“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun.”
Now that’s “hard-boiled” writing! One Author wrote some of the best lines in “gumshoe” history – Raymond Chandler!
Meet “Gumshoe” Philip Marlowe!
Humphrey Bogart was one of Hollywood’s most legendary Actors – and one character in particular is our focus today…time to go back to an era of “gumshoes” – oh, you must know that was what they called Private Detectives at that time:
Because they wore rubber-soled shoes that allowed them to move quietly and stealthily.
I’m celebrating a collection of novels that are the original “Pulp Fiction” – and how they were memorialized by the Queen Of Comedy herself, Mary Tyler Moore!
You see, Philip Marlowe was created by the brilliant Writer Raymond Chandler, and the great “Mary Tyler Moore Show” paid a terrific tribute to his writing, and gave Mary a hilarious punchline as well!
First, lets dive into the world of this private eye – these are all of his paperback novels I own:
A Stack Of Raymond Chandler!
Raymond Chandler didn’t begin writing until well into his 40’s, as his journey to became one of America’s greatest Writers finally took off in 1932, at the age of forty-four!
“It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.”
Chandler had a way with words, but had never expected to be a Writer!
He only took on writing as a profession after he lost his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression!
His first short story, “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot”, was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, “The Big Sleep”, was published six years later in 1939.
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is considered to be a founder of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain.
“He sounded like a man who had slept well and didn’t owe too much money.”
Just one of those perfect lines from the Author. Let’s take a look at his work, and some of his most memorable lines, beginning with that iconic debut novel, which became a classic film noir starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall…
“Dead men are heavier than broken hearts”
“Neither of the two people in the room paid any attention to the way I came in, although only one of them was dead.”
What great lines!
The protagonist of Chandler’s crime novels was Detective Philip Marlowe, a Private detective who finds himself mired in crimes and betrayal. Marlowe was played in several films by Humphrey Bogart, and you can imagine how great these “tough-as-nails” lines sounded coming from him.
And what about this line near the end:
“You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that, oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now…”
From this beginning, Chandler had a string of classic novels featuring Private Detective Marlowe…
“She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket”
– Farewell, My Lovely
Another incredible line.
These are all my paperbacks, and they have a variety of covers, based on when they were released…I like this “pulpy” style…which matches the way Marlowe thinks.
Chandler’s second Marlowe novel, “Farewell, My Lovely” was released in 1940. Here are some more great lines:
“It was a nice face, a face you get to like. Pretty, but not so pretty that you would have to wear brass knuckles every time you took it out.”
“It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.”
Marlowe’s observations are always sharp as a knife, and he never sugar-coasted his own circumstances:
“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun.”
“The High Window” was next up in 1942. Again, more great writing…
“From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away.”
– The High Window
“The Lady in the Lake” followed in 1943 – Chandler was on a creative roll…he also began to write screenplays, working with Alfred Hitchcock on “Strangers On A Train” and “Double Indemnity” with Billy Wilder as well…
“The Little Sister” was next, published in 1949…with more writing that evoked such great imagery…
“It could have been a beautiful friendship,” Beifus said with a sigh. “Except for the ice pick, of course.”
– The Little Sister
“She smelled the way the Taj Mahal looks by moonlight.”
– The Little Sister
I love that line. Next up was another of his most well known works:
“The Long Goodbye” was released in 1953 – another classic Philip Marlowe detective story with some great one-liners as well:
“There was a sad fellow over on a bar stool talking to the bartender, who was polishing a glass and listening with that plastic smile people wear when they are trying not to scream.”
“I knew one thing: as soon as anyone said you didn’t need a gun, you’d better take one along that worked.”
“The French have a phrase for it. The bastards have a phrase for everything and they are always right. To say goodbye is to die a little.”
“Killer In The Rain” was a collection of his short stories, released in 1964. And speaking of short stories, how about the episode of “The Marry Tyler Moore Show” that paid homage to the Writer!
Lou Grant Quotes Raymond Chandler!
Yes, the opening paragraph from Chandler’s 1938 short story “Red Wind” was read aloud on the show by Lou Grant to Mary Richards – this happened because Mary gave Lou Grant a short story she wrote, and it was awful – she argued when he told her so, and he asked her if she wanted to hear good writing – then he read this by Chandler:
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen.”
There is a pause and then Mary says:
“He writes well about the weather.”
Brilliant.
Oh, and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was one of the most controversial and important TV shows of the early 70’s…why? Well, read my story here to find out:
Of course, the show also introduced us to the legendary Anchorman Ted Baxter!
The episode where he “talks anchoring” with the legendary Walter Cronkite is classic – and Ted also had the best advice ever for Mary when she was feeling down – click here to see the hilarious clip:
As I mentioned earlier, many of the Raymond Chandler books were made into films, including this one, directed by the legendary Robert Altman in 1973, with Elliott Gould as the caustic Detective:
Movie buffs noticed that Marlowe lived in the iconic “Hollywood Hightower”, which is a real building the looks like this:
Altman shot some of the movie at that location, and you can see that story by clicking here:
Bravo to the Writers of the show for including Raymond Chandler! What a great holiday gift this would be for someone!
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Categories: Action Films, Art, Books / Media, Cult Movies, Film Fight Club, Film Noir, Great Films, Hollywood, Movies, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, TV Show
johnrieber 
Thanks for Chandler’s great lines! I remember the MTM episode, but did not realize at the time he was reading Chandler’s book. What a nice tribute!
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brilliant way the mtm writers wrote that in, what an homage to chandler
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The Mary Tyler Moore show was brilliant, especially the remarkable cast of actors and actresses that fit together perfectly.
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Oh Lordie – now you have brought me into ‘my time’! Did not read much Chandler but Humphrey Bogart and Lauen Bacall were part of one’s life! One interesting point – did you ever happen to meet Nina van Pallandt mentioned here ? She and her husband Frederik were a long-standing Danish ‘folk’ singing duo who appeared in the Sydney Chevron Hotel ‘Silver Spade Room’ for two seasons methinks. Brought their little son and daughter along and had them play in the local park’s sandpits during the day. Well, my two daughters were the same age and oft played in the same spot. One twosome gabbled in Danish, the other in Estonian and they had NO trouble understanding one another at all! Yep, got to know the Pallandts in the evening hours too ere all the problems with him …
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I have heard of them but never met them – thanks for sharing that story – love it!
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Love Chandler’s books….great mysteries. chuq
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I’ve never read any of Chandler’s books, but I sure do like his writing style. It made for some good movies, too! And I love Mary Tyler Moore!
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Acquiring the classics doesn’t have to be expensive. Thriftbooks.com has tons of Chandler books at reasonable and even cheap prices.
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Good idea!
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He wrote some of the best one-liners in modern fiction. I really liked Dick Powell as Marlowe too. He had a way with the snappy dialogue. I never saw that episode of MTM.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I’ve never watched a movie with Humphrey Bogart or Mary Tyler Moore but I do know both of them.
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Some terrific lines. We could say, “they don’t make ’em like that anymore!”
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Yes indeed! Thanks for the comment!
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