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Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips
Mae Murray (1885–1965), popularly known as "the girl with the bee-stung lips," was a fiery presence in silent-era Hollywood. Renowned for her classic beauty and charismatic presence, she rocketed to stardom as a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies, moving across the country to star in her first film, To Have and to Hold , in 1916. An instant hit with audiences, Murray soon became one of the most famous names in Tinseltown.
However, Murray's moment in the spotlight was fleeting. The introduction of talkies, a string of failed marriages, a serious career blunder, and a number of bitter legal battles left the former star in a state of poverty and mental instability that she would never overcome.
In this intriguing biography, Michael G. Ankerich traces Murray's career from the footlights of Broadway to the klieg lights of Hollywood, recounting her impressive body of work on the stage and screen and charting her rapid ascent to fame and decline into obscurity. Featuring exclusive interviews with Murray's only son, Daniel, and with actor George Hamilton, whom the actress closely befriended at the end of her life, Ankerich restores this important figure in early film to the limelight.
However, Murray's moment in the spotlight was fleeting. The introduction of talkies, a string of failed marriages, a serious career blunder, and a number of bitter legal battles left the former star in a state of poverty and mental instability that she would never overcome.
In this intriguing biography, Michael G. Ankerich traces Murray's career from the footlights of Broadway to the klieg lights of Hollywood, recounting her impressive body of work on the stage and screen and charting her rapid ascent to fame and decline into obscurity. Featuring exclusive interviews with Murray's only son, Daniel, and with actor George Hamilton, whom the actress closely befriended at the end of her life, Ankerich restores this important figure in early film to the limelight.
392 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2012
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284 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 14 reviews
March 19, 2014
Mae Murray exerts a certain horrified fascination. She was not just delusional, but heroically delusional. She made up her story and stuck to it, and nothing, not the loss of her career, the loss of her phony royal title, loss of custody of her son, age, Louis B. Mayer's blacklist, poverty, homelessness, the pity and contempt of latter day Hollywood, nothing shook her story that she was a great star and that the public adored her. Michael Ankerich did a heroic job himself of uncovering the tracks she tried so hard to hide, and Mae's son was generous and honest in providing what knowledge he had. Mae may be annoying (on screen and off) but she's never boring.
April 4, 2013
Michael G Ankerich is up there with David Stenn and Evelyn Zumaya as the top silent film researchers in my opinion. He hunts down rare and forgotten subjects then fleshes out ALL the facts...facts one would assume are hard to find given the rarity of the subject and how much time has passed since they lived.
If Gloria Swanson was pure glamour, Mae Murray was pure cunning. She hid facts about herself as she rose up the fame ladder, something most silent film stars weren't clever enough to do from the minute they found an audience. Mae Murray came back in 1928, at the height of her fame, with a toddler and just said 'it's my kid, all you need to know.' This was a woman that if you were around in her lifetime, you would not know more about her real self than someone born in 1990.
Ankerich took one look at that and said 'I got this'. He spent years tracking down Mae's family, including family her own SON didn't know. See Mae's cunning went well beyond just the public, to this day her son doesn't know when or where he was born, or what his origin is (is she and the faux Prince his parents? Some combo thereof?)
Ankerich said Mae may not like this book, but he would do his best to be fair. And he did. Mae isn't a saint, there are facts that make her downright baffling (like the aforementioned son story)....but you won't want to put this book down. It would have been easy to buy the usual story or paint Mae as a villain. Michael did neither.
A really great book, and even if you aren't very familiar with Mae Murray or silent film, its a fascinating read!
If Gloria Swanson was pure glamour, Mae Murray was pure cunning. She hid facts about herself as she rose up the fame ladder, something most silent film stars weren't clever enough to do from the minute they found an audience. Mae Murray came back in 1928, at the height of her fame, with a toddler and just said 'it's my kid, all you need to know.' This was a woman that if you were around in her lifetime, you would not know more about her real self than someone born in 1990.
Ankerich took one look at that and said 'I got this'. He spent years tracking down Mae's family, including family her own SON didn't know. See Mae's cunning went well beyond just the public, to this day her son doesn't know when or where he was born, or what his origin is (is she and the faux Prince his parents? Some combo thereof?)
