What do you think?
Rate this book
Douglas Fairbanks
This deft amalgam of biography, film history, and analysis is a superb portrait of a true pioneer who was critically important to the creation of cinema as the defining art form of the twentieth century. Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) was one of the first film superstars, a screenwriter, a major independent producer during the early studio era, a cofounder of United Artists, a founder and the first president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and much more. The optimism, energy, and huge success during the 1920s of his best-remembered films "The Mark of Zorro, Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, "and "The Black Pirate "made Fairbanks a popular hero throughout the world and showcased his talents as a creative producer whose work set the standard for excellence. "Douglas Fairbanks "takes the full measure of Fairbanks's remarkable life. Jeffrey Vance, who had complete access to the star's personal and professional papers and scrapbooks, also incorporates 237 photographs, some unseen for more than seventy-five years. Extensively researched, engagingly written, and sumptuously designed, the book goes behind Fairbanks's public persona to thoroughly explore his art and his far-reaching influence. "Copub: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "
376 pages, ebook
First published October 15, 2008
2 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Vance
11 books8 followersJeffrey Vance is an American film historian, producer, archivist, and lecturer, as well as the author of the acclaimed volumes "Douglas Fairbanks" (UC Press/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2008), "Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema" (Harry N. Abrams, 2003), "Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian" (Harry N. Abrams, 2002), and "Buster Keaton Remembered" (Harry N. Abrams, 2001). His most recent book is "A Star Is Born: Judy Garland and the Film That Got Away" (Running Press, 2018).
He began his career as an archivist for M-G-M/United Artists and served the same function for the Chaplin family's Roy Export S.A.S., The Harold Lloyd Trust, and the Mary Pickford Foundation. As a producer, he packaged the "Harold Lloyd Classic Comedies" for Turner Classic Movies, later released to DVD by New Line Home Entertainment. As a filmmaker, he produced and directed the short subject "Rediscovering John Gilbert" (2010) which aired on Turner Classic Movies as well as released to home video. He has served as a consultant to virtually every motion picture studio and has appeared in numerous documentaries.
He writes for various publications, contributes audio commentary tracks for Blu-ray and streaming, and speaks at venues throughout the United States and Europe including the TCM Classic Film Festival, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Silent Film Festival, "Los Angeles Times" Festival of Books, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
He began his career as an archivist for M-G-M/United Artists and served the same function for the Chaplin family's Roy Export S.A.S., The Harold Lloyd Trust, and the Mary Pickford Foundation. As a producer, he packaged the "Harold Lloyd Classic Comedies" for Turner Classic Movies, later released to DVD by New Line Home Entertainment. As a filmmaker, he produced and directed the short subject "Rediscovering John Gilbert" (2010) which aired on Turner Classic Movies as well as released to home video. He has served as a consultant to virtually every motion picture studio and has appeared in numerous documentaries.
He writes for various publications, contributes audio commentary tracks for Blu-ray and streaming, and speaks at venues throughout the United States and Europe including the TCM Classic Film Festival, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Silent Film Festival, "Los Angeles Times" Festival of Books, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 27, 2015
Oh boy, did I enjoy this terrific bio of Douglas Fairbanks and his flicks. I started the book knowing next-to-zero about the great Silent Screen superstar and walked away with a flurry of information which made me admire the star as an entertainer and cinematic genius.
Unlike most biographies, which throw some hearsay reviews on movies into a written page, Jeffrey Vance has done a masterful job of taking us through each of the Fairbanks films, so we see his rise and eventual decline. As a cinemagoer, I had heard about the great Fairbanks epics of the 1920s, but I had no clue he was an adept comedian on stage and screen during the WWI years.
Fairbanks was the first person to really understand how movies had changed after WWI, and he adapted brilliantly. Although he had 'directors' on his movies, it was Fairbanks who was really in charge from start to finish. So now to Chaplin and Chaney and Keaton, I add the Great Fairbanks, or 'Doug', as he was called. Thankfully, living in the Golden State where we still treasure silent movies with special theatres, I will now have the chance to see his epics on the silver screen.
BTW, get the printed edition...it's heavy enough to knock someone out, so you get a book and tool all-in-one.
Book Season = Summer
Unlike most biographies, which throw some hearsay reviews on movies into a written page, Jeffrey Vance has done a masterful job of taking us through each of the Fairbanks films, so we see his rise and eventual decline. As a cinemagoer, I had heard about the great Fairbanks epics of the 1920s, but I had no clue he was an adept comedian on stage and screen during the WWI years.
Fairbanks was the first person to really understand how movies had changed after WWI, and he adapted brilliantly. Although he had 'directors' on his movies, it was Fairbanks who was really in charge from start to finish. So now to Chaplin and Chaney and Keaton, I add the Great Fairbanks, or 'Doug', as he was called. Thankfully, living in the Golden State where we still treasure silent movies with special theatres, I will now have the chance to see his epics on the silver screen.
BTW, get the printed edition...it's heavy enough to knock someone out, so you get a book and tool all-in-one.
Book Season = Summer
May 9, 2009
He presented the first Academy Awards -- in his office. He founded what would become USC's film school. He was the first to press his hands and feet into cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, with his wife, who was America's sweetheart. He co-founded a movie studio with Hollywood's greatest director and two of its biggest stars.
If the name Douglas Fairbanks doesn't ring a bell, that might be because he's been dead for 70 years. Or maybe it's because his greatest achievements were in silent films.
Either way, Jeffrey Vance's biography "Douglas Fairbanks" retells the story of the man who became one of Hollywood's first superstars.
Douglas Elton Ulman was born in Colorado in 1883. By the time he was 5, his father had abandoned the family and his mother reverted to Fairbanks, the name of her deceased first husband.
Fairbanks had tremendous energy and athleticism as well as a fondness for Shakespeare, and when a traveling theater troupe came through Denver, the 16-year-old persuaded the group to take him along. Eventually, his acting caught up with his enthusiasm; he had his first hit on Broadway in 1906.
That was the year he met Beth Sully; they married and after two years had a son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. But Fairbanks was restless, and when a $2,000 a week offer came from Hollywood, he took it.
The camera loved his flashing smile, and his joyous physicality electrified the screen. He was so popular he even published a series of books (which were ghosted) lauding all-American optimism, athleticism and laughter.
His salary soon rose to $15,000 a week, making him one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars. But this was just a fraction of the millions his movies made.
At actress Mary Pickford's urging, he got out of his contract and started his own production company in 1917. Although many of his films from this period have been lost, Vance describes them and includes some stills; film scholars will appreciate his attention to significant crew members, although it feels a bit like sitting through a film's credits.
In 1919, Fairbanks, Pickford and Charlie Chaplin joined director D.W. Griffith to launch United Artists. Metro Pictures' president Richard Rowland skeptically remarked, "The lunatics have taken charge of the asylum." Nevertheless, UA survived.
Meanwhile, Pickford and Fairbanks, still wed to other people, struck up an affair. Fans didn't turn on them; when they married in 1920, they were embraced as luminous equals of beauty and fame. In Beverly Hills, their house, Pickfair, became a destination for both Hollywood's elite and genuine royalty.
The year 1920 also saw the release of "The Mark of Zorro," a landmark action-adventure picture. "Up until then," Vance writes, "most costume films had been turgid affairs; Fairbanks contributed his winning charm, humor, and athleticism executed in a modern manner. His approach -- particularly his ingratiating humor -- gave his films great appeal to audiences of the 1920s and helped usher in a renaissance of costume adventures."
Youth and vitality were essential to Fairbanks' persona. His physique was so perfect that he was, artist Joe Schuster explained, the model for his comic book character Superman.
But Fairbanks was more than just a graceful athlete. Using contemporary accounts and first-person histories, Vance makes the case for him as an early auteur.
He was involved in every stage of production, selecting properties, working so closely with his writers that he got credit (as "Elton Thomas"), bringing on researchers for historical accuracy, reviewing casting and production design and original scores.
He created a wall-size blueprint system for his shooting schedules and often served as de facto director. Like Hitchcock, he tackled technological challenges, building massive sets for one film, using miniatures and glass shots in another, even shooting "The Black Pirate" (1926) in two-color Technicolor.
When "The Black Pirate" was released, Fairbanks was in top form; a snapshot shows him bronzed and muscled on the beach. But he was 43, a rival studio had recruited his son to capitalize on his name and he'd been playing a youth for more than a decade.
