Years ago I read the historical fiction book The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin. Fans of that would like this non-fiction book about Frances Marion's full life and career. Also, back in 2017, I borrowed a Mary Pickford movie and the DVD had a documentary with this same title, Without Lying Down. Cari Beauchamp died late last year, so this cinema history book moved up in my list of priorities. The title comes from a quote that Frances, as a highly paid writer in the early days of filmmaking, said, "I've spent my life searching for a man to look up to without lying down."
I loved the behind the scenes stories of the filmmaking process the most. Frances was mentored by Lois Weber. Befriended Marie Dressler and helped to bring her from the stages of New York to the sets of Hollywood. Her friendship and working relationship with Mary Pickford fills a large section of the book. The cover photo is of the two of them. She also was friends with fellow writers Hedda Hopper and Adela Roger St. Johns. She worked closely with managing producer Irving Thalberg at MGM. Frances often worked on films for W.R. Hearst's company to star Marion Davies. The great love of her life was Fred Thomson, a now forgotten Western star, who died too young. Her hobbies of playing piano and sculpting as well as being a founding member of the Academy and then the Writer's Guild was fascinating too.
No comments:
Post a Comment