Ankerich said Mae may not like this book, but he would do his best to be fair. And he did. Mae isn't a saint, there are facts that make her downright baffling (like the aforementioned son story)....but you won't want to put this book down. It would have been easy to buy the usual story or paint Mae as a villain. Michael did neither.
A really great book, and even if you aren't very familiar with Mae Murray or silent film, its a fascinating read!
May 31, 2013
This is one of the best biographies I have ever read. It's a dream for any movie buff and anyone who is interested in the history of Hollywood. Mae Murray is Norma Desmond personified. This book has everything and I couldn't put it down. I had never heard of Mae before this book and I'm glad I took a chance. I had no idea she was just as popular as Mary Pickford. It's a pity that she didn't really withstand the test of time. This book is a wonderful insight into the very beginnings of film and it's stars.
March 1, 2017
Mae Murray is the prototypical tragic Hollywood superstar of the Jazz Age. She began as one of the earliest Ziegfeld girls to become a sensation on screen, but then Murray proceeded to run her personal life into the ground. The decadence of the movie business lent itself well to scandal and scams, and the glamourous actress became a beacon for both. Mae broke contracts and sued anyone that threatened her image, oblivious to the fact that the only danger to Mae’s image was Mae Murray herself. Once her appeal as a gorgeous ingénue wore off, and her behavior burned too many bridges at major studios to justify hiring her, she fell into abject poverty. Obscurity and insanity followed.
THE GIRL WITH THE BEE-STUNG LIPS reads as a summary of the movies, shows, and law suits Murray worked on interlaced with her noted social life. Ankerich isn’t the type of author to delve into scandals or gossip, but the book is impeccably researched nonetheless. He draws from many sources, ranging from memoirs of her and her contemporaries to reviews of her pictures, and even includes accounts from her previously silent surviving relatives. While many of Mae Murray’s movies have been lost to the ages, the book contains numerous film stills and publicity photos of Murray throughout the highs and lows of her career. It is no exaggeration to say that painting a vivid picture of her life would have been a Herculean task for most researchers, but Ankerich accomplished it with ease.
However, the book didn’t—and perhaps couldn’t—give Mae Murray herself a personality distinct from the impression she left on long-gone critics and fans. Ankerich seems afraid to analyze the actress’ habitual lying, and constantly glosses over iconic moments in Murray’s life. He prefers to provide interpretations of her behavior as recounted by those involved with her antics, including Murray herself. Everything is presented as possible fact, which leaves Murray feeling wildly inconsistent as a person. Sometimes she’s a darling, sometimes she’s a bitch, and sometimes she’s a darling bitch. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions, and the work suffers for it.
If BEE-STUNG LIPS had been about any other well-known actress, it would be a mediocre read at best. With Mae Murray, however, Ankerich sheds new light on a figure that even die-hard film fans may have never heard of before. Make no mistake—this book is probably the best Murray biography that could be written in this day and age. She lived a fascinating life, and it deserves to be better known. Definitely worth a look for early Hollywood enthusiasts.
THE GIRL WITH THE BEE-STUNG LIPS reads as a summary of the movies, shows, and law suits Murray worked on interlaced with her noted social life. Ankerich isn’t the type of author to delve into scandals or gossip, but the book is impeccably researched nonetheless. He draws from many sources, ranging from memoirs of her and her contemporaries to reviews of her pictures, and even includes accounts from her previously silent surviving relatives. While many of Mae Murray’s movies have been lost to the ages, the book contains numerous film stills and publicity photos of Murray throughout the highs and lows of her career. It is no exaggeration to say that painting a vivid picture of her life would have been a Herculean task for most researchers, but Ankerich accomplished it with ease.
However, the book didn’t—and perhaps couldn’t—give Mae Murray herself a personality distinct from the impression she left on long-gone critics and fans. Ankerich seems afraid to analyze the actress’ habitual lying, and constantly glosses over iconic moments in Murray’s life. He prefers to provide interpretations of her behavior as recounted by those involved with her antics, including Murray herself. Everything is presented as possible fact, which leaves Murray feeling wildly inconsistent as a person. Sometimes she’s a darling, sometimes she’s a bitch, and sometimes she’s a darling bitch. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions, and the work suffers for it.
If BEE-STUNG LIPS had been about any other well-known actress, it would be a mediocre read at best. With Mae Murray, however, Ankerich sheds new light on a figure that even die-hard film fans may have never heard of before. Make no mistake—this book is probably the best Murray biography that could be written in this day and age. She lived a fascinating life, and it deserves to be better known. Definitely worth a look for early Hollywood enthusiasts.
February 6, 2016
As a maven of old Hollywood, I quite enjoyed this book, and appreciated the amazing amount of work it must have taken Michael Ankerich to unearth what is destined to be the definitive work on Mae Murray.
Ankerich is famous for digging beneath the stories stars told about themselves and finding the true stories about these people, as he's done with his other works.
It probably helps that Mae's no longer around to sue him for revealing her true birthdate and place of birth, and that he had the cooperation of her family (estranged though they might have been), and the recollections of other stars over the years.
How sad that this woman, so wealthy and beloved in her youth by many fans, could not accept that her star had changed course. She burned every bridge in Hollywood, sued anyone else who she felt had wronged her (even minutely) and by refusing to accept "lesser" parts in little theatre or smaller touring work for small change, kept becoming more and more of a joke as she aged. Those parts were below her. Instead she ended up destitute, depending on the handouts of others, and becoming the perfect role model for Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard.
A truly impressive work.
Ankerich is famous for digging beneath the stories stars told about themselves and finding the true stories about these people, as he's done with his other works.
It probably helps that Mae's no longer around to sue him for revealing her true birthdate and place of birth, and that he had the cooperation of her family (estranged though they might have been), and the recollections of other stars over the years.
How sad that this woman, so wealthy and beloved in her youth by many fans, could not accept that her star had changed course. She burned every bridge in Hollywood, sued anyone else who she felt had wronged her (even minutely) and by refusing to accept "lesser" parts in little theatre or smaller touring work for small change, kept becoming more and more of a joke as she aged. Those parts were below her. Instead she ended up destitute, depending on the handouts of others, and becoming the perfect role model for Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard.
A truly impressive work.
April 7, 2025
Now this is how you write a biography! The author does it all perfectly. Not just the detailed research, tracking down relatives that had never been interviewed before, but doing all the extras that push a biography from ok to excellent. There is a long, multi-paged index so it’s easy to look up her contemporaries who are referenced in the book. Ankerich lists all his sources in a long, thorough bibliography. The notes section is detailed and comprehensive. He includes an impressive filmography, separating her shorts and feature films as well as listing archival footage she appears in. There is a separate section listing her many years in the theater. The epilogue recounts what happened to her son and ex husbands and siblings and nephews and nieces after Mae’s death. Ankerich includes a significant amount of photos and places them throughout the book, rather just in a separate photo section in the middle of the book. Each chapter lists in the title the years that will be covered in that chapter. Honestly, I can’t think of a single flaw with the format. Well done, Mr. Ankerich! If I were famous, this is how I would want my biography written.
I didn’t rate the book five stars because I reserve that rating for biographies that make me love the person being profiled. Mae Murray was a piece of work! She was A LOT. She was not a pleasant person to spend time with. The end of the biography was tough to read because at that point she was so pathetic. I tried to feel a campy vibe but it was tough. I just felt sad for her instead. She was like a real like Norma Desmond, but if Norma had been homeless instead of still living in a cool mansion in Hollywood. God bless her former colleagues who would give her money so she wasn’t always homeless. Mae was her own worst enemy. She was the queen of bad decisions. It was difficult to read, her poor choices. Just numbing after a while.
I find the era she worked in fascinating. I’m not a fan of silent movies for the most part. They are so hokey, the acting is over the top and the style is silly. Rather I am a fan of learning about how a new art form is invented. I am a fan of learning about the building of a billion dollar industry. The interconnectedness between vaudeville and Broadway theater and movies is fascinating. The consolidation of a bunch of independent small film companies into the major players of Golden Era Hollywood. The switch from silent to talkies. The way acting differs between vaudeville and theater and film and how actors had to figure that out on their own. The rise of film magazines and their power creating stars. How the magazines colluded with the studios to create a powerful industry. The rise of censorship - from the wild west days of the teens to the rigid Hayes code of the 30s -50s.
Mae is someone I keep reading about in other books about that era so I am glad to now know her full story. Boy was she good at burning bridges! And dissociating! She was the master of lies! Delusional lies. It seemed exhausting, the extent of her lies. As she aged, the lies became more and more over the top and frankly flat out crazy. Saying she was 19 when The Merry Widow was filmed, haha. She was 49. You couldn’t even get mad at her, it was so pathetic.
