I have found other books about the old days of Hollywood very interesting and this was no exception. The role of women has both changed and not changed over the years. I really enjoyed learning more about Mary Pickford. This would be a great book club read, I would have liked to discuss it out loud with friends.

I liked the story and read it all the way through but it took me a long time which is very unusual for me, it just was hard to get into. The characters seemed a trifle flat with occasional bursts of full development. Overall I recommend but it was tough to make myself read to the end.

This was an interesting look at the early film industry and the friendship of two women who were a major force in it. It made me want to read their biographies.

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviator’s Wife, a fascinating novel of the friendship and creative partnership between two of Hollywood’s earliest female legends—screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford.

It is 1914, and twenty-five-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyone’s lips these days is “flickers”—the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you’ll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all.

In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium. She also makes the acquaintance of actress Mary Pickford, whose signature golden curls and lively spirit have earned her the title “America’s Sweetheart.” The two ambitious young women hit it off instantly, their kinship fomented by their mutual fever to create, to move audiences to a frenzy, to start a revolution.

But their ambitions are challenged by both the men around them and the limitations imposed on their gender—and their astronomical success could come at a price. As Mary, the world’s highest paid and most beloved actress, struggles to live her life under the spotlight, she also wonders if it is possible to find love, even with the dashing actor Douglas Fairbanks. Frances, too, longs to share her life with someone. As in any good Hollywood story, dramas will play out, personalities will clash, and even the deepest friendships might be shattered.

With cameos from such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Rudolph Valentino, and Lillian Gish, The Girls in the Picture is, at its heart, a story of friendship and forgiveness. Melanie Benjamin perfectly captures the dawn of a glittering new era—its myths and icons, its possibilities and potential, and its seduction and heartbreak."

I think this is the Benjamin who is going to be the first author of 2018 at the Wisconsin Book Festival... or it could be Chloe...

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Not long after Frances Marion moves to Hollywood, she gets a chance to meet Mary Pickford, aka the Girl with the Curls, an early silent movie film star. The two soon become friends, with Mary helping Frances to get a job in the movie industry, eventually becoming a prolific screenwriter. The women find success and power despite Hollywood being a male-dominated business.

I did not know much about the early days of Hollywood, and it was interesting reading about it. I especially enjoyed the parts told from Fran's point of view. Despite their fame and fortune and their passion for their work, both ladies' lives were full of tragedies. The end of the book left me feeling hopeless.

Wonderfully written book about two strong women. I had no idea that United Artists had been started by actors. Very easy to read. Historical fiction at its best.

I was so excited to receive this book! One, I'm a fan of Melanie Benjamin"s writing, and two, I really love hearing about the golden age of Hollywood. This one is written in one of the pov's of Mary Pickford, the other pov is from Frances Marion. She happens to write screenplays and is best friend to Mary. I honestly would have been delighted just to hear from Mary Pickford. All the things she accomplished when it was still considered a "man's world" is amazing. You get to know a lot about her life and her marriage to Douglas Fairbanks and about the movie business. All of which I found amazing. Frances was alright but at times I felt her story slowed down the overall book. I didn't mind her but she wasn't my favorite. Overall, I very much enjoyed the story and if you're a love of Old Hollywood than I highly recommend picking this book up.

Many thanks go to Melanie Benjamin, Random House, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. I'm a fan of Melanie Benjamin. I have all of her books. I like how they are about more obscure historical figures. This one is about the relationship that developed between silent film star Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion. It follows Pickford from childhood living out of trunks until death and includes the beginning of the " poor little rich girl" craze. Fairbanks is a good chunk also. Really it didn't seem like too much was left out except perhaps Pickford's political career. As you can probably tell Pickford was my favorite of the two. She just seemed much more of an original person to me. This was a great book. I'm glad I was able to add it to my collection and can't wait for Benjamin's next one.

As an adult reader, I enjoyed this book. I didn't love it, but I enjoyed it.

