39 Classic Movie Stars of the 1920’s and 30’s Interviewed by Michael Ankerich

It’s been three months since I talked with Dangerous Curves atop Hollywood Heels author Michael Ankerich but following that interview I was able to spend some more time with his writing as Michael sent along signed complimentary copies of the McFarland & Company re-issues of his first two books, Broken Silence and The Sound of Silence. I won’t only say that they’re both good, I’ll add that I think they’re pretty important as well.

Broken Silence, originally published in 1993, and The Sound of Silence, 1998, are companion volumes which take a look at the lives and careers of a total of 39 classic film stars from the 1920’s and early 1930’s. Beginning with Lina Basquette in 1987 Michael Ankerich went about interviewing the 39 stars by a combination of old-fashioned letter writing, phone calls and even in-person meetings. What emerges is an important biographical record that in several cases is both the first and last time the stories would ever be told.

Ankerich notes in the forward to the earlier book, Broken Silence, that it was “a race against time” as by its completion already 5 of its 23 subjects had passed away. Five years later, in The Sound of Silence he remarks that only 6 of the Broken Silence subjects still live. You can double-check the lists below if you like, but I’m pretty sure that here in 2011 only 2 of the 39 total film stars interviewed by Ankerich in these two volumes are still with us (Barbara Kent and Lupita Tovar).

In the introduction to Broken Silence Ankerich writes that he’s purposely chosen stars of various levels of success to cover with names as obscure as David Rollins and Dorothy Janis straight up to Lew Ayres and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

While the intended focus of this earlier book is to understand the silent era better there are those like Ayres and Fairbanks, Jr. included who are better remembered for later talkie success. That said Ankerich does look at their careers as a whole. In the case of Ayres, who appeared in only a handful of silents, Ankerich does elicit some comment on his silent work, for example, “Garbo was very charming to me in a very sweet, almost maternal way,” says Ayres of the legendary star who headlined The Kiss (1929), which he played in. Fairbanks, Jr. recalls how leery his famous father was as he was breaking into films and he also talks quite a bit about first wife, Joan Crawford.

Speaking of Crawford, she’s a favorite subject of The Sound of Silence featured star Anita Page who tells Ankerich, “I don’t care what they say about the other films I did, Our Dancing Daughters (1928) was my picture” (179). She further explains: “I say that because I did the acting. Joan Crawford danced her way through it; I acted my way through it.” Page’s chapter contains a few more uncomplimentary mentions of Crawford before Ankerich ties it altogether in the end with Page remarking that she did enjoy Joan in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

But perhaps my favorite interview in The Sound of Silence, Broken Silence’s companion volume intended to focus on those silent film players during the period in which movies made the transition to sound, was the curmudgeonly Hugh Allan, who leads off the alphabetical line-up in the second book. I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of Allan before The Sound of Silence, but with him fresh in mind I’d settle in to watch anything he was in if it cropped up just this second. Some examples:

• “Jack Pickford was a real son of a bitch.”
• On director George Archainbaud: “I didn’t think he was worth a damn. He was a poor director, and personally, he was kind of a jackass.”
• On star Lewis Stone: “He was very stilted, with all these gestures. He wasn’t a great actor, but he had a good reputation.”
• On director Henry McRae: “What a jerk he was, a slave driver who wanted his actors to do everything.”
• (Michael) “Curtiz was a real jerk. Why the hell they had him directing the picture I don’t know.”

Don’t get me wrong, Allan is more outspoken than antisocial and does speak well of others, for instance: “I was crazy about Jean Arthur.” He also heaps kind words upon one of Hollywood’s most feared personalities: “Hedda Hopper was articulate, bright, attractive, sophisticated–so much more sophisticated than I was.” While Hugh Allan may be one of the more colorful characters in either book, his quotes give you an idea of what Ankerich has put together here.

Ankerich opens several sections with a brief recount of his path to the eventual interview. This adds a lot of color, especially in the case of a notoriously tough interview subject such as Billie Dove, who he really had to warm up before sitting down to their official talk.

Broken Silence contains interview/biographies of 23 stars, The Sound of Silence has 16 more. There are photos throughout each volume, many from the authors’ own collection and at the end of each section is a filmography. The notes, included at the end of each section in Broken Silence and interspersed throughout at the bottom of pages in The Sound of Silence are often basic, but if you don’t know who’s being footnoted I’d imagine they are extremely helpful two-three line capsule biographies in their own right.

With the entire first book composed in the pre-internet era, and each of the 39 total interviews having taken place between 1987-1997, this is a pair of very valuable reissues from McFarland & Company. Between the two are hundreds of pages of film history, straight from the sources’ own mouths. Anybody interested in the era, especially about 1920-1932 or so, should own them both. Following are complete contents of each book, hopefully saving you a little trouble in seeking out who exactly is covered:

Broken Silence: Conversations with 23 Silent Film Stars

The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities Who Bridged the Gap Between Silents and Talkies