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Off With Their Heads!: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood
356 pages
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 12, 2009
If you're only going to read one book about Frances Marion, read the Beauchamp book "Without Lying Down..." If you're reading everything about early Hollywood, read this next.
February 13, 2013
Shared in a funny and moving memoir, Frances Marion's stories of old Hollywood are numerous and illuminating. She was a remarkable woman, a highly successful screenwriter for decades. Her insights into the changes the film industry underwent from its inception through the 50s, as well as the many actors and film makers who left their mark, are fascinating and often poignant. Sometimes her anecdotal style and frequent name-dropping could be confusing, but I was enjoying myself so much I hardly noticed. I wish this book was back in print so I could buy it!
June 27, 2018
“Yet in spite of this apparent buffoonery, Mayer did have an instinct for drama, and could detect a phony emotion more quickly than most directors. The only problem we faced: all mothers must be saintly; all men true to their wives. Which was rather paradoxical, considering his own roving eye. But that must be blamed on those pretty little girls who served themselves on silver platters to the men who held the keys which opened the studio gates.
"Here I must betray a secret which some of us writers kept well-hidden for years; we called these silver-platter girls ‘Moos’ when they became the bosses’ ‘sacred cows.’ Often we would tip each other off: ‘Might be smart to write in a juicy part for So-and-So, she’s L.B.’s latest Moo.’ Once, a male scenario writer, with a few drinks under his belt, walked up to a luscious redhead sporting a diamond bracelet and a year’s contract. ‘Whose Moo is oo?’ he asked. She snapped back, ‘Don’t get fresh with me or I’ll tell Sam Katz on you!’ and that’s how we kept in touch with the transient love affairs on the Metro lot)”
"Here I must betray a secret which some of us writers kept well-hidden for years; we called these silver-platter girls ‘Moos’ when they became the bosses’ ‘sacred cows.’ Often we would tip each other off: ‘Might be smart to write in a juicy part for So-and-So, she’s L.B.’s latest Moo.’ Once, a male scenario writer, with a few drinks under his belt, walked up to a luscious redhead sporting a diamond bracelet and a year’s contract. ‘Whose Moo is oo?’ he asked. She snapped back, ‘Don’t get fresh with me or I’ll tell Sam Katz on you!’ and that’s how we kept in touch with the transient love affairs on the Metro lot)”
August 13, 2023
Truly brilliant writing: thoroughly detailed, insightful, and incredibly witty. Even though this book was published in 1972, it is still fresh and appealing. For anyone who loves the movies and is interested in their history from the beginning into the mid-twentieth century, this is the ultimate insider history, written by a woman who was there through it all, and in a very big way.
Frances Marion was a two-time Oscar winner for screenwriting, a director, an occasional actor, a journalist, a novelist, and an artist – a twentieth century Renaissance woman of the arts. She was one of the trailblazers of the American film industry. Her career began at the very beginning of the silent film era before World War I, and she wrote over 300 screenplays and scenarios, continuing through the late 1940s, when she moved on to other writing pursuits.
I first came across her as one of the two lead characters in The Girls in the Picture, a novel by Melanie Benjamin, and that led me to a further interest in her life and work. The more I read about Marion in biographies and other novels, the more I wanted to read this book, her memoir.
Marion was a native of San Francisco, born in 1888, and worked there in photography and commercial art. She moved to Los Angeles after the 1906 earthquake for a career opportunity designing theater posters and a position in an advertising agency. From there she found a job in the burgeoning movie industry which at that time offered many opportunities for women as well as men. There were many small movie companies in operation and both men and women could make their mark, and Frances became one of them. Though she worked occasionally as an actress, she preferred behind-the-scenes roles. Early on, she met many of the pioneering figures in the business, including Lois Weber, a director and screenwriter, and Mary Pickford, the most popular and successful actress of the silent era. Both became her close friends and colleagues.
In the book, Marion describes the evolution of the industry from the silents to the talkies, and from small companies working on a shoestring, to what became the giants of the Golden Age of Hollywood, including United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She knew everybody of note in the industry, since she worked so closely with many of its business leaders, and the many actors and actresses whose careers were enhanced by her screenplays.
She describes the origins and career paths of stars like Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Gloria Swanson, her close friend Marie Dressler, and her own beloved husband, Fred Thomson, whom she met as she prepared to become a foreign correspondent during World War I. Through Marion's connections, he became an early cowboy picture star but his life was cut short when he developed tetanus from stepping on a rusty nail.
She also describes her professional relationships with Sam Goldfish, later "Goldwyn" and Louis B. Mayer, of what became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and Irving Thalberg, considered the genius behind many beloved and highly successful films. She was also a friend of William Randolph Hearst and his mistress the actress Marion Davies, and Hedda Hopper, who evolved from actress to powerful gossip columnist. It would also be true to say that she most likely knew and worked with every major (and minor) director and producer in the industry.
A very touching segment in one of the later sections describes Judy Garland and her struggles, told from the point of view of someone who actually knew her.
In reading this book, Marion's gift and skill as an Oscar-winning storyteller comes through, and that is one of the two factors that make it so engaging – the other is her often sardonic humor, which shines throughout. Many of her comments are laugh out loud funny.
Other important themes throughout the book are Marion's awareness and observations of how change affects an industry and its people. When the movies went from silents to talkies, many of its most important early stars could not make the cut because of their unsuitable speaking voices, and their careers abruptly ended. Marion also discussed the effects of the Great Depression, of the Second World War, and the advent of television, and its competition with the movie industry, which suffered greatly from people staying home to watch TV when they had formerly gone to the movies for entertainment. If she were alive today, in the streaming era and with the advent of CGI and AI, she surely would have seen the dangers as well as the opportunities, and as one of the originators of the Screenwriters' Guild, she would most likely be participating, marching and picketing in the current strike – just as she did as a suffragette who marched with thousands of other women to gain the right to vote in a 1915 parade in New York.
