1/11/1936 When Raymond met Dashiell

January 11, 1936.  As J.Kingston Pierce wrote: "We now think of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as being joined at the literary hip," but the fact is that these two authors met only once.  This was the date, at a luncheon in Los Angeles, celebrating contributors to Black Mask Magazine. 

Hammett was essentially washed up by that point, having written all the novels he would ever finish.  Chandler - the older man - had only published short stories so far.

Other still-remembered pulp masters at that meal included Norbert Davis, Dwight Babcock, and Horace McCoy.  You can see a photo of the event here.

"Everything goes back to Saint Hammett and Saint Chandler.” - Larry Kleinfeld