The Thin Man (TV series)

The Thin Man
Phyllis Kirk, Peter Lawford, and Asta the dog, 1957.
Genre	Comedy Drama
Based on	The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Written by	Ben Starr
Starring	Peter Lawford Phyllis Kirk
Theme music composer	Johnny Green (Season 1) Pete Rugolo (Season 2)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	72
Production
Running time	1/2 hour (25:33 minutes)
Production companies	Clarington Productions MGM Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 20, 1957 (1957-09-20) – August 28, 1959 (1959-08-28)

The Thin Man is a half-hour weekly television series based on the mystery novel The Thin Man (1933) by Dashiell Hammett. The 72 episodes were produced by MGM Television and broadcast by NBC for two seasons from 1957–1959 on Friday evening. It was the first TV series produced by MGM.

Overview

The series starred Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk as Nick and Nora Charles. The dog, Asta, was played by three identical wire-hair terriers. Jack Albertson, Patricia Donahue, and Nita Talbot had recurring roles during the show's second season. Albertson played Lieutenant Harry Evans of the New York Police Department. Donahue played Hazel, Nick and Nora's neighbor. Talbot played Beatrice Dane, alias Blondie Collins, a criminal who dragged Nick and Nora into her schemes. Both Hazel and Beatrice made attempts to seduce Nick. Nora's jealousy fueled her sarcasm on these occasions.

A newspaper columnist wrote that Nora Charles's role was different from that of other female leads in detective programs on television. Kirk commented:

We were the first of the sophisticated detective dramas, and from the scripts it was simple to see that the part of Nora Charles was that of a leading lady who made more than token appearances. Since then some of the new shows just use girls as part of the scenery.

Among the series guest stars was Billy Gray, who appeared at the same time he was cast as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in Father Knows Best. Ann McCrea was cast as Billie in the 1958 episode, "The Lost Last Chapter". Of note is the "guest star" in the episode "Robot Client": the original Robby the Robot from the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. This episode is available as an extra on the Forbidden Planet DVD.

Ben Starr was the program's writer, while Sam Marx was the executive producer. Episodes were shot back to back across the two seasons. In May 1959, Kirk revealed that she and Lawford were contractually attached to the series until August.

The series began airing on Sony's GetTV in March 2016.

Episode list

Season 1: 1957–58

Nº	Ep	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"The Dollar Doodle"	Unknown	Unknown	September 20, 1957 (1957-09-20)
2	2	"Duke of Sing Sing"	Unknown	Unknown	September 27, 1957 (1957-09-27)
3	3	"The Angel Biz"	Unknown	Unknown	October 4, 1957 (1957-10-04)
4	4	"Come Back Darling Asta"	John Meredyth Lucas	Story by : Herman Groves Teleplay by : Dean Riesner & Martin Ragaway	October 11, 1957 (1957-10-11)
5	5	"Paris Pendant"	Unknown	Unknown	October 18, 1957 (1957-10-18)
6	6	"That's the Spirit"	Unknown	Unknown	October 25, 1957 (1957-10-25)
7	7	"Acrostic Murder"	Unknown	Unknown	November 1, 1957 (1957-11-01)
8	8	"Dead Duck"	Unknown	Unknown	November 8, 1957 (1957-11-08)
9	9	"Fatal Cliche"	Unknown	Unknown	November 15, 1957 (1957-11-15)
10	10	"Ring Around Rosie"	Unknown	Unknown	November 22, 1957 (1957-11-22)
11	11	"Angels in Paradise"	Unknown	Unknown	November 29, 1957 (1957-11-29)
12	12	"The Fashion Showdown"	Unknown	Unknown	December 6, 1957 (1957-12-06)
13	13	"Dead Giveaway"	Unknown	Unknown	December 13, 1957 (1957-12-13)
14	14	"Unwelcome Alibi"	Unknown	Unknown	December 27, 1957 (1957-12-27)
15	15	"Asta Day"	Unknown	Unknown	January 3, 1958 (1958-01-03)
16	16	"The Scene Stealer"	Unknown	Unknown	January 10, 1958 (1958-01-10)
17	17	"Damone Dilemma"	Unknown	Unknown	January 17, 1958 (1958-01-17)
18	18	"Unlucky Lucky Number"	Unknown	Unknown	January 24, 1958 (1958-01-24)
19	19	"Man on the Bridge"	Unknown	Unknown	January 31, 1958 (1958-01-31)
20	20	"Pre-Incan Caper"	Unknown	Unknown	February 7, 1958 (1958-02-07)
21	21	"Murder Is Where You Find It"	Unknown	Unknown	February 14, 1958 (1958-02-14)
22	22	"Ship Shakedown"	Unknown	Unknown	February 21, 1958 (1958-02-21)
23	23	"Robot Client"	Oscar Rudolph	Devery Freeman	February 28, 1958 (1958-02-28)
24	24	"The Mystery of the Missing Murders"	Unknown	Unknown	March 7, 1958 (1958-03-07)
25	25	"Double Jeopardy"	Unknown	Unknown	March 14, 1958 (1958-03-14)
26	26	"Bookworms"	Unknown	Unknown	March 21, 1958 (1958-03-21)
27	27	"Jittery Juror"	Bretaigne Windust	Phil Davis & Charles Hoffman	March 28, 1958 (1958-03-28)
28	28	"The Departed Doctor"	Unknown	Unknown	April 4, 1958 (1958-04-04)
29	29	"The Tennis Champ"	Unknown	Unknown	April 11, 1958 (1958-04-11)
30	30	"The Delinquent"	Unknown	Unknown	April 18, 1958 (1958-04-18)
31	31	"The Painted Witnesses"	Unknown	Unknown	May 2, 1958 (1958-05-02)
32	32	"The Saucer People"	Unknown	Unknown	May 9, 1958 (1958-05-09)
33	33	"The Carstadt Man"	Unknown	Unknown	May 16, 1958 (1958-05-16)
34	34	"The Art of Murder"	Unknown	Unknown	May 23, 1958 (1958-05-23)
35	35	"Kappa Kappa Kaper"	Unknown	Unknown	May 30, 1958 (1958-05-30)
36	36	"The Valley Forger"	Unknown	Unknown	June 6, 1958 (1958-06-06)
37	37	"The Screaming Doll"	Unknown	Unknown	June 13, 1958 (1958-06-13)

