Customer Reviews

Speaking of Silents: First Ladies of the Screen

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a book on several actresses who achieved fame in the silent era. Of the bunch, Colleen Moore and Blanche Sweet were the only ones who were superstars, but most of the others were popular with the public then: Esther Ralston, Madge Bellamy, Laura La Plante, May McAvoy, Patsy Ruth Miller, Leatrice Joy, etc. The photos are extremely rare and the design of the book is quite lovely. Each actress gets a chapter, profiling her career and what she her life at the time of the interview (sadly, the last survivor, Laura La Plante, passed away in 1996). The best chapters are the ones with stars who are talkative: the sharply intelligent Bellamy, the vivacious Joy who seems to be her own greatest fan, etc. The more quiet stars like Miss La Plante don't offer much info and the author's writing ability does not seem strong enough to make those chapters as lively. Mr. Drew should count himself fortunate to have known such women. Certainly they all seem very gracious and were very generous with their time to a somewhat unknown author. I was somewhat dissapointed by the fact that the author failed to note which of the ladies had already passed away when the book was first published (1989) one is led to believe all of them were still alive and well. Still, a must for any silent movie lover.

Film historian William M. Drew celebrates the 1927 silent film season with stories about ten of Hollywood's leading actresses from that year, told in their own words. (Madge Bellamy, Eleanor Boardman, Leatrice Joy, Laura La Plante, May McAvoy, Patsy Ruth Miller, Colleen Moore, Esther Ralston, Blanche Sweet and Lois Wilson.) As Kevin Brownlow notes in his introduction, Mr. Drew continued to seek out and interview these wonderful women, by then in their 80s, even after the American Film Institute ceased its own oral history program, and lucky for us that he did. Mr. Drew captures the essence and the era in which these actresses lived and worked, their individual personalities and their memories and opinions of their films. Additionally, the book is chock full of photographs, at least one per page. "Speaking of Silents: The First Ladies of the Screen" was originally published in 1989 but age doesn't decrease its value, particularly because these shining stars, like the times they inhabited, and in many cases their physical films, have passed on. Whether or not your interest in film is the Silent Era, this is an extraordinary collection of stories that should be read, remembered and treasured.

Author William Drew interviewed 10 silent film actresses about their careers and their memories of working in the industry. Some like Colleen Moore were huge stars; others were featured actresses that worked steadily through the era. While their stories are not quite as in-depth as Kevin Brownlow's THE PARADE'S GONE BY, Mr. Drew conducted his interviews about 20 years later than Mr. Brownlow and his actresses memories may not have been as sharp. Most of them come across as very intelligent. What is surprising is that most of them had no idea of what they were doing when they first started acting, but they were seasoned professionals when they retired. Only Madge Bellamy, the first subject comes across as a little shallow. If you are a silent film fan and you read this book, you will definitely want to see some films by Colleen Moore, Lois Wilson, Esther Ralston and others. Highly recommended.

Speaking of Silents is a series of short biographies and extended interviews with several female stars of the silent era. The women featured are Madge Bellamy, Eleanor Boardman, Leatrice Joy, Laura La Plante, May McAvoy, Patsy Ruth Miller, Colleen Moore, Esther Ralston, Blanche Sweet and Lois Wilson.

It is difficult to be genuinely and passionately interested in stars whose films one has not seen. Sadly, most of the films of the actresses featured in this book are unavailable for viewing either due to decomposition or lack of commercial release.

Therefore, this book requires prior knowledge and interest in silent films on the whole. Without such knowledge, anecdotes about other famous stars such as Mary Pickford, Cecil B. DeMille, and Zasu Pitts become meaningless.

Overall, this book is a nice contribution to the archives of silent film history simply because the words came from the stars themselves.