Tweet Falling Stars: 10 Who Tried to be a Movie Star

"Major archives of the world unveiled some hidden treasures for me again so I could uncover the true behind-the-scenes stories of ten of Hollywood’s most legendary headliners who tried to be a movie star. This is a book I've wanted to write for more than twenty years. I've always been fascinated by the audacious efforts some people took to make it in the movies. You have to admire their pluck and determination. I returned with this fascinating anthology that includes detailed analyses of their attempts 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."

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. They 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.

Enjoy this engaging compilation featuring Helen Keller, Enrico Caruso, Mary Garden, Babe Ruth, Otis Skinner, Anna Pavlova, Eleonora Duse, Lottie Pickford, Harry Houdini, and Maude Adams.

"Falling Stars: 10 Who Tried to be a Movie Star" is my last silent film book, coming as it is right after this year's Wally: The True Wallace Reid Story and The Rise and Fall of Lou-Tellegen. I hope you enjoy Falling Stars as much as I enjoyed the research and writing."

Pulitzer nominee David W. Menefee is the author of:

Sarah Bernhardt, Her Films, Her Recordings
Wally: The True Wallace Reid Story
The Remarkable Mr. Messing
The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era
Brothers of the Storm
The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era
Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures
“Otay!” The Billy “Buckwheat” Thomas Story
The Rise and Fall of Lou-Tellegen
Charlie O’Doone’s Second Chance and Other Stories
Margot Cranston: The Mystery at Loon Lake
Margot Cranston: The Secret of St. Laurent Lighthouse
Margot Cranston: The Quest for the Jade Dragons
George O’Brien: A Man’s Man in Hollywood

Looks interesting, as do your books on Wallace Reid and Lou Tellegen ...

Looks interesting, as do your books on Wallace Reid and Lou Tellegen ...

If you want an interesting read about Lou, look for his memoirs entitled "Women Have Been kind". Straight from the horses mouth. I knew why Lou was the way he was after completing the first chapter.

If you want an interesting read about Lou, look for his memoirs entitled "Women Have Been kind". Straight from the horses mouth. I knew why Lou was the way he was after completing the first chapter.

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In her review, Dorothy Parker suggested that it should have been appended “...of Dumb.”

This is beyond absurd. Babe Ruth tried to be a movie star?! Helen Keller?!! Helen Keller was born in 1880, she could neither see nor hear, ever.

Bear Manor is plumbing new depths.

Grammatically speaking, shouldn't the title be "10 Who Tried To Be Movie Stars"?

If you want an interesting read about Lou, look for his memoirs entitled "Women Have Been kind". Straight from the horses mouth. I knew why Lou was the way he was after completing the first chapter.

In her review, Dorothy Parker suggested that it should have been appended “...of Dumb.”[/quote]

I read that also. All I have to say is that most of Lou's women were more than willing. If that made them dumb, so be it. I haven't analyzed the lives of those women that much to make an informed decision about them.

There are now two biographies about Lou Tellegen and I have read neither. I was curious to see what Lou had to say about himself first and foremost, so that's why I started with his memoirs. I haven't finished the book yet, but I do find it to be an interesting read.

Here are two more improbable movie stars: Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. They both signed to appear in "Warning Shot" (1967) as a negotiating ploy when holding out for more money in the 1965-66 off-season. They both exercised escape clauses after they came to terms with the Dodgers.

This is beyond absurd. Babe Ruth tried to be a movie star?! Helen Keller?!! Helen Keller was born in 1880, she could neither see nor hear, ever.

Bear Manor is plumbing new depths.

Grammatically speaking, shouldn't the title be "10 Who Tried To Be Movie Stars"?

YOU are beyond absurd.

Helen Keller was born with normal hearing and sight. She lost both senses as a child.

And what is wrong with disabled people making movies? Are you aware there is a huge, thriving, international film industry 100% "owned" by Deaf people? That deaf Marlee Matlin won the Best Actress award, Vernon Dent performed violent slapstick with the Three Stooges while blind, Nanette Fabray had a great career including many singing performances despite being deaf, and on and on and on?

