‘The Thin Man’ turns 90: Celebrating the pairing of Powell and Loy
The cherished screen team of William Powell and Myrna Loy met “cute” on their first film together, the gritty 1934 “Manhattan Melodrama.” According to TCM.com, first scene in the film required her to run out a building, maneuver through a crowd of people and jump into a car. The film’s director W.S. “Woody” Van Dyke, who was nicknamed “One Take Woody” because of his efficiency, didn’t bother to introduce the actress to Powell. So, when Van Dyke called “action “Loy recalled jumping into the car and landing “smack on William Powell’s lap. He looked up nonchalantly: Miss Loy, I presume?” I said, Mr. Powell? That’s how I met the man who would be my partner in 14 films.”
It was their next film, the smart screwball comedy/mystery “The Thin Man,” which opened May 25, 1934, transformed the couple into top stars at MGM. Directed by Van Dyke and adapted from Dashiell Hammett’s novel by the married writers Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich and shot by the legendary James Wong Howe, “The Thin Man” finds Powell and Loy playing the ultra-sophisticated and wealthy Nick and Nora Charles. Nick used to be a private eye in New York City but how lives with Nora in San Francisco managing his her inheritance. Some of that inheritance undoubtedly goes to their alcohol bill. While visiting New York, though, Nick is drawn reluctantly into a murder mystery. Joining them on the case Is their adorable wire Fox terrier named Asta, played by Skippy.
The mystery takes a back seat to the peppy, sexy banter between Nick and Nora, which was based on the relationship between Hammett and playwright Lillian Hellman.
Nora Charles: “Waiter, will you serve the nuts? I mean, will you serve the guests the nuts?”
Nora Charles: “You know, that sounds like an interesting case. Why don’t you take it”?
Nick Charles: “I haven’t the time. I’m much too busy seeing that you don’t lose any of the money I married you for.”
Nick Charles: “I’m a hero. I was shot twice in the Tribune.”
Nora Charles: “I read where you were shot 5 times in the tabloids”
Nick Charles: “It’s not true. He didn’t come anywhere near my tabloids.”
Van Dyke encouraged improvisation on the set; sometimes the actors didn’t even know the director was shooting. Case in point, Powell’s first scene where he’s at the bar with the cocktail shaker. The filmmaker told Powell to run through his lines-the actor even added a few zingers-while the lights and sound were tested. Suddenly, Powell heard Van Dyke say, “print it.” There was a real method to Van Dyke’s directing style: Powell is utterly relaxed and natural in the scene because he didn’t know the cameras were rolling.
Powell would later talk about why he loved working with Loy: “When we did a scene together, we forgot about technique, camera angles and microphones We weren’t acting. We were just two people in perfect harmony. Myrna, unlike some actresses who think only of themselves, has the happy faculty of being able to listen while the other fellows who save their lines. She has the give and take of acting that brings out the best.”
Though there seemed to be great give and take with Skippy, but the actors couldn’t play with him between takes because he was so highly trained. And in fact, Loy later admitted that Skippy bit her.
Not only was the film a box office hit, but reviews were also adoring with the New York Times proclaiming: “Out of Dashiell Hammett’s popular novel ‘The Thin Man,’ W.S. Van Dyke, one of Hollywood’s most versatile directors, has made an excellent combination of comedy and excitement.” The film was also nominated for four Oscars: best picture, director, actor, and adapted screenplay but lost all to the other landmark comedy, Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night.”
Ironically, MGM considered “The Thin Man” a “B” picture; it was made in about two weeks for under $300,000. MGM wasn’t sure Powell, who had recently come to the studio from Warner Brothers, because he had played detective Philo Vance in a series of four films. But Van Dyke felt he was right for the part. Loy, who became known as “The Perfect Wife” and “The Queen of Hollywood,” was also a hard sell. A veteran of some 80 films including 1932’s “The Mask of Fu Manchu,” she was, noted TCM.com, “usually cast as either exotic beauties, ethnic types or The Other Woman’…without making a huge impact.”
Powell and Loy made five more “Thin Man” movies: 1936 “After the Thin Man”; 1939’s “Another Thin Man”; 1941’s “Shadow of the Thin Man”; 1945’s “The Thin Man Goes Home” and 1947’s The Song of the Thin Man.” They also appeared in seven non- “Thin Man” movies including the 1936 best picture Oscar winner “The Great Ziegfeld” and the 1936 best picture Oscar nominee “Libeled Lady.”
The actor retired from films after appearing as Doc in 1955’s “Mister Roberts”; he died in 1984 the age of 91. Loy continued acting until 1982; in 1991 she received an Honorary Oscar in 1991 in “recognition of her extraordinary qualities both on screen and off, with appreciation for a lifetime’s worth of indelible performances.” She died two years later at the age of 88.
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