Private Eye Day is the birthday of Raymond Chandler. Mr. Chandler, the creator of Philip Marlowe, was born this day in 1888. Here are 10 things you might not know about the character:
Philip Marlowe is a fictional “hard boiled” private investigator created by Raymond Chandler. He appears in a series of novels including The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; and The Long Goodbye.
Philip Marlowe was born in Santa Rosa, California, though the date isn’t specified and his age varies from novel to novel. He’s 33 in 1933, 42 in 1953, and 43 1/2 in 1958.
His height isn’t consistent either. in The Long Goodbye he is described as being "six feet, one half inch", while while in Farewell My Lovely he is implied to be six feet tall exactly. He weighs about 190 lb (86 kg).
The character first appeared in a series of short stories called Black Mask, along with other private eyes called John Dalmas, Carmady, Ted Carmady and Mallory.
The stories are set in Los Angeles from the 1930s through to the 1950s.
Before becoming a PI, Marlowe was an investigator for an insurance company and the district attorney's office of Los Angeles County. He was fired from the DA's office for insubordination.
He smokes and drinks a lot. He enjoys Whiskey, brandy and scotch and also uses drink to get people talking. His favoured brand of cigarettes is Camel. He drinks Coffee, too and uses a vacuum coffee maker.
He’s single for most of the novels although it’s generally implied in them that he gets it together with a female character at some point. At the beginning of Poodle Springs, it is revealed that he has just married Linda Loring, a love interest from a previous novel.
He relaxes by playing Chess against himself, or duplicating historical games from tournaments.
Marlowe has been played by many actors including Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, James Garner, Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum, Danny Glover, James Caan and Liam Neeson.
The first in a new series! It has invading aliens, gladiator-style contests, rivalry and romance.
The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.
Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.
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