Nick and Nora’s Infinite Case File

In the decade before Cary Grant distilled, refined, mellowed, then decanted his particular vintage of Cary Grantness, perhaps no other actor embodied those same grace notes of sophistication, comic timing and self-deprecating charm as effortlessly as William Powell did. While talkies ended many careers, the mellifluous, stage-trained Powell emerged as a natural for the new era, cementing his stardom with a pair of literary detective franchises — first as S.S. Van Dine’s Philo Vance, then more memorably with frequent co-star Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles. Throughout February and March, the Kansas City, Missouri, Central Library (14 West 10th Street, 816-701-3400) celebrates this graduate of Central High School (class of 1911) with Thin Man Mondays. The series continues tonight at 6:30 in the Durwood Film Vault with 1936’s After the Thin Man, featuring a fledgling, pre-Capra James Stewart. Admission is free. See kclibrary.org for a complete schedule.

Mon., Feb. 8, 6:30 p.m., 2010