Quote from the Big Sleep by raymond Chandler - "What did the girl do before she married Eddie Mars?” “Torcher.” “Can’t you get any old professional pictures?”
I would like to see if anyone knows the answer. Not really interested in speculation.
Torcher probably = torch singer, someone who performs the songs of that era with great emotive content, including body language.
Let’s call it deduction rather than speculation: a singer of torch songs; thus a nightclub chanteuse.
The Urban Dictionary gives “singer of torch songs” as one possible meaning of “torcher”:
That reminds me of the old Burns and Allen radio show.
Dinah Shore was the guest and she was singing her famous song “Tess’s Torch Song”
Anyway Gracie always proud of George talks to Dinah
Gracie) You sing well Dinah but George is a better singer.
Dinah) I’ll admit I haven’t heard him sing lately, but can he sing Torch Songs?
Gracie) Of course he can. I’ll tell you what, on our radio show, you can be a guest and we’ll have a contest. You sing a torch song and George will sing a torch song and we’ll let the audience decide which one’s torcher.
Intended typo.
The OED confirms the deductions and speculations; torcher is U.S. slang for a torch singer, and the first citation is Chandler, 1940 (Farewell, my Lovely, rather than The Big Sleep).
There’s considerable debate about whether a torcher is any good at getting information.