I’ve now got a bunch of other names I want to read books about. Those Mdivani borthers! I need to know more. They must have been great in the sack. I’ve got a biography of Frances Marion I haven’t got around to reading yet. Based on the awesome quotes from her in this biography, she might be my next silent film era person I choose to focus on.
I didn’t rate the book five stars because I reserve that rating for biographies that make me love the person being profiled. Mae Murray was a piece of work! She was A LOT. She was not a pleasant person to spend time with. The end of the biography was tough to read because at that point she was so pathetic. I tried to feel a campy vibe but it was tough. I just felt sad for her instead. She was like a real like Norma Desmond, but if Norma had been homeless instead of still living in a cool mansion in Hollywood. God bless her former colleagues who would give her money so she wasn’t always homeless. Mae was her own worst enemy. She was the queen of bad decisions. It was difficult to read, her poor choices. Just numbing after a while.
I find the era she worked in fascinating. I’m not a fan of silent movies for the most part. They are so hokey, the acting is over the top and the style is silly. Rather I am a fan of learning about how a new art form is invented. I am a fan of learning about the building of a billion dollar industry. The interconnectedness between vaudeville and Broadway theater and movies is fascinating. The consolidation of a bunch of independent small film companies into the major players of Golden Era Hollywood. The switch from silent to talkies. The way acting differs between vaudeville and theater and film and how actors had to figure that out on their own. The rise of film magazines and their power creating stars. How the magazines colluded with the studios to create a powerful industry. The rise of censorship - from the wild west days of the teens to the rigid Hayes code of the 30s -50s.
Mae is someone I keep reading about in other books about that era so I am glad to now know her full story. Boy was she good at burning bridges! And dissociating! She was the master of lies! Delusional lies. It seemed exhausting, the extent of her lies. As she aged, the lies became more and more over the top and frankly flat out crazy. Saying she was 19 when The Merry Widow was filmed, haha. She was 49. You couldn’t even get mad at her, it was so pathetic.
I’ve now got a bunch of other names I want to read books about. Those Mdivani borthers! I need to know more. They must have been great in the sack. I’ve got a biography of Frances Marion I haven’t got around to reading yet. Based on the awesome quotes from her in this biography, she might be my next silent film era person I choose to focus on.
November 1, 2016
Moving and interesting tale of one of the biggest stars in early Hollywood.
August 12, 2021
In the introduction both Kevin Brownlow and author Michael J. Ankerich confess at not
finding a lot to like about Mae Murray but I think this book has done a lot to right a few
wrongs and quash that myth that Mae was some daffy loon who shouldn't have really been
allowed out without a keeper!! More than any other player Mae was a star with a capital S
but there was no luck involved - she worked incredibly hard and was noticed enough to be
offered a part in the 1908 edition of the Ziegfeld Follies. During the 19teens she was Queen
of the New York cabaret scene and once she was lured to the movies she never looked back.
Mae had a lengthy career (1916-1931) and she captured the fan's praise early on - maybe not
the critics. And unlike other players who went out on vaudeville tours when their stars dimmed
and were found wanting, Mae's tours were show stoppers, she lost none of her glitter.
Of course she was lucky enough to find a husband in Robert Z. Leonard who shielded her and
as a director instinctively knew what worked for her and what didn't but once she divorced
(and most people in Hollywood sided with Bob) she was rudderless and was left a prey to a
fortune hunting "prince" as well as drowning in a sea of litigations. And unfortunately it was
all downhill from there.
I got an immense sense of Mae's completely optimistic spirit - even when her bed was a
park bench she was never defeated and kept on dancing. She loved her fans as much as they
loved her and was always welcoming of them - except if they mentioned they had idolized her
for 50 years, then her eyes would glaze over and she would say "I've only been in the movies such
a short while".
Ankerich has dug and delved for anyone who knew Mae during those years. Her son Koran
always wished to remain anonymous from his mother's publicity. I found his remarks and
comments very inciteful - there was no one sided bias. Life had been chaotic with his
mother but he realised his father was at the heart of all the awfulness that happened to her.
