Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood

by Cari Beauchamp

Book Overview

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."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520214927
• ISBN13: 9780520214927
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 475 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Pure Inspriration

This is a must have for any aspiring artist in this industry. Male or Female. It truly does her story justice. I learned so much about the ins and outs of such a remarkable era. Must Read! "Follow you dream, because the person who cares the most wins!"

A long gone girlfriend

After reading Ms. Beauchamp's biography of Frances Marion, I felt that I knew Frances...and felt a bit sad that we would no longer "hang out" within these pages.Frances was not only an intelligent and witty screenwriter but a woman with principles and a giving heart.The lack of respect afforded to Ms. Marion by modern cinephiles as a pioneer in film-making is a true travesty.These pages made me wish that I could have been friends with Frances Marion...and in another life, I think I would.

Excellent Overview of Women in the Silent Era

I bought this book on a whim. I was looking for books on some of the great silent stars..Marion Davis, Mary Pickford, Colleen Moore, Olive Thomas, etc. I find it incredibly hard to find books about the Golden Age of Hollywood. After reading this work, I was taken back to a time when flickers were just coming in to vogue and when women could thrive in a burgeoning industry! The author - Cari Beauchamp did an excellent job of capturing the feel of the Golden age of Hollywood. I thought that her research was extensive and considering the limited amount of information available on women in this era, very complete. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in recapturing the essence of the Golden Age of Hollywood in their very modern living rooms of today.

You did a very good job of documenting a very complex woman

I knew Frances well when she lived in Woodbridge,CT, to be near her son Fred who was teaching at Yale...She was a remarkable women and I still treasure her friendship...GREAT BOOK, Cari

The best movie-based biography in ages!!

I loved this book! The author recognizes the greatness of her subject and rises to the occasion, writing in a highly engaging style. I was most impressed with Marion's deep friendships with her female co-horts through the years from Mary Pickford to newspaper columnist Jill Jackson (still active, by the way). Thoroughly entertaining, interesting, and moving at times. Anybody who believes there is no such thing as friendship in Hollywood has obviously never read this book. I only wish Mary Pickford had as sympathetic a personal biographer as the author is here. She, like, Frances Marion, was one of the greats.