From: Bruce Long Newsgroups: alt.books.reviews Subject: Review: New Book on Mabel Normand Date: 25 Jan 1995 02:38:21 GMT >From "Taylorology" #26: MABEL NORMAND: A SOURCE BOOK TO HER LIFE AND FILMS, by William Thomas Sherman, has just been published. Compared to most other books on silent film stars, this is truly a great book--more than a great book, because it stands as a prototype of the way such books should be. If only there were similar books available for dozens of other silent film stars! Books on film actors can be appealing for any of three reasons: (1) an admirable film career is detailed; (2) an interesting life story is told; (3) a appealing personality is brought to life. This book succeeds in all three areas. Mabel Normand was one of the leading female comedians of the silent film era. Her film career is well chronicled in this volume, which includes a critical analysis of her films and comedy style, contemporary reviews of her film and stage appearances, publicity material, and a detailed filmography. Her life story is fascinating and compelling, of far greater interest than the typical "rags-to-riches" tale. She was a pioneer in the silent film industry, working with industry greats such as Chaplin, Arbuckle, Goldwyn, Sennett. The success and the scandals are here, including the scandal that almost destroyed her career--the murder of William Desmond Taylor. Also included is the complete lengthly 1927 interview series by Sidney Sutherland, originally published in Liberty Magazine. But of even far greater interest than her film legacy or her life story is Mabel Normand's personality. That personality sparkles before us again; she truly comes to life through contemporary interviews, character sketches and anecdotes. As one interviewer wrote: "She isn't the sort of person that treats an interviewer as just an interviewer. She doesn't just take you, mentally, into a cool ante-room and chat formally for half an hour and then wish you good- bye. Rather, so to speak, she opens up the doors of her heart, invites you into her comfiest living room, stuffs cushions under you and offers to tell you a good joke she heard to-day." After her death, another wrote: "Mabel Normand was the most extraordinary character I have ever known. Certainly, the most interesting and unusual personality the screen has ever known. There will never be another Mabel Normand. Few such vivid individualities have appeared in the world in any metier. Beyond that, the screen world has become too standardized to offer scope and right-of-way for another such character. Generous, impulsive, self-effacing, impudent, untamed, misunderstood and not resentful of the cruelty of that misunderstanding. Daring in spirit, tender, brilliant, and with the eager curiosity of a child." This book's many interviews, done so long ago, will leave modern readers in love with her and wishing we could travel back in time and know her personally. This mammoth book is not a "biography," although it is filled with biographical material. As the title indicates, it is a "source book to her life and films," and as such is far more valuable than any mere biography. Buy it, read it, treasure it--for the text, not for the pictures. Anthony Slide correctly states in the book's foreword: "MABEL NORMAND: A SOURCE BOOK TO HER LIFE AND FILMS deserves wide readership. No reference library should be without it. It is a gallant and eminently worthwhile attempt to resurrect Mabel Normand to her rightful place in film history." There was a biography of Mabel Normand by Betty Fussell published a decade ago, and a comparison is natural. Of course the two books have some overlapping material. But overall, Fussell's book has more later information culled from interviews with Mabel's associates, and from books published after Mabel's death; Sherman's book is over twice as large and has much more contemporary information published during Mabel's life. Both books should be treasured. MABEL NORMAND: A SOURCE BOOK TO HER LIFE AND FILMS (ISBN: 0-9643760-4-0) by William Thomas Sherman is available >from Cinema Books, 4753 Roosevelt Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105, 206-547-7667.