The Girls in the Picture is a fascinating glimpse into early film making industry and the role women had in it. I found myself frequently going to the internet to find out more about people, places, and events depicted in the book, which, for me, is the sign of a good book! I am continually on the lookout for books to suggest to my book discussion groups. The Girls in the Picture will definitely be on the recommended list next year!

Lovely book. Thoroughly enjoyable characters and plot. Would read again!

I really enjoyed Melanie Benjamin's The Swans of Fifth Avenue. I became completely wrapped up in Babe Paley and Truman Capote's world and thought about their story long after I finished the book. I am happy to share that I have had the same experience with The Girls in the Picture!

To quote the book: this a "story that began with two women - once girls. One golden - haired, one with raven locks. Standing next to each other on a porch gazing up at a night full of stars. Laughing together on a set crowded with lights and cameras and cables, Mickey high on a ladder teasing them as they played jacks, getting their hands and knees dirty. Rejoicing in each other's true love. Falling in love, growing old - growing bitter".

I loved learning about Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, two grand dames of early Hollywood. The Girls in the Pictures re-creates the birth and growth of their friendship and working relationship. Mary, a silent film star, and Frances, a budding screen writer, are intelligent, curious, and ambitious in a time when women were encouraged to stay home and take care of their men. I was fascinated by how each one struck her own path to success as they were vastly different and yet the core of their friendship was essential to this success.

I found myself more aligned with Frances - she seems grounded in her reality and capable of holding her own with the powerful Hollywood studio men without having to portray someone she is not. To be fair, Mary is a successful silent actress and a formidable business woman. I was impressed by her ability to negotiate her own contracts, start United Artists Studio, and assist with the development of the Academy for Motion Pictures, Art, and Science. However, I couldn't connect with her dependency on the opinion of her fans and the general public, her inability to handle her decline in the film industry and the collapse of her marriage. I kept hoping she would pick herself up and forge a new path for herself and was sad when it became clear she couldn't or wouldn't try. This may also be why I like Frances so much, She also faces the changing industry, and personal tragedy but continues to move forward and adjust to the circumstances in her life. She never gives up.

This book, for me was an engrossing read about two girls in the picture striving to each make their mark in the male dominated industry while supporting each other's hopes and dreams.

I received an advance reader copy via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

I have to say right up front that I was very disappointed in this novel which could have offered so much more than it did. It's based loosely on the lives of two very real people: Gladys Louise Smith, known to history as Mary Pickford, legendary star of the silent screen, and Marion Benson Owens, who wrote as 'Frances Marion' and was also one of Hollywood's leading ladies when it came to screen-writing.

One immediate problem was that while Frances Marion was a renowned screen-writer, she wasn't the only one. Between 1911 and 1925, about 50% of all copyrighted films had female screen-writers, but you would never learn that from this novel. Because she fails to give all those others their due, the novel presents Frances Marion as being far more of a lone pioneer than she actually was.

There were scores of female writers, such as Anita Loos and June Mathis, and undoubtedly many others who contributed greatly, but went unsung because they were 'only female writers' or script editors. We don't learn of these, not even in passing, so a chance to champion women writers in general was shockingly squandered here. It was Anita Loos who became a staff scriptwriter for DW Griffith, for example, whereas Marion worked for Lois Weber, who taught her the trade. Loos is mentioned only three times in passing, Mathis not at all, despite the latter being the highest paid female executive in Hollywood at the age of only 35, and dying just five years later.

The single-minded presentation of these two characters in this novel as champions of female power and creativity in the early days of Hollywood robs far too many other, deserving women of credit for their achievements and as such is more of an anti-feminist story - effectively undermining many strong female characters and robbing them of their due. That's soured even more by the fact that it also fails to support even its two main characters, by trivializing and minimizing their struggle to get where they were, and pitting them against each other far too often.

The story is further weakened by the author's mistake of choosing first person voice. She admits her mistake by alternating between first person when Marion is telling her story and third person when we read of Pickford's story. I could hear a loud clunk every time I moved to the next chapter. What this does is make Marion look spoiled and self-centered and Pickford look like an afterthought. The story is told as one huge flashback, which makes it worse because the start of the flashback is already historical, so we have it further removed from the reader, and then within the flashback we get yet more flashback to Pickford's childhood!

