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A captivating study of one of classic Hollywood's most fascinating bodies

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments   ix
1. Tillie's Punctured Romance: Genre and the Body   1
2. Breaking Boundaries: The Unruly Body   30
3. Politics and Prosperity: The Body Politic   60
4. Min and Bill and Tugboat Annie: The Mythic Body   93
5. Emma and Christopher Bean: The Sexual Body   126
Conclusion Dinner at Eight: The Unclosed Body   161 Notes   173
Filmography: Dressler's Feature Films   185
Index   187

About the Author

Victoria Sturtevant is an associate professor of film and video studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Reviews

"An important, groundbreaking work. In reminding us of the stardom of Marie Dressler--the most significant female box-office star of the early sound era in Hollywood--Sturtevant not only tells the definitive story of this unjustly forgotten figure, but calls into question the very idea that stardom is simply an 'industry of desire.'" David Desser, co-editor of Hollywood Goes Shopping "Rich with archival materials, this marvelous study of Marie Dressler's film career deranges the norm, questions critical assumptions, and challenges our historical comprehension of the period." Jennifer M. Bean, co-editor of A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema