>Rogers wrote:
>> There is definitely padding in some of the
OP
>> stories, but when _Glass Key_ came out Hammett is
pretty well at the top of
>> his earning power, with guaranteed hardcover sale
and major reviewer
>> attention.
>
>I think this is actually the point at which Hammett's
peak earning
>period begins, reaching full fruition in the mid-late
thirties (ie after
>publication of the _Thin Man_) with several stints in
Hollywood; film
>deals for the various Maltese Falcon and Thin Man
films; and various
>radio spin-offs.
I would say that the big jump happened with Maltese
Falcon (7 hardcover print runs in 1 year). Prior to the
hardcover pulication
of GK, he has already sold the film rights for 25k.
>
>> The days of hanging out on the cheap at Nathanial
West's hotel
>> were history, so I doubt that he still was
thinking in terms of 55 extra
>> words paying for a couple more drinks.
>
>Not history yet: Hammett didn't move to West's dive
until late in 1932.
>It was there that Hammett finished _The Thin Man_
having done a bunk
>from a NY hotel because he couldn't pay the bill! Nor
had Hammett yet
>'re-borrowed' the $500 loan just returned to Albert
Samuels because he
>didn't have enough money to get from SF to
Hollywood.
>As well as reaching his earning peak in the thirties,
Hammett was also
>well into his spending peak, hanging out with the
literati while the
>hotel, limo and booze bills piled up.
>
You are correct. I knew when I posted my assertion that I
needed to
check my dates. Both Thin Man and the awful shorts from that
period are
clearly bill payers required to bail him out from his child
support
situation. In my youth I had the experience of staying at one
of the
"hotels" that West ran (The Kenmore).....a very hardboiled
experience, I
assure you, and one that no amount of literary resonance
could ease.
In terms of mad spending, Hammett seems to have been the
only serious
rival to F. Scott Fitzgerald's near-monopoly on
self-destruction
Nonetheless, to return to my original contention, I do not
believe
that Hammett chose to pad his later books in this way. I
think that the use
of the full name of the protagonist is an example of what one
of our
academic fellow travelers referred to as "use of terms not
appropriate to
colloquial speech...(in order to add) distance from the
scene.".
James
James Michael Rogers
jetan@ionet.net
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