Oscar Week and THE ALIAS MEN: Chaplin and silent film resources

I love to get lost in research. Although I estimate that I only use about one percent of the information I find, it's fun to get lost in biographies, maps, and old photos. Researching the Hollywood silent film era for Double Vision: The Alias Men was absolutely fascinating. And watching old Chaplin movies may have been the best of all...

I thought I would share some of the links and books, in case you feel like joining in. Great for the classroom, if you're an elementary/middle school teacher!

Books:

My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin

Great insight into Chaplin, silent cinema, and the people of his era. I really enjoyed his astute observation of people. At times funny and moving all at once, much like his films.
A must-read, in my opinion.         

Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin by John Bengtson

Fascinating look at the film sets of Chaplin movies; Bengtson also published books on Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd film locations. If you're a film buff, these books are for you. You can read a Denver Post interview with the author here.

Online Resources

Charlie Chaplin website

Silent Locations: For silent film location information, look no further than John Bengtson's blog. He has images, factoids on Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. A research treasure trove...

The Great Depression: a curriculum guide from FDR Library (for educators).

Hollywood sign: the sign has its own website! Find out more about the history, and where to go if you want to visit.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre: interesting history.      

For educators: here's a teacher's guide to Double Vision: The Alias Men to use in the classroom.

What's your favorite silent movie?

Oscar Week celebrations, Hollywood and Linc

It's Oscar week! It kind of snuck up on me, to tell you the truth...

In case you're wondering why it matters: Double Vision: The Alias Men (Linc's third adventure) sets in Hollywood, with the final scenes during the Academy Awards. It was a lot of fun to take the story there. The ending is pretty over-the-top--such a blast to write.

To celebrate, I thought I'd give away a copy (U.S. only, postage is wicked expensive overseas...) of Double Vision: The Alias Men. Later this week, I'll share some resources I found during my research for the book--all about Charlie Chaplin, silent films, and Hollywood history. Cool stuff.

In the meantime, here are the nominees for Best Animated Feature, since those are kid-friendly. I'm ashamed to admit that I have only seen the Dragon 2 movie (which was fun). Any guesses on the winner...?

Here is the full list of categories and nominees.



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