|
Nick And Nora Charles
Nick and Nora Charles are fictional characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel ''The Thin Man''. The characters were later adapted for film in a series of films between 1934 and 1947; for radio from 1941 to 1950; for television from 1957 through 1959; as a Broadway musical in 1991; and as a stage play in 2009. Synopsis Nick and Nora are a married couple who solve murder mysteries while exchanging sharp and smart repartee. The tremendous popularity of the characters made them a media archetype, as the bantering, romantically involved detective duo has become a well-used trope in literature, stage, screen, and television ever since. Novel The characters first appear in Dashiell Hammett's best-selling last novel ''The Thin Man'' (1934). Nick is a former private detective of Greek ancestry who retired when he married Nora, a wealthy Nob Hill heiress. Hammett reportedly modeled Nora on his longtime partner Lillian Hellman, and the characters' boozy, flippant dialogu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Powell
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for ''The Thin Man (film), The Thin Man'' (1934), ''My Man Godfrey'' (1936), and ''Life with Father (film), Life with Father'' (1947). Early life Powell was born in Pittsburgh in 1892, the only child of Nettie Manila (née Brady) and Horatio Warren Powell, an accountant."Obituaries: William Powell, star of 'Thin Man' films", ''Chicago Tribune'', March 6, 1984, p. N6. In 1907, young William moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated from Central High School (Kansas City, Missouri), Central High School four years later. Career After high school, Powell enro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Detective
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators often work for attorneys in civil and criminal cases. History In 1833, Eugène François Vidocq, a French soldier, criminal, and privateer, founded the first known private detective agency, "Le Bureau des Renseignements Universels pour le commerce et l'Industrie" ("The Office of Universal Information For Commerce and Industry") and hired ex-convicts. Much of what private investigators did in the early days was to act as the police in matters for which their clients felt the police were not equipped or willing to do. Official law enforcement tried many times to shut it down. In 1842, police arrested him in suspicion of unlawful imprisonment and taking money on false pretences after he had solved an embezzlement case. Vidocq later sus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery ''The Mousetrap'', which has been performed in the West End theatre, West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—a nickname now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. She is the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies. Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon, and was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States and named after American miner Henry Comstock. After the discovery was made public in 1859, it sparked a silver rush of prospectors to the area, scrambling to stake their claims. The discovery caused considerable excitement in California and throughout the United States, the greatest since the California Gold Rush in 1849. Mining camps soon thrived in the vicinity, which became bustling commercial centers, including Virginia City and Gold Hill. The Comstock Lode is notable not just for the immense fortunes it generated and the large role those fortunes had in the growth of Nevada and San Francisco, but also for the advances in mining technology that it spurred, such as square set timbering and the Washoe process for ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
In the United States, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants or Wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) is a Sociology, sociological term which is often used to describe White Americans, white Protestantism in the United States, Protestant Americans of English Americans, English, or more broadly British people, British, descent who are generally part of the white dominant culture or American upper class, upper-class and historically often the Mainline Protestant ruling class, elite. Some sociologists and commentators use ''WASP'' more broadly to include all White Protestant Americans of Northwestern European and Northern European ancestry. It was seen to be in exclusionary contrast to Catholics, Jews, Irish, immigrants, southern or eastern Europeans, and the non-White. WASPs have dominated American society, culture, and politics for most of the history of the United States. Critics have disparaged them as "The Establishment". Although the social influence of wealthy WASPs has declined sinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backstory
A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's preparation. Usage As a literary device, backstory is often employed to lend depth or believability to the main story. The usefulness of having a dramatic revelation was recognized by Aristotle, in ''Poetics''. Backstories are usually revealed, partially or in full, chronologically or otherwise, as the main narrative unfolds. However, a story creator may also create portions of a backstory or even an entire backstory that is solely for their own use. Backstory may be revealed by various means, including flashbacks, dialogue, direct narration, summary, recollection, and exposition. Recollection Recollection is the fiction-writing mode whereby a character calls something to mind, or remembers it. A character's memory plays a role fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schnauzer
