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I received an email from Bearmanor Media this morning about a book sale.One of the books listed was Ross Alexander The Life of A Contract Player by John Franceschina.Only trouble is that I can find no trace of this book aywhere.From Amazon,Bearmanor,or the list of the authors books.My email to Bearmanor has not been answered.
Does anyone have this book or is certain of its existence and how many pages long it is.
Otherwise I will regard it as spam

There is a listing for the book on Amazon with a release date of June 17 - i.e. today. Presumably it exists; presumably the current situation has delayed its arrival. I'm not quite sure what could be said about him that isn't covered in the back cover blurb.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629335843/

I am insanely excited about this book, which I also found out about in an email yesterday, but I am wary because the books from Bear Manor aren't always gems. However I looked up the author and reviews says he is a decent writer, although maybe a bit technical. We might find in-depth analyses of each scene from a movie for example. At 446 pages, I imagine there are probably some interesting nuggets in there.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I'm keen to read a Ross Alexander bio, especially if it's 446 pages. Yes, researchers can do amazing jobs with trade papers, oral histories, etc., but somehow Alexander doesn't seem compelling to me as a subject. And I like him. I've seen all 17 features he made, and he stood out the first time I saw him on late night TV -- he had a warm voice with a distinct New York sound, and a light, casual acting style that contrasted nicely with the hard beats so many Warners stars put into their readings. It's interesting to think about how high he could have gone in the studio ranking -- the light leading man field was oversubscribed, and in his final two years, he'd been given a lot of B picture assignments. In the A-class pictures he'd made earlier, like Flirtation Walk, Captain Blood, and Midsummer's, he had small parts, as I remember.
Obviously the big drama in his story is all tragedy -- his wife's suicide in Dec. '35, and his suicide, just over a year later. All you can say about that amounts to guesswork.

I first became interested in him when I viewed Ready Willing and Able.The big production number,Too Marvellous For Words,danced on the keys of a big typewriter.I was intrigued by the fact that Lee Dixon was shown as co star,despite only doing the dancing.Alexander was fifth in the cast list.So I looked him up only to see the tragic ending to his life.
I have seen the book on Amazon.446 pages for a 29 year old who only made 17 films is a bit of a strech.Not yet available on Amazon UK

Dave Pitts wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 18, 2020 7:21 am

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I'm keen to read a Ross Alexander bio, especially if it's 446 pages.

This is kind of how I feel too. Too many of those Bearmanor biographies fail to make an adequate case for themselves. I was once told never to pitch a book as "a story that has never been told before" because it's obvious. All stories have either never been told or, in the author's opinion, need to be told in a new way. Unless his story is told in a really compelling way, or contains earth-shattering new information, I've learned most of what I need to know from reading the back of the book.

Well it came up at a price of £23.96 on Amazon UK so I decided to buy it.

Sure it helps if a biography reveals something new and exciting, but is that always necessary? If you like an actor and want to know more about them, and a biography fleshes out who they were off the screen, isn't that a good biography?

I love Ross Alexander's larger than life personality on the screen. He pops. His sense of humor is wonderful, and unfortunately masks a troubled personal life. There are lots of these great unsung character types whose careers ended more than half a century ago that I hope get a little spotlight shone onto them, this being one I particularly like. I have to support projects like this because they're important, more-so than ANOTHER biography on Hitchcock or Chaplin or Garland (no offense to those working on such projects).

Ruby Keeler, Ross Alexander's leading lady in 1937's READY, WILLING and ABLE" - his final picture - said in an interview, "You know, after he was gone, I remembered how nervous he was all through the picture. While he was waiting between shots, he'd sit on the set and pick holes in his hands - make them bleed. I don't think anybody knew what was going on in his mind."

Sounds like the poor guy was a very tormented soul.

Just received the book.It looks iteresting.Unlike the book I recently purchased on Anatole Litvak.112 page biography and the rest of the book was a filmography.If I had known that I wouldn't have bought it.

I got my copy yesterday and am enjoying it so far. The text could use some editing, but the content is there so far.

I bought the book on amazon.com last week and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival. I first heard about Ross from a book I bought while in junior high school called "Immortals Of The Screen". I was already a fan of old films and their stars. His profile photo caught my eye as he had quite a different look about him. He had a sadness in his eyes. I remember I had a classmate that looked a lot like him too.

I have just finished this book on the 83rd anniversary of the suicide of this actor. The reasons for this act are shrouded in mystery, unlikely to be solved.
The biographical information on the actor are good,but the book is spoiled by too many synopsis and large chunks of dialogue from plays and films.

I have just finished this book on the 83rd anniversary of the suicide of this actor. The reasons for this act are shrouded in mystery, unlikely to be solved.
The biographical information on the actor are good,but the book is spoiled by too many synopsis and large chunks of dialogue from plays and films.


I agree. While I liked the fact that a book was written about Ross, I was less than enthusiastic about the extremely detailed storylines from his plays and films. It took up the majority of the book.

I think even with those large synopses, the biographical information is there. I was impressed. It isn't easy to re-create a life that ended so long ago.

I got his book on Hermes Pan, the choreographer and Astaire's right hand man. Very well done, with the cooperation of Pan's family and Astaire's daughter. He also had access to a couple sample chapters of a proposed autobiography Pan wrote in the early 80's but no publisher was interested in the book.