| Philip Marlowe | |
|---|---|
 Humphrey Bogart in the trailer for the 1946 filmThe Big Sleep | |
| First appearance | "Finger Man" (short story) The Big Sleep (novel) |
| Last appearance | "The Pencil" (short story) Poodle Springs (unfinished novel, completed byRobert B. Parker) |
| Created by | Raymond Chandler |
| Portrayed by |
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| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Private detective |
| Nationality | American |
Philip Marlowe (/ˈmɑːrloʊ/MAR-loh) is a fictional character created byRaymond Chandler who was characteristic of thehardboiledcrime fiction genre. The genre originated in the 1920s, notably inBlack Mask magazine, in whichDashiell Hammett'sThe Continental Op andSam Spade first appeared. Marlowe first appeared under that name inThe Big Sleep, published in 1939. Chandler's earlyshort stories, published inpulp magazines such asBlack Mask andDime Detective, featured similar characters with names like "Carmady" and "John Dalmas", starting in 1933.
Some of those short stories were later combined and expanded into novels featuring Marlowe, a process Chandler called "cannibalizing", which is more commonly known in publishing as afix-up. When the original stories were republished years later in the short-story collectionThe Simple Art of Murder, Chandler did not change the names of theprotagonists to Philip Marlowe. His first two stories, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot" and "Smart-Aleck Kill" (with a detective named Mallory), were never altered in print but did join the others as Marlowe cases for the television seriesPhilip Marlowe, Private Eye.
Underneath the wisecracking, hard-drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative, philosophical and enjoyschess andpoetry. While he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores. Morally upright, he is not fooled by the genre's usualfemmes fatales, such as Carmen Sternwood inThe Big Sleep. Chandler's treatment of the detective novel exhibits an effort to develop the form. His first full-length book,The Big Sleep, was published when Chandler was 51; his last,Playback, when he was 70. He wrote seven novels in the last two decades of his life. An eighth,Poodle Springs, was completed posthumously byRobert B. Parker and published years later.
Explaining the origin of Marlowe's character, Chandler commented, "Marlowe just grew out of the pulps. He was no one person".[1] When creating the character, Chandler had originally intended to call him Mallory; his stories for theBlack Mask featured characters that are considered precursors to Marlowe. The emergence of Marlowe coincided with Chandler's transition from writing short stories to novels.[1]
The Cahuenga Building, where Phillip Marlowe's office is located, is widely believed to be inspired by theSecurity Savings and Trust located onHollywood Boulevard inHollywood, California.[2][3]
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels includingThe Big Sleep;Farewell, My Lovely; andThe Long Goodbye. Chandler is not consistent as to Marlowe's age. InThe Big Sleep, set in 1936, Marlowe's age is given as 33, while inThe Long Goodbye (set 14 years later), Marlowe is 42. In a letter to D. J. Ibberson of April 19, 1951, Chandler noted among other things that Marlowe is 38 years old and was born inSanta Rosa, California.[citation needed] He had a couple of years at college and some experience as an investigator for an insurance company and thedistrict attorney's office ofLos Angeles County. He was fired from the DA's office for insubordination (or as Marlowe put it, "talking back"). The DA's chief investigator, Bernie Ohls, is a friend and former colleague and a source of information for Marlowe within law enforcement.
As with his age, Chandler is not consistent as to Marlowe's height: inThe Long Goodbye he is described as being "six feet, one half inch", while inFarewell My Lovely Marlowe describes one of his clients, Lindsay Marriott, as having "an inch more of height than I had, which made him six feet one" – meaning Marlowe is six feet tall himself. He weighs about 190 lb (86 kg). He is described as having dark hair and a medium heavy build (Farewell, My Lovely); dark brown hair with some grey and brown eyes (The Long Good-bye). Marlowe first lived at the Hobart Arms, on Franklin Avenue near North Kenmore Avenue (inThe Big Sleep) but then moved to the Bristol Hotel, where he stayed for about 10 years. By 1950 (inThe Long Good-bye) he has rented a house on Yucca Avenue inLaurel Canyon and continued at the same place in early 1952 inPlayback, Chandler's last full-length Marlowe novel.
His office, originally on the seventh floor of an unnamed building in 1936, is at #615 on the sixth floor of the Cahuenga Building by March–April 1939 (the date ofFarewell, My Lovely), which is onHollywood 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. Marlowe's office is modest and he does not have a secretary (unlike Sam Spade). He generally refuses to takedivorce cases.
He drinkswhiskey orbrandy frequently and in relatively large quantities. For example, inThe High Window, he gets out a bottle ofFour Roses and pours glasses for him, Det. Lt. Breeze and Spangler. At other times, he is drinkingOld Forester, aKentucky 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) However, inPlayback he orders a doubleGibson at a bar while tailing Betty Mayfield. Also, inThe Long Good-bye, Terry Lennox and he drinkGimlets; in the same novel he also orders awhiskey sour and drinks Cordon Rougechampagne with Linda Loring.
Marlowe is adept at using liquor to loosen peoples' tongues. An example is inThe High Window, when Marlowe finally persuades the detective-lieutenant, whose "solid old face was lined and grey with fatigue", to take a drink: "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 frequently drinks coffee. Eschewing the use of filters (seeFarewell, My Lovely), he uses avacuum coffee maker (seeThe Long Good-bye, chapter 5). He smokes and prefersCamel cigarettes. At home and at his office (see Playback) he sometimes smokes a pipe. Achess adept, he is often described as playing games against himself or setting out and duplicating historical tournament games from books as a means of relaxation or clearing his head.
As is typical of pulp fiction private eyes from Sherlock Holmes onward, Marlowe is a bachelor throughout most of the novels. That he has sex with female characters is explicit or implied in each of the novels, but he is also shown resisting various sexual invitations and refusing to take advantage of other sexual opportunities on moral grounds. InThe Long Goodbye the divorced daughter of the press tycoon Harlan Potter, Linda Loring (with whom he has spent one night of passion), asks Marlowe to go with her to Paris, but he declines. Then, at the end of the next novel,Playback (set some 18 months later), Loring phones him from Paris and asks him again to join her ("I'm asking you to marry me"). Marlowe challenges her to come to him in L.A. instead, implicitly testing her sincerity. In the opening paragraphs ofPoodle Springs he has just married her.
Marlowe has appeared on stage at least twice. An adaptation ofThe Little Sister in 1978 in Chicago starredMike Genovese as Marlowe.[9] In 1982,Richard Maher andRoger Michell wrotePrivate Dick, in which Chandler has lost the manuscript for a novel, and calls in Marlowe to help find it. The production played in London, withRobert Powell as Marlowe.[9]
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