The sad thing about this is that we don't get anywhere near enough of her growth and formative years, so we really don't have a handle on who she is 'today' - that is in the most recent flashback. The same problem applies with Marion. Its as though the author is embarrassed by Pickford's history, or is in far too much of a rush to get back to the original flashback where we can fan-girl over Marion again. Frankly, it's a mess. There was a certain sloppiness to it too, such as at one point where I read that Mary Pickford's mom's name was Charlotte Pickford! No, Mary Pickford’s mom had Mary Pickford’s real name: Charlotte Smith! Sheesh!

I know this is not a biography, but it reads more like a biography than ever it does a novel, so there is no drama on the one hand, while there is little to stir positive emotions and much to stir negative ones on the other. I found myself wishing it was a biography so I could at least feel comfortable with what I was reading. The impression I had from all this, rightly or wrongly, was that the author had relied heavily on Marion's memoir, and very little on pure novel-writing and other research.

I found it rather curious that in a story purportedly about two women in Hollywood, who were interested in establishing themselves, and who had things to say and obstacles to surmount, we bypass those obstacles with startling ease. Problematic childhood? Grow up fast! Bad marriages? Dissolved with a slash of the pen! Anti-female sentiments in Hollywood, skirt them!

Nowhere, for example, does the author really address the fact that neither woman could be herself. Both of them changed their name. In Marion's case we're told that this is a conscious and personal choice, but it felt too easy, and she says not a word about Pickford's feelings on changing hers. We know that a stage producer made her change it during her brief stint on Broadway in one of his plays, but not why she evidently chose not to change it back afterwards. It felt like who they really were didn't matter to the author, so why should it matter to me?

My overall view of this story was that there was more missing from it than there was in it, and that's never a good feeling to have. This is why I gave up reading this at about fifty percent in. It simply was not engaging enough or powerful enough to keep me interested. I'm going to read a biography instead, and I'd recommend doing that before I'd recommend reading this. Frances Marion wrote Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood, a memoir, and Cari Beauchamp wrote Without Lying Down, a biography of Frances Marion. Peggy Dymond Leavey wrote Mary Pickford: Canada's Silent Siren, America's Sweetheart, and Ben Walker wrote The Life & Death of Mary Pickford. There are also bios at wikipedia and IMDB.

Fascinating bstorical novel which looks back at Hollywood in the era of silent filmmjjjj. Engrohgg

Interesting fiction story. Love reading stories about early Hollywood and the actresses and their lives. I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and this is my personal honest opinion.

Entertaining historical fiction following two characters of Hollywood’s first female stars: Mary Pickford (actress) and Frances Marion (writer). I enjoyed learning about early Hollywood, silent films, Mary and Frances’ friendship, the rise of movies and power of management, studios, theaters, and “talkies”. Mary’s story was interesting in regards to someone in the limelight from a young age and how that intertwined herself and public. Frances’ creativity and drive really paved the way for women creating films and setting up the screenwriters guild etc. This new Camelot also all happened within and around WWI. This is also about Owen Moore, Douglas Fairbanks, a little about Charlie Chaplin, Frank Thompson and mentions of many more like Greta Garbo etc.

Without knowing hardly anything about what Benjamin was writing about I did enjoy the story and learn a bit as well.

I loved reading about these women that I knew so little about. It was a feminist tale, and I loved that we saw a clear friendship between two women that do not center around a love triangle. It was so pleasing to read (and to know how much they accomplished).

My biggest complaints were that the friendship was glossed over. After the first chapter or two, we were told they were best friends but we never really saw them be best friends. The time jumps probably didn't help, as she decided to cover a great portion of their lives. I also enjoyed Frances's story much more than Mary's. I couldn't relate to Mary and found her needy (though I'm sure this is how Mary Pickford really was).

Frances Marion came to Los Angeles in 1914 to be an artist, and was drawn to the burgeoning motion picture industry. She became friends with Mary Pickford, and was drawn into the shining circle of stars at the dawn of the silent film era. She was a screenwriter, and Mary Pickford was America's Sweetheart. Their friendship and lives changed over the years as Hollywood became the system we know it today.

This is a fictionalized account of their friendship and how the industry developed. The time period is effectively described, as are the struggles of these two women to create films and be masters of their own ideals even as there is rampant misogyny and the birth of the casting couch. Both Mary Pickford and Frances Marion were big names in the era and helped shape the Golden Age of cinema, but I knew nothing about either of them. This portrait humanizes them both, and we clearly see the marks of fame that they struggled with. The book spans from 1914 to 1960, but it never once felt overdone or dragged out. It was fascinating to read about their lives, as well as see the cameo appearances from all the big names of the time. This book didn't feel as long as it was, and I was almost disappointed when it ended. There was no way for the author to know if the meeting at the end of the book did happen or not, and she acknowledges that. Still, I felt like there could have been more to it, and I didn't want to put the book down. It was that terrific a read.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy of this ebook. I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls in the Picture was a great read, and exceeded my expectations. The book follows the lives of Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, two women who dominated the movies in the early 1900s. The book begins in 1969 with Frances, the scenarist who is an older woman considering her memories of her career in the movies. She scatters bits and pieces of the memories throughout the chapters, and introduces Mary in that way. The book then goes back to Spring 1914, before Frances even joined the industry, and goes from there following herself and Mary until the end of the novel, again at 1969.

I remember reading the synopsis of the book, which discussed the difficulties women dealt with in the Hollywood culture during that era, and I felt that the book captured the struggles the ladies endured well. I thought it somewhat ironic and fitting that I read this book, especially considering all of the allegations of sexual misconduct in the news right now (October/November 2017) in the celebrity world. Like many of the world's issues, it was poignant to see how much the world has changed as a whole, but many of the details are entirely the same - specifically the treatment of women.

Throughout the book, I very much appreciated the change of perspective from Mary to Frances, because at times there seemed to be gaps or I would catch myself wondering, "I wonder why Mary is doing that," or "where was Frances when this occurred," and in a few pages, the change of perspective was refreshing and illuminating. It created a continuity that was very satisfying. In addition to that, I appreciated how different Mary and Frances were, but somehow managed to remain friends. It appeared to me that Frances seemed to benefit from it the most in the beginning, but towards the middle and nearer to the end, Mary benefitted from the camaraderie that her and Frances shared. They shared a kinship that no other female could rival, and only their husbands or the movies could deter from each other, sometimes for short periods of times and other times were longer stretches.

In the acknowledgments section of the book, Melanie Benjamin discussed the validity of the book; what was imagined, or things that were minimized or emphasized throughout the book based on real life history, including the war. After reading the semi-truths and fictions of Mary and Frances, it was a saddening feeling to realize that prior to these books, I had no idea who these women were. Based on the fictionalized concerns of Frances about Mary, I had become invested in the success and happiness of these women, and felt guilty about not knowing them or a larger history of the movies!

Overall, I really loved the book, and found merit in it. While I was initially disappointed that the 1920s did not have more of the attention of the book, I have come to respect the author more for it. Writing in the 1920s era would have been an easy ploy to obtain more readers, in a story that was not about that era, but about two women and their audiences. I can be a picky reader, specifically regarding writing styles and how stories unfold, and I found growing respect for the author, and how she was able to weave so many different aspects into the books, such as the friendships of the girls, their histories, their careers, their marriages, and their roles in the industry as the only women. Melanie Benjamin wrote a beautiful story that was well-paced and fairly written. While at times, I wanted to be irritated with Mary, based on her history and her perspective in the chapters, I found it difficult to be. I considered Frances to be a little bit more pragmatic, which I can relate to, so I found it easier to understand her, but both were very lovable and characters you want to root for equally.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of The Girls in the Picture, by Melanie Benjamin. The lifelong friendship of actress Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion results in successful careers in a predominately male Hollywood industry, writers, actresses, and business associates. They are successful, but have their share of failures. They have many loves in their lives, but many break ups and sorrows. They have each other, a friendship that will follow them throughout life, giving each other the strength to succeed. This is an entertaining story of the movie industry, relationships, and great friendships. Everyone needs that one true friend who will always be there for them. I enjoyed this book.

Loved this book! Just as great as all of her novels.

