A Who and What of Noir(ish)

There are numerous allusions in the novel to noir fiction, film noir, and the people and films and books connected to it. A list is below.

CHARACTERS

Robert Grahame—A combination of Robert Mitchum and Gloria Grahame, both stars of various noirs of the era.

Lizabeth Duryea—A combination of Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea, both stars of various noirs of the era.

Lauren Stanwyck—A combination of Lauren Bacall and Barbara Stanwyck, both stars of various noirs of the era.

Gloria Mitchum—A combination of Gloria Grahame and Robert Mitchum, both stars of various noirs of the era.

Dan Scott—A combination of Dan Duryea and Lizabeth Scott, both stars of various noirs of the era.

Moe Sedway—Not a Noir(ish) invention but a real person who ran much of the early Vegas operation for the mob. He was close friends with Bugsy Siegel.

Humphrey Bacall—A combination of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, both stars of various noirs of the era.

Fritz Lorre—A combination of Fritz Lang and Peter Lorre, director of and supporting player in various noir films. Lang and Lorre’s most famous collaboration was M, in which Lorre plays a child-murderer whose coat, on the back, is marked with the letter M. The film isn’t noir, but stylistically it’s a forerunner of the genre.

Sydney MacMurray—A combination of Sydney Greenstreet and Fred MacMurray, both stars of various noirs of the era.

Greenstreet—Robert’s cat, named for Sydney Greenstreet, a star of various noirs of the era.

Elisha—Named for Elisha Cook, a supporting player in various noirs of the era.

Ed Hopper, the counterman—Named for painter Edward Hopper, whose Nighthawks incorporates many of the visual elements of the films’ style.

Wilmer—Named for the “gunsel” played by Elisha Cook in The Maltese Falcon.

Vivian O’Shaughnessy—A combination of Vivian Sternwood and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, femmes fatale of the noir classics The Big Sleep and the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon, respectively.