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: Leo Grin
Two-Gun Bob: Norris Chambers RIP
I’m running behind on memorial notices, as pals of mine have been kicking off right and left, it seems. And even though I did a Memorial March theme last year, noting the anniversaries for the deaths of Lovecraft and ERB, as … Continue reading
Posted in News, REH, Willeford
Tagged Edgar Rice Burroughs, George Orwell, Leo Grin, Lovecraft, Norris Chambers, Tarzan, Texas, The Cimmerian, Tompk
Hollywood Beat: The Tully Talk
On Sunday the 14th I got up in Denver at the crack-of-dawn (and anyone who knows me can tell you I hate the crack-of-dawn) and began punching the machine toward LA for the talk about Jim Tully in Musso & Frank, … Continue reading
Posted in DMac, Film, Lit, News, Willeford
Tagged Book Collecting, Boris Karloff, Charlie Chaplin, Circus Parade, Erich von Stroheim, Frankenstein, Howard Prouty, James Whale, Jim Tully, Larry Edmunds Bookshop, Leo Grin, Lon Chaney Sr., Mark Dawidziak, Musso & Frank, Paul J. Bauer, The Bruiser, The Maltese Falcon Society, The Mummy, UCLA
Mort: Tompk, Anniversary Three
Keeping the Memorial March theme rolling, it’s hard to believe that Steve Tompkins passed away three years ago at the age of 48. I was supposed to write some sort of long review for the upcoming issue 13 of Two-Gun … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Call Me Al — Al Catraz
For a brief while in there, ennui seized me in its grip, and it seemed like the only thing I had to live for (in the current popular entertainment landscape, at any rate) was the return of The Walking Dead, any … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Frisco, News
Tagged Alcatraz, Creepy Karpis, Daryl Dixon, Deadwood, Douglas Fairbanks, Ed Lauter, Geri Jewell, Hurley, Jean Hagen, Joe Gores, Leo Grin, Leon Rippy, Lost, Missi Pyle, Monk, Noir City, Richard Layman, Sam Neill, Sarah Jones, Stephen King, Terry Zobeck, The Artist, The Mark of Zorro, The Walking Dead, Vince Emery
Two-Gun Bob: 106 and Counting
Birthday 106 for Robert E. Howard today. Almost 76 years since he committed suicide on June 11, 1936. And his name lives on. Not bad for a writer who plied his trade in the pulps and didn’t see a single … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News, REH
Tagged "Conan vs. Conantics", Al Harron, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Doc Howard, Frazetta, Glenn Lord, Howard Days, Jason Momoa, L. Sprague de Camp, Leo Grin, Lin Carter, pure texts, The Cimmerian, Tompk, Whoopi Goldberg
Hollywood Beat: More Musso
Finally, I got a date set-up — Saturday August 20, 2011 — where I could hit Musso & Frank with Craig Graham, the guy who first told me about the place. Craig reserved a table with a view of the bar. … Continue reading
Posted in DMac, Film, Lit
Tagged Charlie Chaplin, Craig Graham, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Jim Thompson, Jimmy Durante, Leo Grin, Lillian Hellman, Musso & Frank, Robert Polito, Steve McQueen, Vagabond Books
Hollywood Beat: Musso & Frank
Since I missed out on Musso & Frank for years, I’ve been trying to catch up, stopping in every time I make the drive down to LA — I figure I won’t burn out, given that I only drop south once or twice a … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, DMac, Film, Lit
Tagged Bukowski, Charles Bronson, Charlie Chaplin, Craig Graham, Doug Fairbanks, Ed Lauter, Harlan Ellison, Jim Thompson, Johnny Depp, Leo Grin, Musso & Frank, Raymond Chandler, Vagabond Books
Frisco Beat: The Return of Donald Sidney-Fryer
This coming Saturday, September 17, starting at 3p.m., you’ll find Donald Sidney-Fryer back in town for a signing in Borderlands. He did his stint as a San Francisco writer, starting sometime in the 1960s, tossing himself full tilt into the Hippie Scene … Continue reading
