Raymond Chandler's Creamy Crime Introduction

Los Angeles Times ^ | 6/9/09

[nickcarraway]

The folks at Esotouric are champions of the minutiae of L.A. literary history, and they've dug up some great stuff about the early days of Raymond Chandler.

Chandler, who had been born in Illinois and brought up in England, came back to America in 1913. According to Judith Freeman's book "The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved," it was the return trip to the U.S. that would determine Chandler's fate -- on the steamship, he met a friendly couple, the Lloyds, who lived in Los Angeles. Which then became his destination.

Once here, Warren Lloyd helped him get a job with his employer, the Los Angeles Creamery.

Esotouric details the events of 1912, when the head of the creamery, George E. Platt, was found guilty and fined for selling a mixture of milk and condensed milk as "cream." When he began work there, did Chandler know of his boss' legacy of corruption/ illegal penny pinching? It's hard to say; but when things got a little crazy for George E. Platt in 1914, Chandler would have had a hard time missing the headlines. Esotouric writes:

Platt was stalked and shot by a business associate who claimed he was being ripped off in a real estate deal. The aggrieved C.P. Deyoe drove from his Hollywood home to the intersection of Sixth and Ardmore, where he knew Platt (resident of 520 Ardmore) and contractor Frank O. Jean (452 Ardmore) caught the streetcar to work. Jean was late that day, lucky fellow. But Platt was waiting for the train, and accepted a ride from Deyoe.

[texas booster]

Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an Anglo-American crime writer, who had an immense stylistic influence upon the modern private eye story, especially in the style of the writing and the attitudes now characteristic of the genre. His protagonist, Philip Marlowe, is synonymous with "private detective," along with Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade.

Great read.