one of the coolest dudes ever to grace the earth

i'm a great fan of the thin man films. the pairing of william powell and myrna loy is priceless. last night we watched shadow of the thin man [1941], the fourth entry in the franchise and relatively a weak movie, you could tell that the movie works only by chemistry of its leads and is heavy on the nick and nora charles whodunnit formula, and yet. . .and yet. . .it is still magic.

that is because not only is myrna loy an utter beauty with a great wit but william powell is simply one of the coolest dudes to ever grace the earth. his persona is the high society sophisticate who is utterly at home with the criminal underworld. his nick charles character never met a highball tumbler he didn't love. yet with all the drinking the detective used his mind to solve the most intractable murder mysteries.

i'm not sure if there is a poetic equivalent to william powell. i mean there was a time in u.s. poetry when poets would compare themselves to actors. i recall a james dickey journal entry that compared himself to wallace beery. fine. it's all good. after all, there is the image we project on to the world and the image that the world sees in return. sometimes those images meet.

not that i'm going to compare myself to william powell. i can never be so charming and dashing. something about his persona i simply find appealing beginning with his name and ending with his tailor. yeah, i'm ga ga over the guy. why not. after all, he was one of the biggest stars in the world for a reason. he was simply cool.