Book Choice(s) --- A One-Two From William Drew

Early last-century play-acting (as in legit) was still wild and wooly enough for an actor to emerge onstage with blackened eye just got in dressing room fisticuffs, this and more theatrical lore explored by William M. Drew in his newest, Mr. Griffith's House With Closed Shutters, which as you'll gather, is about lots more than a to-be director and his board-troddings prior to immortality directing flickers. In fact, it's the best summation so far of DWG's massive input to narrative pics and how he brought them out of primitive state. Never has been served such detail surrounding one filmmaker's climb from cross-country barnstorming (and poverty attendant) to glories of a H'wood Griffith helped invent. So much Drew uncovered is new --- nothing rehashed here. You'd think no one had told the titan's tale before based on revelation piled one atop other, and boners Drew exposes from previous Griffith tomes will inspire many to lay these aside and focus henceforth on final and authoritative word this author supplies.

Never Knew What Radical Content Lurked
in Griffith Features Till Reading Drew's Book

As referenced in sentence one, Mr. Drew gets into thick of vagabond performing way back, teaching me how grassroot patronage reacted to strut/fretting on local stages. An acting Griffith might get raves in one burgh, then mere miles away at a next stop, hear "You stink!," or 1901 words to that effect. Never did I realize how gossipy large and small press was about offstage travail of visitor stock companies --- stars, it seems, were born earlier than we knew insofar as having private lives poked into. That, by ways, is a hint as to the big reveal of Drew's 575 page odyssey (D.W. had his Intolerance ... this is Drew's). Seems Griffith harbored a major-to-him secret of past life throughout a long career that no one till Drew got to bottoms of. Even Lillian Gish wondered for most of her 99 years what the master was hiding. Too bad she couldn't be around long enough to read this book ...

Is That Guillotine For Orphans Of The Storm Characters or Extras Failing to Follow Griffithian Instruct On 1921 Epic Show?

I'll withhold further spoiling. Suffice to say, what Drew dug up (and he dug lots) will change forever perceptions of Griffith and his work. Research done here is awe-inspiring. Talk about an artist influenced by events ... what DWG did reveal about said storm in his life was there all along in shorts/features gone back a century, the missing piece (a large one) being what William Drew supplies in Mr. Griffith's House With Closed Shutters. If you want to "get" where Biograph's chief helmsman and creator of long-form triumphs was coming from, begin here.

Griffith and Crew Face Wintry Mix to Stage Ice-Flow Sequence in Way Down East

Youthful and Future Directing Fan Robert Florey Sees Dreams
Come True When He Meets DWG

To the fascinating foregoing is added what amounts to a bonus book wherein Drew explores Griffith's legacy in print and research since the director's peak and later decline. The author reveals fallacy in much of what has passed for Griffith bio, understandable as the Great Man buried all aspects of private life deep as Egypt tombs (for much good reason as revealed by William Drew). Thanks in large part to internet resources, Drew has accessed newspapers/periodicals unseen since cover dates --- certainly these went un-consulted by previous historians --- and who among them had Drew's remarkable tenacity? Most compelling is delve into hasty conclusion and myths propagated to date, several DWG books having moved from my library into cold storage as result. Oh, and Drew takes dead aim at political correctness gone amok to disadvantage of Griffith's reputation and The Birth Of A Nation in particular. And who knew a grisly trunk murder figured into these pages? Yes, I was hooked and you'll be too. Mr. Griffith's House With Closed Shutters resolves me to watch Intolerance, Birth, Way Down East, and much of the rest again, now that William Drew has opened eyes to truth of what made the enigmatic Mr. Griffith tick.

Romantic Rudy Gets a Fresh Coat Of Paint in 1938 Revival of Past Hits

The perfect addition to Griffith's House is another of William Drew's to savor, especially if, like me, you're into the afterlife of film beloved. The Last Silent Picture Show, published in 2010, was a book concept I wish I had dreamed up. Subtitled Silent Films on American Screens in the 1930's, the content covers just that. So what were attitudes toward silent movies after they disappeared? Turns out not so good. Yesterday's fish gone bad sums up how many felt --- I don't wonder at all those negatives getting junked. Neither does author Drew, as he covers an industry ringing out an old art form to ring in newness of sound. What was revived after coming of talk were as many tin lizzies so far as a disrespecting public went. Even gilt-edged hits like Ben-Hur and The Big Parade saw hard times before noise-accustomed patronage. Was ever a broom so thorough at sweeping off a discarded era? Made me think of the bum's rush 35mm is getting now that digital is here to stay --- modern parallel of which makes The Last Silent Picture Show strikingly relevant.

Misguided Mary Was For Junking Her Inventory After Sound Came In --- Wiser Heads Luckily Prevailed

So many arresting topics here --- "Old Time Movie Shows" (they couldn't even wait until the end of the silent era to laff at oldie pics), final stand of unwired houses (you want to cry at fates of these), a chapter called "Mary and Charlie vs. The World" (he kept making non-talkers and she wanted to burn hers), continued silent filmmaking out of Europe and the Orient, founding The Museum Of Modern Art (Iris Barry and I would not have hit it off), plus isolated moments when a single night or week's triumph made it look like silents might rise again (not). As to latter, there is Drew's coverage of Paramount's socko 1938 bring-back of The Sheik --- Valentino was hot again! --- followed by Bill Hart's return with Tumbleweeds. These subjects have been touched before, never with such detail as here. The Last Silent Picture Show plows fresh along ground barely grazed before. It's the kind of book I get busy reading seconds out of the mail box. Whoever goes for what Greenbriar generates will flip for The Last Silent Picture Show. It alongside Mr. Griffith's House With Closed Shutters amount to a pair of aces dealt by a writer/historian second to none.