{"product_id":"marie-dressler-the-unlikeliest-star-9780813120362","title":"Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star","description":"\u003cp\u003e\" She was homely  overweight  and over the hill  but there was a time when Marie Dressler outdrew such cinema sex symbols as Garbo  Dietrich  and Harlow. To movie audiences suffering the hardships of the Great Depression  she was Everywoman  and in the early 1930s her charming mixture of pathos and comedy packed movie theaters everywhere. In the early days of the century  Dressler was constantly in the headlines. She took up the cause of the \"ponies\" in the chorus lines  earning them better pay and benefits. She played in productions organized to raise money for the womens suffrage movement. And during World War I she claimed she sold more liberty bonds than any other individual in the United States. Dressler was an astute observer of public mood and taste. When she was lucky enough to find work in the newly minted Hollywood talkies  she grabbed the brass ring with fierce enthusiasm  even making three films in the year before her death  when she was so sick she had to rest between scenes on a sofa just out of camera range. The two-hundred-pound actresss remarkable stage presence captivated audiences even though her roles were not Hollywood beauties. She played tough  practical characters such as the old wharf rat in Anna Christie (1930)  the waterfront innkeeper in Min and Bill (1931)for which she won the Academy Award for best actressthe aging housekeeper in Emma (1932)  and the title role in Tugboat Annie (1933). She spoke honestly to her audiences  and troubled people in the comforting darkness of the Depression-era movie theaters embraced her as one of themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647598321717,"sku":"ByrdShop_0813120365","price":34.07,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780813120362.jpg?v=1781695192","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/marie-dressler-the-unlikeliest-star-9780813120362","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}