Description
Book SynopsisWith its sharp focus on stardom during the 1920s,
Idols of Modernity reveals strong connections and dissonances in matters of storytelling and performance that can be traced both backward and forward, across Europe, Asia, and the United States, from the silent era into the emergence of sound.
Trade Review"A collection of fascinating, stellar essays on the emerging culture of celebrity during the 1920s. Highly recommended." * Choice *
"Incisive, elegantly crafted essays chronicling the major figures in the first years of the star system.
Idols of Modernity is a rigorous, insightful, and refreshing look at the stars of the 1920s, the world in which they lived, the directors, producers and studios who shaped their public image, and the audiences who flocked to see their films." * Screening the Past *
"A collection of fascinating, stellar essays on the emerging culture of celebrity during the 1920s. Highly recommended." * Choice *
"Incisive, elegantly crafted essays chronicling the major figures in the first years of the star system.
Idols of Modernity is a rigorous, insightful, and refreshing look at the stars of the 1920s, the world in which they lived, the directors, producers and studios who shaped their public image, and the audiences who flocked to see their films." * Screening the Past *
Table of ContentsDouglas Fairbanks : king of Hollywood
Buster Keaton : comic invention and the art of moving pictures
The Talmadge sisters : a forgotten filmmaking dynasty
Rudolph Valentino : Italian American
An appetite for living : Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, and Clara Bow
Greta Garbo : fashioning a star image
Anna May Wong : toward Janus-faced, border-crossing, "minor" stardom
Emil Jannings : translating the star
Al Jolson : the man who changed the movies forever
African American stardom inside and outside of Hollywood : Ernest Morrison, Noble Johnson, Evelyn Preer, and Lincoln Perry
Marie Dressler : thief of the talkies
In the wings
