Book Review: The Biograph Girl

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Biograph Girl     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
William J. Mann
Class/Genre:   Fiction   Historical
Kensington, Jun 2000, $23.00, 457 pp.
ISBN: 157566559X

By 1910 Florence “Baby Flo” Lawrence was the first superstar of cinema. Everyone wanted a piece of the BIOGRAPH GIRL. However, her meteoric rise was only matched by the speed of her descent, as Baby Flo was a quick has-been, who occasionally got bit parts in films. In 1938, she regained the headlines when she committed suicide.

Almost six decades later, Richard and Ben Sheehan discover that Baby Flo never died. Instead, she is alive and well, living in Buffalo. The ambitious twins see Flo Bridgewood as a means of gaining fame and fortune, but as rivals and not as a team. If Ms. Bridgewood is in deed the BIOGRAPH GIRL than who is the individual buried in her coffin and why did she execute her fake death?

THE BIOGRAPH GIRL is a strange, but well written historical fiction work centering on a real person, movie’s first star Florence Lawrence, who killed herself in 1938. The story line is fascinating for its wonderful glimpse into Baby Flo and, as a bonus, contains a compelling mystery. The siblings are an entertaining duo who are part snake oil and part charm. Anyone who enjoys a novel focusing on Hollywood past and present will devour William J. Mann’s homage to a forgotten silent film star.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner