What's in a name? A lot, for Harvey Weinstein's newborn son. The tot's moniker — Dashiell, as the famed film exec confirmed during an appearance on CBS This Morning on Tuesday, April 23 — is an ode not just to author Dashiell Hammett but also to Weinstein's romantic history with wife Georgina Chapman.
The Oscar-winning producer revealed the inspiration behind his baby boy's nomenclature to CBS This Morning hosts Charlie Rose, Norah O'Donnell, and Gayle King. According to him, the name Dashiell is a nod back to his very first date with the Marchesa designer.
"What happened was…she walks into the restaurant and she trips and falls, just right on her butt," he explained. "And I go, first, there is a God because that evened the playing field right away. And secondly, I said to her, 'That was the opening scene when Myrna Loy walked into William Powell in The Thin Man.'"
Weinstein proceeded to explain the scene from the 1934 comedy-mystery film, about retired private detective Nick Charles (Powell) and his wife Nora (Loy). The movie was based on the novel of the same name by Hammett.
"I said, 'Georgina, meet Dashiell Hammett,'" he recalled. Chapman later read The Thin Man, so the couple decided to pay tribute to the author when they welcomed their son on April 11.
Dashiell is Weinstein's fifth child and only boy. The Weinstein Company co-chairman is also dad to daughters Lily, 17, Emma, 14, and Ruth, 10, with ex-wife Eve Chilton; and daughter India Pearl, 2, with Chapman.
"If it was the major leagues, I'd be batting .200," he quipped of his mostly female brood. "One for five."
"I am so tired of going to Forever 21 and Abercrombie," he joked. "Sundays I wake up and I go, 'The game's on!' and [my daughters say], 'At the mall, you're driving us. Then they say, 'Dad, park three miles [away], we don't want to be seen with you. Meet us at the pizza store four miles over here because we're embarrassed of you and you're annoying.'"
