THE THIN MAN Murder, Mirth and Marriage  At The Movies Part 3   By Rich Drees

     Needless to say that with the success of After The Thin Man, MGM was anxious for a third film. All plans were put on hold though, while William Powell and the studio went through some contract re-negotiations. 

     Meanwhile, in February 1937, Hammett sold MGM all rights to The Thin Man characters, with the exception of radio rights, for the sum of $40,000. Old Gold Cigarettes were courting Hammett with the prospect of bringing Nick and Nora to radio. Hammett would have to do nothing at all for the series except cash the $500 per episode check they wanted to pay for the rights. Although he was given on-air credit for the scripts, Hammett refused to even meet with the script writers or producers for the show. It was the same deal Hammett had for The Adventures of Sam Spade and The Fat Man.

     The radio show was finally produced in July, 1941. It starred Lester Damon as Nick, Claudia Morgan as Nora and Parker Fennelly as their friend Ebenezer Williams, Sheriff of Crabtree County. Over the series’ run, Les Tremayne, Joseph Curtin and David Gothard would also play Nick. The show would continue until its cancellation in the wake of Hammett’s run in with the US Circuit Court.

     The film version of The Thin Man was adapted for the hour-long series Lux Radio Theater on CBS on June 6^th, 1936, with Powell and Loy reprising their roles. This was to be the series’ first show to originate from Hollywood and for CBS. (It previously ran on NBC.) After The Thin Man received the same treatment on Lux on June 17, 1940 with Powell and Loy returning to the microphones.

     By late March 1937, MGM had settled their contractual differences with Powell and were anxious to start on the next Thin Man picture. They were less than enthused about dealing with Hammett’s unreliable working habits, however. Instead of giving him a weekly salary, they wished to negotiate a separate contract for him to produce a story treatment. Claiming bookkeeping problems, MGM withheld payment on The Thin Man rights purchase in an effort to pressure him into the deal. It evidently worked, as Hammett, with hotel bills mounting, signed the contract on April 13^th. The deal called for MGM to pay Hammett $5,000 for the story synopsis, an additional $10,000 on acceptance of the synopsis and a final $20,000 for a complete screen story.

     Hammett returned to Hollywood and again took up his residence at the Beverly Wilshire, this time in a suite once occupied by the visiting King of Siam. He finished the synopsis by July and began work on the extended treatment with the Hacketts.

     Unfortunately, his old bad habits quickly resurfaced. Through the fall of `37, Hammett continued to drink and missed several story conferences. He wrote letters to Lillian Hellman, who was in Russia attending the Moscow Theater Festival, saying that he didn’t want to write anymore, but just stay drunk. His only joys in life seemed to be gambling at a local racetrack and listening to George Gershwin concerts on the radio.

     In one letter to Hellman, dated December 26, 1937, a dispirited Hammett told her that the movie he was writing was a “charming fable of how Nick loved Nora and Nora loved Nick and everything was just one big laugh in the midst of other people’s trials and tribulations…”

     In reality, the final treatment finished by Hammett and the Hacketts on May 13, 1938, was part original story material with portions of an old Hammett Continental Op story, “The Farewell Murder” (Black Mask, February, 1930) mixed in. The one hundred and forty page outline, which included two versions of one eighteen page segment, was entitled Another Thin Man. The title referred to Nick and Nora’s son, Nicky, Jr. and how he would grow up to be just like his father. The title also reinforced the perception of Nick Charles being the titular Thin Man and not the murdered Wynant of the first film.

     Powell was not thrilled with the prospect of having a screen son. As he told Loy, “First thing you know, he’ll be in kindergarten, then prep school, then college. How old will that make us?”

     If Powell was unenthused about having his cinematic offspring, the Hacketts were even more so. As Albert told a reporter for the Providence (R.I.) Journal, “We thought the second Thin Man picture would be the last when we hinted they were going to have a baby . . . but the reviews [said] there must be a third picture planned, because they were going to have a baby. We just made it doubly hard on ourselves.”

     MGM approved the outline in the early summer, but wanted some revisions. Hammett’s health was failing again but he was in no financial position to refuse. He had gambled all his money away at the track. He owned the Wilshire six months back rent, his limo service was threatening to sue for non-payment of his bills and his liquor tab at a local pharmacy was in excess of $1,300.

     Nevertheless, he worked on the revisions through 1938, writing three more drafts of the story before the Hacketts began work on the screenplay. However, as work progressed, he became more uncooperative, failing to keep appointments with the Hacketts and communicating with Stromberg only through telegram.

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