From 1938-42, Lucille Ball was known as “Queen of the B’s” at RKO, starring in seven or eight programmers a year. Some were great, most mediocre – but through them, she developed a gift for one-liners, a flair for physical comedy and a relatability that audiences relished. #TheNoirCollective (1/4)
September 17, 2026 at 12:05 AM
From 1938-42, Lucille Ball was known as “Queen of the B’s” at RKO, starring in seven or eight programmers a year. Some were great, most mediocre – but through them, she developed a gift for one-liners, a flair for physical comedy and a relatability that audiences relished. #TheNoirCollective (1/4)
Watching the 1980 and then the 1934 versions of Little Miss Marker tonight on TCM.
No surprise: The original has way more Runyonesque dialogue throughout.
Casting surprise: Twice as many Black people in the original—FWIW two in menial roles instead of one.
#TCMParty #LittleMissMarker
No surprise: The original has way more Runyonesque dialogue throughout.
Casting surprise: Twice as many Black people in the original—FWIW two in menial roles instead of one.
#TCMParty #LittleMissMarker
July 20, 2026 at 3:20 AM
Watching the 1980 and then the 1934 versions of Little Miss Marker tonight on TCM.
No surprise: The original has way more Runyonesque dialogue throughout.
Casting surprise: Twice as many Black people in the original—FWIW two in menial roles instead of one.
#TCMParty #LittleMissMarker
No surprise: The original has way more Runyonesque dialogue throughout.
Casting surprise: Twice as many Black people in the original—FWIW two in menial roles instead of one.
#TCMParty #LittleMissMarker
I'm in Louisville. Kentucky. Doing Two Gentlemen of Verona. Set in a late-'40s Runyonesque Vegas. The races of the cast are varied in ways that wouldn't go in late-'40s Vegas. No one cares. Except about the dog.
July 17, 2026 at 3:41 AM
I'm in Louisville. Kentucky. Doing Two Gentlemen of Verona. Set in a late-'40s Runyonesque Vegas. The races of the cast are varied in ways that wouldn't go in late-'40s Vegas. No one cares. Except about the dog.
Runyonesque W Faps
June 23, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Runyonesque W Faps
Finished Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket yesterday. Haven’t read a new Pynchon in so long (not since Mason & Dixon) but this was so much fun. Pynchon writing a noir detective story set in the 1930s means kooky names and a sendup of Runyonesque dialogue, but also gives an undercurrent of menace.
May 30, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Finished Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket yesterday. Haven’t read a new Pynchon in so long (not since Mason & Dixon) but this was so much fun. Pynchon writing a noir detective story set in the 1930s means kooky names and a sendup of Runyonesque dialogue, but also gives an undercurrent of menace.
Would not have expected a cameo from Melissa McCarthy on this week's SVU--not least as an amorous fighter named Jasmyn Jewell with a several-decades-out-of-date wig and Damon Runyonesque patter. Good stuff.
April 25, 2026 at 4:31 AM
Would not have expected a cameo from Melissa McCarthy on this week's SVU--not least as an amorous fighter named Jasmyn Jewell with a several-decades-out-of-date wig and Damon Runyonesque patter. Good stuff.
Obscure Blake Edwards of the day: 1956's HE LAUGHS LAST, which B.E. cowrote w/ Richard Quine & directed! A Technicolor, Runyonesque Mafia comedy!
m.ok.ru/video/127779...
m.ok.ru/video/127779...
April 12, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Obscure Blake Edwards of the day: 1956's HE LAUGHS LAST, which B.E. cowrote w/ Richard Quine & directed! A Technicolor, Runyonesque Mafia comedy!
m.ok.ru/video/127779...
m.ok.ru/video/127779...
I adore this menu! It’s very 30s from the green cover to its Damon Runyonesque “The Cafe Superior” moniker.
A breakfast menu offering a choice of a “pick-me-up or bracer”is on the nose.
So give me the 3 deck club sandwich, banana cream pie & iced tea.
