'Douglas Fairbanks' by Jeffrey Vance
BOOK REVIEW
The silent movie star founded a major studio, wed, had affairs and sired another movie legend.
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.