Season 2: 1958–59

Nº	Ep	Title	Original air date
38	1	"Scene of the Crime"	October 24, 1958 (1958-10-24)
39	2	"Housewarming"	October 31, 1958 (1958-10-31)
40	3	"Pack My Gat, Beulah"	November 7, 1958 (1958-11-07)
41	4	"Lost Last Chapter"	November 14, 1958 (1958-11-14)
42	5	"I Loathe You, Darling"	November 21, 1958 (1958-11-21)
43	6	"Human Bomb"	November 28, 1958 (1958-11-28)
44	7	"Plague of Pigeons"	December 5, 1958 (1958-12-05)
45	8	"Design for Murder"	December 12, 1958 (1958-12-12)
46	9	"Murder in Mink"	December 19, 1958 (1958-12-19)
47	10	"Lady on the Lam"	December 26, 1958 (1958-12-26)
48	11	"Beauty and the Bath"	January 2, 1959 (1959-01-02)
49	12	"The Case of the Baggy Pants"	January 9, 1959 (1959-01-09)
50	13	"Maine Thing"	January 23, 1959 (1959-01-23)
51	14	"Outrageous"	January 30, 1959 (1959-01-30)
52	15	"The Big Holdout"	February 6, 1959 (1959-02-06)
53	16	"Perfect Servant"	February 13, 1959 (1959-02-13)
54	17	"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Morgue"	February 20, 1959 (1959-02-20)
55	18	"Black Wind and Lightning"	February 27, 1959 (1959-02-27)
56	19	"Holiday for Hazel"	March 6, 1959 (1959-03-06)
57	20	"Lady Frankenstein"	March 13, 1959 (1959-03-13)
58	21	"Mayhem to Music"	March 20, 1959 (1959-03-20)
59	22	"La Sabre Invecta Est?"	March 27, 1959 (1959-03-27)
60	23	"Gory Road"	April 3, 1959 (1959-04-03)
61	24	"Anonymity Anyone?"	April 10, 1959 (1959-04-10)
62	25	"That's Gratitude"	April 17, 1959 (1959-04-17)
63	26	"The Cat Kicker"	April 24, 1959 (1959-04-24)
64	27	"Bronze Bonze"	May 1, 1959 (1959-05-01)
65	28	"Requiem for a Recluse"	May 8, 1959 (1959-05-08)
66	29	"Nora Goes Over the Wall"	May 15, 1959 (1959-05-15)
67	30	"Hamilton Hollered Help"	May 22, 1959 (1959-05-22)
68	31	"Dear Dead Days"	May 29, 1959 (1959-05-29)
69	32	"Cold Cargo"	June 12, 1959 (1959-06-12)
70	33	"Bat McKidderick Esq."	June 12, 1959 (1959-06-12)
71	34	"Cherchez La Sexpot"	June 19, 1959 (1959-06-19)
72	35	"Paradise Discovered"	June 26, 1959 (1959-06-26)

External links

• The Thin Man at IMDb