Talk:Philip Marlowe

Why so concerned with "Notability" and why is it so unevenly applied?

I know Wikipedia prides itself on having some standards about "Notability" (I laughed when I read a newspaper report about an incensed amateur band being pulled.) But why strive to excise interesting tidbits about well established topics? Personally I have added "Ten Percent of Life" by Hiber Conteris to the "novels by other writers" section which has been removed for lack of "Notability" and yet another novel also of foreign origin in which Marlowe is evidently a SECONDARY character is allowed to stay. (With an untranslated title) Marlowe is the MAIN character in "Ten Percent" Furthermore, "Orange Curtain" was also allowed to stay which features a character whom Chandler "used as the basis for Marlowe" Both seem less notable to me. My mention of the "Goldfish" radio adaptation was also removed. And the article does not mention the "Red Wind" adaptation featuring Danny Glover on Showtime's "Fallen Angels" I would think wikipedia would value comprehensiveness.....

For another instance of presumed non-notability resulting in an over-correction, why on January 16, 2011, was a short addition regarding a young Italian writer using "Philip Marlowe" as his "nom de plume" deleted right away??? It was just one more piece of information, and a better-informed contributor might well have added some useful references and details! Moreover, the French and Italian versions of this Wikipedia entry feature that same piece of information...

Gerald Mohr photo

The caption to the photo lists Gerald Mohr as Philip Marlowe, yet under the Gerald Mohr wiki article it describes the same photo as being from Undercover Girl, a movie which has nothing to do with Phillip Marlowe.

No knock against Gerald Mohr, or Bogart, but Marlowe was probably a bit more handsome than either. Picture should be changed, and when I become technically proficient enough, I'll do so, if no one else does first. Guernseykid 20:05, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

BBC

Since figure in illustration is looking to the right, the image is placed on left because of a basic layout and design principle. I've previously raised this point after people move left-side images to the right but never get a response. Pepso 20:16, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Although the principle is generally sound, I think in this particular case the image could just as well be interpreted as having his back to the viewer, which would make it appropriate to have the image on the right (since his back is, as it were, looking to the left). Just a thought. --Paul A 05:47, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Not sure I follow that, but how about this? The picture does work okay on the right because the venetian blinds echo and continue the lines of typography. I'd very much like to know the name of the illustrator. Anyone know? Pepso 07:28, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

it's not about his back, it's about where the empty space is. Pic should be on the left. raining_girl 23:56, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

At last! Someone who knows design and sees what I'm getting at! Pepso 00:24, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

after seeing your comment I looked at a load of articles, and the pics are all on the right. If that's the Wikipedia standard then - you aren't going to like it - we need a new pic! GDAR... But if I'm wrong and it's a matter of choice then move the pic over. raining_girl 18:32, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

There are many pages with images on the left. Some have images at both the top left and top right, with text between. Pepso 19:52, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

In that case... I've moved it. raining_girl 16:51, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Yay! You reign, girl! Pepso 19:32, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Info on Personal Relationships?

It never seems to mention whether Marlowe has any friends or partners throughout the novels. Is this not considered important? It seems to be. FiendishThingie 17:29, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Even stranger, the article wholly omits the trajectory of his love life, from early flirtations to eventual marriage. Are these not an important part of anybody’s biography? While Marlowe is highly alive to feminine allure and is often placed in situations of sexual temptation, where he could either take advantage of or succumb to a woman, normally his integrity allows no more than a kiss. --Hors-la-loi 15:21, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

Bernie Ohls, investigator, certainly qualifies as a friend who appears in more than one short story and novel. (Examples, The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye.) Anne Riordan, a lady friend, appears in the novel Farewell My Lovely, and in the short story, the Pencil. L. Thomas W. (talk) 14:17, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

Unlike many characters in hard boiled fiction who appear in several novels or stories, Marlowe has almost no friends or colleagues that are mentioned more than once. Even Hammett's Continental Op who was also very much an individualist had recurring characters from the detective agency he worked at. But Marlowe had almost no characters that appear more than once and those few that did, tended to appear 2-3 times at most. Bernie Ohls, Anne Riordan, and Linda Loring are the only ones that are mentioned more than once as far as I remember. IMO it is part of the character Chandler was going for, that Marlowe was very much an individual and somewhat lonely man. Also, I think it is debatable if we should include the novel Poodle Springs as part of what people would these days call the "cannon" of the Marlowe stories. It was never completed nor published and to me the idea of a settled down Marlowe just never rang true and I wonder if Chandler would have ever published that novel without changing that aspect of it. I think not but of course that is just an opinion not something I would put in an article. --MadScientistX11 (talk) 20:47, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

