Philip Marlowe
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Philip Marlowe is a fictional private detective created by Raymond Chandler in a series of detective novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared in The Big Sleep, published in 1939. Marlowe appeared in none of Chandler's early short stories, though many of his early stories were republished years later with the names of the protagonists changed to Philip Marlowe; this change was presumably made with the approval of Chandler.
Philip Marlowe's character is foremost within the genre of hardboiled crime fiction that originated in the 1920s, most notably in Black Mask magazine, in which Dashiell Hammett's The Continental Op and Sam Spade first appeared. The private eye is a pessimistic and cynical observer of a corrupt society, yet the enduring appeal of Marlowe and other hardboiled detectives lies in their tarnished idealism.
Underneath the wisecracking, hard drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical. He enjoys chess and poetry. While he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores. Morally upright, he is not bamboozled by the genre's usual femme fatales, like Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep. As Chandler wrote about his detective ideal in general, "I think he might seduce a duchess, and I am quite sure he would not spoil a virgin."
Chandler's treatment of the detective novel exhibits a continuing effort to develop the art form. His first full length book, The Big Sleep, was published when Chandler was 51; his last, Playback, when he was 70. All seven novels were produced in the last two decades of his life. All maintain the integrity of Philip Marlowe's character, but each novel has unique qualities of narrative tone, depth and focus that set it apart from the others.
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[edit] Biographical notes for Philip Marlowe
In a letter to D. J. Ibberson, written April 19, 1951, Chandler noted among other things that Marlowe is 38 years old and was born in Santa Rosa, California. He had a couple of years at college and some experience as an investigator for an insurance company and the district attorney of Los Angeles county.
Marlowe is slightly over six feet (about 185 centimeters) tall and weighs about 190 pounds (86.2 kilograms / thirteen stone eight). His office is number 615 on the 6th floor of the Cahuenga Building, which is located on Hollywood Boulevard near Ivar. North Ivar Avenue is between North Cahuenga Boulevard to the west and Vine Street to the east. The office telephone number is GLenview 7537.
He smokes and prefers Camels.
He drinks whiskey or brandy frequently and in relatively large quantities. For example, in The High Window, he gets out a bottle of Four Roses, and pours glasses of the blended American whiskey for himself, for Det Lt Breeze and for Spangler. At other times he is drinking Old Forester, a Kentucky bourbon: "I hung up and fed myself a slug of Old Forester to brace my nerves for the interview. As I was inhaling it I heard her steps tripping along the corridor." (The Little Sister)
But while Marlowe is a hard-drinking hero, he is far from being any kind of alcoholic. Rather, he is adept at using liquor to loosen the tongues of people from whom* he needs to extract information. (*Degarmo: "Did he say 'whom'?" Marlowe: "Yeah, but don't hit him. There is such a word." - The Lady in the Lake) An example is in The High Window, when Marlowe finally persuades the detective-lieutenant, whose "solid old face was lined and grey with fatigue", to take a drink and thereby loosen up and give out. "Breeze looked at me very steadily. Then he sighed. Then he picked the glass up and tasted it and sighed again and shook his head sideways with a half smile; the way a man does when you give him a drink and he needs it very badly and it is just right and the first swallow is like a peek into a cleaner, sunnier, brighter world."
He makes good coffee, eschewing the use of filters (see Farewell My Lovely). He takes his coffee with cream in the mornings, but has it black at other times.
At the time of writing he was probably carrying a Smith and Wesson .38 special with a four-inch barrel.
See also Raymond Chandler, "Novels and Other Writings" (Library of America, 1995, ISBN 1-883011-08-6) for other letters.
[edit] Influences and adaptations
Marlowe's name may derive from the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe, author of Doctor Faustus; or from Marlow, a narrator found in Joseph Conrad fiction including the novel Heart of Darkness; or from the name of Chandler's house, Marlowe (itself named after the dramatist), at Dulwich College; from some combination of these three; or from none of the above.
Marlowe has been played on the screen by Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, George Montgomery, Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, Elliot Gould, Danny Glover, James Garner, and James Caan. In radio, in The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the character was portrayed by Van Heflin on NBC (17 June – 9 September 1947) and by Gerald Mohr on CBS (26 September 1948 – 15 September 1951). [1]
Powers Boothe had the title role in the HBO series, Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, which ran from 1984 to 1986. Ed Bishop portrayed Marlowe in BBC Radio's The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.[1]
Marlowe has proved such a complex and attractive character that he has appeared in short stories and novels by writers other than Chandler, such as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe: A Centennial Celebration (1988). The central character in the original TV version of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective is crime novelist Philip E. Marlow (portrayed by Michael Gambon). The female sleuths of the anthology Tart Noir (Berkeley, 2002) are described as "half Philip Marlowe, half femme fatale".
[edit] Marlowe bibliography
[edit] Works by Raymond Chandler
- "Finger Man" (1934), short story)- This story originally featured an unnamed narrator, identified as "Carmady" in subsequent stories, and later renamed Marlowe for book publication.
- "Goldfish" (1936), (short story) - This story originally featured Carmady, later renamed Marlowe for book publication.
- "Red Wind" (1938), (short story) - This story originally featured John Dalmas, later renamed Marlowe for book publication.
- "Trouble Is My Business" (1939) (short story) - This story originally featured John Dalmas, later renamed Marlowe for book publication.
- The Big Sleep (1939)
- Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
- The High Window (1942)
- The Lady in the Lake (1943)
- The Little Sister (1949)
- The Simple Art of Murder (1950) (short story collection)
- The Long Goodbye (1954)
- Playback (1958)
- Poodle Springs (left unfinished at Chandler's death in 1959; completed by Robert B. Parker, 1989)
- "The Pencil" (aka "Marlowe Takes On the Syndicate," "Wrong Pigeon," and "Philip Marlowe's Last Case") (1959), (short story) - Chandler's last completed work about Marlowe, his first Marlowe short story in more than twenty years, and the first short story originally written about Marlowe.
[edit] Works by others
- Triste, solitario y final (by Osvaldo Soriano, 1974. Marlowe appears as a secondary character of the novel)
- Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe: a Centennial Celebration (collection of short stories by other writers, ed. Byron Preiss, 1988, ISBN 1-59687-847-9, and 1999, ISBN 0-671-03890-7, with two new stories)
- Poodle Springs (by Robert B. Parker, 1990, Parker's completion of a manuscript Chandler left unfinished when he died)
- Perchance to Dream (by Robert B. Parker, 1991, written as a sequel to Chandler's The Big Sleep)
- Orange Curtain (by John Shannon; Marlowe appears in retirement as a real person used as the model for Chandler's novels)
[edit] See also
- Crime fiction for an overview
[edit] Reference
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- ^ Terrace, Vincent [1999]. Radio Programs, 1924-1984:A Catalog of Over 1800 Shows. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0351-9.
