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Location: Vero Beach, Florida, United States

My name is Pat and I live in Florida. My skin will never be smooth again and my hair will never see color. I enjoy collecting autographs and playing in Paint Shop Pro.,along with reading and writing. Sometimes, I enjoy myself by doing volunteer "work" helping celebrities at autograph shows. I love animals and at one time I did volunteer work for Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Parade's Gone By

 

The Parade's Gone By  by: Kevin Brownlow

Paperback: 577 pages
Publisher: University of California Press (June 23, 1976)
ISBN-10: 0520030680

Review
Passing in review here is the silent film era and Mr. Brownlow has done a splendid job of vitalizing the past through interviews and personal research. Most of this material has never seen print before and the filmophile will go wild over reminiscences such as Joseph Henabery's (who assisted Griffith on Intolerance). And the snaps: Garbo who loved watching talking pictures in reverse but refused to view them the right way. . . Fairbanks intimidated by the Robin Hood castle - "You expect me to jump across that?" . . .Buster Keaton who broke his neck doing his own stunts and didn't realize it until ten years later. . . the chaos that was the original Ben Hur - "we'll paint muscles on you!" . . . Irving Thalberg arguing with Von Stroheim over a foot fetishist scene - "You are a footage fetishist" . . . Producers, directors, writers, actors, stuntmen, the last of the pioneers, each with his own marvelous recollections. A fine splice of a fantastic life and with the 261 photographs well worth the price.??

First let me tell you if you go to Amazon to check on this book I did NOT pay the price it shows!! I sent for a used copy in excellent condition!

So... another chunkster!  577 pages!  ... and the book was published in: 1976!  Gosh, in 1976 my sons were a mere 10 and 8 yrs old!... and now they are in their 40's!  Be careful. Don't blink. Not only will the Parade go by but Life will pass you by too!

Here are just a few of the 261 photo's in the book..

 

As you can probably tell, this book is all about the Silent Movies.  It talks mostly about people no one would know  unless you studied this period of time in the movies.  Many people who became directors and cameramen and stuntmen with no special education or studies to 'qualify" them.. it was more learn as you go, but with a lot of hidden talent in each person. 

Back then it was very possible to start on a lowly job and work your way up to a well paid position within a short amount to time.

You have to realize that most of the movies back then were what they called "one reeler's"  Many could be made in one weeks time, and so if you ran a camera or worked at cutting the film, you were busy all the time, and so became an expert in record time.

This is not a book for everyone.  It is a book for someone wanting to know more than the average person about the making of silent movies .  I am guessing but I would bet that this book would be required reading for those studying the history of movies.

It was very well written.   Let's face it, I didn't know most of the names that were talked about but yet it was made interesting enough that I kept on reading!  

It's a book that belongs in the library of anyone deep into film, and especially the silent film era.  It's not what I would call a thrilling book to read.. but it was very informative and interesting.

4 Comments:

Blogger Cath said...

It's amazing to read that Buster Keaton broke his neck doing his own stunts and didn't realise it until 10 years later! My goodness. They made them tough in those days...

9:29 AM  
Blogger DesLily said...

cath: you chose the one thing that really blew my mind! lol.. can you imagine?! he kept on working and could have easily paralized himself even after making it thru the first accident that initially broke it!

9:53 AM  
Blogger Pamela said...

he was named appropriately : bust-er

8:26 PM  
Blogger Ladytink_534 said...

I've never been that crazy about silent movies myself but I love reading books like this published a while back so that they've been mostly forgotten.

3:11 PM  

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