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The Sound of Silence
Conversations With 16 Film and Stage Personalities Who Bridged the Gap Between Silents and Talkies
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Book Presentation:
Marion Shilling began her career as a silent film ingenue for MGM and later went on to become one of the top heroines in Westerns of the 1930s. Stage actress Esther Muir made the transition from Broadway to Hollywood just as talkies became popular. Hugh Allan was a leading man in the last years of the silents only to leave the film business in 1930 because of the uncertainty surrounding his transition to sound films and his disgust with studio politics. These three performers and thirteen others (Barbara Barondess, Thomas Beck, Mary Brian, Pauline Curley, Billie Dove, Edith Fellows, Rose Hobart, William Janney, Marcia Mae Jones, Barbara Kent, Anita Page, Lupita Tovar, and Barbara Weeks) reminisce here about Hollywood and the movie business as it made the transition from silents to talkies. For the stage actors, sound films were a natural move. Some of the silent actors were not so fortunate, often finding the studios reluctant to use their talents. These men and women, most in their seventies and eighties, provide a unique look at a crucial period in film history.
About the Author:
Michael G. Ankerich is a writer whose work focuses on the silent film era of Hollywood. A former newspaper reporter, he has written extensively for Classic Images, Films of the Golden Age, and Hollywood Studio Magazine, which featured his interview with Butterfly McQueen (Prissy) on the 50th anniversary of the release of Gone With The Wind. He can be reached at his website michaelgankerich.com.
Press Reviews:
"Ankerich is another of the really, really good writers we have on classic film. How could you pass this up…an excellent read, entertaining, and well written with great photos"—Classic Images
"pleasurable reading…engaging period photographs and exhaustive individual filmographies…detailed research, vividly recounts what it was like to be an early screen siren"—Film & History
"this compulsive collection of vivid reminiscences is a fascinating journey back to early cinema. It’s the next best thing to traveling back in a time machine"—Film Review
"richly detailed and consistently interesting…these performers…have absorbing and entertaining stories to tell…excellent photographs"—Past Times
"recommended…a generous selection of photos"—The Silents Majority
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
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