The First Female Stars : Women of the Silent Era

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Summary: The achievements of fifteen silent film women
Review: From Theda Bara to Anna Nilsson and Sarah Bernhardt, the achievements of fifteen silent film women who entered early motion pictures to become key personalities of the industry are presented in David Menefee's The First Female Stars: Women Of The Silent Era. Menefee produced the first comprehensive study of actress Sarah Bernhardt's work previously, and here uses original sources to examine the influence and significance of her contemporaries.


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Summary: Paging Hope Brown!
Review: This, truly, is a bizarre book. For one thing, the dust cover promises far more than the text delivers. Among the actresses profiled, according to the cover flap, are Hope Brown (who? The name doesn't even appear in the index); Ina Claire, who did 2, count 'em, 2 silent feature films and is only fleetingly mentioned on a couple of pages; Asta Nielsen, who is nowhere to be found; Anna Q. Nilsson, who is given but a cursory nod on a single page; and Dorothy Phillips and Alice Terry, both briefly acknowledged on single pages. I had especially been looking forward to author Menefee's take on the long-forgotten Dorothy Phillips. Those actually profiled include Theda Bara, the Gish sisters, The Talmadges, and Maes Marsh and Murray, most of whom, by stretching it a bit, could be considered early screen stars. But hardly among "the first." Janet Gaynor, in contrast, didn't arrive until 1924 and didn't become a star until 1927. Not exactly a screen pioneer. As for the text itself, the profiles are competent but a bit on the dry side, and several of the actresses have recently enjoyed full-scale biographies by, ahem, more enterprising profilers. Strangely, Mr. Menefee fails to list Eve Golden's wonderful "Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara" in his otherwise lengthy bibliography, nor has he apparently been moved by Charles Affron's solid "Lillian Gish: Her Legend, Her Life," indispensible sources on two of the profiled actresses. In contrast, I see no pressing need for the present volume, whose conclusions include some airy comparisons between the importance of the lost silent films of Pauline Frederick and the future renown of Meryl Streep's cinematic output -- or some such; Mr. Menefee's point remains a bit unclear, at least to this reader. So instead of the rather superfluous "The First Female Stars," I recommend the aforementioned biographies, as well as Jeanine Bassinger's "Silent Stars" and Anthony Slide's "Silent Players," both volumes that actually cover new ground. And, by the way, who the H... is Hope Brown?