It's very obvious the author has done her research when it came to this novel. From the time period to details about Frances Marion and Mary Pickford, I was in awe. Where the book wavered for me was that the majority of the book felt like a summation, almost as if the story just rolled from one of those well-researched details to the next without fully fleshing them out. That's to say, there are developed scenes, but while reading there were moments where I thought: I wish I saw THAT scene. For example, it's mentioned how one of the women snuck around in order to see her love interest. That's something I would've liked to see first hand. I had this same thought about many glossed moments throughout the book. Overall, while I know not ALL details/moments of the women's life could be included, I mostly felt like I was reading a summary of their lives.

Just couldn't get into this book. I tried but after a few chapters I was lost. Sorry

The first half of the book read like fiction, but the second half was more like a list of biographical facts and pulled me out of the story. Otherwise, it was a compelling read that made me want to learn more about the beginnings of Hollywood and the women who helped shape it.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley.

I recently have begun to research early Hollywood, and so when I saw an ARC of this book available on Netgalley, I seized the opportunity. I normally don't read women's fiction of this nature, but I found it an interesting read, though sad due to the events that it depicts. The book follows the friendship and careers of two powerful women in early Hollywood, Mary Pickford and Frances Marion. I knew about Pickford and her relationship with Douglas Fairbanks, but nothing about Marion--and I imagine many readers will approach this with the same ignorance.

Pickford became one of the first mega-stars of "flickers." She was America's Sweetheart (Canadian-born), the Girl with the Curls. The reality not known to the public was that she was working full time as an actress from age 5, the main breadwinner for her mother and two siblings (all of whom, like Pickford, succumbed to alcohol). She met Frances Marion in 1914. Marion was a twice-divorced woman who was fascinated by Hollywood, but unlike most people who flooded the area at that time, she had no desire to be an actress. She started out as an artist, but soon became a "scenarist," a screenplay writer. She often worked in Pickford's sizable shadow--but only to a point. Pickford's career doesn't survive the end of her marriage with Fairbanks and the full advent of talkies. She retreats to her palace on a hill and her gin, and alienates most everyone, Marion included. The book imagines an attempt at reconciliation--and acceptance--between the two women in 1969, though the bulk of the book takes place in the 10s and 20s.

This is a book that would work well for book clubs. Benjamin does a good job of showing how the women struggled for a place in a man's world, though some of the periods and events she glosses over frustrated me. For my own selfish research reasons, I wanted to see more of what it was like on the set in Hollywood through that period. Still, the author had a challenging task in condensing their lives into a single book, and I think she largely succeeded. She stays tightly focused on the theme of women and friendship.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Pub. Date: January 16, 2018
Publisher: Random House

Melanie Benjamin is a favorite author of mine. She writes in a distinctive genre that I favor known as Historical Autobiographical Fiction. It is reading historical fiction as if you are reading the memoir of the real-life main character. To work, this genre needs to be as well-researched as it is as a well-written. And, the reader needs to remember no matter how well researched the author is not privy to the actual thoughts of the protagonist (Benjamin reminds us in her end-notes). I think Benjamin always pulls off this style of writing. So far I have been lucky enough to review her prepublication works: “The Aviator's Wife,” (Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh). “The Swans of Fifth Avenue,” (Truman Capote and Babe Paley), even “The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb” had me captivated. For these reasons, I was thrilled to be given an Advance Review Copy (ARC) of Benjamin’s “The Girls in the Picture” on the early days Hollywood, concentrating on the lives of screenwriter Frances Marion and the first superstar actress, Mary Pickford.

This is Benjamin’s first book that my review isn’t full of praise for her talents. But let me start by stating what I did enjoy about the novel, which is a good portion of the book. I was engrossed in learning about the birth of the movies in Old Hollywood. I especially enjoyed learning about the technical side of moviemaking in those days. The actors themselves actually cut and pieced the film back together. Plus, the author does a terrific job describing the details of the WWI era and the magic of movie making. The industry started out making “flickers” on the streets (no sets) with street entertainers such as Charlie Chaplin. These silent movies were watched in Nickelodeons. One will also learn about the beginnings of the Hollywood studios, and how it took the creativity out of the hands of the actors. And, finally how the silent films turned into “talkies,” ruining many careers and suddenly some stars were selling their mansions. Pickford once said, “Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo.” I also got a kick out of reading that Pickford and Fairbanks were the original Liz and Dick. Their lifestyles suddenly changed and they became world famous and rich beyond their wildest dreams. Their 18-acre estate in Beverly Hills was called “Pickfair.” And I thought this might have been the history of the fad to combine the names of celebrity couples like “Brangelina,” for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, or “Bennifer” for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

