The purpose of this book is to celebrate a group of silent film stars who are somehow forgotten, misunderstood, or underappreciated. They are all important stars, not minor figures -- actors and actresses who made a major impact in their own time. I wanted to watch their movies and consider what was significant about them then and what they seem like now. My primary interest lay in sharing the experience of viewing their work, since their movies are mostly not readily available to audiences today. Although I wanted to present an overview of each star's life and career, I didn't plan to write detailed biographies. And in no way would I be writing a history of silent cinema. The stars I selected are not a representative group, and someone else might have made a somewhat different list. (When I told a friend I was embarking on this book, he immediately said, "You absolutely have to do Harry Carey.

" Well, I didn't do Harry Carey, even though I think he's first-rate. No doubt my friend will be disappointed.) My choices were not whimsical, but theywerepersonal. I began by considering everyone, including names I had barely heard of, and names I knew, but had limited experience with. For instance, anyone with a nodding acquaintance of silent film has seen Constance Talmadge as the Mountain Girl in D. W. Griffith'sIntolerance,but who knows her as the title character inThe Duchess of BuffaloorVenus of Venice? And there were so many stars then! Soon I had lists of the well-known, the lesser-known, the unknown, and the known-then-but-not-now -- many names, many faces. As it turned out, the greatest stars were by far the most interesting, and many of them were very different from what I had expected.

I had assumed that the really big names would not fit into the categories of "forgotten, misunderstood, or underappreciated," but to my surprise, many of them did qualify. Even though they still have loyal fans, or excellent books written about them, or revivals and tributes mounted, or have written their autobiographies, there was very little detail available about their actual films, particularly the more obscure ones. The more movies I watched, the more I kept coming back to the actors I liked best, those who piqued my curiosity or made me laugh or captured my heart. In the end, I followed my moviegoer's instincts, and chose the ones I wanted to know more about. Thus, my final choices were influenced by pleasure, by surprise and delight, and by a new awareness of how these stars defined their times. I was, of course, indirectly influenced by the availability of titles to watch, since I wanted to see as many movies starring the same person as possible. Marguerite Clark sounded intriguing and looked very pretty in still photographs and, for a while, reviews called her "a rival to Pickford." But since apparently the only one of her films to survive is 1916'sSnow White,she had to go.

My first two choices were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Obviously, they are not forgotten, but most people have an oversimplified idea of them, so that despite their continuing fame, they really are underappreciated. In addition they represent the birth of superstar celebrity; their success, their talent, and their marriage to each other made them the first King and Queen of Hollywood, and they have never been superseded. Next I chose Valentino. He, too, isn't forgotten, but he is badly misunderstood, locked into an effeminate image that is only one aspect of his persona and that ignores his considerable charm and humor. A similar misunderstanding plagues Gloria Swanson, who has become Norma Desmond, her comedy skills and decidedly undemented grasp of reality totally unknown, and Pola Negri, a superb actress who is remembered now -- if remembered at all -- as something of a nut who walked around with two Russian wolfhounds and flung herself on Valentino's grave. Colleen Moore was.