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I would like to know the title and author of a silent comedy book that appeared in the 70's. I haven't seen it since.

The book was a 5X7 hardback, not too thick. It had chapters of various silent comedians with a full page photo of each. I remember the photos of Max Linder "shushing", Mabel Normand in some exotic costume with a man and a woman looking at her, Laurel biting Fin's ear from BIG BUSINESS (I seem to remember it was a two page photo as I xeroxed the book and promptly lost the Xeroxes), and Bert Williams sitting at a table looking forlorn. I remember the book cover was black with the title in pale pink on the front and spine. I haven't seen this book in 40 years so some of these recollections may not be accurate.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Possibly Yesterday's Clowns.

Jim

That's it Jim. Thanks.

Makes up for my miserable failure to identify Reginald Denny in another thread!

Jim

On the down side, here's the capsule review I wrote for it several years ago:

Pointless book purports to trace the development of silent film comedy, but merely glides over the careers of the usual four geniuses plus Max Linder and Mack Sennett. Generally even-handed in its treatment of five of the six people, then unleashes a vitriolic libel of Harry Langdon in the last chapter. Manchel swallows and regurgitates Frank Capra’s version of Langdon’s rise and fall, saucing it with his own hate-filled venom. Like a little boy who’s only bold enough to mock the weird kid in the playground because his big brother is standing protectively beside him, Manchel thinks Capra’s lies give him the freedom to be personally insulting to Langdon. After calling him a “stupid man”, Manchel moves along to write this stupid line, without intentional irony: “One of the most forgotten clowns of yesteryear was the memorable ‘white-faced’ Larry Semon…”

Jim