Recommended Reading on Early Film

Here is a small selection of new and recommended books on early film (the silent and early sound era). Perhaps it's just me, but it seems there are fewer appealing books on this increasingly distant time in film history. I haven't read all of these book, only a couple of them, but know of the many of the  author's previous work and am confident it their quality. And, I am eager to check them out myself. Some of these titles, like those on Greta Garbo, should also intrigue those interested in Louise Brooks. Each of these recommended works was released sometime in 2021.

Garbo
by Robert Gottlieb 

Award-winning master critic Robert Gottlieb takes a singular and multifaceted look at the life of silver screen legend Greta Garbo, and the culture that worshiped her.

“Wherever you look in the period between 1925 and 1941,” Robert Gottlieb writes in Garbo, “Greta Garbo is in people’s minds, hearts, and dreams.” Strikingly glamorous and famously inscrutable, she managed, in sixteen short years, to infiltrate the world’s subconscious; the end of her film career, when she was thirty-six, only made her more irresistible. Garbo appeared in just twenty-four Hollywood movies, yet her impact on the world―and that indescribable, transcendent presence she possessed―was rivaled only by Marilyn Monroe’s. She was looked on as a unique phenomenon, a sphinx, a myth, the most beautiful woman in the world, but in reality she was a Swedish peasant girl, uneducated, naïve, and always on her guard. When she arrived in Hollywood, aged nineteen, she spoke barely a word of English and was completely unprepared for the ferocious publicity that quickly adhered to her as, almost overnight, she became the world’s most famous actress.

In Garbo, the acclaimed critic and editor Robert Gottlieb offers a vivid and thorough retelling of her life, beginning in the slums of Stockholm and proceeding through her years of struggling to elude the attention of the world―her desperate, futile striving to be “left alone.” He takes us through the films themselves, from M-G-M’s early presentation of her as a “vamp”―her overwhelming beauty drawing men to their doom, a formula she loathed―to the artistic heights of Camille and Ninotchka (“Garbo Laughs!”), by way of Anna Christie (“Garbo Talks!”), Mata Hari, and Grand Hotel. He examines her passive withdrawal from the movies, and the endless attempts to draw her back. And he sketches the life she led as a very wealthy woman in New York―“a hermit about town”―and the life she led in Europe among the Rothschilds and men like Onassis and Churchill. Her relationships with her famous co-star John Gilbert, with Cecil Beaton, with Leopold Stokowski, with Erich Maria Remarque, with George Schlee―were they consummated? Was she bisexual? Was she sexual at all? The whole world wanted to know―and still wants to know.

In addition to offering his rich account of her life, Gottlieb, in what he calls “A Garbo Reader,” brings together a remarkable assembly of glimpses of Garbo from other people’s memoirs and interviews, ranging from Ingmar Bergman and Tallulah Bankhead to Roland Barthes; from literature (she turns up everywhere―in Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, in Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and the letters of Marianne Moore and Alice B. Toklas); from countless songs and cartoons and articles of merchandise. Most extraordinary of all are the pictures―250 or so ravishing movie stills, formal portraits, and revealing snapshots―all reproduced here in superb duotone. She had no personal vanity, no interest in clothes and make-up, yet the story of Garbo is essentially the story of a face and the camera. Forty years after her career ended, she was still being tormented by unrelenting paparazzi wherever she went.  Includes Black-and-White Photographs

The Savvy Sphinx: How Garbo Conquered Hollywood
by Robert Dance

From the late 1920s through the thirties, Greta Garbo (1905–1990) was the biggest star in Hollywood. She stopped making films in 1941, at only thirty-six, and thereafter sought a discreet private life. Still, her fame only increased as the public and press clamored for news of the former actress. At the time of her death, forty-nine years later, photographers continued to stalk her, and her death was reported on the front pages of newspapers worldwide.

In The Savvy Sphinx: How Garbo Conquered Hollywood, Robert Dance traces the strategy a working-class Swedish teenager employed to enter motion pictures, find her way to America, and ultimately become Hollywood’s most glorious product. Brilliant tactics allowed her to reach Hollywood’s upper-most echelon and made her one of the last century’s most famous people. Garbo was discovered by director Mauritz Stiller, who saw promise in her nascent talent and insisted that she accompany him when he was lured to America by an MGM contract. By twenty she was a movie star and the epitome of glamour. Soon Garbo was among the highest-paid performers, and in many years she occupied the number one position. Unique among studio players, she quickly insisted on and was granted final authority over her scripts, costars, and directors. But Garbo never played the Hollywood game, and by the late twenties her unwillingness to grant interviews, attend premieres, or meet visiting dignitaries won her the sobriquet the Swedish Sphinx.

The Savvy Sphinx, which includes over a hundred beautiful images, charts her rise and her long self-imposed exile as the queen who abdicated her Hollywood throne. Garbo was the paramount star produced by the Hollywood studio system, and by the time of her death her legendary status was assured.

The Rise & Fall of Max Linder: The First Cinema Celebrity
by Lisa Stein Haven

Max Linder, born Gabriel Leuvielle in St. Loubes, France in 1883, started in films with the Pathe Brothers in Vincennes, just outside of Paris in 1905, making him one of the first film comedians that became world-renowned. In fact, there is evidence that Linder was the first screen celebrity to see his name in print. His comedy timing and gags (Linder started writing his own scenarios early on) have been copied and imitated by many of his followers, including Charlie Chaplin. 

