#daniel blum

There has been no book up to now which will be as valuable to actors and theatre lovers in years to come as this pictorial history of the American stage by Daniel Blum. Here is a permanent record of all the great plays and players of the last one hundred years. The camera as it has been used by many masters of the photographic art has an ability which is almost uncanny in capturing mood and interpretation as well as likeness.

Here was an art peculiarly American and yet universal. Its essence was entertainment; its success, financial and otherwise, was stupendous. Perhaps today, in a more troubled age, we can look back on these people and their films not only with nostalgia but also with a sincere desire to learn what made glamor so glamorous and laughter so hearty, and the world a happier place to live in. It was a memorable age, and I hope I have captured some of its quality to preserve in this book.

Helen Hayes

1920 Among the preeminent attractions were D. W. Griffith’s film “Way Down East” and a foreign importation, “Passion,” which brought Pola Negri, a Polish actress, and Ernst Lubitsch, a German director, to the attention of the American public. Doris Keane and Otis Skinner filmed their great stage successes, “Romance” and “Kismet” respectively. Florence Lawrence, after an absence of five years, made an unsuccessful return to the screen in “The Enfoldment,” an independently produced film.

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