Film, Tour and Talk Series Will Honor Detective Novelist Raymond Chandler

The world premiere showing of a British documentary on detective writer Raymond Chandler, at 7 tonight at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, opens three days of films, talks and walks honoring the novelist.

Actor Cliff Robertson will read selections of Chandler’s hard-boiled prose before the screening of the untitled 1 1/2-hour television documentary made for the centennial of Chandler’s birth in 1888 but never telecast. This week’s celebration is sponsored by the Friends of the La Jolla Library branch of the San Diego Public Library. The library is displaying an exhibit of Chandler letters, first edition books and other memorabilia.

Novelist Robert Parker will talk about his assignment to complete Chandler’s unfinished last novel, “Poodle Springs,” at 7 p.m. Friday at the Parker Auditorium at La Jolla High School before a screening of “Farewell, My Lovely.” Chandler was an inspiration for Parker, who patterned his Spenser detective series after Chandler’s character, Philip Marlowe.

Walking tours of La Jolla, where Chandler lived for 16 years until his death in 1959, will be held at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Saturday. At different sites on the tour, actors will perform vignettes from Chandler’s book, “Playback,” which was set in La Jolla.

The tours will be limited to 35 people. Tickets are $10 for the tour and $6 for each of the films or $10 for both films. A 7 p.m. Saturday gala at the museum will close the festivities. Dress for the gala is black tie or “basic Chandler.”