In The Long Goodbye, Marlowe provides a brief autobiography (a paragraph long, which includes details such as both parents dead, played football in college, etc.) to another character, wherein he describes himself as "a lone wolf". Having read these books numerous times over the years, I never had the impression Marlowe was at all lonely, just not gregarious. He typically proves himself socially adept, & in various novels alludes to knowing different people, although definitely more as acquaintances than close friends; it's clear Marlowe could have friends & lovers if he cared to. Perhaps Chandler did not detail Marlowe's social life (e.g. "I had to call X first to cancel our bowling game before I could go out & talk to this guy") because they were irrelevant to the plot. (One could argue there are some minor inconsistencies on this matter; it's possible Chandler never thought his social network was important.) -- llywrch (talk) 16:21, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

"Blackmailers Don't Shoot"

Why is there no mention of what I understand is Chandler's first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot." Admittedly, it's written in third person, and this may have something to do with why, unlike other shorts reffed in the article, reprints in Marlowe collections (I first read it in an omnibus, The Midnight Raymond Chandler, but I think it was also in the mass-market paperback Trouble is My Business) don't change the private eye's name from Mallory. But it is generally considered an early Marlowe story as much as the others, and as I said it has been included in Marlowe collections. Ted Watson (talk) 21:05, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I should have also pointed out that it was adapted as an episode of the HBO TV series with Powers Boothe as Marlowe. So the question stands: Why isn't this story mentioned here at all? --Ted Watson (talk) 20:36, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Chandler didn't originally hit on the name Marlowe for his protagonist. The earliest stories used different names for the detective, even though he changed the name to Marlowe when her re-used some of them for his novels and also I think in some republications of the stories. I haven't read that story in decades and can't find it but my guess is if it is written in the third person rather than the first it is probably one of the early stories that doesn't use the name Marlowe. I remember when that series with Booth came out that they definitely used at least one story where the name of the detective wasn't Marlowe. Which doesn't mean the story still couldn't be used, the question is, is there something in that story that is especially noteworthy to the character (even if the name isn't the same). If not then I think that's the reason, there is no need to reference every single thing Chandler wrote in this article, there are other articles for that. --MadScientistX11 (talk) 04:19, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

Guns of Philip Marlowe

I know Marlowe often used a Luger and a Model 1911 in .38 Super. I also know he carried a revolver of some sort. But the .32 Colt Pocket Hammerless? I know villains and/or femme fatales might have used them, but Marlowe? Is there a line in one of Chandler's stories that supports that choice of armament? Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fixer1968 (talk • contribs) 17:38, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

[moved from "Guns of Philip Marlowe, Part 2"] I agree with the unsigned comment on the same subject (see above). Where is the original author getting these specifics on Marlowe and his hand guns? In the article, several weapons are mentioned with footnote # 4 noted. Then, at the bottom of the article, footnote 4 simply says the New Yorker. What kind of a footnote is this? Will the original author return to this article with chapters of Chandler's books to defend his specifics on Marlowe's guns? L. Thomas W. (talk) 15:05, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

I didn't add the original citation or add the disputed sentence, however I did fix the improperly formatted citation - only took me four tries! - so that it leads to the article buried in the original citation. The New Yorker article merely claims that according to Chandler, Marlowe initially used a "Luger, but switched to a Colt, then to a Smith & Wesson .38 special." The information in the wikipedia article is more specific. I'll defer to those of you with gun expertise who wish to remove the disputed sentence if you still feel it's wrong. I'll add a dubious template. - Fantr (talk) 22:48, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

Marlowe only carries a gun on occasion and from memory I'm not sure he ever uses it except once, in The Big Sleep, when he shoots the thug Canino. There, he describes it as a 'Colt', but I don't think he even specifies whether it's a revolver or an automatic. In one of the later novels, I forget which, he remarks that it's a Colt .38 Super Match, which is a premium version of the 1911 Government Model automatic chambered for .38 Super instead of .45. This gun was developed for the FBI but was also favoured by target shooters because the heavier barrel, necessary to withstand the high gas pressure and velocity of the .38 Super cartridge, damped the recoil due to inertia and gave remarkable accuracy. 'Match' finish meant the internal parts were specially polished in Colt's Custom Workshop to give a smoother trigger pull and improve accuracy even further. This was quite a serious sort of gun to carry and it suits Marlowe's character as a 'thinking' tough-guy. A pre-WW2 .38 Super Match in good condition would cost a collector at least $10,000 these days.

