I haven't got this one yet but it is worth noting. A few weeks ago a new long awaited Douglas Fairbanks biography came out. I seen it at Barnes and Nobles and it is a gorgeous book. But I do have one complaint.According to reviews its well researched (so no Michelle Vogel here) and its apparently published by the University of California press. What I don't understand is why the price is so damn high. The listing price is $45...something they conveniently hide on the actual book itself. If you buy it now on Amazon the price is slashed to almost $30 (admittedly not too bad savings there) but I still find that steep.
A good bio, be it hardcover to paperback should really run between $15 and $25 when new (unless its an extraordinarily big fantastic picture book, in which case $35 would be reasonable to me). Most biographies run this route. But for some reason I have yet to fully figure out SILENT BOOKS never do. Usually they run up around the $40 some dollars price tag. Your Charlie or Gloria books will, but it usually takes a few years for them to fall to that price, and even more disheartening is the fact many of them rarely have a run in bookstores where Average Joe will find them (some never make it there at all). Yes a hardcore fan or student might be willing to pay such a steep price, but your curious reader browsing for something new will be turned off.
The book itself is gorgeous, but I feel overly pretty and overpriced. If it is indeed that well researched then why not put it in a simple nice format with a few glossy pictures (all the pages were glossy and colored) and basic pages elsewhere? Information and some pretty photos are all that is needed...anything too fancy shuts out all but the most devoted...for any topic. My best example of this is the hardcover "Mary Pickford: The woman who made Hollywood", Gloria's "Swanson on Swanson", and "D.W. Griffith: The American Dream". All 3 books were lengthy and well researched (yes even Gloria's) and contained lovely photos where appropriate. And all 3 weren't $50 in their original runs. In fact D.W.'s lengthy tome (800 some pages) was listed at $25. Point in case.
That being said I'm glad to see a proper biography for Douglas. For those looking for something a little cheaper (and maybe even a little more interesting) for the holidays I'd recommend the much more reasonably priced "Douglas Fairbanks: In his own words", a collection of writings and interviews with Fairbanks compiled by his museum. Its listed at $23 but several copies are available for $15.
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Thank you for recommending our book about Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
"Douglas Fairbanks: In His Own Words" is a collection of Doug's original writings dating from his first published piece in 1912 to his last in 1934.
Reading his life story as told in his own words presents Mr. Fairbanks in a way that a standard biography cannot quite capture, as Mr. Fairbanks reveals so many of his own thoughts and philosohpies on everything to filmmaking to success to marriage to celebrity to good health and exercise. We hope that after reading it, you'll almost feel as if you knew the man personally!
The book is illustrated with photographs and vintage artwork from the archives of the Douglas Fairbanks Museum, and presents 50 of his written works ranging from magazine/newspaper articles, book excerpts, screenplays, and even song lyrics, as well as personal notes and letters written by Fairbanks.
"In His Own Words" is available from the museum directly or via online sellers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and ALibris. The cover price of $23.95 (new) is affordable, and all proceeds go directly towards the continuing collection, preservation and education programs of the Douglas Fairbanks Museum.
For more information about the Douglas Fairbanks Museum, or to browse our collections online, please visit:
http://douglasfairbanks.org
(*btw, our museum was very excited to hear of the new UC Press Fairbanks biography, and ordered a copy for the archives right away! Unfortunately, we did find that the spine/binding of the book is of a somewhat poor quality. The binding glue has already started cracking and loosening after having the book only one month on our shelves. So I don't know how well it will hold up for long-term storage and use. For a $45 book, I would expect the publisher's binding to be of a higher quality. Perhaps the publisher will correct this manufacturing defect in future printings.)
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