The Thin Man

In the early '60s before TV ad rates became astronomical and before small local stations joined large syndicated networks, the airwaves were full of old movies and TV series reruns because no one much cared about the ratings during off hours. Among the antique TV shows from the early and mid '50s that were endlessly repeated were (probably terrible) chestnuts like MY LITTLE MARGIE, OH, SUSANNAH!, PRIVATE SECRETARY, THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE, AMOS 'N' ANDY, THE LIFE OF RILEY, December BRIDE, TOPPER, I MARRIED JOAN, OUR MISS BROOKS, LOVE THAT BOB, and one that I remember especially fondly, THE THIN MAN starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk and with the sexy and incomparable Nita Talbot in a recurring role.

I remember virtually nothing about it except the impressions it left me with: Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk seemed dry, pleasant and sophisticated and had a nice chemistry together. I knew nothing of Powell and Loy and the original series of films at the time, so Lawford and Kirk seemed delightful. And even in childhood, I LOVED Nita Talbot, who guested on lots of other series of the period. Tall, with a model's figure and bearing, she usually wore a Veronica Lake pageboy and had a wry, slinky beauty which suggested a cross between Lauren Bacall and Anne Francis. But her voice was honking and grating and she had a N.Y. accent as thick as a slice of corned beef. The incongruity was delicious and she was wonderful.

The only plot I remember in the series was one in which it was implied that a murdered woman (I seem to remember her as a waitress) had been hacked to pieces and hidden in a trunk -- precisely the kind of grisly detail a child would remember.

While I'm willing to believe this series was awful (certainly most or all of the others I listed must have been) I'd love to see several episodes again, and I'd love to know whatever happened to Nita Talbot.

Get TV just started running episodes of The Thin Man and at first I found I couldn't watch more than a few minutes before moving on to something else.

Eventually I got around to watch an entire episode and was fascinated. Not only are the prints crystal clear and without blemish, but the cars, clothes and guest stars are fascinating.

Then I became unable to take my eyes off spooky Phyllis Kirk with her Moe Howard bangs, crazy eyes and painted over Mommie Dearest Mouth. I remembered her from an appropriately creepy episode of The Twilight Zone'

After that came great pleasure from her reedy, yet husky voice and the wardrobe by Helen Rose.

Add in Peter Lawford and loving close-ups of both, and the thin plots and story lines become secondary.

The dialog is pretty witty for 50s TV, far better than the dumbed down lines in a great many TV shows of the 60s.

Flawed but a lot of fun. I think I'd buy the series if it ever comes to DVD to go along with another 50s favorite: Perry Mason.

Not everyone realizes that THE THIN MAN television series from 1957 starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk is a part of the tragic story representing the final chapter of a legendary studio. For years MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer believed television to be a passing fancy and said it would never last. He refused to acknowledge the medium was a permanent phenomenon and the wave of the future. He never recognized it for what it was and for what it would eventually mean to the entertainment industry.

The movie studio system was beginning to dissolve by the mid 1950's and musicals, MGM's signature product, was on its last legs, too. As television gained ground against movies, Mayer remained in complete denial about the medium. He ridiculed it and said it would never last. Even after Mayer was replaced by Dore Schary in the early 1950's who brought in a completely different view of picture making, television wasn't part of the equation. MGM did launch THE MGM PARADE, a weekly television variety show hosted by George Murphey, but it was a bleak attempt to recycle the studio glory days and shriveled up quickly. THE THIN MAN series in 1957 was a weak attempt to gain a foothold in television by flipping pages from the William Powell--Myrna Loy 1930's photo album. But MGM failed to create anything fresh for the new medium and the studio's efforts were too little, too late.

As a show, THE THIN MAN was a perky, but superficial recreation of the Powell--Loy classic. Though Lawford, Kirk, and Asta were pleasant, the show flopped. In contrast to all of the aforementioned, consider what WARNER BROTHERS was doing at that same time: recognizing the impact of getting into every living room in America by producing television shows. For WARNER BROTHERS wisely began churning out a cavalcade of productions--particularly westerns and detective shows that capitalized on the era's programming trends. MAVERICK, SUGARFOOT, LARAMIE, 77 SUNSET STRIP, HAWAIIAN EYE, SURFSIDE SIX, BOURBON STREET BEAT, CHEYENNE, COLT .45--all were WARNER BROTHERS productions. The corporate market share must have been staggering. The successes of those shows bolstered WARNER BROS. for years.

By the late 1960's, MGM was caught in the winds of change. The final nail in the coffin occurred when congress decreed that studios could no longer own movie theatres. Las Vegas Hotel magnate Kirk Kerkorian purchased MGM primarily for its trademark name and Culver City real estate. He later issued a statement that the studio was now a relatively insignificant producer of motion pictures. MGM tore down its legendary back lots and sold the land. Then it auctioned off many collectibles from its vast studio archives. Since then MGM has been bought and sold by so many people there is not enough space here to list either the names or corporate intrigue (even Ted Turner took over and couldn't make a go of it).

THE THIN MAN wasn't just another innocuous 1950's television series that bombed. It is a deceivingly important piece of the story of a great studio beginning a slow descent into oblivion. By failing to recognize that one either adapts to change or becomes extinct, MGM made a catastrophic miscalculation. This is not to say that failure to produce television shows was the primary reason for a great studio's collapse, for other important issues were most assuredly at play. But THE THIN MAN represented just one example of a once great studio falsely believing that sitting on the laurels of past successes holds the key to future survivability.

Dennis Caracciolo

I agree with Alice. Why is no one putting out a DVD collection of this wonderful TV program? I am a devotee of the William Powell, Myrna Loy classics; this is to underscore that for me, the Peter Lawford, Phyllis Kirk re-working of "The Thin Man" requires no apologies for its contemporaneity. There were seventy-two episodes (twenty-four a season), far more than I had guessed. For those of my generation (these episodes ran during my junior high school years), there is doubtless a dear nostalgia for the time; but there is a smooth sophistication here which I am noting many much younger people are beginning to re-appreciate. The exigencies of DVD production has long made me wonder at the odd and inexplicable choices. Some awful turkeys show up both in single releases and in compilations, as fine productions are overlooked.

The main draw of this show would be for fans of the excellent movie series. However, it suffers by comparison. Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk at their best couldn't hope to compete with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and I'm not sure we're getting their best in this show.

To begin with, the entertaining by-play in the dialogue between the two just isn't present in the TV show. In the movies, William Powell comes across as smart, both as a detective and in his turns of phrase. Peter Lawford only comes across as smart aleck. Myrna Loy's Nora has equally clever lines in the films, but in the TV show she is simply a pretty accessory.

The decision to format the show in 30 minutes guaranteed that the mystery plots would be "thin", the characters shallow, and every other element, most often, trite. I've never been a particular fan of Peter Lawford, and this series did not repair my opinion.