Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 112

When I first encountered Ann Dvorak in the mid-1990s while watching Three on a Match, I had no idea she would alter my life. Writing a book on Ann has really been a one-of-a-kind experience. Even if I ever decided to write another biography, it would not be possible to duplicate the kind of experiences I have had with Ann over the last 15+ years. I was recently reflecting on my life with Ann and thought I would share 10 things I learned while writing the book and accumulating a hell of a lot of memorabilia.

1. Writing & collecting on Ann Dvorak has lead me to meet fascinating and wonderful people who I may not have encountered otherwise.
2. Writing & collection on Ann Dvorak has lead me to meet bizarre and not-so-wonderful people who I may not have encountered otherwise, and wish I hadn’t.
3. Writing a book on a relatively obscure Hollywood actress is a great ice-breaker at parties.
4. Choosing Belgium as a vacation destination because Belgian movies posters are pretty is a silly reason.
5. There’s a hell of a lot of Crooner sheet music in this world.
6. Giving birth and realizing I had no time to work on an Ann Dvorak biography was somehow a catalyst to find time to work on, and finish, an Ann Dvorak biography.
7. When writing a 100,000 word manuscript, it’s amazing how many names of celebrities will get misspelled.
8. Relying only on digitized materials for historical research is a cop-out, as there is still a lot of materials in libraries and archives that need to be accessed the “old fashioned” way.
9. Interviewing actors about insignificant films made 60 years ago is not necessarily the best way to get information. Also, I am really bad at interviewing actors about insignificant films they made 60 years ago.
10. It takes a very patient person to marry a woman who has devoted over 15 years to Ann Dvorak.

I could go on, but will stop here. I think it’s safe to say that the past 15 or so years would have not been nearly as exciting without the Divine Miss D.