Emphasizing the professional over the personal, Vance focuses on Fairbanks' career. "Douglas Fairbanks as The Gaucho" (1927) showed a shift in his persona: for the first time, he drank and smoked on-screen. He danced a steamy tango with Lupe Velez, with whom he had an affair. (Adding insult to injury, he cast Pickford in a cameo as the Virgin Mary.)
While audiences thrilled to "The Jazz Singer" in 1927, sound was the one technological advance Fairbanks wouldn't embrace. Instead, he looked backward, reprising one of his most popular characters, D'Artagnan, in 1929's "The Iron Mask." Vance sees this film, Fairbanks' last silent picture, as a farewell: In it, all the musketeers die.
Of course, to read about Fairbanks, even looking at his stunning photos, is not enough to understand his work. He crafted his own pantomime code, in which he never just pointed but lunged, one arm extended, head thrown back, eyes flashing.
The artistry of it takes some getting used to -- these vibrant, nakedly joyous displays of action.
But when he hurls his arms open, embracing the millions on our side of the screen, it is impossible not to want to hug him back.
Reviewed for the LA Times
February 5, 2009
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/...
If the name Douglas Fairbanks doesn't ring a bell, that might be because he's been dead for 70 years. Or maybe it's because his greatest achievements were in silent films.
Either way, Jeffrey Vance's biography "Douglas Fairbanks" retells the story of the man who became one of Hollywood's first superstars.
Douglas Elton Ulman was born in Colorado in 1883. By the time he was 5, his father had abandoned the family and his mother reverted to Fairbanks, the name of her deceased first husband.
Fairbanks had tremendous energy and athleticism as well as a fondness for Shakespeare, and when a traveling theater troupe came through Denver, the 16-year-old persuaded the group to take him along. Eventually, his acting caught up with his enthusiasm; he had his first hit on Broadway in 1906.
That was the year he met Beth Sully; they married and after two years had a son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. But Fairbanks was restless, and when a $2,000 a week offer came from Hollywood, he took it.
The camera loved his flashing smile, and his joyous physicality electrified the screen. He was so popular he even published a series of books (which were ghosted) lauding all-American optimism, athleticism and laughter.
His salary soon rose to $15,000 a week, making him one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars. But this was just a fraction of the millions his movies made.
At actress Mary Pickford's urging, he got out of his contract and started his own production company in 1917. Although many of his films from this period have been lost, Vance describes them and includes some stills; film scholars will appreciate his attention to significant crew members, although it feels a bit like sitting through a film's credits.
In 1919, Fairbanks, Pickford and Charlie Chaplin joined director D.W. Griffith to launch United Artists. Metro Pictures' president Richard Rowland skeptically remarked, "The lunatics have taken charge of the asylum." Nevertheless, UA survived.
Meanwhile, Pickford and Fairbanks, still wed to other people, struck up an affair. Fans didn't turn on them; when they married in 1920, they were embraced as luminous equals of beauty and fame. In Beverly Hills, their house, Pickfair, became a destination for both Hollywood's elite and genuine royalty.
The year 1920 also saw the release of "The Mark of Zorro," a landmark action-adventure picture. "Up until then," Vance writes, "most costume films had been turgid affairs; Fairbanks contributed his winning charm, humor, and athleticism executed in a modern manner. His approach -- particularly his ingratiating humor -- gave his films great appeal to audiences of the 1920s and helped usher in a renaissance of costume adventures."
Youth and vitality were essential to Fairbanks' persona. His physique was so perfect that he was, artist Joe Schuster explained, the model for his comic book character Superman.
But Fairbanks was more than just a graceful athlete. Using contemporary accounts and first-person histories, Vance makes the case for him as an early auteur.
He was involved in every stage of production, selecting properties, working so closely with his writers that he got credit (as "Elton Thomas"), bringing on researchers for historical accuracy, reviewing casting and production design and original scores.
He created a wall-size blueprint system for his shooting schedules and often served as de facto director. Like Hitchcock, he tackled technological challenges, building massive sets for one film, using miniatures and glass shots in another, even shooting "The Black Pirate" (1926) in two-color Technicolor.
When "The Black Pirate" was released, Fairbanks was in top form; a snapshot shows him bronzed and muscled on the beach. But he was 43, a rival studio had recruited his son to capitalize on his name and he'd been playing a youth for more than a decade.