The pacing was excellent and the two ladies are easy to relate to and follow. But they do struggle with very adult lives and aging in a way that I don't think would appeal to my teen readers in my high school library.

Mary Pickford and Frances Marion were among the most powerful women in the early days of Hollywood. Pickford was considered to be the very first "America's Sweetheart" and best known for her golden curls, youthful looks, and tempestuous marriage to Douglas Fairbanks. Pickford was much more than a pretty face though; she was a shrewd businesswoman with significant control over the movies she made. Frances Marion was a former San Francisco socialite turned artist that was obsessed with the film industry. She developed a close relationship to Mary and soon became one of the most prolific screenwriters of her time.
The Girls in the Picture is an intriguing look at the lives of two very important women of the early 20th Century. The prose is simple, yet vivid, and the characters leap off of the page. Readers can easily imagine themselves transported back to the glamorous events of Hollywood's heyday.
The point of view switches every chapter between Frances' first person point of view and Mary's third person point of view. This is where the book loses points with me. A first person narrative from Frances makes her come alive within the pages. She comes across as more interesting and much more relatable. Mary's perspective written in third person makes her seem flat and lifeless, which the real Mary Pickford is anything but. The novel is also about 50 pages too long. It flounders towards the end, particularly after Mary's career is in its downward spiral. I strongly believe this would be have been a much more riveting novel if Benjamin ended it much earlier in their lives.
Despite the format issues, The Girls in the Picture is a fantastic read. Marion and Pickford are groundbreaking women and their stories should be more widely known. If you're a fan of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, I think you would especially enjoy reading about their early counterparts in the movie business.

**thanks to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review**

The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin is a historical novel of the very early years of Hollywood. It begins during the silent picture era and chronicles the careers and loves of Mary Pickford and Frances Marion as they attempt to transition into the talking motion picture era. Filled with the bigger than life people who ushered in the motion picture industry of America, it is more so about the friendship between these two women that lasted a lifetime. It is sad and tragic and at times cruelly intimate. But it is also a tale of love and triumph and loyalty.

"...Of course, I'd always attended when invited-or, rather, summoned-but I wasn't fond of those formal evenings, when Mary and Doug sat side by side at an enormous table groaning with finger bowls and several different forks. Try as I might-and risking Doug's wrath-I never could hide my amusement at these actors and actresses elevated to deities simply because of their looks, troupers with whom I'd once shared stale cheese sandwiches and glasses of beer who suddenly wrinkled their elegant noses if a servant happened to spill a drop of champagne. 'The help' they'd whisper scornfully, these gods and goddesses who had once been maids or gardeners themselves, and we all knew that it was only because of a fluke, a genetic lottery won or a benevolent mogul slept with, that they now wore tiaras and aped the regal characters they played on the screen. The characters I wrote for them..."

In 1914, fresh off her second failed marriage, Frances Marion finds herself in Hollywood. Having worked in the theatre, she is fascinated by the new fledgling artform of motion pictures. She quickly becomes friends with rising star Mary Pickford and together, the two women become a driving force in an industry controlled by men. Mary becomes the first actor to have her name on a movie marque and is quickly known as 'America's sweetheart' and Frances gains fame with her screenplays. Together they are unstoppable but what Frances is slow to realize, is that it is never an even relationship. Celebrity becomes Mary's weakness and with her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, they become America's first Royal couple. Mobbed by fans everywhere and holding lavish parties at their famed estate Pickfair. Frances finds herself thought of at times as no more than the help.

But the true test of their friendship would come when Mary's star began to fade and Frances' became more and more acclaimed for her work. The shift in their careers was more than the fragile ego of the actor could stand.

