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
Tag Archives: Bill Arney
Hammett: Nathan Ward v. M. Spade
Got a note from our pal Nathan Ward — author of the Hammett bio The Lost Detective — that he’s getting sucked into the current Sam Spade experience of watching Monsieur Spade on AMC. “I have only seen one episode,” … Continue reading
Hammett: Jeopardy! Hits Nick and Nora (And Glass Onion Cameos the Black Bird)
Jeopardy! hasn’t hit the Hammett clew pile lately as much as it did back in the Golden Age of Alex Trebek. But every now and then they just can’t avoid it. . . . For the show broadcast December 23rd, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, News
Tagged Alex Trebek, Bill Arney, Glass Onion, Jeopardy!, Madelyn Cline, Rian Johnson
891 Post: In Memoriam Bill Arney
Front, Bill Arney at the dedication ceremony for the plaque on 891 Post Street, March 17, 2005. Behind him, on the right, Jo Hammett, youngest daughter of Dashiell Hammett.
891 Post: The Hidey Hole
On September 20, 2009 I took a shot of the hidden compartment Bill Arney had — mysteriously — set in the floor of the Sam Spade apartment. I guess he figured, Why not? Out of all the Herculean effort Bill … Continue reading
891 Post: Nicotine Yellow
The corner outside the door into the kitchen in the Sam Spade apartment shows some of the roughest rough stage work as Bill Arney labored to get the place ready for a new inhabitant. You can see some of the … Continue reading
891 Post: Minwax Gel Cherrywood
As a little Xmas present — and to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of Bill Arney on September 28, 2021 — let’s take a look into the Sam Spade apartment in 891 Post Street. The date was September … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit
Tagged 891 Post, Bill Arney, Joe Hagen, Mark Murphy, Minwax Gel Cherrywood, Murphy bed
891 Post: Enter the Apartment
On September 20, 2009 I gumshoed up to the gate of 891 Post. Corner of Hyde. In the night, the plaque we’d put on the building early in 2005 to commemorate the residence of Dashiell Hammett gave off a dim … Continue reading
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
Sinister Cinema: The Shadow of Bill Arney
Dropped in on a memorial party for the late great Bill Arney last night in 891 Post, tales were told of his exploits, we found the raw footage of his epic toy tank battle filmed in Death Valley or someplace, … Continue reading
