Again Richard Dyer MacCann has brought his editorial skills to the task of presenting for the students and the general reader what movie making was like in the earliest days of America. This time he tells the stories of the lives, works, and fortunes of the most talented and prolific early American directors. Not only did they express themselves as artists, they also became popular, rich, and famous. Through autobiographical writings and the appraisals of contemporaries and more recent historians, Dr. MacCann provides the reader with a rich background for understanding how Thomas Ince,...

'A splendid anthology' --Kevin Brownlow, author of The Parade's Gone By and Hollywood: The Pioneers. This pathbreaking work will become our most valuable resource on the performers of the American silent screen. Hollywood was the new frontier of the 20th century. ('The last Klondike, ' Gary Cooper called it.) Here are brief biographies of 176 people who won leading roles plus more dramatic reports on 33 of them--how they reached fame and fortune, 'some sad and happy endings, ' analyses of the images of America they presented. Two special chapters: Pickford and Fairbanks, Swanson and...

A selective history for those who want to be informed without being overwhelmed, who would like to know enough about the silent era to feel at home there, respect its artists, and admire their work.