American novelist (1894–1961) best known for such detective and mystery classics as the Sam Spade series (including The Maltese Falcon) and The Thin Man. TLS signed “Dash,” one page, 7.25 x 10.5, Beverly Wilshire letterhead, January 22, 1950. Letter to Muriel concerning his writing and some awful dinners at homes of famous film makers. In part: “I’m staying in trying to untangle what I hope is the last knot in Detective Story so I can get rolling on it this week. It is my firm conviction that Sidney Kingsley’s roommates at college says Kingsley’s only ambition was to wear a size 16 collar and he spent all his time exercising his neck till he got it that big…Last night I went over to the Wylers’ for dinner—the worst dinner I remember since one at Maxwell Anderson’s out here in the 30’s. I think the soup was made out of old mimeograph stencils…of rejected scripts. I had to keep reminding myself I love Tall.” In fine condition, with a light vertical bend through one letter of signature, small pencil notation to top, and a couple trivial creases.
Hammett, no longer in the prime of his career and facing financial woes, had just begun work on the movie adaptation of Kingsley’s Detective Story play when he sent this letter. Apparently, the early stages of the processes were making him quite cantankerous. If the meal served by the film’s acclaimed director, William Wyler, left a bad taste in his mouth, then so, too, must have the arrangement as a whole. Hammett worked on the script for two months (referring to the playwright in this letter as a “lame-brain”), before giving up and returning the money he had been advanced by Wyler. Not surprisingly, his name does not appear in the credits of the 1951 motion picture, one considered to be a film noir classic. A witty and well-crafted letter exhibiting Hammett’s skills as a writer…skills he failed to tap when he needed them most! RRAuction COA.
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