Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood

by Cari Beauchamp

Frances Marion was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter - male or female - for almost three decades. She was the first woman to twice win an Academy Award for screenwriting. From 1916 to 1946 she wrote over two hundred scripts covering every conceivable genre for stars such as Mary Pickford, Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo, Marion Davies, Rudolph Valentino, Clark Gable, Marion Davies, Rudolph Valentino, Clark Gable, and Marie Dressler. Irving Thalberg "adored her and trusted her completely, " William Randolph Hearst named her for the head of west coast production for his Cosmopolitan studios, and in 1928, Sam Goldwyn raised her salary to an unparalleled $3,000 a week. Her stories were directed by George Cukor, John Ford, Alan Dwan, and King Vidor, and she went on to direct and produce a dozen films on her own. On top of all this, she painted, sculpted, spoke several languages fluently, and played "concert caliber" piano. Though she married four times, had two sons, and a dozen lovers, Frances's life story is mostly the story of her female friendships. As talented, successful, and prolific as Frances Marion was, these relationships were as legendary as her scripts. Without Lying Down is an eminently readable and meticulously documented portrait of a previously hidden era that was arguably one of the most creative and supportive for women in American history.

Genres: Film, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Womens, Feminism

475 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Cari Beauchamp is the award winning author of Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and The Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. She also edited and annotated Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction by the Creator of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and co-wrote Hollywood on the Riviera: The Inside Story of the Cannes Film Festival. Her book, Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s, was published in 2006 and her current project, Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years, has just been published by Knopf.

Cari wrote the Emmy nominated documentary film The Day my God Died which played on PBS and she was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Without Lying Down: The Power of Women in Early Hollywood which she wrote and coproduced for Turner Classic Movies. She has also appeared in over a dozen documentaries.

She has written for Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and various other magazines and newspapers. She is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Scholar and her books have been selected for "Best of the Year" lists by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Amazon.

She has appeared as a featured speaker at venues throughout the United States and Europe including The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The British Film Institute, the Museum of Modern Art, The Edinburgh Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, The Women's Museum of Art in Washington D.C. and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Before turning to writing on a full time basis in 1990, she worked as a private investigator, a campaign manager and served as Press Secretary to California Governor Jerry Brown. She lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my go-to book when I want to be inspired. I've ready it many, many, many times. I find Francis Marion's life and love of writing exhilarating. She paved the road for screenwriters and no one cared if she was female... that came later when the businessmen saw how much money was to be had. Ahh, the innocent days. Also, a fun read for old Hollywood lovers.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're passionate about the early movie industry, this is the excellent book to read. Before Hollywood was Hollywood, it was orange groves and dirt roads, and a fistful of pioneers, many of whom were women. Frances Marion, Anita Loos, Marion Davies, Mary Pickford (not the shy, petite ingenue we see on the screen). In the early days of the moving picture business, Frances Marion was the highest paid screenwriter in the world. Women were the directors, the writers, the producers, the people who got the actors to show up, and got the films to the screens.

Cari Beauchamp is a spot-on researcher, and an accomplished storyteller. Who could ask for more? I can. I'd like a new book about women in film after WWII. How did all of them get booted out of town?

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds me of why I adore book research and nonfiction reading. Without Lying Down is fabulous and fascinating as it follows the life of Frances Marion, the most highly paid screenplay writers of early Hollywood. Back when she started in silent movies, women were everywhere in Hollywood, and for a big reason: movies were not regarded as a legitimate business enterprise. Women told the stories they wanted to tell, and to great success--for a while. As movies were increasingly censored, as the industry became bigger, women were shuttled off to one side.

Frances is an inspiration, truly. I first came to know her as one of the main characters in a novel called Girls in the Picture which focused on her close friendship with Mary Pickford. I loved getting to know her more in this book (one of the source books for the fiction piece). The title alone says so much about Frances as a person. The full quote is, "I spent my life searching for a man to look up to without lying down."

