Hairpins and Dead Ends: A review by Diane MacIntyre

Hairpins and Dead Ends: The Perilous Journeys of 25 Actresses Through Early Hollywood
By Michael G. Ankerich

Reviewed by Diane MacIntyre.
This is companion book to his Dangerous Curves ‘a top Hollywood Heels– The Lives and Careers and Misfortunes of 14 Hard-Luck Girls of the Silent Screen. It’s not hard to imagine Hollywood as a treacherous goldfields that stretch beyond the horizon. The miners are minors who have no inkling of what being a screen star is or refuse to believe there is no gold for them.

Edwina Booth’s quest for fame almost killed her

Yes, some will hit a vein, nuggets here and there. Some will find the finest gold sand and powder that slip through their fingers so rapidly and finally only fools gold. There is a price to pay for every bit. What Hollywood gives with one hand it takes away with the other. Rabidly, painfully even deadly.

Alma Rubens: Going, going . . .

The victims are of their own making from a deep burning fire in their bellies to succeed where only a tiny fraction do-for a time.

Youth is everything. Actress Belle Bennett was willing to call her sons her “brothers” and made them live that way (They were never to refer to her as “Mother”) to give more of an illusion of youth. How far would you go to realize you dream?

Among the 25 their are some famous names-Belle Bennett, Edwina Booth, Virginia Lee Corbin, Marjorie Daw, Jetta Goudal, Mary MacLaren, Lottie Pickford, Alma Rubens, Barbara La Marr, and Alice Lake. Mr Ankerich fleshes out their life stories to bitter middles and ends.

Belle Bennett

Most all the rest with names like Lila Chester, Lolita Lee and Mona Lisa – nary a flicker. But they all had that unquenchable fire to shine not burn.

Margaret Gibson, never far from trouble

My eyes burn with tears as I write this. I do not have the deep desire but every one of their stories is molded to draw out my emotions, for their agonies and ultimate defeats.

Barbara La Marr in tears

What were the misfortunes of betrayals, the casting couches and the ultimate rejection, that caused enormous exhaustion breakdowns and the darkest of depression? These face about every screen performer. I would like to ask them all-Was it all worth it?

A sad ending for Helen Lee Worthing

But I leave it to you to decide.

You won’t know until you read how well Mr. Ankerich opens our eyes and minds to a subject that is still a big problem over 100 years later. Congratulations for another finely polished book with dozens of illustrations and footnotes. I hope you find it as compelling and shattering as I did.

(Photos for this blog were selected by Ankerich)