Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood [Hardcover]

Cari Beauchamp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997

Draws on personal letters, journals, and interviews with family members and colleagues to capture the life and times of Frances Marion, one of the most powerful, acclaimed, and neglected screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Screenwriter Frances Marion (1888-1973) is the central subject of this excellent book, but mega-star Mary Pickford, journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns, bit-player-turned-gossip-columnist Hedda Hopper, and other high-powered female friends get nearly equal time. The author's skillful mix of biography with Hollywood history results in a densely textured portrait of an industry in formation and the intelligent, ambitious women who seized the opportunities it offered them for creative expression and financial independence. The text also instills new appreciation for the artistry of silent movies.

From Library Journal

Film journalist Beauchamp's book is aptly subtitled, for this is not only about the pioneering screenwriter Frances Marion, whose credits range from silent classics to Garbo's first "talkie" to sophisticated comedy. This is also the story of the women with whom Marion worked, who creatively and symbiotically sustained one another. Chronicled here are her intimate working relationships with Mary Pickford, Marie Dressler, and Irving Thalberg; her qualified disdain of Louis B. Mayer and Joseph P. Kennedy; and her marriages, especially to cowboy film star Fred Thomson. Occupying the margins?but rarely marginalized?Marion cultivated power that often translated into casting decisions and salary negotiations on her own terms. She made the transition from silents to sound motion pictures and likewise survived the industry's swing from early respect for the director's vision to a later reverence for bottomline returns. To dub Beauchamp's work "revisionist" is inadequate: this is a welcomed rediscovery. For all film collections and larger public libraries.?Jayne Kate Plymale-Jackson, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 475 pages
• Publisher: A Lisa Drew Book, Scribner; 1ST edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684802139
• ISBN-13: 978-0684802138
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cari Beauchamp is a fourth generation Californian who brings her love of history and dedication to women's rights to her writing about film. Her award winning books have been named to many "best of" lists and she is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Scholar. She lives in Los Angeles and her website address is caribeauchamp.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview of Women in the Silent Era, February 17, 2000

By 

Jennifer L. Williams (Grand Rapids, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood (Paperback)

I bought this book on a whim. I was looking for books on some of the great silent stars..Marion Davis, Mary Pickford, Colleen Moore, Olive Thomas, etc. I find it incredibly hard to find books about the Golden Age of Hollywood. After reading this work, I was taken back to a time when flickers were just coming in to vogue and when women could thrive in a burgeoning industry! The author - Cari Beauchamp did an excellent job of capturing the feel of the Golden age of Hollywood. I thought that her research was extensive and considering the limited amount of information available on women in this era, very complete. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in recapturing the essence of the Golden Age of Hollywood in their very modern living rooms of today.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Look At Early Hollywood, February 16, 2001

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood (Paperback)

Cari Beauchamp has written a fascinating biography of early Hollywood through the life of Frances Marion, one of its most powerful and highly paid screenwriters, Without Lying Down, Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. The working life of Frances Marion has the advantage of coinciding with the birth of movies as Marion began working on scripts for silent movies in the teens and continued into the sound era and the advent of World War II. This biography also has the joy of highlighting many of the other unique women of Hollywood as Frances Marion traveled in a powerful Hollywood clique. It is a wonderful look at Hollywood between the wars from the vantage point of Frances Marion. Occasionally, it would have been helpful if the author could have expanded the view a little to give a larger context outside of Frances Marion's own sphere of influence and given a broader perspective of the film industry. But what is seen in both entertaining and informative. There was for me real sadness at the end of this book as all these great women pass away but, now at least, one of them is captured lovingly and brilliantly in this fine biography.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best movie-based biography in ages!!, September 15, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood (Hardcover)

I loved this book! The author recognizes the greatness of her subject and rises to the occasion, writing in a highly engaging style. I was most impressed with Marion's deep friendships with her female co-horts through the years from Mary Pickford to newspaper columnist Jill Jackson (still active, by the way). Thoroughly entertaining, interesting, and moving at times. Anybody who believes there is no such thing as friendship in Hollywood has obviously never read this book. I only wish Mary Pickford had as sympathetic a personal biographer as the author is here. She, like, Frances Marion, was one of the greats.