If you have any interest in early Hollywood, do yourself a favor and get this book.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frances Marion was an AMAZING woman and I must say I had never heard of her, had no idea. She was the highest paid screenwriter pretty much ever (a huge deal in 1930's Hollywood) and was also an accomplished sculptor and concert pianist. She and her husband, a movie cowboy, had a huge farm with probably a gazillion animals. She was friends with people in the Algonquin Circle and also worked with most of the big female stars of the time (Mary Pickford, Theda Bara, Greta Garbo...)

Fascinating description of early LA/Hollywood, the film industry, and feminism in the early/mid-1900's.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

My picks in biography tend to be a little on the doomed side (Nijinsky, Louise Brooks, T. E. Lawrence), so it's nice to read a biography of someone who wasn't . . . a mess. (Colette is victorious, but still a mess.) It's also rare to read a really charming biography, so if you're looking for one - here it is.

Anyway, I've seen a good chunk of Frances Marion-scripted films, although I don't think any of them hold a special place in my heart, but I didn't know much about her as an individual since she doesn't have the kind of cultural capital that the movie stars (or even Hedda Hopper) does. Also, stories about women doing well in Hollywood don't show up that often or get much publicity when they do.

Frances Marion herself is vivid: witty, talented, self-aware, loyal, clear-eyed, self-confident. (So many affairs with younger men! So many marriages!) It's interesting, too, that her strongest and most important relationships were her friendships with other women.

But there was something a little bit lacking in Without Lying Down. It's kind of scattered and disorganized (not everyone is as vivid as Marion), and falls prey to that frequent biography problem of rushing the last twenty years together. There's not much discussion of the films themselves - understandable, but disappointing all the same - or of Marion's literary output. (You get the impression Beauchamp hasn't read the novels and short stories, although Marion was clearly proud of them.) I think Frances Marion could have stood up to a denser biography, even at the expense of the considerable charm of this one.

Still, it's really interesting and entertaining, and would make a good Mother's Day gift.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard for me to rate this book, because reading it was such a journey, and so different an experience from all the fiction I've been reading recently. Frances Marion lived a full, impressive, and inspiring life. She was linked with so many interesting people, many of whom I already knew a little about before reading this book, and some of whom were completely new to me. Her cohorts included Marie Dressler, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Irving Thalberg, Louis B. Mayer, Hedda Hopper, Greta Garbo, Joan Blondell, W.R. Hearst, Marion Davies, Clark Gable, Lillian Gish, Samuel Goldwyn, Jean Harlow, Joe Kennedy, Anita Loos, ZaSu Pitts, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Norma Shearer, Gloria Swanson, Norma Talmadge, and Lois Weber--and those are just the major players in the story! Needless to say, its riveting stuff, but it can also be tricky at times to keep track of everyone.

If you have any interest at all in early Hollywood and/or strong creative women, and you're in the mood for an expansive biography, this book, a breathtaking work of biographical scholarship, is a good choice.

[Gatlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book for movie lovers, especially of older movies, feminists, and history buffs. Frances Marion was at one time the highest paid movie screenwriter in the world. Women entered the movie industry, in many technical fields, at a higher pace than today. Why? Because in the early years, before it became a big business, women were able to be cross trained in film jobs besides acting and continuity "girls". Marion was one of the fortunate; if she had been born twenty years later she probably would not have had the success she did as a movie writer. By the 1940s, women were slowly being weeded out - even by today's standards, film and television, is still a male dominated field, behind and in front of the camera.

Frances had a fascinating life and was a triple threat. She was of the same generation as Eleanor Roosevelt, Louise Bryant, Anita Loos, and Mary Pickford; all women who lived life outside the home in the public eye.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are seeking out info on early Hollywood then this is the book for you. So well researched and written - it is FULL of trivia tidbits that once again prove that truth is stranger than fiction. If looking for companion books to this one, I would suggest reading "A Girl Like I" by Anita Loos, then this one - Without Lying Down - and then read another of Ms. Beauchamp's books, "Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary". The additional books will give you an even more well-rounded view of what "Without Lying Down" provides.

