Love, As Always... Esmeralda - Corresponding with Patsy Ruth Miller, The Gypsy of the Silent Screen

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