Emphasizing the professional over the personal, Vance focuses on Fairbanks' career. "Douglas Fairbanks as The Gaucho" (1927) showed a shift in his persona: for the first time, he drank and smoked on-screen. He danced a steamy tango with Lupe Velez, with whom he had an affair. (Adding insult to injury, he cast Pickford in a cameo as the Virgin Mary.)
While audiences thrilled to "The Jazz Singer" in 1927, sound was the one technological advance Fairbanks wouldn't embrace. Instead, he looked backward, reprising one of his most popular characters, D'Artagnan, in 1929's "The Iron Mask." Vance sees this film, Fairbanks' last silent picture, as a farewell: In it, all the musketeers die.
Of course, to read about Fairbanks, even looking at his stunning photos, is not enough to understand his work. He crafted his own pantomime code, in which he never just pointed but lunged, one arm extended, head thrown back, eyes flashing.
The artistry of it takes some getting used to -- these vibrant, nakedly joyous displays of action.
But when he hurls his arms open, embracing the millions on our side of the screen, it is impossible not to want to hug him back.
Reviewed for the LA Times
February 5, 2009
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/...
August 23, 2012
Well researched and well written, with gorgeous photos on nearly every single page. The middle section is mostly a rundown of the movies Fairbanks made (each chapter is devoted to a different film) which is quite interesting but gets a little old after a while. I enjoyed learning about what went into each movie he made, but was always curious about what was going on in his personal life at the time. Fortunately the beginning and ending of the book do a good job of covering the beginning and ending of Fairbanks' life. I'm glad I own this - I look forward to rereading and sharing.
November 4, 2008
Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, and Mary Pickford were among Hollywood’s first superstars. Not only were they the first to actually build and live in the Hollywood Hills, but they also constructed a major industry with the sheer force of pantomime.
Of the three, however, Fairbanks is the least understood and appreciated. As an actor, and later a director and producer who preferred spectacle and action, his films may, ironically, feel the most dated. But, as Vance writes in the prologue to this serious biography, “A close examination of Fairbanks’s oeuvre amply demonstrates that he was the dominant creative force in the production of superlative films and a gifted comic actor who made the transition from satirist to swashbuckler.”
Fairbanks made his professional stage debut in 1900. He was seventeen, and enthusiasm was no match for his inexperience. As a Duluth newspaper reported: “Mr. Warde’s supporting company was bad, but worst of all was Douglas Fairbank…” Four years later, married and with a young son, a cameraman stopped the family in Central Park and invited the Broadway actor to do a spontaneous screen test. Fairbanks happily jumped over a park bench. A few weeks later, Harry E. Aitken, the producer of the soon to be released blockbuster The Birth of a Nation, saw the test and offered to hire Fairbanks for $2,000 a week.
Arriving at 4500 Sunset Boulevard in 1915, Fairbanks signed a contract that stipulated that all his films were to be personally supervised by director D.W. Griffith. Griffith was far from pleased with the acrobatic actor. “He’s got a head like a cantaloupe and can’t act.” Fairbanks himself remembered that “D.W. didn’t like my athletic tendencies. Or my spontaneous habit of jumping a fence or scaling a church at unexpected moments which were not in the script.” Fairbanks’ first film, The Lamb, however, was a complete success.
Three more years of hits, and Fairbanks looked like he was on top of his game. Privately, life was tumultuous: he’d fallen in love with “America’s Sweetheart,” Mary Pickford. Divorce followed quickly, and it was while the pair was on route to a European honeymoon that Pickford read the story that would give her new husband both a vehicle and a purpose for the rest of his career. The story was called “The Curse of Capistrano,” and it became The Mark of Zorro. Zorro was followed by The Three Musketeers, and then Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood. But The Thief of Baghdad is generally recognized as his greatest artistic triumph.
