Nick and Nora Charles the bantering, romantically involved detective duo has become a well-used trope in literature, stage, screen, and television ever since. The characters first appear in Dashiell Hammett's best-selling last novel "The Thin Man" (1934). Nick is an alcoholic former private detective who retired when he married Nora, a wealthy Nob Hill heiress. Hammett reportedly modeled Nora on his longtime partner Lillian Hellman, and the characters' boozy, flippant dialogue on their relationship. (The novel also mentions that Nick was once a Pinkerton detective, as was Hammett.) The novel is considered one of the seminal texts of the hard-boiled subgenre of mystery novels,
Nicky Arnstein in the 1968 film and its 1975 sequel, "Funny Lady". Nicky Arnstein Julius Wilford "Nicky" Arnstein (born Arndstein; July 1, 1879October 2, 1965) was an American professional gambler and con artist. He was known primarily as Julius Arnold, but among his aliases were "Jules Arndtsteyn", "Nick Arnold," "Nicholas Arnold", "Wallace Ames", "John Adams", and "J. Willard Adair". He was best known as the second husband of entertainer Fanny Brice. Arnstein was born Julius Arndstein in Berlin, German Empire. His father, Moses Arndstein, was a German Jew from Berlin who fought in the Franco-Prussian War. His mother, born Thekla van Shaw,