Nora Charles
March /Nora Charles
If you’ve followed my work for some time, you will have undoubtedly come across my handmade dolls and illustrated scenes of cocktail swigging Nora Charles.
Nora Charles, along with her husband Nick are fictional characters from the 1930s crime novel The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. The book is a fun, classic detective story but, in truth, doesn’t do an awful lot for me. However, when Myrna Loy and William Powell brought the couple to the silver screen in 1934 they added an extra layer of sparkle, flirtatious innuendo and very boozy banter - all while calming solving hard-core murders of course!
My version of Nora Charles is inspired by Myrna Loy’s portrayal. I realise this might not be obvious to everyone if you’re not familiar with the film but perhaps my Nora driven illustrations and dolls might encourage you to watch one of the movies. There are 6 Thin Man films altogether, but I only really rate the first two: The Thin Man 1934 and After the Thin Man 1936 - the first being set around Christmas and the second New Years Eve.
Nora has always appealed to me since I watched the first of the 6 movies, one Christmas aged about 15. She’s not syrup sweet and she’s not subservient (as many husband/wife relationships were stereotypically portrayed in those days) She was absolutely on an even keel with Mr. Charles and at times most definitely in the driving seat.
Nora’s Glamorous Wardrobe..
So, if, like me, you’re a fan, your eyes will positively burn at the gorgeousness of Nora’s day through to evening outfits. They were the sophisticated creations of Hollywood costume designer Dolly Tree who gave our sleuthing couple just the right amount of 1930s elegance.
My all-time favourite ensembles have to be the black satin lounge suit with white ruffle collar and cuffs, followed by the candy cane, Christmas Eve cocktail dress. Will we ever know the colour of that dress? I always imagine it as red and white, but some sources declare it as green and white. Guess we’ll never know.
Handsewn completely. Nora wears the lounge suit (which never got nearly enough screen time) Made with black vintage satin. Her collar and cuffs are made with some lining from an old dress. I made a cute cardboard cut-out of little Asta and love how this perfectly combines both my illustration and doll style together.
The Christmas Eve Cocktail dress. Got to be red and white right?
Full of pins recreating the sophisticated plaid suit. Using vintage wool plaid, hand dyed velvet and scraps of vintage cream silk for her collar and cuffs.
It’s always exciting for me to illustrate my dolls as proper characters in lovely scenes - especially since Nora’s outfits in The Thin Man were so glamorous. I allow myself a little artistic license and like to imagine sweet in-between scenes alongside the ones we already know….
Imagine her wearing the plaid suit but off sniffing out clues with Asta
……..or in that beautiful black satin lounge suit sat at her dressing table with a champagne cocktail.
Christmas Eve Cocktail dress
Another gorgeous gown.
This is the black satin dream dress.
Nora refers to as a Lulu!
This was a slang term often used in the
1920’s and 30’s and meant extreme and
exciting!
‘I’ve got a Lulu’
A black satin, halter neck, with a dramatic diamond studded broach and bracelet. If this isn’t the perfect dress to host a dinner party/murder solving conundrum, then I don’t know what is.
Now, we just can’t talk about this adorable comfort movie without mentioning the couples canine companion Asta. Asta was an unruly, cute wire fox terrier, sniffing out clues and leading an incredibly glamorous life with Nick and Nora.
You know how much I love my illustrated characters to have sidekicks - Asta ticks every box!
So much fun making these Asta paper cut outs. Cartridge paper, brown cardboard, black pen and a bit of paint and ribbon.
A scene from my sketchbook
Christmas Shopping!
When Nora makes her grand entrance in The Thin Man it’s classic screwball comedy. She very artfully takes a tumble while trying to control Asta who’s dragged her into a fancy cocktail bar. The scene is an almighty commotion as her gifts and purse spill across the polished floor. So perfect. I imagine this illustrated scene as the prequel. Slightly calmer but losing all her mistletoe (for the Christmas Eve party) as well as one of her gifts - resulting in an angry little Christmas box anxious to get back on the pile.
The Christmas shopping and 5 more martinis outfit.
Dancing with Asta on NYE in that gorgeous dressing gown. I imagine they’d probably be wearing paper hats
‘After the Thin Man’
Sketchbook Nora wearing an oversized fur collar and cute/flowerpot hat
‘After the Thin Man’
This is an imagined outfit for Nora but one I think we could definitely see her wearing during the mid 30’s.
Another sketchbook quickie. A champagne cocktail and a good book (murder mystery of course)
Asta has very different weekend plans to Nora…
I very much hope Myrna Loy would of enjoyed my creative response to Nora Charles. She’s been one of my favorite actresses for over 3 decades! I’ve seen most of her movies now, apart from a few very early ones. Here are a handful of my favourites - after the first two Thin Man movies, should you ever need a Myrna fix…
Evelyn Prentice 1934 (also with William Powell)
Manhattan Melodrama 1934 (also with William Powell)
Wife vs Secretary 1936
Mr Blandings builds his dream house 1948
Libeled Lady 1936 (also with William Powell)
If you’ve not yet seen The Thin Man movies and you decide to check them out you will without doubt recognise some of Nora’s outfits from my drawings and dolls.
So, prepare yourself a cocktail and allow yourself to fall for the on-screen chemistry of Mr and Mrs Charles.
A Classic Nick and Nora Martini..
45ml Dry Gin
15ml Dry Vermouth
Green Olive
Stir all the ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.
Or perhaps you’d prefer a Champagne cocktail…
4 sugar cubes
16 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 bottle of champagne
4 twists of lemon
Pip.