Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour. 
The Dashiell Hammett Tour
1977-2022
Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973
Death Lit
Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024
Willeford
The Book
Category Archives: Frisco
Sinister Cinema: Superman Live
Autograph Hound Super-Sunday once more, and from his extensive files of John Hancocks stacked on top of John Hancocks, Brian Leno sends in Kirk Alyn — the first actor to portray Superman in live action. Brian noted, “Am enjoying the … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco
Tagged Autographs, Bo Derek, Brian Leno, Hugh Jackman, Kirk Alyn, Mr T, Patrick Warburton, Redd Foxx, Superman, Virginia O'Brien
Posse McMillan: A Jim Nisbet Memory
I cannot say that I knew the late Jim Nisbet well — went to his house in one of the alleys off Hayes and Laguna two or three times, mostly because Dennis McMillan happened to be visiting at the moment. … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Patrick Warburton
Onscreen in The Woman Chaser, Patrick Warburton plays one of the most unlikable characters you’ll ever meet — before and after the movie, though, you’re talking to one of the friendliest people you’ll find in the bar of the Alamo … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco, Willeford
Tagged Alamo Drafthouse, Dragonard, Lemony Snicket, Oliver Reed, Patrick Warburton, Peter Serafinowicz, The Woman Chaser
Sinister Cinema: The Woman Chaser
Joe McSpadden, producer for 1999’s The Woman Chaser, mentioned that the December 7 showing in the Alamo Drafthouse put the movie on the largest screen ever — swell deal for cineastes. Above, a still frame of star Patrick Warburton as … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco, Lit, News, Willeford
Tagged Alamo Drafthouse, Jake Isgar, Joe McSpadden, Pacific Film Archive, Patrick Warburton, The Woman Chaser
Tour: Just Over Twenty Years Ago. . .
Our pal Mike Humbert sent a couple of images winging around the net, with the info line: “Two pics from me taking the Dashiell Hammett tour for the first time, October 27, 2002.” Twenty years ago and change. Image at … Continue reading
Posse McMillan: Kent Harrington and the Third Degree
Our buddy Kent Harrington from the old Posse McMillan days — and up to today — fields some snoopy queries in his latest interview over on the Noir Con site. He mentions Dennis McMillan and the days of yesteryear, plus … Continue reading
Posse McMillan: Jim Nisbet, Mort
Just got a message from Kent Harrington at 6p.m., who says: “Jim Nisbet passed today. Dennis just texted me.” Another writer from Posse McMillan down.
Two-Gun Bob: June 11, 1926 — 1936 — 2022
Today marks the anniversary of the suicide by gunshot at age thirty of Texas author Robert E. Howard, sitting in his Chevy outside the family home in Cross Plains. Our resident Autograph Hound Brian Leno lays out another John Hancock … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco, Lit, News, REH
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Boris Karloff, Brian Leno, Collier's, Hugh Wiley, literary suicides, San Francisco Mysteries, Steve Eng
Mort: Fred Ward
After the fact, word drifted in that Fred Ward died on Sunday May 9 at the age of 79. Got to note it here since — as pictured above — Fred was the first to essay the role of Charles … Continue reading
