What The Hell Does That Have To Do With This?

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They could not 
afford a room
at the hotel

That will not be a problem
said the clerk

We have a royal suite
in that price range.

They could not 
afford to eat out.

They ate all their meals
in their suite with 
room service
provided by
the clerk.
  
How is the THIN MAN?
asked the clerk.

Almost finished, Nat
he was told.

The clerk's name was  Nathanael West.

The man's name was  Dashiell Hammett
and the hotel clerk was referring to the novel
that would be completed in the royal suite.

Years later, the woman would say
that Nathanael was writing Miss Lonelyhearts
while they were staying at the hotel.
      
The woman's name was  Lillian Hellman
but that is not her in the photograph.
 
In 1934, Hammettt's book would become a best seller
and  Miss Lonelyhearts would become a worst seller–
selling no more than a handful of copies
when it was first published.
  
But history would be very generous
to Nathanael West:  Miss Lonelyhearts
has achieved the status of a literary classic. 
    
However, unlike  THE THIN MAN,
it was never made into a movie.
    
Nick and Nora Charles,  the main characters 
of Dashiell Hammett's novel, were famously
portrayed by William Powell and Myrna Loy.
    
While watching  THE THIN MAN,
my camera got up front and personal
with the TV screen.
    

That is the closest I ever got to  Myrna Loy.
     
There would be  five sequels  to the film, 
a radio show plus a TV movie 
and Broadway production 
but it all began with 
a starving novelist
in a free hotel room on  Sutton Place  
in New York.    
The same photograph of Myrna Loy
appears South of the Border of this blog
and links to an appropriate song.

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