Fictionalized by John Stanley & Kenn Davis
“I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true.”
— Humphrey Bogart
But has anyone ever so epitomized the private eye in the public’s imagination? I mean, this is the man who played both Chandler’s Philip Marlowe AND Hammett’s Sam Spade, as well as a slew of other tough guy roles that virtually defined masculinity for several generations.
Hell, Bogart’s public persona could have been scripted by Chandler and Hammett. Bogie was a man’s man, a man of honour and integrity, who stood by his pals (Take that, HUAC!), but would take no fool’s insolence. His word was his bond, he enjoyed a drink like any other yegg, and having Lauren Bacall (arguably the ultimate P.I. moll) hanging on his arm was just icing on the cake.
So, is it any wonder that Bogart, in his fedora and trench coat, became a sort of icon for the private eye ideal, a sort of cultural short-hand that’s shown up in sources as varied as Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam, John Wagner and Alan Grant’s Bogie Man comic, or Andrew J. Fenady’s The Man With Bogart’s Face?
Or John Stanley & Kenn Davis’ Bogart ’48, a 1980 Dell paperback that envisioned Bogey playing detective for real in 1940’s Hollywood.
I mean, can’t you just see it?
In the book, it’s Hollywood in 1948, Bacall is away, and Bogie’s just wrapping up the filming of Key Largo, when he gets news that a good friend, Johnny Hawks, has been murdered, and that it may have something to do with a script for a film entitled Hollywood Armageddon, written by another pal, Dalt Brennan. But both Dalt and the screenplay seem to have disappeared.
But when your friend’s killed, you’re supposed to do something about it. So Bogart males like a private eye, teaming up with his good buddy fellow actor Peter Lorre (Bogie has a lot of friends), and that guy Chandler to find the script, solve the murder and stop a possible bomb attack at the upcoming Oscar ceremonies. Along the way, the book takes a swipe at a producer who may be using the House Un-American Activities Committee for personal gain (Shocking, ain’t it?).
Naturally, it features a long list of real-life Hollywood A-listers, including John Wayne, Harry Cohn, Errol Flynn, Gregory Peck, Edward G.Robinson, John Huston and even a young Marilyn Monroe. If you dig Stuart Kaminsky’s Toby Peters series, you’ll feel right at home here.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Before Bogart ’48, writers Kenn Davis and John Davis co-created Black San Francisco private eye Carver Bascombe, who made his debut in The Dark Side (1976), and went on to appear in seven more novels.
THE EVIDENCE
- “Would you call yourself a character actor Mr.Bogart?”
“I better have character. Character is the only thing a man ever has.”
UNDER OATH
- “Reminding us of the fact that “it’s difficult to separate Bogart fact from Bogart fiction” we also get a capsulized version of his WWI days and a quick overview of his rise to stardom in Hollywood. Whether it’s a fictionalized account or not matters little. This is the tough guy that we know and love and as John Huston good-naturedly chides to Bogart in one scene; “There’s only one problem with you Bogie, you really believe you’re Bogart.”
— Jim Collins - “Bogart ’48 hits on every single cylinder. Not only is the portrayal of Bogart realistic- he’s not suddenly transformed into some two fisted over the top hero, but he definitely holds his own- but the authors bring in everyone from John Wayne to Prince Romanoff to Peter Lorre and do it with a style that is exquisite… while also giving us a glimpse at how intense and simultaneously shallow relationships in a world of make believe can be.”
— Book in the Bag
NOVELS
- Bogart ’48 (1980) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
Reprinted in 2012 with an introduction with John Stanley and an afterword by Richard A. Lupoff.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Rest in Pieces
The Fictionalized Lives of Private Eye Writers & Other Folks - R.J. Brooks
A private eye created by Stephen Humphrey Bogart. Yeah, there’s a relation.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