Open your mind. Nearly every person on the planet will eventually end up with some kind of severe disability, including movie stars.


Jim

She lost both senses before she was two years old. That's nearly as bad as being born without them. I had no idea she tried to be a movie star. On the stage, yes. I read about that. That's quite different from trying to make it in the movies though.

I haven't read the book but I know Keller starred as her adult self in the 1919 film DELIVERANCE, a biographical picture with some melodramatic license. I'm not aware that she was in- or attempted to be in- anything more than documentary films thereafter.

It's rather interesting that the 1919 film lists "Helen's Boyfriend" as a character. In real life those around her seem to have gone to great lengths to prevent any such relationship. One commentator (I forget who and where) said that it was as if the thought of a handicapped person having a marriage and a sex life was unthinkable.

Mr. Roots, your deafness does not grant you license to go off on a personal rant about people with disabilities.

My point was that because Babe Ruth and Helen Keller appeared in a few movies did not mean that they "tried to be a movie star". I have seen Babe in small roles in both Speedy(1928) and Pride of the Yankees(1942) . I don't think anyone would say he tried to be a movie star. In both he played himself

I am sorry that I offended you, but in the case of Helen Keller, who was both blind and deaf, a career "as a movie star", especially in talking pictures, was something she never considered.

Lou Gehrig did a screen test for a Sol Lesser Tarzan film. I don't think that any of his biographers would claim that "he tried to be a movie star". Nor would Gene Tunney's, though he starred in a Pathe serial of several hours' length , "The Fighting Marine"(1926), even before the famous Long Count bout with Dempsey. The list is endless of celebrities who appeared in motion pictures, but never had any intention of making a career of it, even less "Tried To Be A Movie Star".

I agree with George that it's a stretch to claim that Helen Keller "tried to be a movie star." Not that she was physically incapable of it, but her one film was made as a one-off production, not as the herald of a new acting career.

I'll bet she'd have been an interesting actress in a Dreyer film, though.

The case could be made that Babe Ruth did hope for a screen career alongside his baseball career. Babe Comes Home was really played up in the trade magazines, and if it had scored with audiences, you can bet he would've done a film a year for as long as possible. Ditto for Red Grange, who starred in a feature near the end of the silent era that got a lot of press too. Ty Cobb did a movie in the 'Teens, but whether that was done in hopes of a second career, or just for a fast buck, I don't know.

Enjoy this engaging compilation featuring Helen Keller, Enrico Caruso, Mary Garden, Babe Ruth, Otis Skinner, Anna Pavlova, Eleonora Duse, Lottie Pickford, Harry Houdini, and Maude Adams.

Why's Lottie Pickford in the list?

Did Maude Adams make any films?

Mr. Roots, your deafness does not grant you license to go off on a personal rant about people with disabilities.

My point was that because Babe Ruth and Helen Keller appeared in a few movies did not mean that they "tried to be a movie star". I have seen Babe in small roles in both Speedy(1928) and Pride of the Yankees(1942) . I don't think anyone would say he tried to be a movie star. In both he played himself

I am sorry that I offended you, but in the case of Helen Keller, who was both blind and deaf, a career "as a movie star", especially in talking pictures, was something she never considered.

Lou Gehrig did a screen test for a Sol Lesser Tarzan film. I don't think that any of his biographers would claim that "he tried to be a movie star". Nor would Gene Tunney's, though he starred in a Pathe serial of several hours' length , "The Fighting Marine"(1926), even before the famous Long Count bout with Dempsey. The list is endless of celebrities who appeared in motion pictures, but never had any intention of making a career of it, even less "Tried To Be A Movie Star".

Your statement was: "Helen Keller?!! Helen Keller was born in 1880, she could neither see nor hear, ever."

That is factually wrong. And the clear implication was that you considered it "beyond absurd" that someone who was deaf and blind might hope to become a movie star, as if the disability itself absolutely precluded any such possibility. That kind of assumption is indeed offensive.

Babe Ruth and Helen Keller never "tried to become a movie star", as the original article suggested. It is correct, as others here have said, that they simply played themselves in a one-shot (or two-shot) publicity effort. And, again, there is no reason why such "guest star" style appearances should elicit the kind of incredulous response you gave.