Linder's story is both a comedy and a tragedy. His meteoric rise to fame by 1907/8 hit a roadblock in 1914 with the onset of World War I, and was dealt a death blow by his attempts to revive his career in America and Austria. His marriage to a young wife was ill-fated and ill-timed, leading Linder to take the life of his wife and himself on the night of October 31, 1925, leaving a 16-month-old daughter behind, Maud, who would devote her life to restoring his film legacy.  

Lisa Stein Haven is an Professor of English at Ohio University Zanesville, specializing in British and American modernist literature, the Beat poets and silent film comedy, especially the work of Charlie and Syd Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Max Linder.  

I wrote about this excellent book on an earlier blog. Check it out HERE.

Movie Mavens: US Newspaper Women Take On the Movies, 1914-1923
edited by Richard Abel

During the early era of cinema, moviegoers turned to women editors and writers for the latest on everyone's favorite stars, films, and filmmakers. Richard Abel returns these women to film history with an anthology of reviews, articles, and other works. Drawn from newspapers of the time, the selections show how columnists like Kitty Kelly, Mae Tinee, Louella Parsons, and Genevieve Harris wrote directly to female readers. They also profiled women working in jobs like scenario writer and film editor and noted the industry's willingness to hire women. Sharp wit and frank opinions entertained and informed a wide readership hungry for news about the movies but also about women on both sides of the camera. Abel supplements the texts with hard-to-find biographical information and provides context on the newspapers and silent-era movie industry as well as on the professionals and films highlighted by these writers. 

An invaluable collection of rare archival sources, Movie Mavens reveals women's essential contribution to the creation of American film culture.

Richard Abel is a professor emeritus of international cinema and media studies at the University of Michigan. His recent books include Menus for Movie Land: Newspapers and the Emergence of American Film Culture, 1913-1916, and Motor City Movie Culture, 1916-1925. He is also the coeditor of Barbara C. Hodgdon’s writings, Ghostly Fragmentsand the 2017 winner of the Jean Mitry Award.

20th Century-Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Creation of the Modern Film Studio
by Scott Eyman 

From New York Times bestselling author Scott Eyman, this is the story one of the most influential studios in film history, from its glory days under the leadership of legendary movie mogul Darryl F. Zanuck up to its 2019 buyout by Disney.
 

March 20, 2019 marked the end of an era -- Disney took ownership of the movie empire that was Fox. For almost a century before that historic date, Twentieth Century-Fox was one of the preeminent producers of films, stars, and filmmakers. Its unique identity in the industry and place in movie history is unparalleled -- and one of the greatest stories to come out of Hollywood. One man, a legendary producer named Darryl F. Zanuck, is the heart of the story. This narrative tells the complete tale of Zanuck and the films, stars, intrigue, and innovations of the iconic studio that was.

 

Scott Eyman is an award-winning author of 15 books about the movies, three of which have been New York Times bestsellers. He's a frequent book reviewer for The Wall Street Journal, Film Comment, and the New York Observer. His books include Hank & Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart; John Wayne: Louis B. Mayer: Lion of Hollywood; and Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford.

Silent Vignettes: Stars, Studios and Stories from the Silent
by Tim Lussier

Pickford, Lloyd, Keaton, Garbo. You're familiar with these icons of silent film, of course - and they are here within these pages. But are you familiar with Francelia Billington? No? How about Harold Lockwood, Edna Flugrath, Marion Byron, Virginia Brown Faire? Still, no? 

Well, fear not. Film historian and author Tim Lussier ("Bare Knees" Flapper: The Life and Films of Virginia LeeCorbin) shines a belated spotlight on these unjustly forgotten men and women, each of whom brought untold joy to millions of fans in the years before movies learned to talk. When you read their stories in Silent Vignettes, you'll understand why.

"Silent film fans know there is a vast world of long-forgotten studios and stars just waiting to be rediscovered. . . Tim Lussier helps bring a complex era to life with these tales of 'film folks,' both familiar and obscure." - Lea Stans

 

Vitagraph: America's First Great Motion Picture Studio
by Andrew A. Erish 

In Vitagraph, Andrew A. Erish provides a comprehensive examination and reassessment of the company most responsible for defining and popularizing the American movie. This history challenges long-accepted Hollywood mythology that simply isn't true: that Paramount and Fox invented the feature film, that Universal created the star system, and that these companies, along with MGM and Warner Bros., developed motion pictures into a multi-million-dollar business. In fact, the truth about Vitagraph is far more interesting than the myths that later moguls propagated about themselves.

Established in 1897 by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith, Vitagraph was the leading producer of motion pictures for much of the silent era. Vitagraph established America's studio system, a division of labor utilizing specialized craftspeople and artists, including a surprising number of women and minorities, whose aesthetic innovations have long been incorporated into virtually all commercial cinema. They developed fundamental aspects of the form and content of American movies, encompassing everything from framing, lighting, and performance style to emphasizing character-driven comedy and drama in stories that respected and sometimes poked fun at every demographic of Vitagraph's vast audience. The company overcame resistance to multi-reel motion pictures by establishing a national distribution network for its feature films. Vitagraph's international distribution was even more successful, cultivating a worldwide preference for American movies that endures to the present. For most of its existence America's most influential studio was headquartered in Brooklyn, New York before relocating to Hollywood.

An historically rigorous and thorough account of the most influential producer of American motion pictures during the silent era, Erish draws on valuable primary material long overlooked by other historians to introduce readers to the fascinating, forgotten pioneers of Vitagraph. 