"...Once I was with them on the beach-of course, not just the beach, not with Doug and Mary. They'd set arranged for enormous tents to be set up, and a catered dinner on the Pickfair china. Remember the days when we used to go out to Santa Monica or Laguna? With only a blanket and a picnic basket, and we'd come home covered in sand? And think we were the luckiest people alive to live where we lived, and do the work that we did?'
'We were. We are.'
'Well, anyway, we were on the beach and on the drive back, Doug saw a sign for a dance marathon down on one of the piers and he wanted to go. But Mary said-I still can't quite believe it, but she said in that way she has with him, 'Oh, Douglas! You know we can't be seen in those kind of places!'
'Oh, Fran!'
'I know. And so, I wonder. Even when-back when we were-' And I struggle to give voice to what I was really thinking.
Back when Mary and I were friends..."

Mary Pickford, in the early 1900s, was perhaps, arguably the most powerful woman in Hollywood. She actually, alongside Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, started United Artists studio. Her motion pictures laid the groundwork for what was to become the industry of motion pictures in the United States. But she was also groomed by her mother to be the child actress and star she became. She was taught to not make friends or relationships and that they were simply tools to further her career.

Frances goes from starry eyed kid with little to no prospects to becoming a screenwriting legend and it all began with her relationship with Mary Pickford. A friendship, that though very many times one sided, provided her with opportunities she never would have ever had. It is only when Frances decides that she can no longer be blamed for Mary's failings or put her life aside whenever Mary calls that their relationships begins to falter.

This is a novel about Hollywood and friendship between two powerful women. But in the end it is a novel about celebrity and the false reality of it. Also America's obsessive compulsive need to have celebrities to see and fill our lives with. No matter how fake.

Melanie Benjamin novels are hit and miss for me. I did not really like or finish her last novel, The Swans of Fifth Avenue. But absolutely adore The Aviator's Wife and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. For me, The Girls in the Picture is an absolute hit.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
An historical fiction story of how women began their careers in the motion picture industry. This book includes the marriage and careers of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, friendship and careers of Francis Marion and Mary Pickford, and also how their lives intersected with Charlie Chaplin.
Overall, an interesting book and my favorite book by Melanie Benjamin.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The Girls in the Picture" is the story of the friendship between Frances Marion and Mary Pickford and the birth of Hollywood and the motion picture industry. Mary Pickford, "the girl with the golden curls," is known for being "America's Sweetheart," but she was much more than just an actress. She was a savvy businesswoman who helped shape the film industry as we know it today.


But Frances Marion was the reason I wanted to read this book. Frances Marion was one of Hollywood’s most successful screenwriters and arguably the most famous. She defined and shaped the role of the screenwriter, becoming the best adaptor of novels and plays in the business.


By the mid 1920s, she was working for MGM and earning $3,000 a week—the equivalent of over $40,000 today. People began to attribute MGM’s success to her screenwriting prowess. And Marion was nothing if not prolific. She wrote over 300 films and became known for her great film adaptations, writing both scenarios and formal screenplays in a career ranging from silent film through the talkie era. From Camille to Anna Christie to Dinner at Eight (which she co-wrote with Herman Mankiewicz), Marion knew how to write a movie and get paid for her talents.

Though she won two Academy Awards, for her screenplays of The Big House and The Champ, Marion always pushed for more creative control. Marion was one of Hollywood’s most influential writers between 1915 and the late 1930s. She helped define Hollywood’s Golden Age, and the language of film itself.

(Contrast that with what women are facing today in as screenwriters in the film industry. Frances Marion wrote 300 films!!! And was paid well to do it. Now, women are having to fight for both representation in the industry and pay equity.)

I loved this book! I found Frances Marion to be a heroic role model, redefining the role of the Modern Woman as sucessful, creative, and strong. She stepped away from Hollywood during World War I to film women’s contributions at the front for the US government and, on this assignment, became the first woman to cross the Rhine after the Armistice.

Pickford and Marion's friendship deteriorates around the same time that Mary Pickford marries Douglas Fairbanks. In fact, Frances marries the love of her life, Fred Thomison, at around the same time, and the two couples take a double date honeymoon together, in which Frances and Fred are pushed asside by "Hollywood's Royal Couple" Mary and Doug. But Doug is jealous of anyone who is close to Mary, especially someone as primary as Frances, and his childish male ego wins out, shattering not only the friendship, but also the magic of their professional collaborative chemistry. And for some reason, Mary's love for Doug blinds her to how hurtful she is to Frances. In fact, she abandons Frances completely, ironically at the time when her star is falling and Frances' star is on the rise.

