John Emerson (2) (1874–1956)

John Emerson and Anita Loos created an excellent how-to-break-into-movies series a century ago. This is the 2nd volume that I have read, and it's available as a free, legal download through archive.org.

The title is accurate to the content (unlike other books on this subject). The authors explain how the movie industry is set up, how the avenues of entry vary and can be accessed, outline what salaries are like, etc. One chapter is a complete primer on how to do make-up, including blackface, and what products to buy and how to achieve basic effects. For would-be actors, they suggest a necessary basic wardrobe as well. About half of the book consists of an entire movie continuity. The very format is fascinating to study. By modern standards, of course, the movie reads as a series of cliches (it helped established those cliches, after all) and is blatantly racist with its Banana Republic plot complete with Senior Frijole character and stereotypical mammy. Still, within the context of the time period it is a book packed with useful information, and it's certainly useful for my research needs a century later.… (mehr)

I acquired this as a free ebook through Google Books.

I'm rating this as four stars, as a useful bit of historical reference material, though to modern sensibilities it's mostly useless. John Emerson and Anita Loos were major scenarists (screenwriters) of the silent era who also published a series of books on breaking into photoplay writing and the movies in general. This book, published in 1920, acts as an intro to the job field, not unlike some Writer's Digest books published today. It breaks down major industry definitions, how one starts in the field and progresses from there, how to write and find inspiration (still many relevant tips here), and ends with the final quarter of the book reprinting a full photoplay for The Love Expert. In keeping with modern romantic comedies, it is a dreadful thing that made me wince on almost every page with its depiction of a young woman's quest for love and subsequent matchmaking misadventures, with bonus period racism to make you cringe even more. Even so, it was fantastic to see how the thing was formatted, paced, and developed.… (mehr)