The 1920s represented a golden age for the movies. Enormously popular comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy provided mirth for audiences. Sultry romances and sexual episodes also proved popular—and more controversial. Such Hollywood stars as Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, and Theda Bara brought sexuality to the silver screen. This sexuality, along with a scandal involving comedian Roscoe (‘‘Fatty'') Arbuckle, led to demands for reform and caused Hollywood to impose selfcensorship under Postmaster General Will H. Hays, who resigned his cabinet position to devote himself to his new duties. Technological advancement brought the ‘‘talkies'' to Hollywood in the later 1920s and doomed the ‘‘silents.''

Suggestions for Term Papers

Suggested Sources : See entry 23 for items relating to Birth of a Nation .

REFERENCE SOURCES

Charlie Chaplin, a Bio-bibliography . Wes D. Gehring. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1983. Detailed bibliography of the life and career of one of the great comic geniuses of the silent era.

Roscoe ‘‘Fatty'' Arbuckle: A Bio-bibliography . Robert Young, Jr. Westport , CT: Greenwood , 1994. Thorough bibliography of the life and career of a great comedian who rivaled Chaplin in popularity before a controversial scandal destroyed his career.

GENERAL SOURCES

Bakewell, William. Hollywood Be Thy Name: Random Recollections of a Movie Veteran from Silents to Talkies to TV . Blue Ridge Summit , PA : Scarecrow, 1991. Interesting and entertaining firsthand account of Hollywood .

Leff, Leonard J., and Jerold L. Simmons. The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood , Censorship, and the Production Code from the 1920s to the 1960s . (1990). Reprint. New York : Anchor Books, 1991. Thorough account of censorship in Hollywood beginning with the silent era and running to the rebellious anti-Vietnam period.

Thomas, Tony. The Best of Universal . Lanham , MD : Vestal/National Book Network, 1990. Concise and interesting story of this important studio from its beginnings in 1912 to the present.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films, 1909–1917 . Lanham , MD : Vestal/ National Book Network, 1998. An important history of this early company, which produced over a thousand quality films. An excellent resource on early film production.

Gardner, Gerald C. The Censorship Papers: Movie Censorship Letters from the Hays Office, 1934–1968 . New York : Dodd, Mead, 1987. Interesting and informative collection of letters from Hays and Joe Breen, the official Hollywood censors, regarding the editing and censorship of movies.

Lloyd, Ann, and David Robinson, eds. Movies of the Silent Years . London : Orbis, 1984. Interesting history and criticism of films of the silent era.

Marks, Martin M. Music and the Silent Film: Contexts and Case Studies, 1895–1924 . New York : Oxford University Press, 1997. A specialized source using examples that treat the inclusion of music with silent film offerings.

Sandburg, Carl. Carl Sandburg at the Movies: A Poet in the Silent Era, 1920–1927 . Dale Featherling and Doug Featherling, eds. Metuchen , NJ : Scarecrow, 1985. Enlightening compilation of movie columns written by Sandburg for the Chicago Daily News .

Slide, Anthony. Early American Cinema . New and rev. ed. Blue Ridge Summit , PA : Scarecrow, 1994. A lucid and informative, concise history of the motion picture industry prior to 1920 by a leading film historian.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Bellamy, Madge. A Darling of the Twenties: The Autobiography of Madge Bellamy . Lanham , MD : Vestal/National Book Network, 1989. An insider view of early Hollywood by one of the stars of the silent screen. Contains photographs and filmographies.

Doyle, Billy H. The Ultimate Directory of Silent Screen Performers: A Necrology of Births and Deaths and Essays on 50 Lost Players . Blue Ridge Summit , PA : Scarecrow, 1995. Entries for 7,500 deceased actors, directors, and writers, as well as politicians and sports figures who appeared in silent films.

Drew, William. Speaking of Silents: First Ladies of the Screen . Lanham , MD : Vestal/National Book Network, 1989. Interviews with ten glamorous stars of the early days that provide an important perspective on their careers and the early film industry.

Edmonds, Andy. Frame-Up! The Untold Story of Roscoe ‘‘Fatty'' Arbuckle . New York : Morrow, 1991. Revealing account of how Arbuckle was falsely accused and maligned of a crime that did not occur.

Hays, Will H. Come Home with Me Now—: The Untold Story of Movie Czar Will Hays by His Son . Indianapolis : Guild Press of Indiana , 1993. Informative biography of the man who enforced the censorship codes, thus determining the moral limits of motion pictures for decades.

Lynn , Kenneth S. Charlie Chaplin and His Times . New York : Simon&Schuster, 1997. Recent, very detailed biography with numerous photographs.

Mackenzie, Norman A. The Magic of Rudolph Valentino . London : Research Publishing, 1974. Brief but informative account of the immensely popular dramatic actor.

Maltin, Leonard. The Great Movie Comedians: Updated Edition from Charlie Chaplin to Woody Allen . New York : Harmony Books, 1982. Paperback edition of popular earlier work providing biographical sketches of the great comedians from the silent era to our own time.

Slide, Anthony. Silent Portraits: Stars of the Silent Screen in Historic Photographs . Lanham , MD : Vestal/National Book Network, 1989. Brief biographies and photographs of over 500 personalities.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

Movie Museum Series . Itasca , IL : Critics Choice Video, 1980. 5 videocassettes, each 2 hours. A thorough, detailed, and compelling history of the first twenty-five years of motion pictures.

WORLD WIDE WEB

Library of Congress. Early Motion Pictures 1897–1916 . http://lcweb2.loc.gov/papr/mpixhome.html Great combination of graphics and narrative of historical interest not usually found in books; excellent links to little-known sites for film study. Passi, Federico. ‘‘Cinema History: Silent Films.'' The Cinema Connection . 1995; updated continuously. http://www.socialchange.net.au/TCC/CinemaHistory/SilentFilms/index.html Many links to relevant sites and pages (Bow, Fields, Chaplin, Gish, Keaton, Lloyd, etc.).