wanting to take things to the next step. 

Cut back to the MacFay mansion and little Nicky wakes his parents and Lois joins them. No sooner are they talking than the power goes out and a gunshot is heard in the dark. The colonel is dead. His room is all destroyed. The nanny escapes amid all the commotion. The Assistant DA and the local cops show up and actually start to suspect Nick. In a bit of meta-commentary, a pair of cops question Nora, talking about all the times Nick shows up, there's a pretty girl and a murder ensues. They specifically reference the earlier Thin Man movies. Dudley is shot dead and everyone suspects Phil Church is the villain.

Nick, Nora, and everyone else all escape back to The Big Apple where the housekeeper lets slip that she's Lois's mother! Pretty darn convenient now that Lois is set to inherit $5 million. Clues lead Nick--who has ditched Nora yet again--to the West Indies Club where viewers in 1939 are treated to a music-and-dance number befitting the Cuban rage at the time. Turns out, Nora is already there. She's to hold $14.75 in her handkerchief and the guy who knows where Dum-Dum is will meet her. Again, Nora finally has something to do and it's nice. 

We also get the return of police lieutenant Guild from The Thin Man. 

In a funny little scene, a bunch of former criminals all show up, babies in their arms, for a "boithday" party for little Nicky. One of the goons is none other than Shemp Howard in a pre-Three Stooges role.

Not to give away the ending, suffice it to say we have a scene with all the characters in the same room and Nick walking them and the audience through all the clues. This solution was quite special given the steps involved with the initial killing of Colonel MacFay. It makes sense considering original author Dashiell Hammett wrote the story. 

The Core of the Series

But the heart of these movies is the relationship between Nick and Nora. While this movie doesn't have as many scenes with them filled with the witty banter, there's a genuine warmth between William Powell and Myrna Loy. I can't remember if, in the first Thin Man movie, they mentioned how long Nick and Nora had been married, but now that they are parents, there's a mellowing out. But the love between is still fresh and full. Nick and Nora each have scenes where only via their facials expressions, you can tell they love each other. It's really nice to see that. Heck you can see that in the movie poster.

Of course, those kinds of scenes are not without humor. When Nick meets up with Nora, she asks him how he knew she was there. "I saw a great group of men standing around a table," he begins as Loy smiles. "I knew there was only one woman in the world who could attract men like that - a woman with a lot of money." And Loy's smile drops.

Nick drinks way less in this one and Nora doesn't sip anything at all. That's probably a result of movie standards maturing in the five years since the first film and the studios not wanting to highlight all the drinking. There's less physical comedy here, too. The end result makes this a fun picture, heavy on the mystery and sleuthing.

I'm liking this series quite a bit despite my modern sensibilities being jarred. It's fascinating to see a husband-and-wife sleuthing team, especially in this era. You can see how everything from Hart to Hart to Castle took inspiration from Nick and Nora.

Quotes:

Nora: It wasn't his fault, [Mr. Charles] smells like a dog. 

Nick [upon seeing Nora at the West Indies Club]: How long have you been leading a double life?

Nora: Just since I've been married.

Nora: I got rid of all those reporters.

Nick: What did you tell them?

Nora: I told them we were out of scotch.

Nick: What a gruesome thought!

After the Thin Man is Another Fun Romp with a Better Mystery

It took the movie studios two years to make the sequel to The Thin Man, but I only had to wait a day.

Released on Christmas Day 1936, After the Thin Man picks up right where the first film ended: with Nick and Nora Charles on the train home to San Francisco. I always get a kick out of reporters, newsboys, and random folks on the street who say hey to Nick like he's a celebrity. Can you imagine any of the other fictional detectives being like that?

The filmmakers knew what make The Thin Man special--the relationship between Nick and Nora with Asta thrown in--so they made the sequel film nearly two hours, quite a bit longer than the first film's run time of 91 minutes. It gave William Powell and Myrna Loy ample extra scenes that don't really forward the plot, but serve as little cocktails of joy with their onscreen chemistry. They just kind of flit through the story (and life?) taking everything as it comes. Like when they arrive at their house on New Year's Eve and discover a giant "surprise" party with the house full of people. I love how they're so calm with what they find. They just start dancing and make their way into the kitchen where Nora takes a call from her cousin, Selma, and the real plot starts.

It seems Selma's husband, Robert, has gone missing. The "old battle ax" Aunt Katherine asks Nick to look into it so that the family name is kept out of the papers. Jimmy Stewart plays David, Selma's former suitor, and he arrives and then is sent away. He tells Nick that Robert called him with a proposition: pay Robert $25,000 and he'd (Robert) would leave Selma to David. 

In one of the funnier casting choices, Aunt Katherine's butler is a barely walking old geezer named Henry. When Nick deposits his overcoat in Henry's arms, the butler nearly falls over. Throw in a "walk this way" moment where Nick mimics Henry's odd gait, and you've got more physical gags in the first twenty minutes of this film than all of the first. 

