By Cari Beauchamp
University of California Press, 1998. 475 pages. Nonfiction
Cari Beauchamp masterfully combines biography with social and cultural history to examine the lives of Frances Marion and her many female colleagues who shaped filmmaking from 1912 through the 1940s. Frances Marion was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter--male or female--or almost three decades, wrote almost 200 produced films and won Academy Awards for writing The Big House and The Champ.
This book begins with a quote by Frances Marion: "I spent my life searching for a man to look up to without lying down." This history/ biography is a meticulously researched story of the very early days of Hollywood, a fascinating, rough era of how silent films changed the world. The focus is on Frances Marion, her long friendship with Mary Pickford, her marriages, her films, how she fought for herself and her undeniable talent. Her life is full of triumph and tragedy. She worked hard and had an amazing life. She associated with many famous silent film notables, such as Rudolph Valentino (who, despite his depiction on film was modest and shy!), Hedda Hopper and Marion Davies. I love this little-known era in Hollywood history, and I loved learning about these smart, amazing women.
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By Melanie Benjamin
Delacorte Press, 2018. 422 pages. Fiction
It is 1914, and twenty-five-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyone's lips these days is "flickers"--the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you'll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all. In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium. She also makes the acquaintance of actress Mary Pickford, whose signature golden curls and lively spirit have given her the title of America's Sweetheart. The two ambitious young women hit it off instantly, their kinship fomented by their mutual fever to create, to move audiences to a frenzy, to start a revolution. But their ambitions are challenged both by the men around them and the limitations imposed on their gender ... As in any good Hollywood story, dramas will play out, personalities will clash, and even the deepest friendships might be shattered. With cameos from such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Rudolph Valentino, and Lillian Gish, The Girls in the Picture is, at its heart, a story of friendship and forgiveness.
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