Lugers, in Chandler's stories, are only used by baddies, like Eddie Mars in The Big Sleep or the fake cop in Smart-Aleck Kill. And there is no such thing as a 'Smith & Wesson .38 Special'. Many S&W revolvers fire .38 Special ammunition, but there isn't a gun called that. Khamba Tendal (talk) 22:23, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Sorry, that's not correct, Marlowe definitely owns a Luger in at least one novel. I think others as well but this is the one I was sure of. In The Little Sister Marlowe owns a Luger. From an online version, beginning of Chapter 14:

“You don’t have a comic book around, do you?” Toad asked. “Keeps him quiet.” “Sit down,” I said. “I’ll look.” He reached for the chair arms. I jerked a drawer open and got my hand around the butt of a Luger. I brought it up slowly, looking at Alfred. Alfred didn’t even look at me. He was studying the corner of the ceiling and trying to keep his mouth out of his eye. “This is as comic as I get,” I said.

The scene takes place in Marlowe's office and the drawer he jerks open is the drawer to his desk. It is his gun. He uses it to threaten the two thugs and hits one of them with it although he doesn't fire it. I agree though, he almost never fires his gun in the novels. The only one I remember is in The Big Sleep. But the stories were a little more violent. I recall one of them where Marlowe and DA Investigator Ohls (who he also worked with in The Big Sleep) get involved in a gun fight with some crooks who are trying to kill a witness. --MadScientistX11 (talk) 04:08, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

Yes, that's interesting. Marlowe randomly calls it 'a' Luger, which he just happens to have around, and doesn't explain what it's doing in his desk drawer. The Little Sister came out in '49 and a number of the things had probably made their way to the US as war trophies. He might have bought it, or relieved some bad guy of it. (In The Big Sleep, he remarks that he ends up carrying so many other people's guns after various set-to's that he walks lopsided.) I see it's in Farewell, My Lovely that he describes his gun as a Colt .38 Super Match, and he carries it in a shoulder holster which was presumably made to fit a 1911-pattern automatic. The Luger's shape and dimensions make it impractical to carry concealed, though at that time it was considered 'scary' which might lend a certain psychological advantage if you wanted to intimidate someone.

Incidentally, I don't think Marlowe appears in any of the short stories. He didn't exist until The Big Sleep. The stories are third-person and feature other detectives, most often Johnny Dalmas. About half the stories were ingeniously reframed around Marlowe for the excellent 1980s TV series with Powers Boothe, and Anne Riordan from Farewell, My Lovely was grafted into the first season as a continuing character. Khamba Tendal (talk) 20:37, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

"The stories are third-person " Most of the stories are first person. A very small number of early ones are in the 3rd person, I think it is somewhere between 1-4 but all the rest of the stories are in the first person. "I don't think Marlowe appears in any of the short stories" Also, wrong. For one thing, Chandler didn't stop writing short stories once he published his first novel. It is true that he or his editors changed the name of the detective from "Dalmas" or "Carmady" to Marlowe in later anthologies of the short stories to make them more appealing to the public. In fact that information is actually in the article already. If you look at the section: Marlowe_bibliography there is a list of the short stories and the name of the protagonist and where there is no name listed I'm pretty sure those are stories that use (and always used) the name Marlowe. Although the article currently says that "The Pencil" was the first short story where Chandler originally used the name Marlowe I'm pretty sure that is false. I think the part of the article that lists the stories has it correct. But I will do some research to find out and if needed update the article accordingly. --MadScientistX11 (talk) 16:58, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

I just checked the Introduction to the Anthology Killer in the Rain by Philip Durham. According to Durham I was wrong and it is correct that the name Marlowe was first used in The Big Sleep and before that either the detective had no name (similar to Hammett's Continental Op) or had names other than Marlowe such as Carmady or Dalmas. But virtually all of Chandler's short stories are in the first person. If you look at the anthology Trouble is My Business, every story is in the first person. The same for the anthology Killer in the Rain. Given that I'm leaving the article as it is, although I think The Pencil really belongs in the list of short stories but that's a really minor point and I can see why whoever wrote this wrote it that way so I'm just going to leave it. --MadScientistX11 (talk) 18:03, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

