The Barrymores: The Royal Family in Hollywood

by James Kotsilibas-Davis

When Lionel Barrymore made his first film in 1912 in a seedy loft in lower Manhattan, the Barrymores were already the first family of Broadway. These were theater people, serious actors, artists. For them, making films was dirty work and the only stimulant for mucking around in the movies was the obvious one -- money. Yet when the film business moved west to that godforsaken wasteland known as Hollywood, so did the Barrymores. Despite disdain, "disgrace,' and often denial, the Barrymores left us hundreds of monumental movie triumphs, culminating in Rasputin and the Empress, in which John, Lionel, and Ethel each had starring roles.

The Barrymores: The Royal Family in Hollywood chronicles the films of each Barrymore in fascinating detail, but this book is much more than a mere film story. Here also are the personal lives of each: We live the superlative success and gaudy decline of Jack; we experience the myriad talents as well as the personal frustrations of Lionel; we relish the biting wit and indomitable spirit of Ethel. Finally, we witness the rarely studied lives of Barrymore children and grandchildren, especially Diana and John, Jr., who most profoundly experienced both the gifts and the blows of the remarkable Barrymore legacy.

Woven into the glitter Barrymore tapestry are rich anecdotes of other Hollywood kings and queens including Garbo, Gable, Hepburn, Loy, Harlow, Gilbert, Thalberg, Cukor, Fairbanks, and Pickford, to mention only a few. In a panorama even D.W. Griffith would approve, here is the greatest of Hollywood stories and the history of America's quintessential theatrical family.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

376 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1981

Reviews

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this book, not only because it dates from the early 1980s and so is out of date (he hasn't heard of Drew Barrymore) but mainly because it's not very well written, being more a series of anecdotes rather than a narrative. On the plus side, it's lavishly festooned with photos, but on the negative side I could have done with even more photos just to cut down on the plodding, awkward, imprecise prose.

The writer skips over the early years, neglecting to mention when the early Barrymores were even born, before indulging on successive biographies of John, Lionel and Ethel that consist of little more than "then he/she did this film/play where they showed their utter brilliance and a newspaper said this and a famous person gave this anecdote about how wonderful they were".

Frankly, the portrayal of the siblings suggests that they, and especially Jack (or John – the author can never make up his mind), were the most appalling hams. They wander off script to tell the audience "I'm a Barrymore you know" (sod the playwright/scriptwriter and other actors; it's all about me because I'm a Barrymore you know). I act on stage and if anyone had behaved like they did I would have thumped them.

That's probably unfair, but I'm reviewing the book, not the actors.