I love The Maltese Falcon and that story. Wish I could be there. Toochis --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
--------------------------------- The link did not work, here's the story... Posted on Thu, Feb. 17, 2005 `Maltese Falcon's' leaden star flies in TOWN THAT HATCHED STORY GETS VISIT FROM ARTIFACT By Mary Anne Ostrom Mercury News The most storied bird in cinema history, Dashiell Hammett's ``The Maltese Falcon,'' is winging its way back home to San Francisco to star in the 75th anniversary celebration of a book that helped create the ``hard-boiled'' American mystery genre. Getting the black bird -- or rather, the 50-pound lead prop used in the 1941 screen version -- from Southern California to San Francisco, where Hammett lived and wrote from 1921 to 1929, could very well make a Hammett-style pot boiler all its own. Now valued at $2 million, the statue Sam Spade so doggedly pursued will arrive with armed security. Two San Francisco Police Department officers have been assigned to, uh, bird watching. After a short viewing at a private party at John's Grill, it will spend the night in a bank vault. Depending on whom you ask, Hammett wrote his most popular novel either at John's Grill on Ellis Street, where he would lunch, or at his apartment on Post Street. His office was in the famous Flood Building on Market Street. Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and the evil Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) believed the bird was of ``incalculable value,'' but that isn't the reason for all the security. ``It's a requirement of the insurer,'' said Gary Milan, a retired Beverly Hills dentist who has owned Hollywood's most famous bird for some two decades. He loans it out for special events, and then the falcon returns to its roost in a Warner Bros. studio museum. ``It's very, very valuable,'' Milan added -- somewhere around $2 million. Milan also owns the piano from ``Casablanca'' but believes that the falcon, because it serves as the title of a book and a movie, and has such a pivotal role in both, is ``the most important piece of film memorabilia there is.'' Not Dorothy's ruby slippers? ``There were six pairs of ruby slippers,'' huffed Milan, ``in three different sizes.'' ``The Maltese Falcon'' -- considered Hammett's most influential work of detective fiction that became one of director John Huston's best films -- was first published in serial form in Black Mask magazine in 1929. It appeared as a novel on Valentine's Day, 1930. Last week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein authored a senate resolution declaring that Hammett helped San Francisco become ``the center of hard-boiled crime fiction.'' Today, a short parade is planned near Union Square at 5 p.m. An icon of a later generation, Wavy Gravy, dressed in trench coat and hat, will lead the march of Sam Spade look-alikes to John's Grill. The San Francisco Public Library has a special exhibit on the falcon, co-curated by Hammett's granddaughter, Julie Rivett. Asked why the bird and story still command such attention, Rivett said: ``It's a wild story. It's a juxtaposition of wild fantasy and real-as-a-dime dialogue and personalities.'' She also gives a lot of credit to Huston's film, with its evocative black and white images of San Francisco and Bogart as Spade. And, of course, the mysterious black bird of ``incalculable value.'' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Mary Anne Ostrom at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or (415) 477-3794. Style-b remembers... Johnny Carson Have you seen Style-b Cinema Magazine? Number 2 now available at... http://www.style-b-cinema.com For [Style-b List] discussion community membership/enrollment information... log onto the [Style-b List] web-site at... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/style-b-list The views expressed in this communication do not necessarily reflect those of the author, list owner, or any other person... whether living or dead. . --------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Style-b-list/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
