Karl Dane’s life was a Cinderella story gone horribly wrong. The immigrant from Copenhagen was rapidly transformed from a machinist to a Hollywood star after his turn as the tobacco-chewing Slim in The Big Parade in 1925. After that, Dane appeared in more than 40 films with such luminaries as Lillian Gish, John Gilbert and William Haines until development of talkies virtually ruined his career. The most famous casualty of the transition from silent to sound film, Dane reportedly lost his career because of his accent. He was broke and alone at the height of the Depression and committed suicide in 1934.

Laura Petersen Balogh is a teacher and writer in Madison, New Jersey. Her research on Karl Dane has been published in various magazines across the United States and Denmark.

Laura Petersen Balogh
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 52 photos, filmography, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4207-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5436-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      ix

Foreword by Kevin Brownlow      1

Introduction      3

1. A Boy from Copenhagen      7

2. Soldier, Daredevil and Father      19

3. An American Adventure      34

4. Exile      49

5. Emma      58

6. The Big Parade      64

7. A Family Regained      82

8. The Great Dane and the Amazing Arthur      100

9. 1928, a Tumultuous Year      116

10. On the Road      146

11. Mining Over Movies      156

12. Last Days      163

Epilogue      177

Appendix A: Personalities and Postscripts      179

Appendix B: Shorts      185

Filmography      187

Chapter Notes      207

Bibliography      215

Index      221

“exceptional…thorough and impressive”—Examiner.com; “the author makes many fascinating points about Hollywood then which still apply to Hollywood now”—Movie Magazine International.