FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2022-175 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (October 3, 2022) – In Issue 2022-175 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps, the bird is a statue in a classic film.

The Bird

The classic noir film, The Maltese Falcon, premiered on October 3, 1941.  It was one of the first 25 movies selected by the Library of Congress to be in the National Film Registry.

Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel of the same name, the storyline involves San Francisco Private Investigator Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and his femme fatale client Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) who head off a number of nefarious characters in the search for a jewel-encrusted statue of a black bird created by the Knights Templar of Malta.

The San Francisco created in this movie was an eerie and somber contrast to apple pie wholesome All- American films of the time.  The atmosphere set the standard for “film noir.”

The fate of the falcon statues is as foggy as the San Francisco streets, but it was definitely one of the priciest pieces of movie memorabilia when sold in 2013 to Vegas hotel and casino owner Steve Wynn for $4.1 million.

Here is Currier and Ives’ 1878 view of San Francisco.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.