Now let's all sit down in front of the TV and watch Stephen Hawking appear on Star Trek, The Simpsons, David Letterman...

Jim

Did Maude Adams make any films?

No. She was approached several times but the closest she came was a screen test for the Janet Gaynor picture "The Young at Heart".

Another actress who almost entirely skipped films was Katherine Cornell- she did only a cameo in Hollywood Canteen, and I think there is some early television footage. Otherwise nothing.

Interesting. Adams would have played the part Minnie Dupree played in The Young in Heart.

My memory of Katharine Cornell in that film was that she had bad teeth.

Another stage great who came to films late and made only a few: Shirley Booth.

A question that deserves to be asked: how was Helen Keller directed?

Communicating with her required close physical proximity (either signing into her hand or having her read your lips and throat by touch). Her assistants Anne Sullivan and Polly Thompson also appeared in Deliverance and if they were sharing a scene with Helen they could sign the director's instructions to her. But if Helen was appearing without them, she would have to be given direction before the scene began and it would have to be done in relatively short takes, since you couldn't "just" tell her to change her actions in mid-stream.

The film seems to be lost so perhaps it doesn't matter either way. Still, did any newspaper or fan magazines discuss the procedures involved in directing her?

As for Maude Adams, I believe the 1938 screen test is all we have for footage, but there are some 1930s radio transcriptions at LOC.

-HA

A question that deserves to be asked: how was Helen Keller directed?

Communicating with her required close physical proximity (either signing into her hand or having her read your lips and throat by touch). Her assistants Anne Sullivan and Polly Thompson also appeared in Deliverance and if they were sharing a scene with Helen they could sign the director's instructions to her. But if Helen was appearing without them, she would have to be given direction before the scene began and it would have to be done in relatively short takes, since you couldn't "just" tell her to change her actions in mid-stream.

The film seems to be lost so perhaps it doesn't matter either way. Still, did any newspaper or fan magazines discuss the procedures involved in directing her?

As for Maude Adams, I believe the 1938 screen test is all we have for footage, but there are some 1930s radio transcriptions at LOC.

-HA

Your guess is correct, Harold. Keller would have received her directions via Sullivan/Thompson before the camera started to roll. I've worked with many deaf-blind people in similar situations and that is how it is done. It should be added that they can go for medium-long takes if they have been given appropriate directions beforehand, and if the camera lens is wide enough to eliminate the problem of them accidentally stepping outside the "normal" frame space. For example, if the scene is to show how they can tend a garden, the take could continue as they go through several flowers in a short range of space, pruning and plucking and watering by touch.

Jim

The film seems to be lost so perhaps it doesn't matter either way. Still, did any newspaper or fan magazines discuss the procedures involved in directing her?

The film does survive; it just doesn't get screened much. I'm pretty sure Jon Mirsalis mentioned seeing it at some point and apparently it isn't very good. Seems to me the LOC has it.

I remember reading somewhere that instead of yelling "Action" and "Cut," the director would cue Keller by stomping on the wooden floor and she would sense the vibration, but that's all I recall about the process of making this film.

You're right, I should have looked that up before assuming it was lost. A few clips of the film were used in The Unconquered, a 1954 documentary on her life (narrated by Katharine Cornell, who has also been mentioned in this thread):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75bMtjVv3yc

-HA

Looks interesting, as do your books on Wallace Reid and Lou Tellegen ...

If you want an interesting read about Lou, look for his memoirs entitled "Women Have Been kind". Straight from the horses mouth. I knew why Lou was the way he was after completing the first chapter.

Yes, I have had a copy of that book for years - it's hilarious ... as is Dorothy Parker's assessment of it!

He must have been a charmer, though, for that many women to be taken in. Pauline Frederick was a neighbor when he was married to Geraldine Farrar and liked him, and enjoyed working with him a few years later in a reputedly dreadful film, Let Not Man Put Asunder. Marion Blackton worked with him on a film and really liked him as well, even though she was on her guard, having heard of his reputation.

He's very handsome (at least when he was young), but he's a terrible actor.

greta