History Main / ChandlerAmericanTime

In King's story, [[PrivateDetective private eye]] Umney suggests it is "1938, maybe '39, maybe even 1940" and calls this "eighteen months or so before the start of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII". Prohibition is probably over, but the power that The Mob gained in that period means they run many of the bars and clubs. The police may be trustworthy or they may be [[DirtyCop corrupt]]. They may very well be [[PoliceBrutality brutal]].

[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War]] may have broken out in Europe, but for the moment it's still [[TheRoaringTwenties the Jazz Age]] in the USA. Big business is overseen by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Young, possibly disabled boys [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt shout newspaper headlines]] from every street corner. {{Everybody smokes}} and everyone [[NeverBareheaded wears hats. And while the well-off enjoy former speakeasies turned quasi-legitimate nightclubs]], the lingering aftereffects of TheGreatDepression continue to cast long shadows over the lives of the poor.

[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War]] may have broken out in Europe, but for the moment it's still [[TheRoaringTwenties the Jazz Age]] in the USA. Big business is overseen by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Young, possibly disabled boys [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt shout newspaper headlines]] from every street corner. {{Everybody smokes}} and everyone [[NeverBareheaded wears hats]]. And while the well-off enjoy former speakeasies turned [[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub quasi-legitimate nightclubs]], the lingering aftereffects of TheGreatDepression continue to cast long shadows over the lives of the poor.

[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War]] may have broken out in Europe, but for the moment it's still [[TheRoaringTwenties the Jazz Age]] in the USA. Big business is overseen by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Young, possibly disabled boys [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt shout newspaper headlines]] from every street corner. {{Everybody smokes}} and everyone [[NeverBareheaded wears hats]]. And while the well-off enjoy former speakeasies turned [[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub quasi-legitimate nightclubs]], the lingering aftereffects of TheGreatDepression still cast long shadows over the lives of the poor.

[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War]] may have broken out in Europe, but for the moment it's still [[TheRoaringTwenties the Jazz Age]] in the USA. Big business is overseen by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Young, possibly disabled boys [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt shout newspaper headlines]] from every street corner. {{Everybody smokes}} and everyone [[NeverBareheaded wears hats]]. And while the well-off enjoy former speakeasies turned [[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub quasi-legitimate nightclubs]], the lingering aftereffects of TheGreatDepression still overshadow the lives of the poor.

[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War]] may have broken out in Europe, but for the moment it's still [[TheRoaringTwenties the Jazz Age]] in the USA. Big business is overseen by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Young, possibly disabled boys [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt shout newspaper headlines]] from every street corner. {{Everybody smokes}} and everyone [[NeverBareheaded wears hats]]. And while the well-off enjoy former speakeasies-turned-[[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub quasi-legitimate nightclubs]], the aftereffects of TheGreatDepression still overshadow the lives of the poor.

The TropeNamer is Creator/StephenKing's short story "[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes Umney's Last Case]]"; it is named in honor of Creator/RaymondChandler, writer of ''Literature/TheBigSleep'' in 1939 and adapter of the screenplay for Creator/JamesMCain's ''Film/DoubleIndemnity'' in 1944, making him one of the major {{Trope Maker}}s and [[TropeCodifier Codifiers]] of this vision of America.

The differences between this and the GenteelInterbellumSetting, with which it overlaps with the last years of, are pretty much the whole point of Creator/RaymondChandler's essay ''[[http://www.en.utexas.edu/amlit/amlitprivate/scans/chandlerart.html The Simple Art of Murder]]'': Chandler American Time differs in being more urban, more cynical, more violent, more temporally specific (in terms of the culture depicted, Chandler American Time is confined to the very tail end of the GenteelInterbellumSetting, including TheForties and first few years of TheFifties) and quintessentially [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin American]], whether geographically confined to the continental US or focusing on what amount to pockets or colonies of America in other cities, like [[Film/{{Casablanca}} Rick's Cafe Americain]], Literature/JoGar's UsefulNotes/{{Manila}}, or cities Americanized by American businesses in the wake of the Second World War.

[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War]] may have broken out in Europe, but for the moment it's still [[TheRoaringTwenties the Jazz Age]] in the USA. Big business is overseen by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Young, possibly disabled boys [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt shout newspaper headlines]] on every street corner. EverybodySmokes and everyone [[NeverBareheaded wears hats]]. And while the well-off enjoy former speakeasies-turned-[[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub quasi-legitimate nightclubs]], the aftereffects of TheGreatDepression still overshadow the lives of the poor.

[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War]] may have broken out in Europe, but for the moment it's still [[TheRoaringTwenties the Jazz Age]] in the USA. Big business is run by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Young, possibly disabled boys [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt shout newspaper headlines]] on every street corner. EverybodySmokes and everyone [[NeverBareheaded wears hats]]. And while the well-off enjoy former speakeasies-turned-[[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub quasi-legitimate nightclubs]], the aftereffects of TheGreatDepression still overshadow the lives of the poor.

* The TropeNamer, as noted, is the short story ''Umney's Last Case'' by Creator/StephenKing -- actually a meta piece in which a dying author in 1994 finds himself in the world of his own creation [[spoiler:and kills his hero so he can take his place]].

[[folder:Film]]

The TropeNamer is Creator/StephenKing's short story "[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes Umney's Last Case]]", named in honor of Creator/RaymondChandler, writer of ''Literature/TheBigSleep'' in 1939 and adapter of the screenplay for Creator/JamesMCain's ''Film/DoubleIndemnity'' in 1944, making him one of the major {{Trope Maker}}s and [[TropeCodifier Codifiers]] of this vision of America.

[[folder:Radio]]
* The NBC radio drama ''Night Beat'', which aired from February 1950 through September 1952, takes place in this sort of setting. Randy Stone is a reporter working the [[TitleDrop night beat]] for the ''Chicago Star''. Each week's episode had him chasing down a story of one kind or another for his newspaper column. The story type varied from week to week -- suspense, mystery, comedy, tragedy, plain human-interest -- but never anything supernatural or especially outre.

* The NBC radio drama ''Night Beat'', which aired from February 1950 through September 1952, takes place in this sort of setting. Randy Stone is a reporter working the [[TitleDrop night beat]] for the ''Chicago Star''. Each week's episode had him chasing down a story of one kind or another for his newspaper column. The story type varied from week to week - suspense, mystery, comedy, tragedy, plain human-interest - but never anything supernatural or especially outre.

* The original ''Spy Smasher'' stories were set in this time period. Scientist/inventor Alan Armstrong decided to put his gadgets and physical skills to good use fighting against spies and saboteurs in the United States, and created the costumed superhero "Spy Smasher" as his alter-ego. Spy Smasher's adventures ran primarily in WHIZ Comics (yes, the same that starred ComicBook/{{Shazam}}) starting in early 1940 and continuing through the War. Armstrong had no superpowers, and neither did most of his enemies.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'', while set in the Eighth Underworld of Myth/AztecMythology, also takes place during the era, with many a ShoutOut to the genre, including its Everyman salesman/Grim Reaper protagonist Manny Calavera running headlong into a conspiracy that runs to the very heart of the Department of Death.

In King's story, [[PrivateDetective private eye]] Umney suggests it is "1938, maybe '39, maybe even 1940" and calls this "eighteen months or so before the start of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII". (Hah! Try telling an Asian or European that!) Prohibition is probably over, but the power that The Mob gained in that period means they run many of the bars and clubs. The police may be trustworthy or they may be [[DirtyCop corrupt]]. They may very well be [[PoliceBrutality brutal]].