Tagged: William Powell
After the Thin Man: Nick Charles’ Light Double-Breasted Suit for the New Year
William Powell and Myrna Loy in After the Thin Man (1936)… with Skippy as Asta
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William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective
San Francisco, New Year’s Eve 1936
Film: After the Thin Man
Release Date: December 25, 1936
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Wardrobe Credit: Dolly Tree
Background
Happy New Year! Dashiell Hammett and “One-Take Woody” Van Dyke continued the runaway success of The Thin Man by reuniting William Powell and Myrna Loy as crime-solving power couple Nick and Nora Charles, coming home to San Francisco after solving the famous “Thin Man” case during their holiday in New York. The three-day train ride returns Nick and Nora to the City by the Bay just in time for New Year’s Eve, where they find their home commandeered by revelers that have already kicked off their celebrations.
William Powell’s Chalkstripe Suit in Manhattan Melodrama
William Powell as Jim Wade in Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
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William Powell as Jim Wade, crusading assistant district attorney
New York City, Spring 1934
Film: Manhattan Melodrama
Release Date: May 4, 1934
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Costume Designer: Dolly Tree
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy birthday, William Powell! The suave actor was born July 29, 1892, in my hometown of Pittsburgh, though he moved to Kansas City as a teenager. He only stayed there three years before moving to New York at the age of 18 to pursue a career as an actor, eventually becoming one of the best known actors of Hollywood’s “golden era” with three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor recognizing his performances in The Thin Man (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Life with Father (1947).
Powell’s chemistry with Myrna Loy, most famously showcased as detective couple Nick and Nora Charles in the “Thin Man” series, made them one of the most iconic on-screen duos, though their first of 14 cinematic collaborations was Manhattan Melodrama in 1934. Continue reading
After the Thin Man: White Tie for New Year’s Eve
William Powell and Myrna Loy in After the Thin Man (1936)… with Skippy as Asta
Vitals
William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective
San Francisco, New Year’s Eve 1936
Film: After the Thin Man
Release Date: December 25, 1936
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Wardrobe Credit: Dolly Tree
Background
After the Thin Man was released on Christmas 1936 as a continuation of The Thin Man, as its title implies. The all-original story was drafted by Dashiell Hammett himself immediately after the success of the first film, although Hammett had first envisioned circumstances that would send his witty detective duo back to New York City. Eventually, the decision was made to have the Charles couple solving a crime in their hometown of San Francisco. Continue reading
The Thin Man: Nick’s Christmas Loungewear
William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934)… with Skippy as Asta!
Vitals
William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective
New York City, Christmas 1933
Film: The Thin Man
Release Date: May 25, 1934
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Wardrobe Credit: Dolly Tree
Background
Suffice it to say that Nick and Nora Charles had quite a Christmas. Following a drunken holiday party, the sleepy couple was interrupted by the gat-wielding Joe Morelli (Edward Brophy), a fast-talking “get me, see?”-type of gangster whose quick trigger finger is no match for Nick Charles’ quick wit.
A few hours later, Nick spends Christmas morning recovering and in a perpetual daze possibly due to his recent flesh wound, the magic of the holidays, or – most likely – a large quantity of Scotch in his system. Continue reading
The Thin Man Goes Home: Nick Charles’ Houndstooth Sportcoat
William Powell as Nick Charles in The Thin Man Goes Home (1945).
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William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective
Sycamore Springs, Summer 1944
Film: The Thin Man Goes Home
Release Date: January 25, 1945
Director: Richard Thorpe
Costume Supervisor: Irene
Background
Although it isn’t one of the better films in the Thin Man series, The Thin Man Goes Home offers us a glimpse of Nick Charles’ pre-detective home life in “Sycamore Springs”, an idyllic small town somewhere in New England, in an attempt to ground the man we’d before known only as a wise-cracking, hard-drinking urbanite.
The Thin Man Goes Home, released in early 1945 when the world was still at war, was the fifth in the six-film series that had rapidly began losing momentum. After a strong start, each movie progressively lost the trademark wit of the original, replacing it with family-friendly hijinks and – most notably – less booze. Nick Charles’ shady Greek origins (the family’s original surname was Charalambides in Hammett’s novel) were replaced by a WASPy neighborhood in small town U.S.A. Although it is curious that Nick and Nora leave their young son at home, especially given the series’ new direction in favor of family. Continue reading
A Black Tie Christmas with Nick Charles
BAMF Style’s 5 Days of Christmas
To celebrate the holidays, BAMF Style will be chronicling the finest yuletide looks from some of our favorites. If you have any suggestions that don’t make it onto the blog this week, don’t worry, there’s always next year. Or the year after. (Or, if it’s a really good one, Christmas in July?)
William Powell as Nick Charles in The Thin Man (1934).
The easiest way to begin (and to celebrate Formal Friday) is naturally…
Vitals
William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective
New York City, Christmas 1933
Film: The Thin Man
Release Date: May 25, 1934
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Wardrobe Credit: Dolly Tree
Background
Following his Christmas celebrations, Nick Charles is naturally called upon by the police to solve a murder. With the two most useful tools at his disposal – a sharp wife and an infallible liver – he does so with gusto. Unlike most policemen’s standard procedure of bringing a suspect in for questioning, this would be the waste of a fine dinner party opportunity for a bon vivant like Nick. Naturally, the suspects are the guests of honor, aptly served their dinner and drinks by armed policemen. Continue reading
The Thin Man: Nick Charles’ First Suit
William Powell as Nick Charles in The Thin Man (1934)
The holidays are a time of homecoming, family, tradition, and libations.
Unless you’re Nick Charles, who believes in getting far away from family to spend Christmas Eve with criminals he had sent to prison during his days as a policeman. Naturally, the libations part is still essential.
Vitals
William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective
New York City, Christmas 1933
Film: The Thin Man
Release Date: May 25, 1934
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Wardrobe Credit: Dolly Tree
Background
The big screen’s introduction to Nick Charles is one of my favorites. We have already met the “Thin Man” himself, Clyde Wynant, during the film’s opening scene. (Despite Powell’s slim frame, he actually is not the “Thin Man” of the title) We then cut to a big Christmas party at a bar – drinks, dancing, fun. Clearly people are still celebrating the end of Prohibition which, according to the film’s storyline, had been only weeks earlier.
We search through the party and, naturally, find William Powell standing at the bar, shaking a cobbler shaker vigorously “to waltz time”. He strains into a tiny martini glass and, ever the gentleman, places it on the waiter’s tray. He then turns back to the waiter, accepts his drink with a polite smile, and enjoys his first onscreen Martini. Or the sixth, according to him. Continue reading