# Who was Doghouse Riley? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373 "2013-12-15T11:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/21 "2014-05-20T20:14:52Z")
> [@jbaker](#): > > Marlowe calls himself “Doghouse Reilly, the man that grew too tall,” the second time that he and Carmen meet. It’s probably just because she remarked that he was tall the first time they met. Well, she tried to sit in his lap while he was standing up. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/22 "2014-05-21T00:45:55Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > Well, I read it in the lyrics of this song and another one that Phil Harris used to sing: > > Now, when I die, bury me in my straight-leg britches, > Put on a box-back coat and a stetson hat, > Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain, > So you can let all the boys know I died standing pat. > > Anyway, now that I was thinking about it, I started rooting around and it seems to be an indicator of a gambler or a pimp, or someone who was a flashy dresser, but not in a nice way. It’s from the “Saint James Infirmary Blues,” which I always associate with Cab Calloway. ---
**Author:** ![pBronze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@pBronze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pBronze)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/23 "2019-07-26T07:39:05Z")
Hi guys, Thanks for the discussion, I learned something new here. I know this is a way back thread, but thanks anyway. This is a random guy from China and trying to translate Big Sleep in Chinese by myself and for myself. There’re published works but to be honest they are lame, ignoring the cultures and backgrounds and poor Chinese. I tried to look everything up to make sure not missing anything behind the words, and the Doghouse Reily leads me here. Well, At least I found a reasonable explanation from [urban dictionary](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Doghouse%20Riley): [Urban Dictionary: Doghouse Riley](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Doghouse%20Riley)] It says > [@](#): > > When a lonely elderly person moans for the sake of moaning because they have given up on life and are scared of what lays ahead in the future. They tend not to deal well with things moving forward or advances in modern life. They also harp on about things that happened in the fifties. 99.9% of what they say tends to be mind numbingly boring and not interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/24 "2019-07-26T12:48:36Z")
Hmm. An interesting take on the term. And the urban dictionary definition would work in the context of the book (years not withstanding). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/25 "2019-07-26T13:04:18Z")
> [@jbaker](#): > > But why was Marlowe “the man who grew too tall”? The Death House Reilly theory doesn’t address that, at least not in any obvious way. Too tall to hang, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/26 "2019-07-26T13:07:39Z")
Oh, it was just some guy who got that nickname because he was always getting into trouble with his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/27 "2019-07-26T21:41:59Z")
From my recollection of the film, when Carmen meets him for the first time she says, “not very tall, are you?” (and Bogey was actually short, though his films usually disguised it) ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/28 "2019-07-28T14:34:09Z")
The urban dictionary refers to the guy as a “right” Doghouse Riley - that is Brit usage. There are some of that sort on the Dope, any recognition there? I favor the jazz connection - a stand-up bass can be referred to as a doghouse. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/29 "2019-07-28T16:25:26Z")
> [@Dandan](#): > > The urban dictionary refers to the guy as a “right” Doghouse Riley - that is Brit usage. There are some of that sort on the Dope, any recognition there? > > I favor the jazz connection - a stand-up bass can be referred to as a doghouse. > > Dan “That sort” meaning British? Well! 😉 Never heard the expression; but I do have a few slang dictionaries and, prompted by the suggestion that this may be British, I took a look. This is the best I have, from Partridge’s Dictionary of the Underworld: > [@](#): > > Dog-house: A railroad calaboose : Tramps : 20th C 1931, Godfrey Irwin; by 1940, railroad s. Ex its formerly small size. > 2. “a small garage in a residential neighbourhood, often one owned by a householder and rented by a gang of automobile thieves in which to store their stolen cars until pursuit and discovery seem unlikely” Irwin, 1931; since ca 1920. Humorous. > 3 “watch tower on a prison wall,” Rose, 1934 : convicts’ : since the middle 1920’s. Derisive. In fact, all of those usages look more US than UK to me (UK would say _railway_, for example. Partridge was born in NZ but his career was in the UK, so I take it that when he uses the word _railroad_ it implies US). Something more to speculate about, I suppose. j ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/30 "2019-07-28T17:08:24Z")
> [@jbaker](#): > > Marlowe calls himself “Doghouse Reilly, the man that grew too tall,” the second time that he and Carmen meet. It’s probably just because she remarked that he was tall the first time they met. > [@Smapti](#): > > Too tall to hang, maybe? > [@Mk\_VII](#): > > From my recollection of the film, when Carmen meets him for the first time she says, “not very tall, are you?” (and Bogey was actually short, though his films usually disguised it) But in the books, Marlowe is quite tall (6’ 1-1/2", tall for those days). I wonder if there were the same sorts of moans then about short Bogart playing tall Marlowe, as there are now about short Tom Cruise playing tall Jack Reacher? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/31 "2019-07-29T10:43:30Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I wonder if there were the same sorts of moans then about short Bogart playing tall Marlowe, as there are now about short Tom Cruise playing tall Jack Reacher? Apples and oranges. Bogart was 5’ 8" tall, while Cruise is just a bit under 3’. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/32 "2019-07-29T12:03:34Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > From my recollection of the film, when Carmen meets him for the first time she says, “not very tall, are you?” (and Bogey was actually short, though his films usually disguised it) I recently saw part of the 1978 version of _The Big Sleep_. As I recall, Marlowe still refers to himself Doghouse Reilly, but Carmen’s references to his height were rewritten. Robert Mitchum played Marlowe, and he’s 6’1". I think the ending may have been changed a bit as well. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/33 "2019-07-29T14:09:57Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Apples and oranges. Bogart was 5’ 8" tall, while Cruise is just a bit under 3’. :p:p:p ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/34 "2019-07-29T21:33:42Z")
I did a search of all US newspapers using both spellings and the only hits were in movie reviews. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![cjs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cjs/32/22014_2.png) [@cjs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjs)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373/35 "2026-10-25T10:06:49Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > > [@jbaker](#): > > > > But why was Marlowe “the man who grew too tall”? The Death House Reilly theory doesn’t address that, at least not in any obvious way. > > That wasn’t in the book either. IIRC, in the book Marlowe said “My name is Doghouse Reilly. I’m a prizefighter” No, when Marlowe meets Carmen for the first time, in Chapter 1, it’s Carmen who says he’s tall and asks if he’s a prizefighter. > “Tall, aren’t you?” she said. > > “I didn’t mean to be.” > > Her eyes rounded. She was puzzled. She was thinking. I could see, even on that short acquaintance, that thinking was always going to be a bother to her. > > “Handsome too,” she said. “And I bet you know it.” > > I grunted. > > “What’s your name?” > > “Reilly,” I said. “Doghouse Reilly.” > > “That’s a funny name."… > > “Are you a prizefighter?” she asked, when I didn’t [react to her lash trick]. > > “Not exactly. I’m a sleuth.” It’s in Chapter 12, when he meets Carmen again, that he reminds her of the earlier conversation in an attempt to get her to remember who he is. > “Remember me?” I said. “Doghouse Reilly, the man that grew too tall. Remember?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-doghouse-riley/676373.md?page=1)