Humphrey Bogart as Dix Steele in In a Lonely Place (1950)
Vitals
Humphrey Bogart as Dixon “Dix” Steele, frustrated screenwriter
Los Angeles, Fall 1949
Film: In a Lonely Place
Release Date: May 17, 1950
Director: Nicholas Ray
Costume Designer: Jean Louis (credited for gowns only)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today’s post wraps up #Noirvember on what would have been the 100th birthday of silver screen icon Gloria Grahame. Born November 28, 1923, Grahame’s film noir credits include Crossfire (1947) and The Big Heat (1953), though my favorite is In a Lonely Place (1950), directed by her then-husband Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart.
Some of Bogie’s friends and acquaintances have described the character of cynical screenwriter Dixon Steele to be the closest that the actor ever came to projecting his true charismatic yet insecure persona onto the screen.
“The parallels between Steele and Bogart are striking—the aloofness, the lightning-quick intelligence evident even in hack work, the flashes of humor and warmth,” wrote A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax in their biography of the actor. “All of which suggests that Dixon Steele may be the closest Bogart came to portraying his own inner turmoil, his difficulty with woman, and his often resentful dependence on an industry that rewarded lavishly and punished fearsomely.”
Bogart and Ray joined Grahame to celebrate her 26th birthday on set, while filming the atmospheric and pivotal sequence that begins with a picnic on the beach and ends with Grahame’s character Laurel Gray witnessing her suitor’s dark side.
Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, and Nicholas Ray celebrate Grahame’s 26th birthday 74 years ago today on November 28, 1949, during production of In a Lonely Place—note that Bogie and Gloria are wearing their costumes from the beach scene as she blows out the candles on her cake.
Dix and Laurel have joined his cop friend Brub Nicolai (Frank Lovejoy) and Brub’s wife Sylvia (Jeff Donnell) on the beach, where Dix sarcastically muses “eh, I love a picnic… acres and acres of sand, and all of it in your food.” The lighthearted outing goes sour after Sylvia slips that Laurel was again questioned about Dix’s whereabouts on the night of a murder. We—and Laurel—see Dix’s petulance return as he storms up the beach, speeding out of the parking lot with barely enough time for Laurel to scramble into the passenger seat of his Mercury. You know he’s mad when our noir protagonist won’t even accept a lit cigarette from her!
Dix’s erratic driving is enough to worry Laurel, but he truly frightens her when a motorist makes the near-fatal mistake of calling him a “blind, knuckle-headed squirrel.” It may have only been Laurel’s protestation that stops Dix from bashing the young man’s head with a rock—revealing to Laurel that, despite her defense of the man she’d been starting to love, he may indeed be capable of murder.
As Dix calms down, he reassures her that he’ll take that cigarette and slips his arm around her, though those recalling his hypothetical murder demonstration earlier in the film may recognize the menacing way his arm is draped around her neck. Laurel takes the wheel while Dix cools down with a Lucky Strike, musing over where in his latest script he can insert a line of dialogue he conjured:
What’d He Wear?
Like many actors of his era, Humphrey Bogart often wore his own clothing on screen. Even in those moments, actors would still be directed by costume designers who informed how to dress in certain scenes—like Warner Brothers costumer Leah Rhodes, who dressed Bogie in ’40s film noir like The Big Sleep (1946) and Key Largo (1948). The only costume-related credit for In a Lonely Place is Jean Louis, credited specifically for gowns though his influence may have extended to the men’s fashions as well.
Regardless of who made the call, it feels significant that Bogart’s arguably most personal role also features much of the actor’s own distinctive style as it had evolved by middle age: pairing his rotation of smartly tailored suits and tweed sport jackets with bow ties, as photographed for the cover of the February 12, 1949 issue of the British weekly publication Picturegoer.
Humphrey Bogart on the cover of the February 12, 1949 issue of Picturegoer magazine, from an eBay listing of the copy I just purchased for myself.
Later that year, Bogart pulled the same light-colored tweed single-breasted sports coat from his closet for this pivotal scene as Dix Steele, layered over a light heathered jersey-knit turtleneck.
Woven in a heavy-ribbed twill, the three-button jacket is made from woolen tweed—likely a light, neutral shade of brown or gray. (For what it’s worth, contemporary promotional art depicts the entire outfit in shades of gray, but that’s not always a reliable translation of the actual color.)
