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: Brian Leno
Sinister Cinema: Black Lagoon
Halloween — Brian Leno just can’t let it go! He’s back with another weekend of cinematic signatures appropriate to the horrific holiday. Take it away, Brian: This obviously is a signed photo of Julie Adams in Creature from the Black … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged Autographs, Ben Chapman, Brian Leno, Creature from the Black Lagoon, John Agar, Juile Adams, Ricou Browning
Two-Gun Bob: Zuvembie
Brian Leno was digging around in his stuff after telling me that no Halloween would be complete without a zombie — and who could argue that point? Here’s Brian with another treat for the holiday: This Scott Hampton artwork of … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Cyclopean
For Halloween proper Brian Leno trots out an apt image recently pulled from his holdings: I bought this years ago, and I think, if I remember rightly, purchased it directly from William Stout. Of course it’s an original drawing of … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: The Golem
And for the theme of today’s Autograph Hound Super-Sunday, Brian Leno digs another signature from the clay. . . . “I love the German silents,” Brian tells me, “right now a signed postcard of Paul Richter (Siegfried) is on the way from … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Caligari
For Autograph Hound Super-Sunday what other Halloween offerings could Brian Leno pull from the crypt? You just know he’s got an iron-bound door in the wall of a sub-basement, and over the door to that crypt the stark name: John Hancock. … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Scream Queen
To get you in the mood for Halloween this Autograph Hound Saturday, Brian Leno has brought forth from his vault signatures by Candace Hilligoss, Barbara Steele — and now wraps it up with a true icon of the Pop Culture. … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Carnival of Souls
To further prep his fellow Autograph Hounds for the arrival of Halloween, that most eldritch of holidays, Brian Leno jumps back into action with another triple-threat spread of Heroines of Horror. Today he kicks off Autograph Hound Saturday with a … Continue reading
Rediscovered: More 1565 Siege of Malta
The theme of the island of Malta suddenly jumped up and took over the week here on These Mean Streets. By luck, Kevin Cook had a Malta appropriate signature in, and ready to show off on Autograph Hound Saturday. But for Autograph … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Karloff
Autograph Hound Super-Sunday — what signature could Brian Leno possibly offer on the altar of Movie Titans Past for the John Hancock Ritual? Especially after his tour de force rollout yesterday. I think he’s got it covered. Here’s Brian: Nobody will … Continue reading