[Brooke Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

*clap clap clap clap*
What a wonderful book written about an amazing woman. I'm always interested in this era of film making and I wasn't aware that women held such a large part, being directors, camera, editors and like the lovely Frances, screenwriting.
I couldn't put this down, very well written and I felt myself pulling for Ms. Marion through all the trying times, laughing during silliest and crying a tear or too with her in heartbreak.
I highly recommend this bio and it will be on my repeat shelf.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book written about early Hollywood film making ever. The best biography I ever read. I learned so much and really LIKED Marion.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Few books have disappointed me as much as Without Lying Down.

To begin with, the author focuses too much on the personal lives of the pioneering women and not enough on their work, which is the main reason why I bought the book. If I had wanted to read about the architecture of California or Mary Pickford’s relationship with Douglas Fairbanks, I would have chosen something else.

Speaking of which, while Mary Pickford became famous for playing ingénues in melodramas and that’s not very interesting, she has also been considered the most powerful woman in Hollywood history, but you wouldn’t know it from Cari Beachump’s account.

And yet, for all the attention to the personal, the people never become fully-fledged human beings, just mere ghosts wandering about the narrative. After almost 400 pages, I still didn’t have a clear sense of who Frances Marion was. Sure, I could tell you that she was hard-working, open-minded, and self-deprecating, often finding the funny slant to everything. But the foundations of her character remained a mystery.

One thing was clear, however. Frances Marion was a hypocrite. Despite claiming to be opposed to censorship, she attended a reception for Will Hays (of the Hays Code fame) with the rest of the Hollywood elite. But worse of all, when in 1936 Irving Thalberg threatened to shut down his production unit at MGM and leave hundreds of people without jobs if his writing staff unionized, Frances, a prominent member of the Screen Writers Guild, did not quit or even protest. Livelihood was not an issue; by that time she had amassed considerable wealth, and her reputation was so great that she could have worked anywhere else. On that note, it’s worth mentioning that she was close friends with Hedda Hopper and William Randolph Hearst and accepted a job offer from Harry Cohn, Columbia’s leading sexual predator. Make of that what you will.

So the title of the book is all wrong; Frances Marion may not have slept with anyone to get a job, but she did “lay down” with power in other ways.

She also lacked artistic integrity. In the mid-1920s, once comfortably settled at the newly formed MGM, she admitted that she would write a happy ending for Romeo and Juliet if she had to, meaning if the studio wanted one. She also wrote ethnic comedies about the Jewish and the Irish that perpetuated harmful stereotypes. Though to be fair, she wrote the latter for her friend Marie Dressler, once a star comedienne who was on the brink of poverty, and the movie saved her. Her generosity is one of the few traits I find admirable.

But I got the impression that she stayed in Hollywood for the money, not out of love for the cinema. And things came easily to her, often in the form of lucky coincidences (for example, her friend Adela Rogers St. Johns introduced her to Lois Weber, thus giving Marion a foothold in the industry). It makes for a happier life, but not for a compelling book.

Another reason I’m not as impressed with Frances Marion as I might have been is that I come on the heels of learning about Alice Guy Blaché, another film pioneer. Madame Blaché considered filmmaking a calling she was bound to answer; the documentary Be Natural opens with her saying: “It was my fate.” I suppose I relate more to that than just drifting into a good gig.

Nevertheless, there are interesting insights that make this book worth reading, such as the birth of Hollywood as we know it (including the casting couch), how Frances struggled to write certain scripts due to the interference of the studio and the public, the descriptions of the creative decisions, and above all the friendships. As mentioned before, Frances was remarkably generous, writing to suit the talents of actors like Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Marion Davies, and Fred Thomson (her third husband and father of her children, for whom she wrote several Westerns.) You don’t see that generosity very often, and certainly not in the competitive and narcissistic world of show business.

However, that generosity is marred by the fact that, in later years, after having a falling out with Marion Davies, Frances mocked her alcoholism in a newspaper column, even though she had been married to director George Hill, an alcoholic who died by suicide. That casual cruelty sealed forever my dislike for Frances Marion.

But the author’s attitude towards her subject is perhaps more disturbing than anything Marion did: Beauchamp portrays Frances as a flawless woman with a perfect life -a successful career, great friends, loving marriage- to the point of implausibility. There are clues here and there that not everything was perfect in the Enchanted Hill (the name of her house). For example, someone close to the family said that they sensed an emotional distance between Frances and her two sons. But of course, that statement is never followed up with further research. Her low moments, like the ones I’ve described in this review, are treated as inconsequential; you can almost hear Beauchamp tiptoeing around them instead of looking at them with a critical eye. She writes with palpable pride about Frances at her best, but hurries by her worst, hoping no one will notice.

It seems to me that Cari Beauchamp tried to make Frances Marion fit into the ideal she had of her, disregarding the truth in the process, which is one of the worst sins a historian can commit. The truth is more important than any illusion.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Beauchamp's biography of Frances Marion has some wonderful observations on the nature of Hollywood from the early days into the '40s and provides a welcome behind-the-scenes look at some of Marion's best films. I also enjoyed the background on many of her co-workers, particularly other women like June Mathis, Mary Pickford and Adela Rogers St. John who helped shape American filmmaking in the early years.

[Alexis Marnel · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT chronicle not only of the life of Frances Marion but also how men did not take the movies seriously until they discovered women were becoming wealthy writing, creating and producing films.
One of my favorite quotes is from this book "I just want a man I can look up to without lying down" - Frances Marion.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

i did not know she was the screenwriter for so many of my favorite ealy hollywood movies. also didn't know there were so many female screenwriters back then. favorite quote " I spent my life searching for a man I could look up to without lying down" but the title ,of the book, based on the quote, belies the great repect she had for Irving Thalberg and also her husband, Fred Thomson

[Greta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bio of Marion, with lots of information on women screenwriters and how they were eventually forced out by studio politics and the increasing bureaucratization of Hollywood. Includes list of FM films in archival collections, very valuable

[Nancy Loe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one that I only wish I could have written. Brilliant book about a fascinating time.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! This is one I always keep close at hand -- for reference, for inspiration, for the sheer joy of it. What would we have done without Frances Marion?

[Jon Boorstin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine look at Frances Marion, and the forgotten role of women in the early movies, when the world was more closed to women, and movies more open.

[Donie Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For show biz fans, this is the perfect book to read. It covers all of early Hollywood in a very readable and fascinating account as the author follows the life of the unforgettable Frances Marion. As a former executive at MGM in the 1970s I really knew very little about its history. Frances worked for many of the early production companies, but spent significant years at MGM. It was a thrill to learn that some of her time was spent in my old MGM office--the legendary office of Story Editor Samuel Marx. Learn more about Joseph Kennedy's rise in Hollywood, the careers of Marion Davies & Mary Pickford, who were close friends of Frances. And I learned about Fred C. Thomson, who was Frances' true love--who was a more popular western star than Tom Mix. He died young. I could go on, but this is a fabulous book.

[li · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely need to queen out with these divas

[Jeannine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but didn't. While it is supposedly about Frances Marion, the famous scenario writer for Mary Pickford and, later, an Oscar winner for movies such as The Champ and The Big House, it's really about women in Hollywood. Which is fine, and even interesting. Early film offered women real, interesting work either through acting or writing or both, however, you can figure this out for yourself without the author explaining it to you, and that's one of the things that bugged me about this book.

