Film’s First Family: The Untold Story of the Costellos

Three Cheers to Terry Chester Shulman for writing Film’s First Family: The Untold Story of the Costellos — a cheer, in fact for each Costello: Maurice, the patriarch, and his beautiful daughters Dolores and Helene. It is the first such book, and it is by no means a given that there will ever be another, making this one, at least for the present time, a necessary part of any complete show biz library.

Maurice is the first male movie star whose name anybody knew, and was in fact the great-grandfather of Drew Barrymore. The Costellos are significant figures in Hollywood history, well deserving of a book length examination. Shulman has nailed down many previously nebulous areas of fact, such as the timing of Maurice’s entry into the film business. And he has drawn from a wide variety of sources, including original interviews, correspondence, and Helene’s own memoir, to get at many previously unknown details about the family’s private lives.

That said, the book was more about this side of the story than suits my personal taste, making it read more like E! documentary  than one would hope for in a book published by a university press. Perhaps that’s unavoidable, where alcoholism, domestic violence, incest, and serial marriage and divorce are prevalent. My favorite part of the book (perhaps not surprisingly) was the first section, where there is terrific material providing the context for Maurice’s origins — what life in Pittsburgh and the theatre was like in the late 19th century. I’d like to have seen such contextualization throughout the book. Also, there was far less about the ART of these actors than I would have liked. It’s a question of emphasis and detail. One gets the impression (from Shulman’s treatment here) that Costello’s chief significance in the film industry was in refusing to do carpentry (in early days, actors were expected to hammer together their own sets). And while Maurice Costello ceased to be the star of his pictures after about 1915, the book leaves the impression that that was the end of his career, which is far from the truth. He continued to be a supporting player for years. Instead the book dwells on his humiliations as his daughters became stars and principal breadwinners in the late ’20s. Likewise, the marriages of Dolores (to John Barrymore et al) and Helene (to Lowell Sherman et al) occupy more attention than the content of their movies. All of this stuff by the way would make for a juicy screenplay, I saw the whole movie in my head as a I read this book. But as I say, I feel the screen art element was shortchanged. That said, I stand by my recommendation that you should read it and own it. It is without a doubt the last word in Costellography.