The tailoring is typical of the times, with chest drape, padded shoulders (accented with roped sleeveheads), ventless back, and front darts that add shape through the roomy fit. The notch lapels are styled with low gorges, a buttonhole through the left, and appropriately sporty swelled edges, all details which help match the screen-worn jacket to Bogart’s attire on the Picturegoer cover pictured above.
The trio of patch pockets dress down the jacket, including two on the hips and one over the left breast, which Dix dresses with a plain white linen pocket square. The three-button cuffs are one of the few stylistic details that differ from the birdseye sport jacket he wore earlier in the film while being questioned by police.
Blub’s terry-cloth robe and swim trunks are more consistent with what one would expect to see at a beach party than Dix’s tweed jacket, turtleneck, and trousers.
Dix wears dark woolen flannel pleated slacks that rise to Bogart’s natural waist, where they meet the buttoning point of the jacket and are held up by a mid-brown leather belt that closes through a small single-prong buckle.
The pleated trousers have a full fit through the legs down to the bottoms, finished with turn-ups (cuffs). His cap-toe oxford shoes are quite possibly the least likely footwear for the beach, but I should hope the leather uppers are at least dark brown—which would be more congruous with his outfit anyway—than formal black. His thin dark dress socks may be made of silk.
Even if Bogie/Dix was compelled to wear his sport jacket and slacks on the beach, I would have at least recommended dressing them down with more contextually appropriate sneakers, like the gray CVO-style sneakers the actor wore with a dark blazer and flannels four years later in Sabrina (1954).
Bogart prominently wears the gold ring on his right hand, reportedly inherited from his father, featuring three square stones set across the front: two rubies flanking a diamond in the center.
Strapped to a dark exotic leather bracelet, Dix’s chronograph may also be Bogart’s personal watch. As more clearly seen with his dark suit and bow tie, the round white dial boasts sub-registers at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. (I’ve read about a gold Gruen and a Longines Evidenza associated with the actor, but this is neither.)
Laurel takes the wheel of Dix’s Mercury after his violent outburst.
The Car
Dixon Steele drives a light-colored 1949 Mercury Eight convertible throughout In a Lonely Place. The ’49 model year was Mercury’s first redesign since before World War II, which may suit Dix’s attitude toward his career as he hadn’t had a hit film produced since before the war so he may as well manifest success with a new car.
The redesign proved to be successful, as 1949 was a record-breaking sales year for the marque, positioned between entry-level Fords and more prestigious Lincolns. All ’49 Mercury vehicles were powered by the 255 cubic-inch “flathead” V8 that carried over from that year’s Ford models, though its 110-horsepower output was higher than in Fords. Only manual transmissions were available, ranging from the standard three-speed to the “Touch-O-Matic” four-speed overdrive on select models.
Body styles included the two-door coupe, four-door sedan, station wagon, and the two-door convertible as driven by Dix, all on the same 118-inch wheelbase from the earlier series but with a longer, more aerodynamic “pontoon” design. Produced from 1949 through 1951, this Mercury generation remains popular among custom car builders and hot rod enthusiasts.
To the other driver’s credit, it would be disappointing to see a blind, knuckle-headed squirrel behind the wheel of such a fine automobile.
Beginning in 1952, Mercury followed the automotive trend of developing a tiered lineup of models, with the erstwhile Eight renamed the upscaled Mercury Custom as the Monterey trim package became its own entry-level model.
How to Get the Look
Humphrey Bogart as Dix Steele in In a Lonely Place (1950)
Almost 20 years before Steve McQueen immortalized a tweed sports coat with a turtleneck and flannel trousers while driving like a madman in Bullitt, Bogie was working the same look while driving like a madman in Nicholas Ray’s 1950 noir In a Lonely Place.
- Light-colored heavy-ribbed twill woolen tweed single-breasted 3-button sport jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Light heathered jersey-knit turtleneck jumper
- Dark woolen flannel pleated trousers with belt loops and turn-ups/cuffs
- Brown leather belt with small single-prong buckle
- Dark brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes
- Dark silk dress socks
- Gold ring with two ruby stones flanking a center diamond stone
- Chronograph watch with white triple-register dial and dark exotic leather band
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.
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