Böcker av Jeffrey L. Carrier

In today's world of instant messaging, it is rare to find a large cache of letters, and those published here span more than a dozen years, from 1982 to 1995. They were sent back and forth between Jeffrey L. Carrier, beginning when he was a 19-year-old college student, and a long-retired star of silent movies named Patsy Ruth Miller. Nearly forgotten today, Miller was very popular a century ago, receiving great acclaim for her performance as Esmeralda opposite Lon Chaney's Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). It is fascinating to read their correspondence and trace a friendship that rises and falls and rises again against the backdrop of movie star anecdotes and the challenge of working together on Miller's autobiography. Miller could be unforgiving, but she could also be nurturing and Carrier, always respectful in his letters, takes it all in his stride. Through these letters, we get to know a naïve young man who grows in wisdom and experience and a once-famous movie star at the end of her life, still trying to cling to the glory of Hollywood fame. This book is a worthwhile companion to Miller's 1988 memoir, My Hollywood - When Both of Us Were Young, available from Bear Manor Media. "I've a hunch that this book will win hearts, a testament to the power of an extraordinary cross-generational friendship, as told through the fading art of the written word." - Austin Mutti-Mewse "How fortunate we are that Jeffrey L. Carrier decided to share his correspondence with silent film star Patsy Ruth Miller. Through these letters, we get a glimpse inside their complicated, but ultimately fulfilling friendship. We are also treated to Miller's personal recollections of Rudolph Valentino, Alla Nazimova, Joan Crawford, Lon Chaney, Mae Murray and scores of other silent film luminaries. This book is a must for any fan of old Hollywood." - Michael G. Ankerich

In today's world of instant messaging, it is rare to find a large cache of letters, and those published here span more than a dozen years, from 1982 to 1995. They were sent back and forth between Jeffrey L. Carrier, beginning when he was a 19-year-old college student, and a long-retired star of silent movies named Patsy Ruth Miller. Nearly forgotten today, Miller was very popular a century ago, receiving great acclaim for her performance as Esmeralda opposite Lon Chaney's Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). It is fascinating to read their correspondence and trace a friendship that rises and falls and rises again against the backdrop of movie star anecdotes and the challenge of working together on Miller's autobiography. Miller could be unforgiving, but she could also be nurturing and Carrier, always respectful in his letters, takes it all in his stride. Through these letters, we get to know a naïve young man who grows in wisdom and experience and a once-famous movie star at the end of her life, still trying to cling to the glory of Hollywood fame. This book is a worthwhile companion to Miller's 1988 memoir, My Hollywood - When Both of Us Were Young, available from Bear Manor Media. "I've a hunch that this book will win hearts, a testament to the power of an extraordinary cross-generational friendship, as told through the fading art of the written word." - Austin Mutti-Mewse "How fortunate we are that Jeffrey L. Carrier decided to share his correspondence with silent film star Patsy Ruth Miller. Through these letters, we get a glimpse inside their complicated, but ultimately fulfilling friendship. We are also treated to Miller's personal recollections of Rudolph Valentino, Alla Nazimova, Joan Crawford, Lon Chaney, Mae Murray and scores of other silent film luminaries. This book is a must for any fan of old Hollywood." - Michael G. Ankerich

An 80-year-old woman who was once a famous movie star entices a 20-year-old newspaper reporter to help in the writing of her memoir, gradually enfolding him within a web of control and manipulation. If it sounds like Sunset Boulevard, there are indeed similarities in this fascinating true story. Patsy Ruth Miller was a silent movie star, best known as Esmeralda in the 1923 silent classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, opposite Lon Chaney. Jeffrey L. Carrier was a 20-year-old college student and part-time news reporter who fell under her spell. Beginning in 1984, It took four years to complete the book, and Carrier writes about that fascinating experience in clear and engaging prose as he describes happy days and heated conversations, a feeling of giddy delight and almost unbearable stress, sometimes enjoying being pampered and sometimes being rigidly controlled. It was often an uncomfortable experience, making him feel like a "kept man," and he made his escape when the book was finished. Dramatic moments (the sudden death of her husband, a serious angina attack) are juxtaposed with moments of pathos (Miss Miller's touching admission that she felt forgotten by Hollywood), making it a book that offers something to savor on every page. Patsy Ruth Miller's memoir was published in 1988 and has been delighting fans of silent films ever since. This book pulls back the curtain to reveal how that book was created and describe how two people - one an old and faded star and one a young and naïve reporter -- formed a very unusual friendship.

On a warm July day in 1979, a sixteen-year-old named Jeffrey Carrier visited the old Donnelly Cemetery in Johnson County, Tennessee, a rural county in the northeast corner of the state. He was there for more than an hour, wandering from stone to stone, writing down every name, date and epitaph. It was the beginning of a project that took him six years to complete, and when it was done, he had visited 282 cemeteries in the county and recorded more than 10,000 names. The information was published in 1985 and has been aiding genealogists and historians ever since. The original edition was a limited printing, and most of those copies have fallen apart and are no longer extant. Except for another limited printing in 2012, the book has mostly been unavailable for use. This professionally-printed edition changes that, as the information is now available to everyone, everywhere who can trace their family roots back to Johnson County, Tennessee or who has an interest in cemeteries.