I see. I only know four of the stories well, and those are the four that appear in the 1953 Hamish Hamilton (1958 Penguin) collection Smart-Aleck Kill. They were selected from the previous, larger anthology The Simple Art of Murder. They are all third-person and may conceivably have been selected for that reason. The title story is Chandler's second published story, appearing in Black Mask in July 1934. Wikipedia and some US-based sources say the detective is 'Mallory', which of course is a bit like 'Marlowe', but in the UK Hamish Hamilton edition it's Johnny Dalmas, which I suspect is authentic. There is an evident difficulty in that the stories were sometimes made-over in anthology reprints, even to the point of turning them into Marlowe stories (in US editions, not in the UK, I don't think -- Chandler was fond of his UK publisher and said that in Britain he was a serious novelist whereas in the US he was just a 'mystery writer', so British editions may reflect his wishes better -- and you could retrospectively first-person any third-person story where the detective appears in every scene; it's only stories including scenes where the detective doesn't appear that you can't do that with). The next story in the collection, 'Pick-Up on Noon Street', first appeared under the title 'Noon Street Nemesis' in Detective Fiction Weekly on 30 May 1936. It was Chandler's ninth published story (of 24 true canonical examples in total, plus posthumous snippets). This was in the middle of his career as a writer for the pulps, so it's not the case that only the earliest stories were third-person. The detective is 'Pete Anglich, narcotic squad undercover man'. After that comes 'Nevada Gas', Chandler's fifth story, originally published in Black Mask in June 1935. Although this features a private eye as a secondary character, the third-person hero is Johnny De Ruse, a professional gambler. The final story in the collection is 'Spanish Blood', Chandler's sixth work, first published in Black Mask in November 1935. The third-person hero is Sam Delaguerra, a police homicide detective. Reference here for the publication of all the short stories:- http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/chandler.html

On the original subject of Marlowe's guns, I've re-read the novels and it goes like this. In The Big Sleep, Marlowe carries a 'Colt .38', not otherwise described. He uses it to shoot the horrible mob hitman Lash Canino, the only person Marlowe ever shoots. (Though he does shoot him four times, taking no chances.) In Farewell, My Lovely, we are told that Marlowe's gun is a Colt .38 Super Match automatic. He carries it but doesn't actually use it. In The High Window, after there's been a shooting, two homicide cops call at Marlowe's apartment. One, Lt Spangler, spots the gun lying on his desk, checks the magazine and peers into the barrel and chamber and determines it hasn't been fired lately. The other, Lt Breeze, says, 'We know damn well it wasn't a long .38 anyway... One of those things will shoot through a wall. No chance of the slug staying inside a man's head.' This clearly means the Colt .38 Super automatic again. In The Lady In The Lake, Marlowe has a '.38', not otherwise described, in the glove compartment of his car, and puts it on the seat when he's being pursued by corrupt Bay City cops, but puts it back again and never uses it. In The Little Sister, surprisingly, Marlowe has 'a Luger' in his office desk and uses it to swipe a bad guy's hand with the barrel. He later says he 'strapped it on' under his coat to go out. This would probably mean a belt holster. American men's suits were loosely cut in the late Forties, but a Luger under your arm would attract a deal of unwanted attention. In The Long Good-Bye, Marlowe seems to have mellowed with age and given up the heavy semi-automatic artillery. At an early stage he carries a 'tough little short-barrelled .32 with flat-point cartridges.' This is an oddly precise reference to .32 Colt New Police revolver ammunition, which was the same thing as .32 Smith & Wesson Long except it had flat-point instead of roundnose bullets. The revolver would probably be a Colt Police Positive with a 2.5-inch barrel, though it could be the slightly smaller Pocket Positive model. On the other hand, .32 CNP would chamber perfectly well in the Smith & Wesson 1917 Hand Ejector Third Model. This is the gun used in the classic 1944 film Double Indemnity, for which Chandler wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay, so he might have been aware of it. (Though Marlowe's gun would not be nickel-plated and pearl-handled like Barbara Stanwyck's.) http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Double_Indemnity Marlowe uses the gun only to fire a single warning shot through a window to deter the madman Earl from hitting him with a brass knuckleduster. Later, when expecting a visit from hoodlums, Marlowe wears 'a gun in a belt holster on the left side, butt forward, a short-barreled Police .38.' He draws it but doesn't actually use it. This could be the famous Smith & Wesson 1899 Military & Police model with a 2-inch or 2.5 inch barrel. But it could be a Colt 1927 Detective Special with 2.12-inch barrel or a Smith & Wesson 1950 Chiefs Special with 2-inch or 3-inch barrel. In Playback, Marlowe carries a 'gun', first in his suitcase and then in a shoulder holster. It is not otherwise described except for its 'rounded butt', so it is probably one of those 'detective' .38 revolvers. He gets ticked off by security at an expensive hotel for wearing it in the lobby, which management doesn't approve of. Just as well he wasn't carrying the Luger, which would have caused a bulge to make the elderly ladies in the lobby faint dead away over their jigsaws and canasta games. Khamba Tendal (talk) 20:04, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Infuences and Adaptations

The following statement on the article under this category contains an error:

In the Count Duckula episode Private Beak, Duckula adopts the pseudonym of Philip Mallard, as a spoof of Marlowe. The name 'Mallard' may refer to Kent Mallard, one of the possible secret identities the Shadow, another pulp fiction crimefighter.

The part about one of the Shadow's possible secret identities being Kent Mallard is incorrect. The name was not Kent Mallard, but Kent Allard (no M).72.79.1.58 (talk) 01:22, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Fixed. In fact, I noticed it the other day, but by the time I finished checking my entire Watchlist edit activity log, I forgot about it. However, does it belong here? A note in The Shadow's own article is no doubt a good idea, but I throw open the floor to discussion about its relevancy to "Philip Marlowe." --Ted Watson (talk) 22:32, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

The Simple Art of Murder

Philip Marlowe is not in any of the short stories in this collection. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.150.170.199 (talk) 02:11, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Name

Chandler took the surname name from the Elizabethan playwright and possible spy; Christopher Marlowe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.254.24 (talk) 14:03, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

New ABC TV series

I see ABC have announced they're got a new Philip Marlowe series from the creator of Castle in development; Article here. Number36 (talk) 23:34, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Picture: Is Bogart Really the Best Marlowe Pic to Use?

I can understand using Bogart as the pic for Marlowe, he was certainly the most famous and his performance in The Big Sleep was IMO just perfect. But he didn't look anything like Marlowe as described by Chandler and Bogart was not someone that Chandler thought a good likeness of Marlowe. The main difference was Marlowe was a big tall guy. In The Big Sleep they even had to change one of the lines of the novel, in the novel the younger daughter says something like "my you're tall" where as in the movie she says "not very tall are you". Not a big deal but as long as we are using a cartoon image anyway I think if someone could get a picture of Marlowe as used in the paperback illustrations of the original books, the big square jawed Marlowe, that was how Chandler described him. --MadScientistX11 (talk) 15:53, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I agree with this comment from eight years ago. Bogart's picture should not be displayed if he doesn't resemble the novel's description or the author's opinion of what Marlowe should look like. It would be like displaying Tom Cruise under the literary character of Jack Reacher. I'm taking this down pending any other art that might be added in its place. --Tropic Wolf (talk) 21:44, 5 February 2022 (UTC)

Marlowe House

Although there is a source for the article's claim that Chandler was in Marlowe House at Dulwich, he wasn't, because Marlowe was one of six day houses created at the school in 1919, all named after famous contemporaries of the school's founder Edward Alleyn. Chandler had left the school nearly 15 years earlier. I take it the school's own website is sufficient authority. https://www.dulwich.org.uk/senior-school/co-curricular/day-houses/a-short-history But, of course, as an Old Alleynian, Chandler might have heard about Marlowe House by 1939 when he wrote The Big Sleep. Khamba Tendal (talk) 20:13, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

The link is also broken; considering this information is contradictory, and no one else seems to be minding this page, I will remove this bit of trivia until some solid facts can be sourced on the origin of the name (from Chandler himself if possible). Tropic Wolf (talk) 03:20, 5 February 2022 (UTC)

Philip Marlowe Concerto by Corentin Boissier

Does this piano concerto (made in 2011) count as a notable example to be mentioned in the References in Other Work section, if yes how should it be written?

(Sorry if the question is dumb) RandomEditorAAA (talk) 02:43, 10 June 2021 (UTC)

Description

I'm not sure what "just short of the classic six foot, two" refers to. Should probably take that out since it is just confusing. In Farewell, My Lovely, Marlowe is described as having dark hair and a medium heavy build, so I am adding those details. --Tropic Wolf (talk) 05:28, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

One more adjustment here. Farewell, My Lovely has a witness describe Marlowe as "six feet" and later, Marlowe remarks, "He had an inch more of height than I had, which made him six feet one." I'm not sure where the previous height was found, but in Farewell, My Lovely at least, he is six feet tall. ~~ Tropic Wolf (talk) 17:49, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Sex??

"That he has sex with female characters is explicit or implied in each of the novels." This is simply not true. Did anyone actually read these books? Maybe all my books were censored. I DON'T THINK SO. i just reread ALL the Philip Marlowe novels. He had sex in "The Long Good-bye" and "Playback". In all the others he spent all this time praying at the monastery with all the other monks. Before the Long Good-bye he did not mess around with any clients, passerby's, or dogs or cats. There were a few kisses and hugs, but that's it.