 ++++++

I have added some of these titles to my Louise Brooks Society wish list. If you are looking to help support the efforts of the Louise Brooks Society and gift the LBS with something from this list, your contribution will be greatly appreciated! Long live Lulu.

GoFundMe Launched for new Louise Brooks related book

Greetings fans of Louise Brooks and the silent film era. I have launched a modest GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to help me complete my forthcoming book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond. The GoFundMe page is located HERE.

I am hoping to raise $400.00 to purchase the rights to a small number of archival images that I hope to include in my forthcoming book, which is due out in early 2023. Any donations over the goal will be used to help defray costs already incurred. A draft of the front and back covers of the book are pictured below. (The price of the book is not yet set.) Here's how you can help:

• Any donation, however small, will be very much appreciated.
• Donate $20.00 and receive an acknowledgment in the completed book.
• Donate $40.00 and receive an autographed, softcover copy of the completed book, as well as an acknowledgment (USA only).
• Donate $100.00 and receive an autographed, softcover copy of the completed book, an acknowledgment, and an autographed copy of my earlier book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film (USA only).

As many of you may know, I have been working on a new book titled The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond. This approximately 350-page book is a deep dive into the history of a single film – its literary source, its making, its exhibition history, its critical reception, and its surprising cultural impact.

Though little known today, the 1925 silent film, The Street of Forgotten Men, was a popular and critical success at the time of its release. The film is based on a short story by a noted writer (George Kibbe Turner); it was made by a significant director (Herbert Brenon), shot by a great cinematographer (Hal Rosson), and features a fine cast (Percy Marmont, Neil Hamilton, Mary Brian) which includes a screen legend at the very beginning of her career (Louise Brooks). In many ways, The Street of Forgotten Men is exemplary of filmmaking & film culture in the mid-1920s. This new book tells its story in rich, historical detail. Along with dozens of rare images, my book contains all manner of vintage documents, clippings and advertisements as well as a foreword by Robert Byrne. (This noted film preservationist is responsible for the 2022 restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men, which debuted earlier this year at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.) Among the book's many revelations

• A detailed account of the making of the film - what it was like on the set of a silent film.  
• A thorough survey of the film's many reviews, including one by a Weird Tales contributor, and another by Catholic icon Dorothy Day, a candidate for sainthood.  
• Identification of a handful of the film's uncredited, bit players, including a noted journalist, a screenwriter, and a world champion boxer.
• The story of Lassie's role in the film (no, not that Lassie, the first Lassie). 
• The role music played in the making and exhibition of this silent film.  
• How the film's title entered into 
  
• The story of how future film legend Louise Brooks came to appear in the film - her first! 
• And so much more... from censorship records to its mention on the floor of Congress to a French fictionalization to a clipping noting the film's last documented showing, at a Navy Y.M.C.A in Shanghai, China in 1931 !
  

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond is a book every silent film fan will want to own. It is also a must read for anyone interested in director Herbert Brenon, actress Louise Brooks, etc.... The GoFundMe page is located HERE.

 

The Louise Brooks Society blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Silent Women: New Books on Pioneers of the Cinema

There are a handful of new books on the silent film era focusing on women. Each are worth a look. Follow the links for more information or to make a purchase.

Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema (Aurora Metro Press)
edited by Cheryl Robson Melody Bridges 

From the publisher: "It now emerges that more women were working at every level in the first 20 years of the film industry in the USA than at any point since. Early pioneers, such as Alice Guy Blaché, directed hundreds of films, invented techniques, ran businesses and set up distribution but with the rise of the male-dominated studio system, their significant contribution to the dawn of the movies has long been forgotten.

With chapters on the writers, directors, producers, stars, film editors, designers and camera women of the silent era this book acknowledges and celebrates the many talented women who were significantly involved in the rise of the industry and explains why the coming of the talkies and big business led to the inequality which exists today."

I was drawn to this book because it includes Kevin Brownlow's never before published interview with Dorothy Arzner, which is highly recommended. There is also a piece by Shelley Stamp, an academic film historian who I find interesting. Sadly, the short passage on Louise Brooks in "Female Legends of the Silver Screen" contains four factual errors.

Girls Will Be Boys: Cross-Dressed Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908-1934 (Rutgers University Press)
by Laura Horak

From the publisher: "Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Hepburn all made lasting impressions with the cinematic cross-dressing they performed onscreen. What few modern viewers realize, however, is that these seemingly daring performances of the 1930s actually came at the tail end of a long wave of gender-bending films that included more than 400 movies featuring women dressed as men.

Laura Horak spent a decade scouring film archives worldwide, looking at American films made between 1908 and 1934, and what she discovered could revolutionize our understanding of gender roles in the early twentieth century. Questioning the assumption that cross-dressing women were automatically viewed as transgressive, she finds that these figures were popularly regarded as wholesome and regularly appeared onscreen in the 1910s, thus lending greater respectability to the fledgling film industry. Horak also explores how and why this perception of cross-dressed women began to change in the 1920s and early 1930s, examining how cinema played a pivotal part in the representation of lesbian identity.

Girls Will Be Boys excavates a rich history of gender-bending film roles, enabling readers to appreciate the wide array of masculinities that these actresses performed—from sentimental boyhood to rugged virility to gentlemanly refinement. Taking us on a guided tour through a treasure-trove of vintage images, Girls Will Be Boys helps us view the histories of gender, sexuality, and film through fresh eyes."