The second thing that made me uncomfortable with the book was something I couldn't put my finger on until I read the acknowledgements in the back of the book when the author says Gloria Swanson refused to let anyone write her biography and when asked why responded, "All biographers, no matter how sympathetic, end up using their subjects as mirrors to figure themselves out. I don't want to be anyone's mirror." And that describes the feeling I had the entire time reading this book, that is was the author's opinions and interpretations I was reading and not necessarily that of Frances Marion. (There is a photograph in the book with several people gathered on a step. Marion is in the background looking bored off to the side while Douglas Fairbanks hams it up in the foreground and the caption says Marion's gaze seems to be a reflection of her opinion of the Fairbanks/Pickford romance, when of course, maybe she was just looking at a bird off camera). Throughout the book, I felt the author was using Marion to back up her own political views or thoughts in general, even the title is strange and more a reflection of the author than Marion. Because of the author's intrusion, and because she used exhaustive information from other works (auto bios/bios, etc), I would go to those sources first before reading this.

While the book is very detailed and probably should be on your bookshelf for reference if you are a silent-film enthusiast, the structure of the book is cluttered. There will be a snippet about Frances Marion meeting, say, Mary Pickford for the first time, and the author interrupts the action and morphs into an exhaustive biography of that person, sometimes morphing into more biographies in the same scene. It's confusing and hard to reenter the original action when she eventually returns to it.

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

My God, how I loved this book. I didn't want it to end - I didn't want her to die. All I can is if you have any interest in women, the film industry and writing then this is the book for you. It is a big book and I don't think that I'll ever re-read it but I will admit that the next thing I'm going to do is find a photo of Frances Marion, print it out and put it up on the wall over my desk because this woman, who died 43 years ago, is an inspiration to me in 2015, both on a personal and a professional level.

The author, Cari Beauchamp, also includes an enthralling history of Marion's friends including the likes of Mary Pickford, Marion Davies, Lilian Gish, Anita Loos and Hedda Hopper, to name just a few. In fact I've never seen Hedda Hopper portrayed so favourably before.

It is also a portrayal of change. Marion was practically holding the film industry together, in the early years, but by the time she reaches late middle-age she has already been mostly forgotten. Yet, for all her success, she continues to expand her mind and interest through new hobbies like sculpture, painting and learning to play any number of instruments. This is how she survives change while others like Mary Pickford, who only knew how to make films, are sadly left behind.

You could almost believe that before she was born someone handed Marion a user manual on how to get the best from your life. Forget about self-help books, 'Without Lying Down' is full of lessons on how to live a rounded and compassionate life.

I know little/absolutely nothing about Beauchamp herself, there was no detailed blog about her, but however way she brings her subjects to life made me really, really like her too.

[seemoya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was heartened to read in the author notes that Cari Beauchamp called Frances Marion her friend. She feels like a friend to me too. All the credit goes to Beauchamp for such a vivid style which carried over all that dense studio & movie history into something truly entertaining and illuminating. Frances Marion said writing is a refuge for the shy. She was proclaimed to be as beautiful if not more beautiful than the movie stars she wrote for, but she never desired to be in front of the cameras. She was a remarkable wit and a champion of women. I really believe she succeeded in looking up to men without lying down. But really, all of them should have been looking up to her.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frances Marion was amazing. As with most biographies, though, I found myself getting depressed at the end as deaths became more frequent and the excitement, creativity, and freedom of being a pioneer in Hollywood died off as the studios grew in power.

[Hailey H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed, very well done. A wonderful look at a wonderful woman, a must read for fans of Old Hollywood and women in film. Frances is truly a trailblazer and it was a joy to read about her adventures and successes in the business.

[Kit Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frances Marion sounds like the coolest lady. She also wrote some very good flicker shows too. An awesome chronicle of a time in Hollywood history when women actually had a lot of power.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent look at the role of women in Hollywood's birth, and one woman's inspirational journey & value system throughout.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this particular telling of the early days of Hollywood from a woman writer's perspective.

[Margo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great early Hollywood/L.A. History. Biography of a woman who was a prolific screenwriter and director... knew everyone. Funny stories about what L.A. was like just as the movie industry took over.

[Steffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, highly recommended. It is wonderful to learn about the women who helped shape Hollywood.