I don't want to give away any more of the book, but do heartily recommend you not only read this novel, but do a little research into the lives of Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, as well as other key figures in their lives, like Charlie Chaplin, Lois Weber, Irving Thalberg, and the birth of United Artists studios. Time well spent.

Another great Melanie Benjamin novel. Historical fiction about Mary Pickford, Francis Marion, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and other Hollywood greats. Lots of interesting information about the era of silent film through the transition to talkies. Well developed characters, some of whom grab your heart.
4.5 rounded to 5 stars.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

I loved reading about these two trailblazing women in the filming industry: Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart", and Frances Marion, a renowned female screenwriter, known as a scenarist in the early days, and the first to win two Academy Awards. The early days of Hollywood and the transition from silent films, the "flickers", to "talkies" was riveting reading. What these two women accomplished over a century ago in a male-dominated world was nothing short of amazing. The historical details of how movies were made in the early days of Hollywood and the formation of the major studios was interesting reading.

The book is narrated by Frances, with the reader learning about Mary Pickford through Frances's eyes. Even though Mary's story suffers a little from being told in the third person, the character development is excellent and the enormous amount of research the author did on these two women is impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the book and found it fascinating. They were two determined, accomplished women who forged a friendship and alliance, and we follow them through the heady early days into old age.

The book lost a star from me because it got bogged down in melodrama and angst, with some flowery melodramatic dialogue, and at close to 450 pages, it was a bit overly long. Still, the strengths outweigh the negatives and I highly recommend the book. I appreciated the epilogue where the author explains her research and where she took literary license.

A fascinating novel on a subject I knew nothing about. Like Benjamin's other novels, makes me want to dig deeper and research the characters for myself.

The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin is the story of the friendship between Frances Marion and Mary Pickford. Given that this is a story of two strong women, I find it odd that only one of them is the narrator. I also find it odd how much of the book focuses on their relationships with men. I find it most odd that the characters don't jump off the page and come to life in their strength. Nevertheless, as historical fiction, the book accomplishes one thing I love about the genre. I read the fiction, and then take off on a treasure hunt for the facts of the history.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/04/the-girls-in-picture.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

This book offers an interesting glimpse into the lives of Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart, and screenwriter Frances Marion. I had heard of them both and had also heard of Pickford's husband Douglas Fairbanks. Here we get the story of their lives in the fledgling movie industry and how they changed (or didn't) as the movies matured. We're given a glimpse into the lives of the most elite of Hollywood. I thought it was fascinating and spent a good bit of time looking up images and background on all of the movie stars (and their homes) mentioned in this work of fiction based on fact.

Melanie Benjamin's follow up to 2016's "Swans of Fifth Avenue" focuses on the relationship between silent film actresses Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, following the two women's professional lives as they take control of their careers in the 1920s film industry and exploring the ins and outs of their decades-long friendship. The story is interesting, but the pacing is inconsistent - at times the story drags, and at times it feels rushed. Overall, however, this is absolutely worth reading for fans of early Hollywood and those who like books about longterm friendships between women.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of Girls in the Picture.

Mary and Fran have been life long friends with similar passions. Mary loves to be in the movies, Fran loves to write scripts for the movies. Together they work side by side, changing the game entirely through their daring innovations. While friends they experience loss, heartache, disappointments, and love.

But as Mary's need to be desired and loved, and as Hollywood becomes more complicated and demanding, their friendship begins to strain and even dissolve. We watch as they lose each other, and after many years, find each other again.

I was thrilled to discover after reading it that this is a true story. I honestly didn't know that, so I had a lot of fun researching Mary Pickford and Fran, as well as their husbands and friends. I thought the author did an incredible job painting a heartrendingly real picture of what life was like back then, even as a risen starlet. It's a long story, but I never once tired of it.