I've written about this book elsewhere. Suffice to say, it is a revelation. It's thoroughly researched, well argued, insightful and readable. Anyone interested in LGBT history, film studies, or the early 20th century will appreciate this recommended book.

REELS & RIVALS: Sisters in Silent Films (BearManor Media)
by Jennifer Ann Redmond 

From the publisher: "Female silent film stars possessed beauty, persistence, flair, and probably a sister in the business. You may have seen Mae Marsh in The Birth of a Nation (1915), Constance Talmadge in Intolerance (1916), or Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms (1919), but their sisters also starred in major motion pictures, such as Marguerite Marsh in The Master Mystery (1919), Norma Talmadge in The Battle Cry of Peace (1915), and Dorothy Gish in Orphans of the Storm (1921). These six appeared in countless movies. Most of their films are lost, but their legends remain. Few knew at the time that these extraordinary women were more than just faces on a screen; they were complex and human, with sometimes strange parents, body image issues, and relationship struggles. Their mistakes and triumphs often mirrored our own, though they were miles away in Hollywood. Their stories of violent marriages, heartbreaking tragedies, drastic surgeries, and secret identities are finally revealed in a candid exposé of the truth behind the tinsel.

Sister stars in Reels and Rivals that are profiled include: Norma and Constance Talmadge; Lillian and Dorothy Gish; Edna Flugrath and sisters Shirley Mason and Viola Dana; Helene and Dolores Costello; Poly Ann and Loretta Young with sister Sally Blane; Constance and Faire Binney; Priscilla and Marjorie Bonner; Grace and Mina Cunard; Alice and Marceline Day; Marion and Madeline Fairbanks; Laura and Violet La Plante; Mae and Marguerite Marsh; Ella, Ida Mae, and Fay McKenzie; Beatriz and Vera Michelena; Mary and Florence Nash; Sally O’Neil and sister Molly O’Day; Mabel and Edith Taliaferro; Olive and Alma Tell; and famous Vaudevillians The Duncan Sisters and The Dolly Sisters. Illustrated with 94 studio portraits, film stills, and candid photos that capture the glamour and excitement of Hollywood’s Golden Era. Indexed"

I found this book to be a lot of fun. It is illustrated, well researched, and full of fun facts about silent era personalities both famous and not so famous (though deserving of greater recognition). Heck, there is a whole chapter on Voilet and Laura La Plante.

Theda Bara, My Mentor: Under the Wing of Hollywood's First Femme Fatale (McFarland)
by Joan Craig with Beverly F Stout

From the publisher: "As movie patrons sat in darkened theaters in January 1914, they were mesmerized by an alluring temptress with long sable hair and kohl-rimmed eyes. Theda Bara--"the vamp," as she would come to be known--would soon be one of the highest paid film stars of the 1910s, earning an unheard of $4,000 per week, before retiring from the screen in 1926.

In 1946, at age five, the author met Bara--then 61--at her Beverly Hills home and the actress became her mentor. This memoir is the story of their friendship."

There have been a few biographies of Theda Bara published in the past, each of which I enjoyed. That's why I was drawn to this new title. This book is something different. I found the first half to be an assemblage of memories and anecdotes which together shed a light on the later years of one of the great stars of the early silent era. The second half looks at Bara's films, including A Fool There Was (1914) and Cleopatra (1917). [The latter is the subject of just announced reconstruction.]  There is also a chapter on Charles Bradin, the British-born American film director who Bara married in 1921.

Mabel Normand: The Life and Career of a Hollywood Madcap (McFarland)
by Timothy Dean Lefler 

From the publisher: "American silent film star Mabel Normand (1892-1930) appeared in a string of popular movies opposite the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle during the 1910s and 1920s, before dying of tuberculosis at age 37. Her brief but remarkable career, which included director and writer credits as well as heading her own studio and production company, was marred by scandal--police connected her to the unsolved 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor--that defined her legacy. This book highlights Normand's substantial yet long overlooked contributions to film history and popular culture, tracing her life from humble beginnings on Staten Island to the heights of world superstardom."

As with Theda Bara, this new book is predated by an earlier biography from 1982 by Betty Fussell as well as the blog by Marilyn Slater. Nevertheless, this book proves its worth by bringing together these sources and others in what is, at this point, the best biography a silent film superstar.

San Francisco's The Street of Forgotten Men

Someone once said, "all history is local." If true, then that applies to the movies, and film history. It also follows that film criticism is more than what reviewers in New York or Los Angeles might say about a particular film. How a movie is received in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia or San Francisco also matters. 

On May 10th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen its new restoration of Herbert Brenon's  The Street of Forgotten Men. This special screening marks a return to The City for this once well regarded silent film which was first shown in San Francisco nearly 100 years ago. More information about that special screening can be found HERE.

The Street of Forgotten Men revolves around a group of pretend handicapped beggars, and stars Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, and Neil Hamilton. Also appearing in the film is Louise Brooks, who made her screen debut in an uncredited bit part in this sentimental and strange melodrama.

Set and shot in New York City, The Street of Forgotten Men premiered at New York's Rivoli Theater on July 20, 1925. A few weeks later, the film made its Bay Area debut at the Granada Theatre (1066 Market Street, at Jones) in San Francisco, where it opened on August 8 and played for a week. It was a successful, and much ballywho'd run.

