Customer Reviews

The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era

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This, truly, is a bizarre book. For one thing, the dust cover promises far more than the text delivers. Among the actresses profiled, according to the cover flap, are Hope Brown (who? The name doesn't even appear in the index); Ina Claire, who did 2, count 'em, 2 silent feature films and is only fleetingly mentioned on a couple of pages; Asta Nielsen, who is nowhere to be found; Anna Q. Nilsson, who is given but a cursory nod on a single page; and Dorothy Phillips and Alice Terry, both briefly acknowledged on single pages. I had especially been looking forward to author Menefee's take on the long-forgotten Dorothy Phillips. Those actually profiled include Theda Bara, the Gish sisters, The Talmadges, and Maes Marsh and Murray, most of whom, by stretching it a bit, could be considered early screen stars. But hardly among "the first." Janet Gaynor, in contrast, didn't arrive until 1924 and didn't become a star until 1927. Not exactly a screen pioneer. As for the text itself, the profiles are competent but a bit on the dry side, and several of the actresses have recently enjoyed full-scale biographies by, ahem, more enterprising profilers. Strangely, Mr. Menefee fails to list Eve Golden's wonderful "Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara" in his otherwise lengthy bibliography, nor has he apparently been moved by Charles Affron's solid "Lillian Gish: Her Legend, Her Life," indispensible sources on two of the profiled actresses. In contrast, I see no pressing need for the present volume, whose conclusions include some airy comparisons between the importance of the lost silent films of Pauline Frederick and the future renown of Meryl Streep's cinematic output -- or some such; Mr. Menefee's point remains a bit unclear, at least to this reader. So instead of the rather superfluous "The First Female Stars," I recommend the aforementioned biographies, as well as Jeanine Bassinger's "Silent Stars" and Anthony Slide's "Silent Players," both volumes that actually cover new ground. And, once again, who IS Hope Brown?

The author David Menefee has a good track record when it comes to chronicling early cinema and its stars. Ths book
does a nice job of profiling a few of them. The actresses chosen run the gamut----the well-known Gish Sisters (Lillian was active in film and stage throughout a large chunk of the 20th century) through Mae Murray(whose career crashed and burned and who lived in obscurity for the rest of her life).
While this book isn't extremely detailed in terms of comprehensive infomation, it is interesting and informative and should be viewed as a good springboard for further investigation on the genre. My advice is that if you are looking for detailed profiles this most likely is not for you.

$35.00? really? for a kindle release? i know for a fact that amazon does not set the price for kindle books. either the publisher or the writer(if the rights have reverted back to them) decides this. i saw the title, read the description and wanted to read this book but not at that price for a kindle copy! this is a hard back price! want to sell to kindle readers? then don't charge hard back prices unless you're going to send me the paper version too!

I have recently become fasinated with everything from film's silent area, especially the queens of the screen, those remembered and many of those that have been forgotten. Whose films have been lost for all time. I was really hoping for a lot more from this book but I found it to be a dull read, and poorly written. I thought it would be a lot more meaty and it just wasn't. It was a good effort though, and I applaud the author for going into detail about actresses that have almost been forgotten.

From Theda Bara to Anna Nilsson and Sarah Bernhardt, the achievements of fifteen silent film women who entered early motion pictures to become key personalities of the industry are presented in David Menefee's The First Female Stars: Women Of The Silent Era. Menefee produced the first comprehensive study of actress Sarah Bernhardt's work previously, and here uses original sources to examine the influence and significance of her contemporaries.

This book is more than a loving tribute to some remarkable women; it is a painstaking research work that reveals the triumphs of women who dared to venture into the early motion picture business. Originally a massive, forty-chapter tome, the publisher edited it down to its current size after the dust cover was printed, which is why there are some names listed inside the cover that do not appear within the book. That flaw aside, each chapter reveals the inner thoughts of each woman about their struggles to succeed in the fledgling film business, and shows their human sides while keeping them on the pedestals they so richly deserve. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on actresses that have never had well-researched biographical treatments written about them: Laurette Taylor, Mae Marsh, and Dorothy Gish. The author takes the position that any actress appearing in silent films ranks as one of the "firsts," and under that premise, each chapter delves deeply into their personality, and then bores in on one particular film that captured either the essence of their appeal or stood out as a work that attempted to strike against the grain of their well-known image. This book fills a much-needed niche, and I found it highly entertaining.

In this book, the author delves deeply into the lives and careers of a number of my favorite silent film actresses. So many of these great stars have suffered the loss of the majority of their film work, and for many film fans today, they may not all be as familiar as high-profile silent film actresses like Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Gloris Swanson, and others, but that is what makes this book unique. A number of these women have never had a detailed biographical treatment published about them. I was particularly fascinated by the essays on Mae Marsh, Mae Murray, Pauline Frederick, Laurette Taylor, and Dorothy Gish. The author claims to have spent years researching their work, and it shows. I particularly liked how the author selected one outstanding film from each actress and revealed why it seemed to showcase the core values that made the star so popular. The publisher has mounted the text beautifully in hard back, and the book is filled with many photographs, all delightful. I can recommend the book for any silent film fan.