Aesthetics, whether in fashion or furniture, is a reliable visual guide to an era.

Molded plastic furniture? A hallmark of the 1960s.

The Poodle skirt? The 1950s.

Leg warmers?  Jane Fonda’s influence on fitness culture in the 1980s.

Another time, we’ll discuss how aesthetics in dog grooming can also be pegged to a specific time frame because of a big winning dog of the day, but for now, we return to inanimate objects, and the Nick and Nora glass.

 

The egg-cup shaped Nick and Nora glass holds 5 to 6 ounces of fluid, an excellent size for a stirred, stiff drink like a classic Martini or Manhattan. Fans of the old “Thin Man” films in theaters from 1934 to 1947 will recognize the names, Nick and Nora – Nick, the a retired private detective, and Nora, the wealthy heiress he married. Known for solving murder mysteries together, the couple’s witty banter – usually over cocktails, and yes, cocktails served in glasses that to be called for the couple who drank out of them.

Those of us who love the Thin Man series, however, will quickly point out that very often, the real star of the movie was Asta, a Wire Fox Terrier. 

Though Asta was originally a written as a female Schnauzer in Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Thin Man, Asta was portrayed by a male WFT in the film adaptations starting with his first appearance in the 1934 film The Thin Man.

Played by a dog named Skippy, Skippy’s performance as Asta was so well-received that it led to a surge in popularity for the breed. People who bought a Wire Fox Terrier thinking it would be like Asta – namely, a highly intelligent, playful, and mischievous dog, were seldom disappointed.

Asta appeared in several Thin Man sequels, and the busy dog-actor also had a pivotal part in the movie, Bringing Up Baby from 1938. Skippy was trained by the Weatherwax brothers, Frank and Rudd. Both helped train Skippy, though Frank was was involved in training Old Yeller, Benji, and the Dog of Flanders, while Rudd became famous for training Lassie. Fun factoid:  Frank and Rudd had a nephew named Ken Weatherwax best known for playing Pugsley Addams in the original “Addams Family”

In his day, Skippy was one of the highest-paid dog actors of his time, earning around $250 per week, significantly more than many human actors, and far above the typical pay for a dog actor at the time. After Skippy retired, other Wire Fox Terriers took on the role of Asta in subsequent films, and one source we came across writes that when the Thin Man TV series began in 1957, Asta was played by Skippy’s great-grandson, but that needs verification.

Image at top by Chris Curry on Unsplash