Inside History: A History of Film (Sample)

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these emotions before such an unemotional thing as acamera. A very ordinary person indeed can act before acrowded house of interested men and women, but ittakes a genius to do so with real feeling on a movingpicture stage.”In her work, Lawrence was billed as the ‘Biograph Girl’,following the practice of anonymity whereby stars wereknown by the names of the studios they were contractedto. Florence Turner, who was in the ascendancy at asimilar time to Lawrence, was, for example, the‘Vitagraph Girl’. After her fans clamoured to know herreal name, Lawrence became the first major star to beidentified, and soon the actress was able to commandtwice the usual Biograph salary.Upon later joining Carl Laemmle’s Independent MotionPicture Company (IMP), the actress became embroiled inthe infamous publicity stunt, which led her to makehistory once again as the subject of the first ever filmpublicity tour. Laemmle timed the truth of his own lieabout Lawrence’s death to the release of her latestproject. On 25 March 1910, the star was paraded in StLouis with another actor, King Baggot. Crowds – who hadbeen warmed up by Laemmle’s publicity blitz in the localnewspapers – rushed towards Lawrence, in one versionof events pulling at her dress and ripping off its buttons.The actress was caught up in the crush and was said tohave become disturbed and frightened. This all cameafter the bizarre experience of reading about her owndeath in a newspaper. In her autobiography Growing Upwith the Movies – serialised in four issues of Photoplaybetween November 1914 and February 1915 – Lawrencedescribed this as “the most astounding adventure of mylife […] half-consciously I glanced at the paper and wasstartled to see several likenesses of myself staring me inthe face, topped by a flamboyant headline announcingmy tragic end beneath the wheels of a speeding motorcar. To say that I was stunned would be putting itmildly”. She added: “I shall never forget that trip to St.Louis. It simply overwhelmed me.”After working at IMP for almost a year, making about 50films, Lawrence collaborated with other studios includingthe Victor Company, which she founded with herhusband Harry Solter in 1912, with support fromLaemmle. In another first, the company was one of theearliest in America to be led by a woman. But Victorwould only last for a few years, and Lawrence’s careerwas beginning to stall. Her difficulties were compoundedby ill mental and physical health. This included an on-setaccident during filming for Pawns of Destiny in spring1914. Solter – who also worked in film, includingdirecting his wife in multiple productions – tasked herwith a scene in which she carried her male co-star downa flight of stairs, as part of a narrative where theircharacters were affected by a fire. While the nature ofLawrence’s injuries is unclear, it appears she sustained aBioscope actress Florence Lawrence, c. 1908. (Public Domain)back injury from the stunt. Not long afterwards, thecouple’s volatile marriage fell apart, and they instigateddivorce proceedings in 1916, following a previous split in1912. Solter would fall ill in the spring of 1920, andhe died after experiencing a severe stroke. Lawrenceremarried twice, to automobile salesman and formersoldier Charles B. Woodring, and the physically abusiveHenry Bolton, who she divorced after a few months ofmarriage.The former star’s attempts to resurrect her career duringthe 1920s foundered, with efforts including havingcosmetic surgery on her nose seeming to have littleeffect. Lawrence branched out into business, openingHollywood Cosmetics with Woodring, and assisting hermother with her own entrepreneurial ideas. Both sidesattempted to capitalise on Lawrence’s once brightly heldfame, as Brown has discussed. Hollywood Cosmetics’range included products with the actress’s image on thecover, and Lotta Lawrence drew on her daughter’scareer in marketing materials for her ventures. But thebusiness world proved to be as tough to crack as themovies, and Lawrence was forced to return to vaudevilleshows. In the mid-1930s, she was able to gain somework in the ‘Talkies’, making $75 dollars a week for smallparts at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Just a few years later, inlate December 1938, Lawrence died. She had taken herown life at the age of 52. The American media paid littleattention – as the historian Greg Jenner has noted, thepublic only cared when Florence Lawrence died the firsttime. The actress’s legacy has been one of obscurity,alleviated to an extent by the efforts of film scholars. Butas the first major film celebrity, star of hundreds of silentfilms, and a producer and studio founder in her ownright, she deserves a place in Hollywood history.14 INSIDE HISTORY
T H EC A B I N E TO FD R . C A L I G A R IWords: Merryn WaltersImages: FlickrWikiMediaSome films make history. Otherspredict it. You don’t have to be a fanof horror films to appreciate theenduring influence of The Cabinet ofDr. Caligari. It is dark and it is deep.Delightfully macabre. Indeed, theinnovative mise-en-scène of this earlysilent movie saw the fairer sexfainting in the aisles when it was firstreleased in 1919. Today though,Robert Wiene’s classic is also seen asa prophetic metaphor for the acts ofthe far right in the first half of the20th century – but don’t drop yourpopcorn, let’s start with the plot.10 INSIDE HISTORY
Page 3 and 4: A NOTE FROM THE EDITORThere is noth
Page 5 and 6: INSIDEHISTORY
Page 7 and 8: The LumièreBrothers & thebirth of
Page 9 and 10: As one of the greatest pioneers of
Page 12 and 13: THE "BIOGRAPH" GIRLFLORENCELAWRENCE
Page 16 and 17: The film opens with a subtle framin

Inside History: A History of Film (Sample)

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