Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars
A shop girl wins a newspaper competition and is transformed overnight into a transatlantic celebrity. An aristocrat swaps high society for the film studio when she 'consents' to perform in a series of films, thus legitimising acting for what some might have considered a 'low' art. Stories like these were the stuff of newspaper headlines in 1920s and reflected a 'craze' for the cinema. They also demonstrated radical changes in attitudes and values within society in the wake of World War I.

Chris O'Rourke investigates the myths and material practices that grew up around film actors during the silent era. The book sheds light on issues such as the social and cultural reception of cinema, the participatory film culture expressed through fan magazines, instructional booklets and movie star competitions, and the working conditions encountered by actors behind-the-scenes of silent films.

Drawing on extensive research and a wealth of archival materials, O'Rourke examines how dreams of stardom were fuelled and exploited in the interwar period, and reconstructs the personal narratives and experiences of the first generation to imagine making a living on screen.In doing so, he reveals a missing - and much sought after - piece of cinematic history to bring to life the developing industries, social attitudes and norms of a period of enormous change.
1124036198
Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars
A shop girl wins a newspaper competition and is transformed overnight into a transatlantic celebrity. An aristocrat swaps high society for the film studio when she 'consents' to perform in a series of films, thus legitimising acting for what some might have considered a 'low' art. Stories like these were the stuff of newspaper headlines in 1920s and reflected a 'craze' for the cinema. They also demonstrated radical changes in attitudes and values within society in the wake of World War I.

Chris O'Rourke investigates the myths and material practices that grew up around film actors during the silent era. The book sheds light on issues such as the social and cultural reception of cinema, the participatory film culture expressed through fan magazines, instructional booklets and movie star competitions, and the working conditions encountered by actors behind-the-scenes of silent films.

Drawing on extensive research and a wealth of archival materials, O'Rourke examines how dreams of stardom were fuelled and exploited in the interwar period, and reconstructs the personal narratives and experiences of the first generation to imagine making a living on screen.In doing so, he reveals a missing - and much sought after - piece of cinematic history to bring to life the developing industries, social attitudes and norms of a period of enormous change.
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Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars

Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars

by Chris O'Rourke
Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars

Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars

by Chris O'Rourke

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Overview

A shop girl wins a newspaper competition and is transformed overnight into a transatlantic celebrity. An aristocrat swaps high society for the film studio when she 'consents' to perform in a series of films, thus legitimising acting for what some might have considered a 'low' art. Stories like these were the stuff of newspaper headlines in 1920s and reflected a 'craze' for the cinema. They also demonstrated radical changes in attitudes and values within society in the wake of World War I.

Chris O'Rourke investigates the myths and material practices that grew up around film actors during the silent era. The book sheds light on issues such as the social and cultural reception of cinema, the participatory film culture expressed through fan magazines, instructional booklets and movie star competitions, and the working conditions encountered by actors behind-the-scenes of silent films.

Drawing on extensive research and a wealth of archival materials, O'Rourke examines how dreams of stardom were fuelled and exploited in the interwar period, and reconstructs the personal narratives and experiences of the first generation to imagine making a living on screen.In doing so, he reveals a missing - and much sought after - piece of cinematic history to bring to life the developing industries, social attitudes and norms of a period of enormous change.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781786720597
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date: 11/30/2016
Series: Cinema and Society
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 224
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Chris O'Rourke is Senior Lecturer in Film and Television History at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has published widely on aspects of British cinema history, and he is the co-editor of the volume London on Film (2017).
Chris O'Rourke is Senior Lecturer in Film and Television History at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has published widely on aspects of British cinema history, and he is the co-editor of the volume London on Film (2017).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Winifred Hopcroft's story

Chapter 2 In and out of the studio: the silent film actor in Britain

Chapter 3 Learn to act for the camera in your own home: instructional guides to film acting

Chapter 4 The common round: finding film work in interwar London

Chapter 5 Stand forth, Mary Pickford the second! Searching for British stars

Chapter 6 Epilogue: from silence to sound
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