Hairpins and Dead Ends: The Perilous Journeys of 25 Actress Through Early Hollywood

 Hairpins and Dead Ends: The Perilous Journeys of 25 Actress Through Early Hollywood by Michael G. Ankerich  488 pages

 When the “movies” first evolved in the 1910s and 1920s, they were silent; words appeared on the screen from time to time as dialogue, but audiences of those days had to follow the acting in order to understand the action. There was musical accompaniment that could help set the atmosphere of each scene. And like, today, there were hundreds of wanna-be actresses to descended on Hollywoodland, with only less than ten percent reaching star-status. Some of those women's names are still recognized more than 100 years later: Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler, Gloria Swanson and Marion Davies to name just a few.

The stories in this book are not their stories. These are the stories of those forgotten women who died young and/or tragically. The young women who, when they didn’t “make” it or their star shone too, too briefly, became involved in drug addiction, alcoholism, suicide attempts, prostitution and much worse. And this is the story of those who did survive, only to wind up “in wrenching poverty, living in the derelict remnants of their once-glorious mansions.”

There is one name that stood out for me: Margaret “Gibby” Gibson. When I was kid, I saw a movie whose title I don’t remember, about the Feb. 1, 1922, murder of director William Desmond Taylor that is still unsolved to this day. In fact, there is a Facebook Group dedicated to WDT. Two then-well-known actresses (Mabel Norman and Mary Miles Minter) were suspected, but the charges were never proved. Their lives and careers were ruined thanks to the scandal. Gibby was never mentioned as a suspect. I don’t recall ever having heard her mentioned before, but according to Ankerich’s book, Gibby made a 1964 deathbed confession, saying that she was the one who pulled the trigger. I was disappointed that the book didn’t delve into the confession more, but I realize that that wasn’t the purpose of this book.

This book isn’t one that should be read in a few sittings; the tales are too depressing. And like most of the women in this book, readers will soon forget their names…again. I found it fascinating to take a peek behind the red curtain into a time that we often think of as innocent and pure. Ha!  Therefore, Hairpins and Dead Ends: The Perilous Journeys of 25 Actress Through Early Hollywood receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.