William Powell

 For William Powell's first scene in "The Thin Man" (1934)director (at the bar), W.S. Van Dyke told him to take the cocktail shaker, go to the bar and just walk through the scene while the crew checked lights and sound. Powell did it, throwing in some lines and business of his own. Suddenly he heard Van Dyke say, "That's it! Print it!" The director had decided to shoot the scene without Powell knowing it so that he'd be as relaxed and natural as possible. Similarly, in order to keep Myrna Loy's entrance fresh and spontaneous, Van Dyke did not tell her about it until right before they shot it.

Powell spoke of how much he loved working with Loy because of her naturalness, her professionalism, and her lack of any kind of "diva" temperament. "When we did a scene together, we forgot about technique, camera angles, and microphones. We weren't acting. We were just two people in perfect harmony," he said. "Myrna, unlike some actresses who think only of themselves, has the happy faculty of being able to listen while the other fellow says his lines. She has the give and take of acting that brings out the best."

According to Loy, the biggest problem during shooting was the climactic dinner party scene when Nick reveals the killer. Powell complained that he had too many lines to learn and could barely decipher the complicated plot he was unraveling. It was the one scene when several retakes were necessary, which brought up an entirely new problem. The script called for oysters to be served to the dinner guests, and in take after take, the same plate of oysters was brought out under the hot lights. "They began to putrefy," Loy said. "By the time we finished that scene, nobody ever wanted to see another oyster."

MGM was advised that some dialogue was "censorable," such as Powell's line "He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids," and Myrna Loy's line "What's that man doing in my drawers?" However, the picture was approved for exhibition in 1934 and granted a PCA certificate in August 1935. After the film's release, some territories did censor some lines of dialogue. And at least one theatre owner from the South wrote to the PCA to complain of excessive drinking in the picture drinking which his patrons found offensive. (IMDb)