Sarah Bernhardt, Her Films, Her Recordings

Foreword by Academy Award-Winning Film Historian Kevin Brownlow

Sarah Bernhardt was called the world’s greatest actress. She spoke on one of Edison’s first recordings. She appeared in one of the first sound movies. She earned a place in motion picture history with her highly influential Queen Elizabeth, a film that started Adolph Zukor on the road to success with Famous Players, the company that became Paramount Pictures.

Sarah’s work in early films and recordings takes center stage in David W. Menefee’s monumental research work, an incredible, stunning collection of information and images rediscovered in the world’s foremost archives.

Treasure this rare compilation of analyses of her films, hundreds of rare photographs, plot synopses, casts, contemporary reviews, and production notes. In a revised and expanded version of the brilliant Sarah Bernhardt in the Theater of Films and Sound Recordings, Sarah Bernhardt’s unforgettable story is retold by esteemed Pulitzer nominee David W. Menefee during Paramount Pictures’ 2012 Centennial celebration. 

Falling Stars: 10 Who Tried to be a Movie Star

 In the history of the movies, thousands of men, women, children, and even animals have tried to find success as a movie star. They were drawn from theater, opera, sports, and every type of entertainment venue, and some even came from out of nowhere. Men and women, young and old, took valiant stabs at entrancing audiences with their faces, personalities, or peculiarities. A precious few achieved greater popularity than anyone could have ever dreamed, but others vanished beneath the sands of time along with the films they so lovingly made. They gave us their most audacious efforts, but they did not find any lasting success, or having enjoyed a brief blush with triumph, they returned home to their true métiers. Some simply never found a second chance. This book celebrates the memorable attempts of ten who tried to be a movie star. They shot across silver screens like comets, but they all disappeared like falling stars.

Pulitzer nominated author David W. Menefee searched the major archives of the world to uncover the true behind-the-scenes stories of ten of Hollywood’s most legendary headliners. He returned with this fascinating anthology that includes detailed analyses of their attempt at films, plot synopses, casts, contemporary reviews, production notes, and hundreds of rare photographs that capture the glamour and excitement of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

Enjoy this fascinating anthology that includes:

Helen Keller: The Most Unlikely Movie Star 

Enrico Caruso: Double Trouble

Mary Garden: Blooming in the Wrong Season

Babe Ruth: Strike Three

Otis Skinner: Kismet Lost

Anna Pavlova: A Swan Out of Water

Eleonora Duse: In Transit

Lottie Pickford: Doomed to the Shadows

Harry Houdini: The Disappearing Act

Maude Adams: The Movie Star Who Never Was

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The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era

Each profile contains a biographical treatment, an analysis of key films from her career, a discussion of the actress's influence on the medium, and selected filmography. Each also includes two photographs, most often one of the actress herself and a still from a film.

Theda Bara                     Gene Gauntier          Alla Nazimova
Beverly Bayne                 Janet Gaynor           Constance Talmadge
Sarah Bernhardt              Dorothy Gish           Norma Talmadge
Pauline Frederick            Mae Marsh              Laurette Taylor
Carol Dempster              Mae Murray             Pearl White
 

The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era

The publisher is preparing a Limited Collector's Edition in hard back, and a soft back edition for the general market. Pre-publication orders are accepted now, which will include free shipping if ordered now.

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Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures

Named one of the "Top 10 Film Books" by the San Francisco Examiner

No one will ever forget the scene in D. W. Griffith’s Way Down East where Richard Barthelmess as David rescued Anna Moore from certain death on an ice floe as it was about to plummet over a waterfall. The actor risked his life for that stunt, and the exciting sequence still thrills audiences to this day. His effort to fight back and live on became more than the stuff of Hollywood legend. Richard went on to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor for The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid, and he won an Academy Award Citation for "Special Achievement in Producing" The Patent Leather Kid.

His signature roles are in many of D. W. Griffith’s silent films including Broken Blossoms, Scarlet Days, The Love Flower, and The Idol Dancer. Few people are aware that he was nearly felled by the chaos of Hollywood’s transition from silent to talking pictures when he used a voice double to sing for him in Weary River. Despite the setback, his transition to talking pictures and work in The Dawn Patrol, Cabin in the Cotton, and Only Angel’s Have Wings proved that his talent was enduring. 

For the first time, the story is fully told how Alla Nazimova, a famous Russian star, plucked him from obscurity to play in her first film, and how his worldwide fame was nearly snuffed out when he followed America’s call to arms and gave up his movie career to assist in the fight against Nazi aggression in World War Two. By the time he returned to civilian life, a new generation had grown up never seeing his work, but he continued to live happily until retiring to a happy life as a senior citizen. Richard appeared in more than 80 films, and this book reveals them with a richly researched biography, an extensive Filmography, and hundreds of rare portraits, posters, and lobby cards that capture the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

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George O’Brien thrills audiences today with his signature role in F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise, Michael Curtiz’ Noah’s Ark, and John Ford’s The Iron Horse, The Blue Eagle, Salute, The Seas Beneath, Fort Apache, and Cheyenne Autumn. He was one of America’s most beloved film stars.

His on-screen heroics were more than matched by his real life bravery. For the first time, the story is told about how he survived the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake as a seven-year old to grow up a superb athlete, a decorated hero in World War One, and a stunt double for film idol Rudolph Valentino. O’Brien was one of hundreds working as an assistant cameraman, extra, and bit player when he was plucked from obscurity to head the cast of John Ford’s epic, The Iron Horse. He became a star overnight.