And charge it to that big palooka at the bar!
A breakfast menu offering a choice of a “pick-me-up or bracer”is on the nose.
So give me the 3 deck club sandwich, banana cream pie & iced tea.
And charge it to that big palooka at the bar!
December 29, 2025 at 7:19 PM
I adore this menu! It’s very 30s from the green cover to its Damon Runyonesque “The Cafe Superior” moniker.
A breakfast menu offering a choice of a “pick-me-up or bracer”is on the nose.
So give me the 3 deck club sandwich, banana cream pie & iced tea.
And charge it to that big palooka at the bar!
A breakfast menu offering a choice of a “pick-me-up or bracer”is on the nose.
So give me the 3 deck club sandwich, banana cream pie & iced tea.
And charge it to that big palooka at the bar!
Very Runyonesque word. Suspenders, cigars, snap brim fedoras, newsboy caps. A one-armed announcer with a ravaged voice named "Lefty." You know the drill.
December 14, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Very Runyonesque word. Suspenders, cigars, snap brim fedoras, newsboy caps. A one-armed announcer with a ravaged voice named "Lefty." You know the drill.
Guys and Dolls, because of the runyonesque speech patterns and people trying to pull fast ones
what is the best musical of all time and please explain yourself so i know whether or not to be angry at you
November 14, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Guys and Dolls, because of the runyonesque speech patterns and people trying to pull fast ones
Nov 3 1955 GUYS AND DOLLS prem. in NY. Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Dazzling adapt. of hit Broadway musical set against a quintessentially Runyonesque NYC tableau with Frank Sinatra & Marlon Brando as rival gamblers singing & dancing thru crap games and romantic entanglements.
November 3, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Nov 3 1955 GUYS AND DOLLS prem. in NY. Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Dazzling adapt. of hit Broadway musical set against a quintessentially Runyonesque NYC tableau with Frank Sinatra & Marlon Brando as rival gamblers singing & dancing thru crap games and romantic entanglements.
Very Runyonesque, too
October 26, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Very Runyonesque, too
Everyone pulls a boner now and then, even the Crown Prince of Crime.
![Comic book page from a BATMAN #66, from 1951. 6 PANELS-
Panel 1- The Joker, surrounded by worried-looking Runyonesque henchmen, is angrily slapping a newspaper. The headline reads, "[obscured] CHORTLE AT JOKER'S BONER." Joker is saying, So! They laugh at my boner, wwill they? I'll show them! I'll show them how many boxers the Joker can make!"
Panel 2- Close up of the Joker's head, no body visible. He says, "This emphasis on boxers has given mean ideas for a new adventure in crime! Gotham City will rue the day it mentioned the word BONER!"
Panel 3- A rowboat at a dock on the ocean, Joker manning the oars as a henchman is climbing down a ladder to join him.
JOKER-"I will take the greatest boxers of all time and turn them into crimes! See this picture? It shows a big boner of modern vintage!"
HENCHMEN-"I remember! That's the Missouri - the battleship that got stuck in the mud!"
PANEL 4- Close-up on the photo being held by Joker, showing a battleship stuck in mud, smoke billowing from it.
JOKER- "The world roared when this mighty battle-wagon ran aground! It was quite a BONER! Well, we'll re-create the scene - for loot! HA-HA!"
PANEL 5- The rowboat is next to a buoy.
JOKER- "We'll just change the buoys in the Gotham River... and when the S.S. Capetownia arrives tomorrow, the fun will begin! HA-HA!"
HENCHMAN - "Yeah! That the new ship on it's maiden run. The Captain ain't familiar with this river at all - and the pilot don't come aboard till they near the harbor downstream!
PANEL 6- A large ship is stuck, as a tugboat approaches it. An off-panel voice says, "Haw! Look at her! Grounded just like the Big Mo was!"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jfjuzu2oxh2bjxizqynyjdjd/bafkreigkwdio6lxo5sstnqusznmwxe3vhljppetzyjqkkdvmrdhl6iyvju)
October 25, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Everyone pulls a boner now and then, even the Crown Prince of Crime.