The Street of Forgotten Men kicked-off the what was known locally as the "Greater Movie Season," an annual event reportedly unique to San Francisco which encouraged the public to attend and enjoy the movies. This city-wide promotional campaign was supported by not only the movie studios - but also city officials, the press, and various civic organizations. Along with screenings of the season's best new films, there was also a parade and other activities. The “Greater Movie Season meant something in this town,” Variety noted later a few weeks later. “Twenty stars came up from Hollywood,” and there was a “big parade with floats from the various studios, corps of usherettes, bands, police escorts, and civic and public officials.” Notably, the horses, chariots and characters from Ben Hur also took part in the parade.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The Tens of Thousands of San Franciscans who lined Market Street yesterday morning and who crowded into the Civic center to welcome the visiting Motion Picture Stars who came from Los Angeles to help inaugurate Greater Movie Week, also paid tribute to Fay Lanphier, 'Miss California,' who left yesterday to compete at Atlantic City for the title of 'Miss America.' The movie stars gave Miss Lanphier a rousing send-off and wished her 'Luck'." The crowd was estimated at more than 30,000. Among the Hollywood celebrities in attendance were Renee Adore, Lew Cody, Corinne Griffith, Claire Windsor, Marie Prevost, Ben Turpin, Syd Chaplin, Paulette Duval, Ernest Torrence, Jean Hersholt, Ronald Colman, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. A portable broadcast station was also set up - suggesting the parade was broadcast on the radio.

Despite it's sometimes dour theme, and despite the competition, The Street of Forgotten Men did well at the box office. According to Variety, the film “came in hitting on all six.” The trade journal added that a good promotional campaign provided for a strong opening, and business held up during its week-long run in San Francisco. Variety reported the film took in $21,800 during its seven days at the Granada, ranking it second in The City. Supporting the film was an Al. St. John comedy short, Red Pepper, and on the stage were Ralph Pollock and the Granada Synco-Symphonists, Ukulele Lew, and other entertainers.

The Street of Forgotten Men beat out Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q, Son of Zorro at the Imperial, and D.W. Griffith's Sally of the Sawdust at the St. Francis (among other offerings), but fell just a bit short of Fine Clothes, a First National film also featuring Percy Marmont at the Warfield. Fine Clothes topped The Street of Forgotten Men – but only by $700.00. The latter’s success, Variety suggested, was due largely to the opening act at the Warfield, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians. That stellar musical group, one of the most popular acts of the day, “dragged ‘em to the box office.”

The Street of Forgotten Men was widely praised in the local press. Writing in the San Francisco Bulletin, A. F. Gillaspey noted, “For fine dramatic detail, for unusualness, for giving us a glimpse into a world we never see and into the other sides of characters we simply pass in pity on the streets, The Street of Forgotten Men is a photoplay revelation.” That review was echoed by other local critics. Dudley Burrows, writing in the San Francisco Call and Post, thought “The Street of Forgotten Men is more legitimately dramatic, and less frankly melodramatic than The Unholy Three,” a similarly themed film. Curran D. Swint of the San Francisco News stated, “Here we have an underworld drama, stark and naked in its picturing of the beggars and fakers who prey on the public in the name of charity.” 

George C. Warren of the San Francisco Chronicle praised the film's director. “The Street of Forgotten Men, to which Herbert Brenon has lent the magic of his skill at direction, [and] his ability to poeticize even the most sordid theme.” Idwal Jones of the San Francisco Examiner praised the film's star. “Marmont can make any picture pleasing, and does well in this unaccustomed role. The extreme of realism abounds in scenes wherein the fakers transform themselves into cripples and go out and impose upon the charitable.”

The Street of Forgotten Men returned to San Francisco for a handful second-run showings over the next twelve months. Other showings in The City include screenings at the New Fillmore (Oct. 12-14, 1925) and New Mission (Oct. 12-14, 1925), Coliseum (Nov. 2-4, 1925), New State (Mar. 7, 1926), and Majestic (Aug. 31, 1926).

Two other Bay Area screenings are also of note. One took place in neighboring Oakland, when the film played at the American theater September 5 through the 11th. On opening day, two of the stars of The Street of Forgotten Men came to town and made a special in-person appearance to promote the film and participate in Oakland's celebration of its Diamond Jubilee.

The Oakland Tribune thought the film "a vivid document of life along the Bowery." The Oakland Post-Enquirer thought the film had an unusual plot, while the Oakland Morning Record noted the picture had been acclaimed by Eastern critics and was said to be even greater than Lon Chaney's The Miracle Man -  a comment echoed in other reviews and articles from around the region and the nation.

A few weeks later, the film opened in San Jose at the Liberty theater for a short, three day run (Sept. 23-26). The local newspaper, San Jose Mercury Herald, thought the film had " . . . a series of smashing scenes that reveal the genius of Herbert Brenon." It also took note of a local screening with special purpose. On September 25, the San Jose Mercury Herald wrote, “Because the film drives home a lesson that every man should take to heart, the management of the Liberty invited members of the Pastor’s union, heads of clubs and civic organizations and others prominent in community life to attend a pre-view of the picture Wednesday morning at 10’oclock. These men and women were in an excellent position to thoroughly appreciate the value of such a screen story. And without exception they endorsed the picture not only as pointing a moral, but also as a superb piece of art.”

