Attending to details so that the bigger picture can emerge.
In March 1901, seven years before he ever directed a motion picture, D.W. Griffith found himself on a dark street outside a Manhattan police station about to file a missing persons report on his beautiful cousin. It was a … Continued
My novels about early Hollywood are verbal time machines designed to lift the reader into a bygone era. When that happens to be the silent film era, it can be a challenge finding the right fictional “voice” for a character, … Continued
When I sat down to write “The Ben-Hur Murders,” one of the things I most wanted to do was dramatize Hollywood’s historically American roots. Early silent movies may have been pitched to immigrants but it was their vision of America’s … Continued
The first great champion of narrative cinema, D.W. Griffith, brought his own potent blend of theatrics, social conscience and innovation to the developing art of motion pictures. Proudly he carried the banner of ancient poets and storytellers into an uncharted … Continued
It’s a sad failing of silent film history that there isn’t more documentation of events in Italy during MGM’s first location shoot of “Ben-Hur.” Judging from the little that survives in memoirs, budget sheets, studio memos, and in a smattering … Continued
The history of labor relations in the motion picture industry throughout the silent film era is still not widely known — and for good reason. It was the one subject that Hollywood itself sought to suppress. This greater silence … Continued
Everyone understands the desire of artists to reach thrilling new peaks in art and entertainment. All of us who love motion pictures and show business in general can understand why stunt men and rodeo riders and circus performers put their … Continued
When Lew C. Wallace was writing “Ben-Hur,” he knew that a thrilling Roman chariot race would give his novel a socko finish. But no lives were at risk until 50 years later when MGM actually staged that race for its … Continued
In 1925, Joseph M. Newman walked wide-eyed onto the most important movie set in Hollywood history. The 16-year-old newcomer from Utah had been hired as an office boy by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But on that Saturday morning of October 17 he reported … Continued
Non-fiction readers frequently look down on historical fiction as a mongrel breed that takes too many liberties with the truth. If it’s not well done or gets important facts wrong, it can indeed be hard to defend. But writers of … Continued