Hollywood: The Pioneers

by Kevin Brownlow, John Kobal

If you're a pre-talking picture Hollywood movie buff, this book is for you! Here is the sudden emergence of a film colony and the personalities that formed the early film industry, camermen, directors, stars. A history of the beginning days of movie making in Hollywood, focusing on the great actors like Keaton, Chaplin & Fairbanks & the great directors like Griffith & Raoul Walsh. Alive with the excitement of the old Hollywood, peppered with vivid cinematic and social recollections never before on record, illustrated with 300 rare photos - stills, on-the-set shots, portraits, most of them published here for the first time and reproduced from the original negatives or prints - this is a unique film history, the result of a unique collaboration.

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

268 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Kevin Brownlow, is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent documenting and restoring film. He has rescued many silent films and their history. His initiative in interviewing many largely forgotten, elderly film pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s preserved a legacy of cinema. Brownlow received an Academy Honorary Award at the 2nd Annual Governors Awards given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 13, 2010.

Reviews

[P.J. MacNamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion it's a very particular type of person that can appreciate silent film, and there aren't so many of us around anymore.

The people that have this book and loved the 1979 Thames Television TV series it was published to accompany will doubtless own some of the same wonderful books I do - "Hollywood: The Years Of Innocence" and "Classics Of The Silent Screen" to name but two. If we can find a place in the world for radio drama, why can we not find a place for silent film? Some of the best sequences in some of the best films I know take place when everybody has their mouth firmly shut. Just because they CAN talk now it doesn't mean that they HAVE TO. Do they teach that at film school? If they don't, then maybe they should.

When you try and tell people that there was a time when films were made but there were no actual film stars and you had no idea what the names were of the people who appeared in those films, they think you're having a laugh with them. Tell that to the "It" girl, Clara Bow. Or better yet, tell it to Mary Pickford.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“After seeing The Jazz Singer, I went home feeling very sad, really. And I made my contribution by predicting that the talkies wouldn’t last very long. The thing that made me so sad was that the international language was over. This was really a thing which nobody seemed to notice very much, but after all, the human species had lived on the face of the globe for thousands of years and there had never before been a language in which they could all speak to each other. It had been one of the great causes of all the wars and all the division that had taken place--and here we finally come to a language which could be shown everywhere, and which everyone could understand, and we were just blowing it up. And I still feel sad about it.” ~film critic Cedric Belfrage

[CQM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent companion book to the tremendous ITV series of the early 80's.
The interviews with the then surviving stars, directors and, most interestingly for my mind, stunt men are wonderful and the book is illustrated with some fantastic photographs.

[Steve Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1980 film restorer Kevin Brownlow (along with producer David Gill) was responsible for the creation of the Thames Television series ‘Hollywood’ – the series which for many awakened the eyes to the mysteries and beauties of the silent film. This is the book that accompanied the series.

Such is the high quality, it easily stands alone. It’s sumptuously illustrated with many high quality prints (in front of, and behind the camera) from the collection of John Kobal, and Kevin Brownlow’s text displays his love and knowledge for the subject, and great fondness for the characters involved. Fortunately Gloria Swanson’s comment to Brownlow - “You won’t find anyone left but me” - turned out to be erroneous and he interviewed many of the people involved, and was able to get many enlightening, forthright and fascinating first-hand accounts of the period. That can be from director Allan Dwan describing how he directed Douglas Fairbanks Snr by demonstrating the stunts himself (even though he was forty pounds heavier), to reporter Adela Rogers St Johns, herself part Irish, stating, “You have to watch the Irish, you have to give them discipline...” And director Henry Hathaway remembers the last day on set of morphine addicted actor Wallace Reid. “He sort of fumbled about, and bumped into a chair, and then just sat on the floor and started to cry. They put him in a chair, and he just keeled over.”

Story after story and many photographs I’ve not seen elsewhere. This is well worth tracking down for anyone remotely interested in early cinema.

Hopefully someday the copyright issues, which have so far prevented release of the series on DVD or Blu-ray, will be sorted out.

[Beth Cato · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book packed with information on the silent film era. High quality photographs throughout display the sheer artistry of the era. Having read many books on this time in Hollywood, including Brownlow's excellent The Parade's Gone By, I appreciated the different angle that this book took; rather than go into lengthy chapters, most chapters consisted of only a few pages in tiny print followed by loads of pictures with captions. The one negative about this presentation is that the text is indeed quite small and the hardcover book is heavy, so I found it difficult to read the book in certain places in my house. Perhaps this was more intended as a coffee table book than to be read one-handed at a dining table.

Until the very end of the book, I was unaware that this was a companion volume for a television series. It turns out, that series is on YouTube--and I had already saved it to watch, many months ago! Now I know I need to watch it.

[Kieran]

This book rewards multiple revisits with its smart discourse, interesting tidbits and marvelous illustrations. It's a terrific companion piece to the TV documentary series.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kevin Brownlow's great little book, companion to the ThamesTV series from 1979. I remember watching it in my late teens, a documentary series that showed that 'silent' films weren't just slapstick comedies which were about the only 'silents' that were ever shown on tv, usually during the school holidays. I can still remember the opening titles and seeing (the then unknown to most of us) the gorgeous Clara Bow smiling and winking to camera!
This is a well illustrated (thanks to John Kobal) introduction to Hollywood during the silent era and makes one want to explore more. Thankfully, due to labels such as Eureka's Masters of Cinema a lot more of the classic silent era are now available to discover, and this book [and series] was probably responsible for my interest in this time period of film-making when image was everything.
I just wish that the TV series would be shown again.

[Janieface · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only problem with reading an ace book about the silent film era is that there are now a ton more films I need to watch. Bah.

[Malcolm Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely superb book,issued in conjunction with the tv series.Some truly excellent photos recollect a time gone by but not forgotten

[Scot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lately, I have been slightly obsessed with silent films, watching some of the great masterpieces and interested in a revival of this art form, hoping for a reversal from our overly CGI-laden modern film industry. This book was the companion to an eight-part documentary which I haven't seen, but do not think you need to watch it to enjoy this on its own merit. Tracing the early days of silent film to its death with the coming of the talking picture, Brownlow highlights all of the big stars, directors, and studios. You get to see how the money hungry producers and big name studios which for the most part exist today battled with the art for art's sake directors, how WWI turned Hollywood into a propaganda machine, and how our current fascination with all things Hollywood, materialism and all, started over 100 years ago. John Kobal's photo collection for the book is fantastic and this is really a treasure trove for anyone interested in film, art and the molding of thought, or history. Hard to find but worth it if you run across it.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tie in book for Kevin Brownlow's seminal TV documentary series on silent cinema. The book lacks the depth of the earlier "The Parade's Gone By" simplifies and repeats much, it's obviously intended for the more casual reader who had enjoyed the documentary series. However it's the illustrations provided by John Kobal that make the book, stunning images of the early days of cinema, many of unknown or lost films.

[Greta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Companion to the TV series. Great photos, fascinating stories.

[Estott · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than just a go-along book for Brownlow's television series, this has excellent pictures and content.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great photos and anecdotes, occasionally dated commentary.

[Samantha Glasser]

Worth it just for the photos! Descriptions of the luminosity of nitrate film are on exhibit in these pages; the photographs literally shimmer.