Nick and Nora head out to the LiChi Club where much of the main plot is revealed. Robert's there and he's got eyes for the star performer, Polly. She's in cahoots with the club owner, Dancer, and their goal is to steal the $25,000. Meanwhile, Polly's brother, Phil, knows about the scheme and wants in on it. 

David pays off Robert but Phil sees it. David jets home to pick up some clothes. Selma's there and, after he leaves, grabs a gun and chases after him. Polly's also there, in the fog. Dancer's driving to the house. A shot rings out and Robert falls dead. Selma arrives, gun in hand, staring down at her dead husband. David arrives, tells her to go home and act like she knows nothing. He later see David toss the gun into a river. 

What I find fascinating is that the murder occurs fifty minutes into the movie. In a modern movie, the killing would happen in Act I or maybe even the prologue and we'd get the relationship stuff via the investigation. In a film like this, we get all the backstory first, enabling us to get to know the characters before the shooting. I probably wouldn't want every story done this way, but it's a nice change of pace.

Another thing I noticed is during the scene in Dancer's office. Nick's there, some cops, Polly, Dancer, and Dancer's lawyer. Nick is "just talking" but he's planting seeds and asking questions of the bad guys. It's almost like he's a pseudo Greek chorus, observing the events versus participating in them. Additionally, when Dancer cuts the lights and a fight ensues, Nick doesn't even bother joining in. He just gets under the desk while everyone else scurries around. In this way, he's almost like Bret Maverick from the TV show.

After a rock with a note tied to it is hurled through the Charles's window in the wee small hours of the morning, there's yet another sequence with Asta as the main star. Considering he is actually part of the billed cast, I'm guessing his agent worked out the details.

With my modern sensibilities, I'll admit it's rather irritating when Nick locks Nora in a closet so that she can't come with him to visit Phil in a seedy hotel. I know it's of the era, but it's still pretty lousy. 

But Nick's visit to the hotel reveals a secret, and it leads him to realize he has most of the pieces in place. But he needs to fill in those last blanks. To do that, he gets the police detective to round up all the characters and, in a repeat from the first film (probably all of them), he gives a monologue where he uncovers the culprit. While this scene isn't quite as entertaining as the dinner party version in The Thin Man, it's great to see Nick finally spots the one clue that reveals the killer. 

As a writer, I appreciate the murder/mystery aspect of After the Thin Man better than the first. It's definitely one in which all the clues are present to the audience, allowing them to piece it together before or at the same time as Nick. But I so love the dialogue between Nick and Nora. I liked the longer movie and love seeing these two actors do their thing.

So, I have seen the first two Thin Man movies before. Starting tomorrow with Another Thin Man, I'm heading into uncharted territory.

Quotes:

Nora: Oh you wouldn't know them. They're respectable.

Nick [to the police detective after Nick and Nora slept through the day]: Want some breakfast?

Cop: No, I just had dinner.

Nick: Come on, let's get something to eat. I'm thirsty.

Nora: Aunt Katherine wants to speak to you.

Nick: What have I done now?

Nora: Do you know why Robert wasn't here tonight?

Nick: Sure, because he's smart

Nora: I'm not fooling, darling, he's disappeared.

Nick: That's swell. Now if we could just get Aunt Katherine to disappear...

The Thin Man is a Darn Fine Film (and a Christmas Movie, Too)

If Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then so is 1934's The Thin Man.

As a Christmas gift, the family gave me the complete Thin Man movies on DVD. I've seen the first two more than once, but now, this week, I'll be watching one a day until New Year's Day. Why now? Well, the first movie takes place around Christmas, thus my opening statement. The second takes place around New Year's Day. See what I mean?

Anyway, most of us know about The Thin Man, the 1934 movie based on Dashiell Hammett's last novel of the same name. The novel was published in January 1934 and the film was released on 25 May of the same year. Got to appreciate the efficiency of everything back in the Depression. The film's stars are William Powell and Myrna Loy who play Nick and Nora Charles. The pair are in New York for a visit before they return to California and their real life. Nick, a former detective, now runs the railroad company his father-in-law used to operate. He's retired from the detective business, but circumstances drag him back into a case.

Old man Clyde Wynant has disappeared. His daughter Dorothy asks Nick for his help, but the former detective keeps demurring. He doesn't want any part of the business and prefers to let the cops handle the dirty work. Nora wants to see her husband as he was in his earlier life. The cops partially suspect Nick had something to do with everything but then want his help, too. The rest of the Wynant family--ex-wife Mimi who only wants his money; son Gilbert, a rather bookish type with dark, round plastic glasses who thinks he can solve the case via things he learned in books; Julia, Clyde's secretary and the reason there is an ex-wife but who also helps control the finances--each try to get a piece of Nick. 

