I hope you don’t mind if I use my column to plug a friend’s book, Michael Ankerich’s new Mae Murray biography, The Girl With the Bee Stung Lips (OK, so he did dedicate it to me. But you needn’t dedicate a book to me to get me to plug it, I also accept flat-out bribes).
Michael is both an excellent writer and an excellent researcher, a combination which is essential for a good biographer, but which is so often lacking on one side or the other. And the book is not biased, neither a “perfect, wonderful Mae!” fan-mag piece nor a “bad Mae!” hatchet job. He obviously admires and likes Mae Murray, but he does not cut her any breaks: her bad performances and bad behavior get fully covered. He also—I am torn between admiration and jealousy!—interviewed her nephew and son, neither of whom has ever talked to the press before.
Dec. 14, 1912: I am probably too fond of saying this, but traffic in Los Angeles is not a new problem: It’s more than 100 years old. Here’s a lesson from history to those who are bringing the streetcar back to downtown Los Angeles.
ladailymirror.com 