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Full Description
While many know the Barrymore name due to actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore, the family's rich legacy on the stage and screen dates back to the nineteenth century. Perhaps no one has understood the pressures of a family dynasty more keenly than John Barrymore, the youngest of patriarch Maurice Barrymore's three children.
Despite an increasingly successful career as an illustrator, John was fated to become an actor. He began in smaller productions, gradually developing into a comedy star and eventually reviving serious drama after World War I, when he reintroduced Shakespeare to modern audiences with Richard III and Hamlet. Following triumphs on stage, Barrymore was featured in silent movies such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), for which he created the first modern creature effect, Sherlock Holmes (1922), and When a Man Loves (1927). As the industry transitioned to talkies, he enjoyed continued acclaim in A Bill of Divorcement (1932)—bringing Stanislavskian technique to Hollywood twenty years before Method acting was widely practiced—Dinner at Eight (1932), and Twentieth Century (1934), the first full-blown screwball comedy. Barrymore's later roles gradually became caricatures of his personal life. With multiple failed marriages and affairs in the public spotlight, as well as an alcohol dependency that weakened his health, he was unable to salvage a faltering career before his death in 1942.
In Barrymore: The Spectacular, Tumultuous Life of America's Prince of Players, Terry Chester Shulman dives into the story of John Barrymore's family, the underbelly of his Hollywood and Broadway productions, and the dangers of fame and fortune. Direct quotes from performances, letters, journals, and other sources paint Barrymore as a creative genius who struggled with personal demons and, despite his hardships, left an indelible impact on the stage and silver screen—the echoes of which are still felt today.
Contents
The Patriarch_x000D_
The Matriarch_x000D_
The Two Sides Together_x000D_
Enter Greengoose_x000D_
A Dearth of Trust_x000D_
Innocence Trampled_x000D_
Father's End_x000D_
Freedom_x000D_
Glad of It_x000D_
Turning a Corner_x000D_
Roses and Buckshot_x000D_
Jack Ascendant_x000D_
Triumph in Tragedy_x000D_
A Season of Dreams_x000D_
Burning Tears on Little White Feet_x000D_
The Awakening of Spring_x000D_
Do You Still Dream of Monsters?_x000D_
To Hell on a Honeymoon_x000D_
For the Love o'Mike_x000D_
Hamlet_x000D_
A Wave to the Future_x000D_
East Again_x000D_
Apogee_x000D_
The Other Maurice_x000D_
Don Juan_x000D_
Dissolution and Renewal_x000D_
Renewal and Dissolution_x000D_
A Failure to Thrive_x000D_
Too Much, Too Late_x000D_
The End of the Middle_x000D_
Drying Up_x000D_
Escape_x000D_
A Rebirth of Sorts_x000D_
The Last Plateau_x000D_
Broadway Farewell_x000D_
Curtain_x000D_
Acknowledgments_x000D_
Bibliography_x000D_
Index
