Without Lying Down

By: Cari Beauchamp

Narrated by: Holly Palance

Cari Beauchamp masterfully combines biography with social and cultural history to examine the lives of Frances Marion and her many female colleagues who shaped filmmaking from the early teens through the 1940s.

Frances Marion was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter - male or female - for almost three decades, wrote almost 200 produced films and remains the only woman to win two Academy Awards for original screenwriting (The Big House and The Champ). Marion's story reveals the importance and the power of female friendships as well as the history of today's #TimesUp movement.

"I felt an almost subversive thrill reading about Frances Marion.... Cari Beauchamp lovingly reveals the women who climbed to the very top of the Hollywood hierarchy in this richly researched excavation of complex lives. It is a revelation." (Lynda Obst, New York Times)

"An astonishing mini-history of the 20th century.... Marion knew everyone from Jack London to Irving Thalberg to William Randolph Hearst." (Jeanine Basinger, Los Angeles Times)

"With clarity and intelligence, the book forces us to reconsider our assumptions about women's history and about the history of the arts." (Hank Sartin, Chicago Tribune)

©2019 Cari Beauchamp (P)2019 Cari Beauchamp

Had me wrapped

I loved this book.....so well written and fun.....The women of early Hollywood did it all. Wrote, directed, produced and serve as an example to the women film-makers of today... Two time Oscar winner, Frances Marion was at the head of the class!

Holly Palance's narration is just great...She brings the book to life and makes it fun. Frances and her talented friends are women I'd want to know!

A must read!

I have just re listened to this a second time and I adore this book! It is well researched and well read. I have such a great respect for Frances Marion!

A Must Read

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Hollywood, women’s rights, and social justice. Who knew how powerful and essential the pioneering women of Hollywood were in making the movie business what it is today? Of course, that was before Wall Street and the banks realized what a goldmine movies would become. When they did, they moved in, kicked the women downstairs, and rewrote movie history. Thanks to Cari Beauchamp for telling it like it really was!

Essential for anyone interested in film history

This book has been on my favorites list since I first read it when it came out in 1997, so I was delighted that it has finally been released on audio. As the subtitle says - "Francis Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood," the book is both an engrossing biography of Oscar winning screenwriter Francis Marion who started in the movie business in its early days (1916), while including stories about many of her peers including fellow writers (Anita Loos and Adela Rogers St. Johns) and her friend, movie star and producer Mary Pickford. Carrie Beauchamp does a great job of making this period of film history come alive, when women working behind the scenes were not an anomaly, but were accepted and respected. The reader, Holly Palance, does a fine job, has a clear voice and a nice flowing rhythm.

So very inspiring!

I found this book so inspiring that I have loved it from beginning to end. This is the story of Frances Marion, one of the most well-paid screenwriters in Hollywood, but it is also the story of everything surrounding her during those years. Her resilience, fairness, and how she believed in the power of women supporting women.

The book is a delight for any cinema aficionado, and it is interesting how the Hollywood landscape and industries changed over the years. Francis was a visionary, she had a unique talent for adapting and writing scripts, and when the times changed, with censorship, the coming of sound, and the economic crisis, she was able not only to survive but to flourish, always bringing support to the ones she loved, and the ones who have been for her over the years.

There are very well known names mentioned throughout the book, like her best friend Mary Pickford, a very young Gary Cooper, her old friend Jack London, and the charismatic Marie Dressler, among them. It is a journey through time in the history of cinema, and one that every cinephile must travel.

Holly Palance’s voice kept a compelling tone throughout the book, keeping my attention at all times. Her narration definitely provided an excellent experience without interfering with the story.

Frances and all the women mentioned in the book should be an inspiration for all of us. Their inquietudes, strengths, and sorority are values that we must keep alive.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Best Book of Early Hollywood

I've had a few favorites over the years, but on my second time-round of Without Lying Down, I continue to be fascinated by the depth of history and personalities of the time. You're almost a fly on the wall, and yet, it all sticks together in the books I've read prior. Tremendous history from early Hollywood silent era into the sound landmarks. Six stars if I could.