Besides his creative direction, Fairbanks, with Chaplin, Griffin, and Pickford, founded the film production and distribution studio, United Artists. He was also a founder and first president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and encouraged the study and preservation of film. Douglas Fairbanks is without doubt a serious biography of one of the pioneers of cinema, but it’s also the history of an industry that, even then crossed the frontiers of states and continents like no other art form to unite people through pageant, drama, and humor. This biography boasts extensive notes, a bibliography and filmography, and a list of Fairbanks’ Broadway appearances. Almost all of the magnificent photographs are from the collections of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library. (ForeWord Magazine)
Of the three, however, Fairbanks is the least understood and appreciated. As an actor, and later a director and producer who preferred spectacle and action, his films may, ironically, feel the most dated. But, as Vance writes in the prologue to this serious biography, “A close examination of Fairbanks’s oeuvre amply demonstrates that he was the dominant creative force in the production of superlative films and a gifted comic actor who made the transition from satirist to swashbuckler.”
Fairbanks made his professional stage debut in 1900. He was seventeen, and enthusiasm was no match for his inexperience. As a Duluth newspaper reported: “Mr. Warde’s supporting company was bad, but worst of all was Douglas Fairbank…” Four years later, married and with a young son, a cameraman stopped the family in Central Park and invited the Broadway actor to do a spontaneous screen test. Fairbanks happily jumped over a park bench. A few weeks later, Harry E. Aitken, the producer of the soon to be released blockbuster The Birth of a Nation, saw the test and offered to hire Fairbanks for $2,000 a week.
Arriving at 4500 Sunset Boulevard in 1915, Fairbanks signed a contract that stipulated that all his films were to be personally supervised by director D.W. Griffith. Griffith was far from pleased with the acrobatic actor. “He’s got a head like a cantaloupe and can’t act.” Fairbanks himself remembered that “D.W. didn’t like my athletic tendencies. Or my spontaneous habit of jumping a fence or scaling a church at unexpected moments which were not in the script.” Fairbanks’ first film, The Lamb, however, was a complete success.
Three more years of hits, and Fairbanks looked like he was on top of his game. Privately, life was tumultuous: he’d fallen in love with “America’s Sweetheart,” Mary Pickford. Divorce followed quickly, and it was while the pair was on route to a European honeymoon that Pickford read the story that would give her new husband both a vehicle and a purpose for the rest of his career. The story was called “The Curse of Capistrano,” and it became The Mark of Zorro. Zorro was followed by The Three Musketeers, and then Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood. But The Thief of Baghdad is generally recognized as his greatest artistic triumph.
Besides his creative direction, Fairbanks, with Chaplin, Griffin, and Pickford, founded the film production and distribution studio, United Artists. He was also a founder and first president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and encouraged the study and preservation of film. Douglas Fairbanks is without doubt a serious biography of one of the pioneers of cinema, but it’s also the history of an industry that, even then crossed the frontiers of states and continents like no other art form to unite people through pageant, drama, and humor. This biography boasts extensive notes, a bibliography and filmography, and a list of Fairbanks’ Broadway appearances. Almost all of the magnificent photographs are from the collections of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library. (ForeWord Magazine)
February 11, 2013
I've never seen a Douglas Fairbanks movie (though that will soon no longer be true) and all I really knew about him was the he was a silent movie swashbuckler and was married to Mary Pickford. This biography/filmography was a terrific introduction to Fairbanks. Unlike many movie star bios, Jeffrey Vance's book gives about as much time, if not more, to Fairbanks' works as it does to his personal life. And I very much approve of this approach.
Printed on glossy paper, with photos on nearly all of its two-page spreads, the book is as nice to look at as it is to read. As we get into the 1920's, each chapter becomes dedicated to the production and reception of an individual Fairbanks film. I especially liked the chapter on The Taming of the Shrew, which gave a fresh perspective (to me, at least) on the cultural challenges that Fairbanks, and presumably others, faced as the industry converted to sound.
The photographs are fantastic, although I wish I had the chance to evaluate Fairbanks' tanned skin in color; could that tan have looked as unnatural in real life as it does in black and white photos?
Printed on glossy paper, with photos on nearly all of its two-page spreads, the book is as nice to look at as it is to read. As we get into the 1920's, each chapter becomes dedicated to the production and reception of an individual Fairbanks film. I especially liked the chapter on The Taming of the Shrew, which gave a fresh perspective (to me, at least) on the cultural challenges that Fairbanks, and presumably others, faced as the industry converted to sound.
The photographs are fantastic, although I wish I had the chance to evaluate Fairbanks' tanned skin in color; could that tan have looked as unnatural in real life as it does in black and white photos?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews