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4.0 out of 5 stars
Early Talkie Star Mae Clarke Talks and Talks and Talks, July 25, 2009
This review is from: Featured Player (Hardcover)
One of the more unusual books on a motion picture actress, FEATURED PLAYER is a rather fascinating account of the late Mae Clarke, best known for her legendary bit part in THE PUBLIC ENEMY as the receiptent of James Cagney's grapefruit facial who in the 21st century is perhaps more famous than she has been since the salad days of her career thanks to the airing of many of her long unseen starring films on Turner Classic Movies, mostably the 1931 version of WATERLOO BRIDGE (now on DVD) and THREE WISE GIRLS. This book is in the format of a question and answer article, in which film historian James Curtis questions her about her films, life, and career. Clarke and Curtis worked on this project for the last several years of Mae's life and while, sadly, Ms. Clarke did not live to see the book's publication (she died in 1992) it's a fitting testament to the career of a talented actress who got some breaks and deserved others but nevertheless managed to carve out a nice if unspectacular career in Hollywood, with a string of lead and featured roles but ultimately reduced to a bit part actress by the 1940's.
The Q & A format may be a bit tiresome when stretched out to a full-length book nevertheless Ms. Clarke in her eighties proved still sharp as a tack in recalling her career's high and low points, the nervous breakdown that seriously derailed her career in the late 1930's, her temporary escape from her career to Rio and how tough it was to resume it once she returned to Hollywood, personal problems, etc. Mae also recalls, usually quite fondly, many of her contemporaries and co-stars, including James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, and Godfrey Cambridge, as well as a few she loathed (Edward G. Robinson, whom she found aloof and pretentious). Ms. Clarke herself was known to be rather difficult on occasion as well, as Curtis acknowledges in the preface.
Fans of 1930's films should enjoy this book but again please note it is not a conventional biography. Personally, I rather found the format intriguing and one wishes that many of Ms. Clarke's peers had likewise given oral histories of their lives and careers from this long vanished era of film.
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