Ladies in distress

by Kalton C. Lahue

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0498076342
• ISBN13: 9780498076343
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: A. S. Barnes
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Brief Appreciations of Ladies of the Silent Screen

Kalton Lahue wrote a number of books on silent film history in the 1960's and early 1970's, some of them are very good and almost all of them plowed new ground as there were very few books on silent films written at the time other than autobiographies of those who worked in the industry or coffeetable type books. Lahue is at his best writing about silent comedies and serials, this volume on women stars isn't quite up to his best. For one thing, the title is quite curious as if all female stars of the silent era were tied to the railroad tracks with Pearl White. Another thing is he leaves out quite a number of essential silent actresses and includes some that are quite obscure (Grace Cunard, Elaine Hammerstein, Juanita Hansen, Allene Ray, Marin Saris). Each lady has a chapter of her own, usually about five pages which includes around five stills, the bigger stars of course have more space, often double the pages and photo count). The book never the less is very enjoyable and worth seeking out for silent movie fans and scholars. The ladies who are profiled, in addition to those mentioned above, are Mary Astor, Theda Bara, Beverly Bayne, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Marion Davies, Priscilla Dean, Dolores Del Rio, Geraldine Farra, Pauline Frederick, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Leatrice Joy, Alice Joyce, Barbara Lamarr, Lila Lee, Bessie Love, Mae Marsh, Mary Miles Minter, Mae Murray, Nita Naldi, Jane Novak, Olga Petrova, Mary Pickford, Arline Pretty, Aileen Pringle, Norma Shearer, Gloria Swanson, Norma Talmadge, Alice Terry, Florence Vidor, Fannie Ward, Kathlyn Williams, and Clara Kimball Young. Among those conspiciously missing are Corinne Griffith, Colleen Moore, Constance Talmadge, Dorothy Gish, Janet Gaynor, Mabel Normand, Pearl White, Laura La Plante, Madge Bellamy, Patsy Ruth Miller, Ruth Roland, and Billie Dove. The book is very pleasant and thanks to his including some quite forgotten ladies of the era, you are sure to learn something new about the period even if you are a major silent film buff. Lahue is quite the gentlemen, nobody gets raked over the coals, although he admits being immune to the charms of Garbo. The book does not include filmographies of the actresses but that's really unneccesary since you can get that off the web now. The photographs are quite rare and reproduced a nice size in this 6x9 book. The book could have been a little better but it's still a very charming tribute to the women who were the first to taste movie fame.