He was also very level headed about life with his adopted family - some eye opening
insights there.
finding a lot to like about Mae Murray but I think this book has done a lot to right a few
wrongs and quash that myth that Mae was some daffy loon who shouldn't have really been
allowed out without a keeper!! More than any other player Mae was a star with a capital S
but there was no luck involved - she worked incredibly hard and was noticed enough to be
offered a part in the 1908 edition of the Ziegfeld Follies. During the 19teens she was Queen
of the New York cabaret scene and once she was lured to the movies she never looked back.
Mae had a lengthy career (1916-1931) and she captured the fan's praise early on - maybe not
the critics. And unlike other players who went out on vaudeville tours when their stars dimmed
and were found wanting, Mae's tours were show stoppers, she lost none of her glitter.
Of course she was lucky enough to find a husband in Robert Z. Leonard who shielded her and
as a director instinctively knew what worked for her and what didn't but once she divorced
(and most people in Hollywood sided with Bob) she was rudderless and was left a prey to a
fortune hunting "prince" as well as drowning in a sea of litigations. And unfortunately it was
all downhill from there.
I got an immense sense of Mae's completely optimistic spirit - even when her bed was a
park bench she was never defeated and kept on dancing. She loved her fans as much as they
loved her and was always welcoming of them - except if they mentioned they had idolized her
for 50 years, then her eyes would glaze over and she would say "I've only been in the movies such
a short while".
Ankerich has dug and delved for anyone who knew Mae during those years. Her son Koran
always wished to remain anonymous from his mother's publicity. I found his remarks and
comments very inciteful - there was no one sided bias. Life had been chaotic with his
mother but he realised his father was at the heart of all the awfulness that happened to her.
He was also very level headed about life with his adopted family - some eye opening
insights there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2023
I knew nothing about Mae Murray, apart from her name as a once-popular silent film star, before I picked up this book. And while I can't say that she is the kind of woman I would have ever wanted to work with, she is a fascinating individual to study. She didn't like her own life story, so she was constantly writing and then re-writing it to her own satisfaction, and then couldn't understand when the rest of the world wouldn't cooperate with her own image of it. It makes her hard to love, but it does bring our sympathy to her numerous times. Up until she starts mistreating those around her because she wants her world to revolve around her. (Now, I can understand this mentality a bit. Everyone's world revolves around themselves because they are the only constant people in it, but I take issue with people who think everyone else's world should also revolve around them. If your world revolves around no one else but you, why should anyone else's laws of motions work differently?)
As for the writing, it is amazing well researched. Ankerich had numerous interviews over the years with people who knew Mae personally and they have varying opinions of her and he dredges up both sides of her personality in this. He also documents heavily. There are thoroughly documented endnotes, as well as a bibliography. So, if you're a person who leans toward preferring scholastic research, this will serve you well there. There is also a handy index at the back.
This is my first reading of Ankerich's research, and I look forward to finding others of his works soon and learning more about less talked about silent film stars.
As for the writing, it is amazing well researched. Ankerich had numerous interviews over the years with people who knew Mae personally and they have varying opinions of her and he dredges up both sides of her personality in this. He also documents heavily. There are thoroughly documented endnotes, as well as a bibliography. So, if you're a person who leans toward preferring scholastic research, this will serve you well there. There is also a handy index at the back.
This is my first reading of Ankerich's research, and I look forward to finding others of his works soon and learning more about less talked about silent film stars.
January 31, 2024
Sad but fascinating
I knew almost nothing about this silently star so I found this book fascinating. Loved learning about her stage career. Her sad and prolonged decline is handled well. A must read for film buffs
I knew almost nothing about this silently star so I found this book fascinating. Loved learning about her stage career. Her sad and prolonged decline is handled well. A must read for film buffs
September 3, 2018
Mae Murray lived a fantasy life till the bitter end.
May 11, 2021
really great read. I am a student of cinema and have to admit I honestly had no idea about Mae Murray. What an amazingly wonderful artist. Norma Desmond is slightly based on her. Mae was completely self absorbed and a little bit crazy Close ups, and De Mille and living in the 20's for the rest of her days all Mae to a tee
July 29, 2016
Actually this book was well written I left a little disappointed I expected a more sensationlist approach but this book was very kind to her memory. A bit of a labor to read though for just the casual reader
Displaying 1 - 13 of 14 reviews