O’Brien’s rise to the top ranks of silent films reached sublime proportions when F. W. Murnau featured him in the classic romance, Sunrise. Warner Bros. plunged him into one of the first talking pictures when director Michael Curtiz converted his silent Noah’s Ark epic into sound. Many men, women, and animals were injured during the climatic flood scenes, but O’Brien lived through the deluge to become a top star for twenty years. In the 1940s, O’Brien walked away from the pinnacle of stardom to answer the call to arms and re-enlist when American entered World War Two. He actively fought in several island invasions, and when the war ended, he returned only to find that a new generation of filmgoers had grown up never having seen him in a motion picture. He succeeded with a modest comeback, but left Hollywood a second time to assist with military conflicts in Korea. When he returned to civilian life again, he briefly pioneered in early television work and lived to enjoy retrospectives of his films during the 1970s and 1980s.

Discover his fascinating life in George O'Brien: A Man's Man in Hollywood. The richly researched work draws from hundreds of sources, including major archives and the George O’Brien Estate. Enjoy hundreds of photos and illustrations, many unseen for the past eighty years. The book reveals how he was received in his time and his role in the development of motion pictures from silent to sound. George appeared in more than a hundred credited and unaccredited films, and this book reveals them with a richly researched biography, an extensive Filmography, and rare portraits, posters, and lobby cards that capture the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

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William Thomas, the man known as “Buckwheat,” one of the most beloved characters in the history of the Our Gang and Little Rascals films, rose from obscurity to become an American icon. Billy’s heritage grew to be more than the ninety-three comedies in which he appeared as Buckwheat. He was a husband, father, and soldier. Several generations have come to know Buckwheat as if he was a real person, but few knew Billy, the man behind the myth.

In “Otay!” The Billy “Buckwheat” Thomas Story, William Thomas, Jr., Billy’s son, joins with acclaimed author David W. Menefee to brush back the sands of time and unearth the facts beneath the fable. For the first time, the true story is told how producer Hal Roach, Sr. plucked three-year-old Billy from hundreds of children and raised him on a pedestal before an adoring public. For a decade, Billy was the most prominent Black American in motion pictures, but World War Two brought an end to the famous comedy series and a halt to his film career. Billy went on to live a private, nearly normal life, married, fathered an adorable child, and then answered the call to arms and enlisted in the US Army during the Korean War. Years later, imposters attempted to steal his limelight, but Billy forgave the offense with his characteristic, childlike good humor. 

In an era when most Black American actors were struggling to gain a foothold in Hollywood, Billy achieved a lasting legacy. Enjoy the timeless tale of a baby superstar, who once shown brightly on movie screens during Hollywood’s “Golden Years” and still fascinates audiences today.

Now available in the original hard back edition plus an abridged soft back edtition.

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Wally: The True Wallace Reid Story

Foreword by Robert Osborne

Named one of the Top 10 Silent Film Books of 2011 by Thomas Gladysz of the San Francisco Examiner!

Wallace Reid still rouses excitement today as Jeff, the blacksmith in D. W. Griffith’s famous film, The Birth of a Nation. Audiences thrill to the rip-roaring brawl between Jeff and a band of villainous renegades. The fight was largely real, and many people saw Wally for the first time in that immortal film. They said he became “a star overnight,” but he had appeared in more than a hundred films before.  

In Wally: The True Wallace Reid Story, his truth is fully told for the first time how he was “born in a trunk” to an actress mother and a famous playwright father; how he barely survived the infamous St. Louis cyclone, when the storm tore that city apart. Wally emerged from the carnage to grow into a popular student, athlete, and early film hero. His handsome looks inspired directors to place him in front of cameras, but his ambitions were to be a writer and director. When director Cecil B. DeMille picked him to appear opposite opera diva Geraldine Farrar in her first films, his aspirations became lost in the dizzying idolatry of worldwide audiences.

Wally’s popularity soared to a height rivaled only by Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, but his pedestal of fame stood on shaky ground. Genuine tragedy fell upon Wally and his film crew when their train derailed in an isolated Sierra Mountain location. His injuries were treated with morphine, and his family and friends watched helpless as he became caught unaware in the deathly grip of the drug. Dorothy Davenport, his wife and a beautiful star in her own right, remained faithfully by his side, while he wrestled with the demons that threatened to take his life.

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The Remarkable Mr. Messing

Can one man alone in war-torn Europe in World War Two fight a war against the forces of evil? Isador Messing, a German Jew, believes that love can overcome all obstacles. When trapped in Berlin with all hope lost, he enacts a bold and daring plan to escape and steal across Europe in a quest to rescue his fiancé from the clutches of doom at Auschwitz. 

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Brothers of the Storm

From the Amistad rebellion to the Emancipation Proclamation, Black American history comes alive in the story of Matthew and Mark, brothers of the storm of war, twin orphans torn apart and forced to live distant, separate lives. One boy's hopes are shattered, his brother’s dream becomes a nightmare, and a war ignites the fuse for an explosive adventure. Their lives celebrate the power of the human spirit to do what is right no matter what the cost, and their wills to reunite plunge them on a twisting trail to freedom in a world gone mad.

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Lou-Tellegan, a youth from the Netherlands, became one of the world’s first movie stars. Before he became famous, he was the son of a brave and courageous Dutch military general. Lou first worked as a boxer, a circus trapeze artist, and as a nude model in Paris for Auguste Rodin. He became an eager, dedicated stage actor with Italy’s most famous actress, Eleonora Duse. When France’s renowned actress, Sarah Bernhardt, plucked him from obscurity with a four-year contract, she remade him into a rich and world-famous star. Hollywood snapped him up for silent movies. Geraldine Farrar, the world’s greatest opera singer, married him after a whirlwind romance, but on one dark day, the fairy tale magic of his incredible storybook life came suddenly to a shocking end that stunned the entire world.

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