On 2008-09-27 Gregory Gnesios, grand junction, CO wrote: I´ve now read two of the three biographies Matthew Kennedy has written, and will most certainly be reading the third with gleeful anticipation. I love the detail, the atmosphere, the background of Marie Dressler´s life. She was an amazing, unique, powerful lady, made wise through her endurance of so much hardship after her massive early fame.
My first knowledge of Dressler was the famous line in Dinner at Eight, delivered to the impossibly sexy Jean Harlowe. Dressler steals the scene shamelessly and effortlessly. Who WAS this person who could do full-body double takes with a grace and precision that belied her bulky body? Now I know.
Kennedy obviously loves his subjects, has a passion for film history, and for history in general. You cannot know Marie Dressler without knowing what she went through in traveling theater, WWI, the decline of Vaudeville and the Depression. Kennedy´s writing is insightful, wry, warm and flows wonderfully from thought to thought. He has told the story of Marie in context with her times, and of early Hollywood, knitting it all together in a graceful, engaging way, and made what surely was an immense job look effortless.
Even if you´ve never heard of Marie Dressler, you will love her by the time you finish this book.
. And summed up by saying Everybody loves Marie. Currently Marie Dressler: A Biography, with a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography has an overall rating of 10 over 10.
Marie Dressler: A Biography, with a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography can also be found in the following searches:
McFarland & Company claimed Early in the century, Marie Dressler was hailed as one of America’s finest comics, with a 20-year string of Broadway and vaudeville successes including The Lady Slavey, Miss Prinnt, Higgledy Piggledy, The Man in the Moon, and Tillie’s Nightmare. She starred with Charlie Chaplin in the first ever feature-length comedy Tillie’s Punctured Romance and later in Min and Bill for which she won an Academy Award. A brilliant comedienne in body, timing, inflection and reactions, her talents far exceeded the expectations of slapstick, and her movies earned sums far greater than those of Garbo, or Harlow, or even Gable. This work examines Dressler’s life from vaudeville to talkies. Based on extensive research and interviews with Dressler’s surviving friends, co-stars and colleagues, including Maureen O’Sullivan, Jackie Cooper and Anita Page, it details her public and personal successes and failures. A listing of her stage appearances, vocal recordings and films is included.
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