Ruth Wing

This digitized book, available for free download thanks to the Essanay Silent Film Museum, was first published in 1924. Laden with pictures as it is, it would have been a fabulous, expensive tome for someone back in the day. The vast majority of the book consists of biography pages for major stars; each gets at least one page, though some get a full spread for an extra large picture. This is very much a Hollywood book from 1924; after years of scandal and demands for censorship, the industry was cleaning up its act. Indeed, the new fed censorship head Hays even contributes an essay near the back where he brags that the movies made in the past year and a half are the best ever made because they follow moral guidelines, and represent America well to the world. Therefore, the biographies are all squeaky clean, too. Any potentially scandalous issues, like divorces or multiple marriages, are delicately glossed over, even in famous cases like those of Mary Pickford, Owen Moore, and Douglas Fairbanks. Also, it was downright amusing how many actresses went to convent schools. Almost every bio contains the actor and actresses stats like hair color and weight and height; almost all the actresses were TINY, all from 100-135 pounds, and one is referred to as tall at 5 foot 6.

For my needs, the interesting material was in the back where it included several essays by major players about how movies are made, everything from scenario writing to camera work. The very end included fascinating pages with aerial pictures of each major studio, where it is located, and what is visible in every shot, like the number of closed and open stages, street sets, etc. I had no idea that studios had their own electric plants right on their grounds!… (mehr)