The reader discovers that Mary Pickford and Frances Marion were two groundbreaking innovators of American film. The story is told from two points of view one by Pickford and the other by Marion. (Though Marion is written in the first person and Pickford in the third, for me this made Marion seem more real and autographical). The story of Mary Pickford’s tough early years on the stage, struggling to support her mother and two siblings (reminded me of Natalie Wood’s life story) were very sad to read. They family were dirt poor and she alone was the sole supporter. By 1915, Pickford had become the most famous movie actress in the world. She was dubbed "America's Sweetheart," known as “Girl with the Golden Curls.” The irony wasn’t lost on Mary, she never had a childhood because she always working. I did not know that she was also an early feminist. She became one of the few actors and sole woman in those first years to battle the studio system and take control of her own work and career.

Frances Marion was also an early feminist in her Hollywood experience. She was new to the movie industry when Mary was already a star. They soon became fast friends. Frances gains entry into the world of "moving pictures" by becoming a screenwriter then known as a “scenarist." She wrote many of Mary's most popular pictures including the 1917 film, “Poor Little Rich Girl.” Mary did not do well in the “talkies” with her new modern bobbed hair. Her fans only wanted to see the little girl with the curls. She blamed this on Marion who wrote petite Pickford as a child. But Frances remained successful after Mary’s career was over. She continued to write screenplays, remaining the highest paid celebrated screenwriter. She went on to win two Academy Awards (the first woman to do so) all while fighting chauvinistic male studio heads.

So why did this novel lose some of my praise? It is in the middle of the novel, when these two successful businesswomen, pioneers of their time, began talking like lovesick teenagers about their future husbands. I found the once crisp and compelling dialogue became just plain old silly and in complete contrast to their established personalities. I actually cringed at some of the corny lines that the author never would have penned to come out of their mouths in the first half of the story. When Frances meets her husband (her first love) it reads like script from an old Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney film, “Love Finds Andy Hardy,” rather than a mature woman finding love. The silliness is emphasized by the fact that this is her third marriage. When Mary divorces her first husband and marries Fairbanks (her first love) she too begins talking like a she a teenager in love. I was so disappointed that I found myself skimming pages. Still, overall, if you don’t know much about the history of early American filmmaking and wish to do so, then I recommend this book. But, go in knowing it starts out splendid and ends sappy.

A delightful read that follows Mary Pickford and Frances Marion. I had heard of Mary Pickford but the name Frances Marion was new to me. I am so glad I read the book. It gave a lot of insight to how hard women had to fight in the early days of film from "flickers" to "talkies". It delves into typecasting something actors to this day have complaints on. Mary Pickford never really was allowed to grow out of her little girl roles and suffered for it. Frances Marion as a screenwriter had a little more freedom to explore and grow but still fought battles as a woman in a new industry that was led by men. I loved some of the cameos in the book-Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks (okay a bit more than a cameo), Louis Mayer, D.W Griffith, etc.

Melanie Benjamin is definitely a name to remember for good historical fiction.

Reading this book after just having finished Karen Harper's "The It Girls" and the comparison is unreal. I cannot put this one down!

Review upon finishing...
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not only were the characters relatable (even Mary), but the way the story was plotted through both characters eyes, without repeating scenes and still managing to include the past in the present, really made this story leap off the pages for me.

Upon reading the author’s notes at the end, I do wish more (anything?) had been included about Mary adopting children. I mainly just wanted the story to continue on, though, so that’s my own selfishness!

The Girls in the Picture was a very enjoyable read. Melanie Benjamin takes you behind the scenes and into the personal lives of a few of the biggest names in early Hollywood. Although this is historical fiction, I really felt the truth behind the fiction. The book also explores the relationships between the characters and how they evolve. Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to preview this book.