THE THIN MAN Murder, Mirth and Marriage At The Movies

     While the arduous task of getting a script written was being attended to, MGM brass were quick to capitalize on Powell and Loy’s new found status as a popular screen couple. They were quickly paired together for three more films.

     Evelyn Prentice (released on November 9, 1934) is a rather dour melodrama in which Powell is a hardworking lawyer who is cheating on wife Loy, who in turn believes she may have killed a blackmailer. Things get heavily melodramatic as Powell comes to prosecute the blackmailer’s girlfriend whom police believe is the killer. Of the film, Loy would remark in her autobiography Being and Becoming, “The Thin Man had been so perfect for us, such a ball to make, that going into this thing was kind of a bore.”

     The plot seems to be nothing more than a rehash of RKO’s 1929 production Her Private Affair, which starred real life husband and wife Ann Harding and Harry Bannister. It would be remade by MGM in 1939 as Stronger Than Desire with Walter Pidgeon and Virginia Bruce.

     Even though Myrna Loy receives second billing after Powell in The Great Ziegfeld (released April 8, 1936) she only appears in the final third of this nearly three hour epic musical extravaganza/ bio-pic in which Powell portrays Broadway impresario Flo Ziegfeld for a total of 14 screen minutes.

     A much better fit for the pair's comedic talents was Libeled Lady (released October 9, 1936), a screwball comedy which also starred Spencer Tracy and Powell's girlfriend, blond bombshell Jean Harlow. Unfortunately for Harlow, MGM wanted Powell and Loy paired off in the film as a romantic couple.

San Fransisco's Coit Tower which served as the exterior for Nick and Nora's home.

     With the script for After the Thin Man finally set, Van Dyke took the cast and crew to San Francisco for some location shooting. The exterior base of San Francisco landmark The Coit Tower was used as the exterior of the Charles' home. Other landmarks can be glimpsed throughout the film as well.

    Harlow accompanied Powell to San Francisco as the two by then were unofficially engaged. When the cast and crew of sixty arrived at the St. Francis Hotel, Powell and Loy were surprised to find that the management had reserved the Flyshaker Suite for them- erroneously assuming that they were married. Such was the public’s perception of the two as an on screen couple. (In fact, Powell was already becoming identified by the public as Nick Charles. His first film after The Thin Man was Star of Midnight with Ginger Rogers, of which Andre Sennwald wrote in the New York Times, “William Powell is responsible for making Star of Midnight seem like a sequel to The Thin Man when its producers have no such reckless intensions.”) Since a convention had filled up the rest of the hotel, Powell was forced to stay in a small room on one of the lower floors, while Loy and Harlow shared the suite.

     While most of the cast was made up from MGM’s stable of character actors, the role of David Graham went to the young James Stewart, who was being groomed for big things at the studio. Stewart had actually been discovered by Goodrich and Hackett who saw him in New York in the play Divided By Two and recommended to Stromberg that he be hired at MGM. After the Thin Man was supposed to be his first film at the studio, but due to a delay caused by Myrna Loy renegotiating her contract with MGM, Stewart was put on The Murder Men with Spencer Tracy. After that completion of that film, his contract was about to expire and no move had been made to renew it. When Stewart mentioned to Hackett that he was getting ready to return to New York, Hackett went to Stromberg with the news. Stromberg immediately saw to it that Stewart's option was picked up and assigned him to a picture that he was producing and which the Hackett's had written, Rose Marie.

     Stewart approached his role in After The Thin Man with great enthusiasm. It was reported that he rushed around the set with a camera taking pictures of everyone and announcing “I’m going to marry Myrna Loy.” Later that year, Stewart and Loy would also both appear in Wife Vs. Secretary, also produced by Hunt Stromberg. Unfortunately, they would not share any scenes together.

     Cameraman Lee Sheffield recalls Stewart’s generosity on the set:

One time, after a long, often repeated scene, I was complaining that it was damn hot- the lights were frying me. The next thing I knew- Jimmy handed me a tall glass of iced tea. He had overheard my griping and ran to get me one. Here he was directly behind William Powell and Myrna Loy in the billing, running errands like a fifth assistant cameraman! He shrugged off my thanks with that shy, lopsided twist of a shoulder that plainly said never mind, no trouble.’

     Over the years, Stewart had expressed dissatisfaction with the end of the film, feeling that people must have been laughing at his over the top portrayal. Reviewers at the time disagreed. Variety reported: “James Stewart is calm and possessed until the blow off when he does his best work.”

     Another newcomer to Hollywood was Sam Levene, who portrayed the harried police detective Lieutenant Abrams. Levene was a stage actor who had been brought to Hollywood by Warner Brothers to reprise his role of Patsy in the film adaptation of Three Men On A Horse. After the Thin Man would be his second film.

     A familiar face in the film's cast was actually credited under an unfamiliar name. Polly, the tough talking chorus girl is credited to Dorothy McNaulty, who is more recognized by film buffs under her married name of Penny Singleton in Universal Studios long running Blondie series. 

     After The Thin Man opened on Christmas Day, 1936 to praiseworthy reviews. Frank Nugent of The New York Times wrote “If After The Thin Man is not quite the delight The Thin Man was, it is, at the very least, one of the most urbane comedies of the season…” and that “W. S. Van Dyke retains his directorial facility and William Powell and Myrna Loy still persuade us that Mr. and Mrs. Nick Charles are exactly the sort of people we should like to have on our calling list on New Year’s Day.”

     The film would go on to become the sixth highest grossing film of the year and the Hackett's would receive another Academy Award nomination for the film's screenplay.

PART 3