The Street of Forgotten Men showed all around the San Francisco Bay Area - in Berkeley, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Palo Alto, and elsewhere throughout the next twelve months. Other showings took place at the Ramona in Walnut Creek (Aug. 15-16, 1925); New Stanford in Palo Alto (Aug. 23-24, 1925); Sequoia in Redwood City (Aug. 26-27, 1925); Strand in Los Gatos (Aug. 27-28, 1925); Princess in Sausalito (Aug. 27-28, 1925); Hub in Mill Valley (Aug. 30-31, 1925); Orpheus in San Rafael (Sept. 12, 1925); Tamalpais in San Anselmo (Sept. 12, 1925); Virginia in Vallejo (Sept. 14-15, 1925);  California in Berkeley (Sept. 23-26, 1925); Novelty in Martinez (Sept. 24, 1925); Garden in Burlingame (Sept. 27, 1925); California in Pittsburg (Sept. 27-28, 1925); Casino in Antioch (Sept. 29, 1925); Regent in San Mateo (Oct. 10, 1925); Majestic in Benicia (Oct. 20, 1925); Chimes in Oakland (Oct. 23-24, 1925); Glen in Mountain View (Nov. 3-4, 1925); Fremont in Oakland (Nov. 5-6, 1925); Strand in Berkeley (Nov. 9-10, 1925); Lorin in Berkeley (Nov. 19-20, 1925); Oaks in Berkeley (Nov. 21, 1925); Royal in South San Francisco (Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, 1925); Lincoln in Oakland (Nov. 30 - Dec. 1, 1925); Casino in Oakland (Dec. 10-11, 1925); Strand in Oakland (Dec. 14, 1925); Rialto in Oakland (Dec. 21-22, 1925); New Piedmont in Oakland (Dec. 22-25, 1925); Liberty in Oakland (Jan. 10, 1926); Palace in San Leandro (Jan. 11-12 and Jan. 19, 1926); Hayward Theatre in Hayward (Jan. 25-26, 1926); Granada in Oakland (Feb. 1-2, 1926); Palace in Alameda (Feb. 1-2, 1926); Richmond in Richmond (Mar. 8-9, 1926); Berkeley Theatre in Berkeley (Apr. 7-9, 1926); and Peoples in Oakland (July 11, 1926). 

Louise Brooks’ part in The Street of Forgotten Men is small. She is on screen less than five minutes. Brooks is not listed in the credits, and that may explain why few noticed her one short scene. In reviews of the film, no San Francisco or Bay Area critic – let alone any national critic – noted Brooks’ debut performance. The lone exception was the Los Angeles Times. Its anonymous reviewer commented, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the 'blind' man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes. She was not listed.” Those two sentences mark the actress’ first film review.

Rescuing the Past: The Fall and Rise of Silent Film

With the advent of the talkies, silent film took a hit. A big hit. The silent cinema was devalued. In fact, things got so bad that some studios melted down their old films, believing a print’s meager silver content more valuable than whatever artistry contained in the movie itself. In this way, hundreds if not thousands of titles were lost to posterity. Others were thrown away, or abandoned. Others simply disintegrated over time, and no one much cared.

There was also a perception problem. Aside from a few exceptions, like Charlie Chaplin or your grandparent’s favorites, silent movies were never thought to be all that good. They were herky-jerky, and overly melodramatic. If you are old enough, you might remember those ridiculous compilations they once showed on television where “humourous” dialogue was added over sped-up excerpts from the “flickers,” making everything seem rather corny.

These days, however, silent film is seemingly on the ascendancy.

Led by the pioneering Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in the United States, like-minded and rather well-attended festivals seem to be springing up just about everywhere. Among others, there is a silent film festival in Kansas, one in Toronto, Canada, and one in Manila, in the Philippines. And too, one-off screenings of movies by favorites like Buster Keaton and Louise Brooks are taking place at a frequency that is almost startling. One section on NitrateVille.com—an old-school bulletin board site devoted to talking about, collecting and preserving classic film—is devoted entirely to listing silent film screenings. They’re everywhere. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, in Chicago, Illinois, and in Fremont, California at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. Yes, there’s an entire museum devoted to silent film.

One way to mark this resurgence of interest is through the number of documentary films related to early film. It started back in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Kevin Brownlow, the English documentary film maker and author; in 2010, he became to the first film historian to become an Academy Award honoree. In his acceptance speech, he hit back at an industry that has all-too-often neglected it past.

This year has been an exceptional year for documentaries related to silent film. One promising example, Saving Brinton, premiered earlier this year at the AFI Docs Film Festival in Washington D.C. It unreels the story of an eccentric collector who found a cache of rare films in Iowa, including a once lost Georges Méliés short, while offering a glimpse into the worlds of early film exhibition and modern-day film preservation.

There are others, including three documentaries released on DVD / Blu-ray. The one receiving the biggest buzz—the one even non-film buffs might have heard of—is Dawson City: Frozen Time (Kino Lorber), by Decasia director Bill Morrison. Part film history, part Gold Rush history, part poetic meditation on the fragility of just about everything, Dawson City: Frozen Time obliquely tells the incredible but true story of hundreds of silent film reels, buried for nearly half-a-century, in a swimming pool located deep in the Yukon permafrost.
 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Dawson City was a Gold Rush boom town (located about 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle) largely gone bust but still in need of entertainment, and that included the movies. Among the cast of characters who passed through Dawson (and some who resided there) were actor Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, showman Sid Grauman, impresario Alexander Pantages, and future director William Desmond Taylor (each a key figure in early Hollywood history), as well as poet Robert Service, businessman Solomon R. Guggenheim, boxing promoter Tex Rickard, and even Donald Trumps’ grandfather, Frederick Trump, who made a fortune operating a brothel. Dawson City: Frozen Time is an impressionistic documentary of-a-kind, told mostly without dialogue (silent film style) using the fragments of film found abandoned in this last place on earth which also happened to be the end of the distribution line for the films shown there.

