Customer Reviews

Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star

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The problem with this book becomes regrettably clear if one also reads Matthew Kennedy's biography of the wonderful Marie Dressler. Lee, despite her obvious effort, is not as assiduous a researcher as one would desire. Films she has not seen in fact exist for viewing; aspects of Dressler's personal life Lee implies are lost to history are in fact recoverable; Lee cannot ascertain what became of Dressler's faithful maid while Kennedy tracks her neatly to the end of her life; etc. Furthermore, Lee makes a welcome attempt to situate Dressler within theatrical history -- which was most of her career -- but appears to have essentially boned up on the subject before writing the book. Bringing turn-of-the-century theatre to life is challenging given that virtually all we have left are photographs, reviews, and sketchy comments, but people immersed in the subject by nature have accomplished this in varous books in a way that Lee cannot quite match. The main value of Lee's book is her access to the diary of Dressler's longtime companion and her thorough coverage of Dressler's battle with cancer. Otherwise, however, Kennedy's book is much more thorough and gives more of a sense of what made Dressler such a phenomenon.

I'm unable to compare "Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star" to the other biography in print because frankly Matthew Kennedy's book is too expensive for my fun-money budget (a problem I have with most books published by McFarland in general, and has no reflection on the author.) So as far as this is the only book I've ever read about Marie Dressler, I can tell you that I found it to be completely enjoyable and informative. I read it cover to cover in one evening, and it was time well spent. Betty Lee's warmhearted storytelling skills gave me what I was looking for: a better understanding of Miss Dressler's life, career and personality.

Thanks to TCM, we see a glimpse of this interesting lady's performances.

She had quite a fascinating life beginning in the late 19th century, ultimately

peaking just before her 1934 death, when she was the No 1 favorite film star

in America! What a way to go!

What a great star she was, just wish all her films were available to watch,
and the book was larger print for these old eyes.