he and Browne were La Jolla neighbors, drank
> together and were as friendly as Chandler was to any
competitor. Was
> there a letter critical of Browne that I
missed?
>
> Dick Lochte
>
I was referring to the BBC radio programme that had Ian
Fleming chatting with Chandler & the subject turns to
contemporary thrillers. I've had a copy of the transcript in
an old fanzine for some years & the relevant portion
reads like this :
Fleming : I've just bought "The Taste of Ashes" by Howard
Brown (sic). He wrote a book called "Thin Air" before, I
don't know if you've read that.
Chandler : No.
However, if you listen to a recording (I downloaded the mp3
either from rara-avis or a link provided by someone here,
IIRC) you hear something that goes a little closer to this,
with Chandler & Fleming both talking at the same time,
more or less.This is an approximation from (recent) memory
:
Fleming : ... "The Taste of Ashes" by Howard Browne.
Chandler : Who?
Fleming : Howard Browne.
Chandler : Oh.
Fleming : Well it's very good.
Chandler (muttering, almost under his breath but clearly
audible) : He must've improved.
Fleming : Sorry?
Chandler : He must've gotten better.
Of course, Chandler may just have been in a grumpy mood or
just annoyed with Browne at the time. Although the interview
was broadcast in the morning, according to the story Chandler
was already a little under the weather when a nervous Fleming
picked him up to drive him to the BBC but luckily he seemed
to sober up enough to conduct a reasonable interview. I must
stress that the above transcript (mine) is from memory &
may not be 100% accurate but it would be pretty close & I
stand by the accuracy of the gist of the exchange.Have a
listen anyway, if you haven't already. It's supposed to be
the only recording extant of Chandler's voice. Speaking of
Chandler's voice, for me his accent was a little bit of a
surprise. I'd always "pictured" him with an English accent or
with a strong trace of one. The accent he has is reminiscent
of William Burroughs' accent, which I believe is Mid-Western.
Is that the dialect/accent that Chandler spoke in? Was
Chandler from the Mid-West, originally?
Rene.
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