A more traditional documentary, The Champion: The Story of America’s First Film Town (Milestone), has also received a good deal of attention, and rightly so. It tells the fascinating story of a small New Jersey town, located just a ferry ride away from Manhattan, that gave birth to the American film industry. In other words, before there was Hollywood, there was Fort Lee.

Here, many of the major studios of the time—including the Goldwyn Picture Corporation, Fox, Metro, Paramount ArtCraft, and Selznick—established themselves alongside smaller outfits like Champion Studios. And with them came a score of the biggest names in early film, including Will Rogers and Alice Guy-Blaché, Lillian Gish, Douglas Fairbanks, Theda Bara, Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford, and Barrymore family, to name just a few. And then it ended, when the industry moved to sunnier California. However, for a few years in the 1910’s, Fort Lee was the place to be. A two disc set, The Champion includes five rare short films made at the Champion Studios, none of which have previously been released on DVD. Notably, these films mark the beginnings of today’s Universal, which purchased Champion and its building in 1912.

Another documentary, this one focusing on an early key figure, is John Bunny – Film’s First King of Comedy (Mind Pilots Media). Though little known today, Bunny was one of the biggest comedic stars of his time. His personality driven, situational comedy set the stage for later greats like W.C. Fields and Jackie Gleason.

Born during the Civil War, Bunny worked on the stage and only achieved modest success. He likely would have been forgotten had it not been for the advent of motion pictures. This new medium, which required a different kind of acting, brought Bunny stardom. In fact, during his brief four year career in front of the camera, from 1911 to 1915, Bunny was a sensation, hugely popular in the United States, but even more so in England and Russia. Film historian Steve Massa and legendary film archivist Sam Gill offer insightful commentary. John Bunny – Film’s First King of Comedy includes four short films showcasing Bunny’s talents.

Though not a documentary, also newly out and of related historical interest is Little Orphant Annie, a film restoration by Eric Grayson. Everybody knows of the character Little Orphan Annie, whether through James Whitcomb Riley’s original 1885 poem, the long-running comic strip which debuted in 1924, the radio and film adaptions of the 1930s, the smash-hit Broadway musical from 1977, or its three subsequent film adaptions, the most recent in 2014.

Grayson, a film historian and preservationist, has painstakingly restored Little Orphant Annie from five different prints, making this release the longest version of the 1918 film ever commercially available. It also recreates the tints that were seen in the now-lost 35mm nitrate print. It’s a beauty.

Notably, this silent film represents the character’s earliest cinematic incarnation. Full of vanished Americana as well as striking dreamlike imagery, this entertaining film features the earliest surviving appearance by actress Colleen Moore (one of the biggest stars of the 1920s) as Annie, as well as a rare screen appearance by the once popular poet who started it all (Riley died two years before the film was released).

This crowd-funded project includes a number of special documentary features, among them a valuable booklet essay and commentary track by Moore biographer Jeff Codori, notes on the restoration and a commentary by Grayson, a behind-the-scenes featurette from the restoration premiere, and more. This worthwhile disc is one that silent film buffs, Little Orphan Annie collectors, and those interested in children’s literature will want to get.

Next year looks to be as promising as this for silent film documentaries. Among the works set for completion in 2018 is Charlotte Siller’s Documentary of a Lost Girl, a film that uses newly uncovered archival materials, interviews with surviving friends, and location shoots to reveal the life—away from the camera—of film icon Louise Brooks. There is also a documentary about Alice Guy-Blaché, the first female film director, in the works. It is called Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache. I am looking forward to both.

a variant of this article by Thomas Gladysz first appeared on Huffington Post

Louise Brooks books from the Louise Brooks Society

Looking for something good to read? Want to learn more about Louise Brooks and her films? Looking for the perfect gift for the silent film buff or Louise Brooks fan on your holiday list? Check out one or more of these Louise Brooks Society publications.

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The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond (softcover 1st edition)
by Thomas Gladysz

-- The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond is a 380 page deep dive into the history of one film, the 1925 silent, The Street of Forgotten Men. A popular and critical success at the time of its release, the film is based on a story by a noted writer, made by a significant director, shot by one of a greatest cinematographers, and features a fine cast which includes a future screen legend at the beginning of her career (Louise Brooks)  The story of the film is told in rich, historical detail — not only the film’s making, critical reception, and exhibition history but also its surprising legacy. Along with dozens of rare images and vintage clippings, this new book contains all manner of documents from the story on which the film was based to censorship records to a French fictionalization of the film to detailed credits and trivia, and even a review by a candidate for sainthood.

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond features forewords by Robert Byrne, whose restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men saved it from an undeserving obscurity, and film historian and Oscar honoree Kevin Brownlow, who revealed little known details about the film drawn from his correspondence with Louise Brooks.

