Nick and Nora Charles
 Created by Dashiell Hammett

The adventures of Dashiell Hammett's retired private eye NICK CHARLES and his rich, beautiful (and not quite as ditzy as you'd think) wife, NORA, proved to be just what people wanted. They established a formula that film, television and fiction are still trying to duplicate.

Don't believe me? Check out Moonlighting, The Late Show, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, etc... There was even a great send-up on the detective duo in Neil Simon's 1976 Murder By Death, where David Niven and Maggie Smith playing Dickie and Dora Charleston), and in the 1990's there was even a highly-anticipated musical, Nick and Nora. Unfortunately, it flopped, closing after little more than a week's worth of performances.

Originally, Nick (a Greek-American whose father had changed his unpronounceable last name upon his arrival at Ellis Island) served as an ace operative for the Trans-American Detective Agency, but upon marriage to Nora, he retired to a life of leisure, content to manage Nora's rather sizable dowry.

Nick and Nora first appeared in Hammett's 1934 novel, The Thin Man, and ever since, and especially after the films started coming out, folks started assuming (incorrectly) that Nick Charles is the Thin Man. In fact, the Thin Man is actually the murder victim in the novel.

FILM

One of the most popular film series of all-time, even if each film was a bit weaker than the last. 1939's Another Thin Man introduced William A. Poulsen as Nick Charles, Jr. and saw the end of Hammett's involvement with the series.

RADIO

Nick and Nora's film popularity was continued for years on the radio with a succession of actors taking on Nick's part, while Claudia Morgan held steadfast and true as Nora. Each week, listeners tuned in to "Pabst Blue Ribbon presents the new adventures of The Thin Man with Nick and Nora Charles, the happiest married couple in radio. Claudia Morgan as Nora and Les Damon as Nick star in tonight's adventure of The Thin Man called "The Adventure of the Passionate Palooka" (or whatever). And each show closed with Nora calling "Good night, Nickeee..." Hammett himself wrote several of the scripts to "set" the series.

Parker Fennelly, who often offered comic relief as the sherriff, later became famous on the Fred Allen show and, in the 1960s, became known to another generation as "Pepperidge Farm" spokesman. His Maine accent was unmistakable as he signed off, "At Pepp'ridge Faaahm, we remembah."

TELEVISION

The popularity of Nick and Nora continued on television, where Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk played the detecting duo for three seasons. Light fare, to be sure, but supposedly quite enjoyable, due to the easy-going chemistry between the two stars.

Of course, Hammett was also the creator of Sam Spade, Brad Runyon (The Fat Man) and The Continental Op.

NOVELS

SCREEN STORIES
Subsequent to the success of MGM's The Thin Man in 1934, the studio hired Hammett to write screen stories, which would be adapted and turned into screenplays by other writers. It kept Hammett in booze money for a while, anyway.

FILMS
After all these years, all six of the Thin Man movies are finally available on DVD. Even better, they're all available in one sweet seven-disc set, featuring The Thin Man, After The Thin Man, Another Thin Man, Shadow of the Thin Man, Song of the Thin Man, and The Thin Man Goes Home, plus a slew of tasty extras, including documentaries, comedy shorts, classic cartoons, a radio show with Powell and Loy and even an episode from the subsequent TV series episode starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. (Available August 2, 2005)
Buy this DVD

RADIO

TELEVISION

THEATRICAL ADAPTATIONS

ALSO OF INTEREST

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Sean Wright and Dennis Bendy for the heads-up. Ah'll remembah. Also, David Goodrich, the author of The Real Nick and Nora.

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