Loved getting such fantastic Damon Runyun background from @eddiemuller.bsky.social (including how #TheBigStreet fit into #NoirAlley this week😁). But my favorite part was hearing about Eddie's father "just doing a Damon Runyun" and seeing his 'Damon Runyun Favorites' book! #Runyonesque #TCMParty
October 5, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Loved getting such fantastic Damon Runyun background from @eddiemuller.bsky.social (including how #TheBigStreet fit into #NoirAlley this week😁). But my favorite part was hearing about Eddie's father "just doing a Damon Runyun" and seeing his 'Damon Runyun Favorites' book! #Runyonesque #TCMParty
I just noticed that the way @eddiemuller.bsky.social speaks is very Runyonesque. Especially today.
#tcmparty #noiralley #TheBigStreet
#tcmparty #noiralley #TheBigStreet
October 5, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I just noticed that the way @eddiemuller.bsky.social speaks is very Runyonesque. Especially today.
#tcmparty #noiralley #TheBigStreet
#tcmparty #noiralley #TheBigStreet
He's using it to highlight how Runyonesque dialogue became integral to noir.
October 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
He's using it to highlight how Runyonesque dialogue became integral to noir.
If you are familiar with simpsons character Fat Tony, you’re about to hear where his style of Runyonesque speech originates.
#NoirAlley
#TheBigStreet
#TCMparty
#NoirAlley
#TheBigStreet
#TCMparty
October 5, 2025 at 4:26 AM
If you are familiar with simpsons character Fat Tony, you’re about to hear where his style of Runyonesque speech originates.
#NoirAlley
#TheBigStreet
#TCMparty
#NoirAlley
#TheBigStreet
#TCMparty
Damon Runyon by William Auerbach-Levy, c. 1935
"Of all the pop formalists, the purest and strangest may be Damon Runyon... The 'Runyonesque' floats free, spectrally, above the real Runyon."
- Adam Gopnik
"Of all the pop formalists, the purest and strangest may be Damon Runyon... The 'Runyonesque' floats free, spectrally, above the real Runyon."
- Adam Gopnik
October 4, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Damon Runyon by William Auerbach-Levy, c. 1935
"Of all the pop formalists, the purest and strangest may be Damon Runyon... The 'Runyonesque' floats free, spectrally, above the real Runyon."
- Adam Gopnik
"Of all the pop formalists, the purest and strangest may be Damon Runyon... The 'Runyonesque' floats free, spectrally, above the real Runyon."
- Adam Gopnik
September 19, 2025 at 3:23 PM
In a shocking turn of events, Elon Musk's Grok is completely incapable of detecting extremely obvious AI-generated fake images.
July 26, 2025 at 9:06 AM
In a shocking turn of events, Elon Musk's Grok is completely incapable of detecting extremely obvious AI-generated fake images.
I was a swing dancer in the 90s and he evoked the vibe very well. I also enjoyed the Runyonesque characters and dialog. Just a lot of fun and surprises.
July 11, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I was a swing dancer in the 90s and he evoked the vibe very well. I also enjoyed the Runyonesque characters and dialog. Just a lot of fun and surprises.
SORROWFUL JONES (1949) — 12:00 am ET — 1h 28m
(TCM Primetime: AAPI Heritage Month | Art Direction by Albert Nozaki)
Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest; directed by Sidney Lanfield
A Runyonesque bookie receives a gambler's little daughter as a marker for a bet.
#TCM #TCMParty
(TCM Primetime: AAPI Heritage Month | Art Direction by Albert Nozaki)
Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest; directed by Sidney Lanfield
A Runyonesque bookie receives a gambler's little daughter as a marker for a bet.
#TCM #TCMParty
AAPI Heritage Month
May 14th, 21st & 28th at 8 pm | 12 Movies
www.tcm.com
May 29, 2025 at 3:30 AM