But he's having none of it. All he wants to do is drink, be with his wife, walk his dog, Asta, and drink some more. If you know anything about the Nick and Nora film series, is the abundant amount of alcohol consumed and the witty banter between husband and wife. Nick is first introduced at a high-class gin joint, shaking the martini shaker to the time of the music. Already drunk, he then consumes the martini before hearing a commotion outside. Asta is dragging Nora into the bar. Her arms full of presents, we first see her via a pratfall. An interesting way to introduce the heroine, but right in line with the vibe of the film.

Let's be honest: we watch The Thin Man for the relationship and chemistry between Nick and Nora. Their continually throwing one-liners at each other, more than a few of which are double entendres. I haven't heard it, but I bet the radio play was just just as fun, and might have even expanded some of their scenes. Powell is a verbal gymnast with his dialogue and delivery. Fun, too, is his facial expressions, not the least of which is his perfectly trimmed mustache. It's almost like a character on its own. Loy, while appearing in some lovely attire, plays Nora as one who actually wants to get into the mix of things. Her voice often takes on a sarcastic quality, almost like a wink and a nod to the audience. 

It's fun to see how Nora practically begs Nick to take the case, but then worries about him when things get hot. I know it's a 1934 film, but it would have been fun to see Nora do a little sleuthing. Maybe she does in the later films. 

Asta, too, is a great addition. Often, director W. S. Van Dyke will do that thing where you speed up the film to show animals doing something funny, like when some shooting starts, Asta rushes under a chair or behind something. It's easy to see why Asta became the important third wheel on the Nick and Nora train.

As much fun as it is to watch Nick and Nora, there is still a mystery involved. Like any good traditional mystery during the Golden Age of detective stories between the world wars, the clues are all there. It's a decent enough mystery, one that zeroed in on the only realistic bad guy. 

I especially appreciated how Nick got all the cast of characters together at a dining table and gives The Talk. It's one of the hallmarks of stories like this, and Powell is perfect at it. I enjoyed how he'd get to a certain point, say a character's name, have that character protest their innocence, only to have Nick ask about the meal. 

Everything wraps up nice and neat, with Nick and Nora on a train barreling west to California, their detective sojourn in New York complete. A thread that runs throughout the film is the obvious love and affection Nick and Nora have for each other. Even when Nora accidentally catches Nick hugging Dorothy Wynant, she knows her husband. Sure, they sleep in different twin beds in the hotel room, but in the final scene, Nick puts Asta on the top bunk before settling in the bottom bunk with Nora. And Asta lays down and covers his eyes.

The Thin Man is a blast of a film. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow to watching the second film, After the Thin Man, which picks up almost exactly where this one ends. 

Christmas Movie?

To me, there is a difference between a movie about Christmas and a movie that takes place at Christmas. Home Alone, The Santa Clause, the various Grinch movies, etc. all are about Christmas. They couldn't take place at any other time of the year. 

Movies that take place at Christmas are usually about something else but use the trapping of Christmas for humorous effect or a plot device. Die Hard, for me, falls into this second category. So does Batman Returns. Crucially, however, these movies could be set during other times of the year or different holidays. Imagine Die Hard at Thanksgiving. Batman Returns during the Fourth of July. Or The Thin Man around St. Patrick's Day.

Still, many folks consider Die Hard a Christmas movie. If it is, then so is The Thin Man.

Funny Quotes:

Nora: [hungover after catching up to Nick's six martinis] What hit me?

Nick: The last martini.

Nora [when a cop is searching the dresser where her clothes are]: Say, what's that man doing in my drawers?

Reporter [at a Christmas party hosted by Nick and Nora with lots of drinking]: Say listen, is he working on a case?

Nora: Yes, he is.

Reporter: What case?

Nora: A case of scotch. Pitch in and help him.

Nora: They say you were shot in the tabloids.

Nick: They never got near my tabloids.

An Advent Calendar of Stories

As of today, we have only twenty days until Christmas. Shopping will definitely look different this year. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been ordering many if not most gifts online. Some of the mad rush as we count down the days until the 25th will shift.

In our entryway, we have an Advent calendar. Ours is a homemade one where each day, we get to place an ornament on the tree. There are a myriad of other Advent calendars: Legos, chocolate, wine, you name it.

One of the most unique focuses on stories. Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith have, for the second year in a row, created an Advent calendar type project. Truth is, it started on Thanksgiving day and extends to New Year’s Day, but all that means is extra stories. Rusch and Smith curated lots of stories, sifting out the best ones.

After you sign up via Kickstarter at the level of your choice, you’ll get an email every day. In the email, Rusch writes an introduction and then gives you a BookFunnel link. From there, you can download the story onto the device of your choice. I use my Kobo reader and it works seamlessly.

So, if you are in the mood to get a story a day this Christmas season, head on over to the webpage and sign up. It’ll make each day of this month fly by.