A Schnauzer ( , ; plural , ; ) is a dog breed type that originated in Germany from the 14th to 16th centuries. The term comes from the German word for "snout" and means colloquially "moustache",Schnauzer at '''' or "whiskered snout", because of the dog's distinctively bearded snout. Initially it was called Wire-Haired , while Schnauzer was adopted in 1879. Breeds There are three |
Wire Fox Terrier
The Wire Fox Terrier (also known as Wire Hair Fox Terrier, Wirehaired Terrier or simply Fox Terrier) is a dog breed, breed of dog, one of many terrier breeds. It is a fox terrier, and although it bears a resemblance to the Smooth Fox Terrier, they are believed to have been developed separately. It originates from England. Appearance The Wire Fox Terrier is a sturdy, balanced dog weighing for males and for females. It should not be more than at the withers. Its rough, broken coat is distinctive. Coat colour consists of a predominant white base with brown markings of the face and ears, and usually a black saddle or large splotch of colour; there may be other black or brown markings on the body. Temperament Two of the Wire Fox Terrier's most distinctive traits are its energy and intelligence. It has a low threshold for boredom and requires stimulation, exercise and attention. The Wire Fox Terrier is a companion animal that requires near-constant attention. The dog should ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Thin Man (film)
''The Thin Man'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code comedy-mystery film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and based on the The Thin Man, 1934 novel by Dashiell Hammett. The film stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a leisure-class couple who enjoy copious drinking and flirtatious banter. Nick is a retired private detective who left his very successful career when he married Nora, a wealthy heiress accustomed to high society. Their Fox Terrier (Wire), wire-haired fox terrier Asta was played by canine actor Skippy (dog), Skippy. In 1997, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film's screenplay was written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, a married couple. In 1934, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The eponymous "Thin Man" is not Nick Charles, but the man Charles is initially hired to find – Clyde Wynant (part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Of Manners
In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society. The satire of fashion, manners, and outlook on life of the social classes, is realised with stock characters, such as the braggart soldier of Ancient Greek comedy, and the fop and the rake of English Restoration comedy. The clever plot of a comedy of manners (usually a scandal) is secondary to the social commentary thematically presented through the witty dialogue of the characters, e.g. '' The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1895), by Oscar Wilde, which satirises the sexual hypocrisies of Victorian morality. The comedy-of-manners genre originated in the New Comedy period (325–260 BC) of Classical Greece (510–323 BC), and is known from fragments of works by the playwright Menander, whose style of writing, elaborate plots, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Glass Key
''The Glass Key'' is a novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett. First published as a serial in '' Black Mask'' magazine in 1930, it then was collected in 1931 (in London; the American edition followed 3 months later). It tells the story of a gambler and racketeer, Ned Beaumont, whose devotion to Paul Madvig, a crooked political boss, leads him to investigate the murder of a local senator's son as a potential gang war brews. Hammett dedicated the novel to his onetime lover Nell Martin. There have been two US film adaptations (1935 and 1942) of the novel. A radio adaptation starring Orson Welles aired on March 10, 1939, as part of his '' Campbell Playhouse'' series. The book was also a major influence on the Coen brothers' 1990 film '' Miller's Crossing'', which features a similar scenario. The Glass Key Award (in Swedish, ''Glasnyckeln''), named after the novel, has been presented annually since 1992 for the best crime novel by a Scandinavian writer. Plot summary The story ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Maltese Falcon (novel)
''The Maltese Falcon'' is a 1930 detective novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett, originally serialized in the magazine ''Black Mask (magazine), Black Mask'' beginning with the September 1929 issue. The story is told entirely in external third-person narrative; there is no description whatsoever of any character's thoughts or feelings, only what they say and do, and how they look. The novel has been adapted several times for the cinema. It is considered part of the hardboiled genre, which Hammett played a major part in popularizing. The main character, Sam Spade (who also appeared later in some lesser-known short stories), was a departure from Hammett's nameless detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous detectives, notably his cold detachment, keen eye for detail, unflinching and sometimes ruthless determination to achieve his own form of justice, and a complete lack of sentimentality. In 1990 the novel ranked 10th in Top 100 Crime Novels of A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