AUTOGRAPHED copies available direct from the author @ $35.00 (includes shipping & handling within the USA). To place an order via PayPal, please send an email to louisebrookssociety AT gmailDOTcom 

 

Or buy online from Amazon.com (USA) // Barnes & Noble // Bookshop.org // Books-a-Million

 

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Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star (softcover 1st edition)
by Thomas Gladysz

-- This 296 page book brings together 15 years work by the Director of the Louise Brooks Society. Gathered here are the author's best articles, essays, and blogs about the silent film star and her films—Beggars of Life, Pandora’s Box, and Diary of a Lost Girl—each are discussed, as are many other little known aspects of Brooks’ legendary career. With many rare illustrations.

“Historian Thomas Gladysz has put together a number of his articles and essays from the past 15 years for the book Louise Brooks: The Persistent Star. Gladysz is the director of the Louise Brooks Society, and his detailed essays will be fascinating reading for any fan of the iconic actress.” — Lea Stans, Silentology

“… this (fully illustrated) book proves that ‘the persistent star’ is a perfect accolade.” — Tara Hanks, author of The Mmm Girl and Wicked Baby

AUTOGRAPHED copies available direct from the author @ $22.50 (includes shipping & handling within the USA). To place an order via PayPal, please send an email to louisebrookssociety AT gmailDOTcom

 

Or buy online from Amazon (USA) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million 

 

Or, buy the English-language edition from Amazon Australia | Brazil | Canada | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Netherlands | Poland | Singapore | Spain | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom

 

The English-language edition is also available from Saxo (Denmark) | Open Trolley (Indonesia) | MightyApe (New Zealand) | Bol.com (Netherlands) | Archiwum (Poland) 

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Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film (softcover 1st edition)
by Thomas Gladysz 

-- This first ever study of Beggars of Life looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. With more than 50 little seen images, tons of information, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by William Wellman, Jr. A must read for every fan. 

“I can say (with head bowed modestly) that I know more about the career of director William A. Wellman than pretty much anybody … but there are things in Thomas Gladysz’s new book on Wellman’s Beggars of Life that I didn’t know. More important, the writing is so good and the research so deep that even when I was reading about facts that were familiar to me, I was enjoying myself hugely.” — Frank Thompson, author of Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman

“This highly readable book will deepen your enjoyment and understanding of a silent Hollywood classic.” — Pamela Hutchinson, author of Pandora’s Box (BFI Film Classics)

AUTOGRAPHED copies available direct from the author @ $13.50 (includes shipping & handling within the USA) / A very few copies signed by both Gladysz and William Wellman Jr. are also available @ $75.00 (includes shipping & handling within the USA). To place an order via PayPal, please send an email to louisebrookssociety AT gmailDOTcom

 

Or buy NEW from Amazon (USA) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

 

Or, buy the English-language edition from Amazon Australia | Brazil | Canada | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Netherlands | Poland | Singapore | Spain | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom

 

The English-language edition is also available from Saxo (Denmark) | Open Trolley (Indonesia) | MightyApe (New Zealand) | Bol.com (Netherlands) | Archiwum (Poland)  | Waterstones (UK)
 
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Now We're in the Air (softcover 1st edition)
by Thomas Gladysz

-- This companion to the once "lost" 1927 film tells the story of the film’s making, its reception, and its discovery by film preservationist Robert Byrne. With two rare fictionalizations of the movie story, more than 75 little seen images, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by Byrne. A must read for the discriminating fan. Your purchase helps support the LBS.

 

“The absolute final word on the film from the world’s foremost expert on Louise Brooks. Thoroughly researched and expertly written, oh, and did I mention lavishly illustrated? If you love silent film and if you love Louise Brooks (and who doesn’t) you really should pick up a copy for your library.” — amazon.com review

AUTOGRAPHED copies available direct from the author @ $18.50 (includes shipping & handling within the USA)

 

Or buy NEW from Amazon (USA) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

 

Or, buy the English-language edition from Amazon Australia | Brazil | Canada | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Netherlands | Poland | Singapore | Spain | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom

 

The English-language edition is also available from Saxo (Denmark) | Open Trolley (Indonesia) | MightyApe (New Zealand) | Bol.com (Netherlands) | Archiwum (Poland) 

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The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition)
by Margarete Bohme (author) and Thomas Gladysz (editor)

-- The 1929 film, Diary of a Lost Girl, is based on a controversial and bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, it was a literary sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. By the end of the 1920s, it had been translated into 14 languages and sold more than 1,200,000 copies - ranking it among the bestselling books of its time. Was it - as many believed - the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? This contested work - a work of unusual historical significance as well as literary sophistication - inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two silent films. The best remembered of these is the oft revived G.W. Pabst film starring Louise Brooks.

This corrected and annotated edition of the original English language translation brings this important book back into print after more than 100 years. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations.

“In today’s parlance this would be called a movie tie-in edition, but that seems a rather glib way to describe yet another privately published work that reveals an enormous amount of research and passion.” — Leonard Maltin

“Gladysz makes an important contribution to film history, literature, and, in as much as Böhme told her tale with much detail and background contemporary to the day, sociology and history. This reissue is long overdue, and a volume of uncommon merit.” — Richard Buller, author of A Beautiful Fairy Tale: The Life of Actress Lois Moran

NEW from Amazon (USA) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | or in person at George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY) | Larry Edmunds (Hollywood, CA)

 
Or, buy the English-language edition from Amazon Australia | Brazil | Canada | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Netherlands | Poland | Singapore | Spain | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom
 
The English-language edition is also available from Saxo (Denmark) | Open Trolley (Indonesia) | MightyApe (New Zealand) | Bol.com (Netherlands) | Archiwum (Poland)

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.