She wrapped up her account of the history of Hollywood by describing the 1970 auction listings of the physical property of the MGM studio complex, which included everything from furniture, costumes, and all kinds of artifacts – even Judy Garland's Ruby Slippers from "The Wizard of Oz", and a parasol that Vivien Leigh carried as Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind", and mentioned some of the then contemporary movies that were financial and artistic successes: "Midnight Cowboy", "Easy Rider", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", (all 1969), and "Five Easy Pieces" and "Patton" (both 1970), proving that after 66 years in Hollywood, when the book was published in 1972, her razor-sharp observations and writing were as fresh as ever.
Frances Marion was a two-time Oscar winner for screenwriting, a director, an occasional actor, a journalist, a novelist, and an artist – a twentieth century Renaissance woman of the arts. She was one of the trailblazers of the American film industry. Her career began at the very beginning of the silent film era before World War I, and she wrote over 300 screenplays and scenarios, continuing through the late 1940s, when she moved on to other writing pursuits.
I first came across her as one of the two lead characters in The Girls in the Picture, a novel by Melanie Benjamin, and that led me to a further interest in her life and work. The more I read about Marion in biographies and other novels, the more I wanted to read this book, her memoir.
Marion was a native of San Francisco, born in 1888, and worked there in photography and commercial art. She moved to Los Angeles after the 1906 earthquake for a career opportunity designing theater posters and a position in an advertising agency. From there she found a job in the burgeoning movie industry which at that time offered many opportunities for women as well as men. There were many small movie companies in operation and both men and women could make their mark, and Frances became one of them. Though she worked occasionally as an actress, she preferred behind-the-scenes roles. Early on, she met many of the pioneering figures in the business, including Lois Weber, a director and screenwriter, and Mary Pickford, the most popular and successful actress of the silent era. Both became her close friends and colleagues.
In the book, Marion describes the evolution of the industry from the silents to the talkies, and from small companies working on a shoestring, to what became the giants of the Golden Age of Hollywood, including United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She knew everybody of note in the industry, since she worked so closely with many of its business leaders, and the many actors and actresses whose careers were enhanced by her screenplays.
She describes the origins and career paths of stars like Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Gloria Swanson, her close friend Marie Dressler, and her own beloved husband, Fred Thomson, whom she met as she prepared to become a foreign correspondent during World War I. Through Marion's connections, he became an early cowboy picture star but his life was cut short when he developed tetanus from stepping on a rusty nail.
She also describes her professional relationships with Sam Goldfish, later "Goldwyn" and Louis B. Mayer, of what became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and Irving Thalberg, considered the genius behind many beloved and highly successful films. She was also a friend of William Randolph Hearst and his mistress the actress Marion Davies, and Hedda Hopper, who evolved from actress to powerful gossip columnist. It would also be true to say that she most likely knew and worked with every major (and minor) director and producer in the industry.
A very touching segment in one of the later sections describes Judy Garland and her struggles, told from the point of view of someone who actually knew her.
In reading this book, Marion's gift and skill as an Oscar-winning storyteller comes through, and that is one of the two factors that make it so engaging – the other is her often sardonic humor, which shines throughout. Many of her comments are laugh out loud funny.
Other important themes throughout the book are Marion's awareness and observations of how change affects an industry and its people. When the movies went from silents to talkies, many of its most important early stars could not make the cut because of their unsuitable speaking voices, and their careers abruptly ended. Marion also discussed the effects of the Great Depression, of the Second World War, and the advent of television, and its competition with the movie industry, which suffered greatly from people staying home to watch TV when they had formerly gone to the movies for entertainment. If she were alive today, in the streaming era and with the advent of CGI and AI, she surely would have seen the dangers as well as the opportunities, and as one of the originators of the Screenwriters' Guild, she would most likely be participating, marching and picketing in the current strike – just as she did as a suffragette who marched with thousands of other women to gain the right to vote in a 1915 parade in New York.
She wrapped up her account of the history of Hollywood by describing the 1970 auction listings of the physical property of the MGM studio complex, which included everything from furniture, costumes, and all kinds of artifacts – even Judy Garland's Ruby Slippers from "The Wizard of Oz", and a parasol that Vivien Leigh carried as Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind", and mentioned some of the then contemporary movies that were financial and artistic successes: "Midnight Cowboy", "Easy Rider", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", (all 1969), and "Five Easy Pieces" and "Patton" (both 1970), proving that after 66 years in Hollywood, when the book was published in 1972, her razor-sharp observations and writing were as fresh as ever.
June 11, 2011
Frances Marion was a highly successful screenwriter from the Silent Era who survived the transition to Talkies and beyond. She wrote some of Mary Pickford's biggest hits and became her close friend. She worked with Irving Thalberg, L.B. Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn. Her rapier wit shines through her auto-biography as she describes her life and times and the who's who of Hollywood who were her closest friends--and antagonists. If you are fascinated by early Hollywood or its Golden Era, this is an enjoyable read.
June 20, 2022
I am so glad that I decided to buy this rare book. It’s not a biography of Frances Marion, but rather a memoir of Hollywood. It really reminded me that all of these people were real people, not just faces on the screen. The ending chapter was wonderful; giving an epilogue to the lives of so many. I enjoyed it so much
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2018
Outstanding memoir by one of Hollywood's greatest pioneers. It is a bit disjointed at times, but loads of fun. Marion's reminiscences of the shaky transition from silent to talkies is particularly memorable.
October 30, 2008
Entertaining account of Marion’s film experiences, concentrates on anecdotes rather than details about her life. Lots of great stories
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews