Word: shamus
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...star of stars at Sea World is Shamu, billed, without fear of contradiction, as the "world's most famous performing killer whale." (Actually there are three Shamus, one for each Sea World park.) The Shamu Celebration veers toward the icky, especially when the heavenly choir from a burger commercial sings reverently, "It's what Shamu means to you and to me." And when a trio of the behemoth's trainers present their what-I-love- about-Shamu testimonials, the onlooker half expects one of them to say, "My whale, I think I'll keep her." But it is a thrill...
...classic shamus prefers a snub-nosed .38, made in the U.S.A. He is invariably single (Philip Marlowe was a bachelor until Chandler's last, unfinished novel; Lew Archer lives alone, as does Spenser, although Spenser keeps company with Susan Silverman, a compassionate shrink). He is also short of cash and careless about his clothing. He is a two-fisted drinker (even though James Crumley's Milo Milodragovitch goes for peppermint schnapps) and sometimes drops his guard long enough to reveal a flash of erudition (Marlowe has atrocious taste in socks but can quote Browning). Touches of class cater...
...Life of Raymond Chandler (1976), Frank MacShane, a Columbia University professor, revealed his subject as a reconciliation of opposites. Chandler's fictive cast talked out of the sides of their mouths; the author was raised in England and given a classical education. His shamus was a magnet for oestrous women; Chandler married Cissy Pascal, 17 years his senior, and remained faithful. Businessmen in his novels are embodiments of venality or sloth; until middle age, Chandler was gainfully employed as a West Coast oil executive. Yet he had much in common with Marlowe, the incorrodible private eye who knew that...
With the help of Shamus Clarke Schlabach, Mary Kaye in May 1980 traces Thera to a Santa Monica nursing home, where the monk has been placed by La Scola. Says she of her former lover: "I couldn't believe what I saw. He was wearing two pairs of pants, two short-sleeved shirts and a ragged sweater. He looked demented." She takes him from the nursing home and, five days later, marries...