Cover Photo For Donati's Book

This is the picture that was used for the cover of Donati's book, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THELMA TODD.

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Forest Lake

A picture of Forest Lake by Michael Williams. He owns the Todd family cabin mentioned in Donati's book, which is on this lake.

"The place Thelma Todd visited. Time to kick off our summer stay and leave the city - M Williams"



Another picture by Michael Williams.

Another shot of the lake. Standing on my dock looking north
 - M Williams




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Packard School In Lawrence

Michael Williams took some pictures of the school in Lawrence, Massachusetts that Thelma Todd went to when she was a girl. He explains:

This school sits on the corner of Abbott and Parker Sts. I live on Abbott st so while I was mailing a letter this morn I took some pics. The school was built in 1885  Donati mentions it in his book    Packard elementary school.  It's an office building now and they built a pharmacy in the front.  Best wishes Michael Williams

 

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Author William Donati Discusses His Books On Vegas PBS

William Donati, author of THE LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF THELMA TODD, is one of the subjects of a television program in Los Vegas.

See the program:
http://www.vegaspbs.org/artscene/

Read about his book THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THELMA TODD:
http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Life_and_Death_of_Thelma_Todd.html?id=LQsB66qPGmgC

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Thelma Todd's Family's Cabin

Michael Williams is the owner of a cabin that used to belong to the family of Thelma Todd, this cabin was mentioned in Donati's book. Michael also has a scrapbook that was left in the cabin with pictures of some of Thelma Todd's relatives. Here are some of the pages and pictures from the scrapbook, along with some of his comments.



Reblogged from the Thelma Todd Club at groups.yahoo.com/group/thelmatoddclub/


"Todd Family Cabin As It Once Was
When Phil Fluet visited us he gave us some pics of the cottage before he remodeled it. So that is what it looked like when Thelma was here. The green building was a two seater outhouse. We do have modern indoor plumbing today . The outhouse is long gone.Best wishes Michael Williams"

 

 

 

 

Relatives

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Williams: Another pic from the lake house book. Looks like a family pic of Thelma's aunts and uncles The old woman seated in the middle is Thelma's grandmother Eliza. The little girl being held is Shirley Raymond. This must be somewhere in the late 20s

 

 

 

 

Shirley Raymond

 

 

 

 

 

Shirley Raymond in the canoe

 

 

 

 

 

 Signature of Mrs. Alice Todd, who was Thelma Todd's mother.

 

 

 

 

Another signature of Mrs. Alice Todd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shirley Raymond and her Todd cousins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The pic on the right is dated 1939 and it is of Shirley Raymond at age 16 doing something on the boat dock with Frieda Todd. Now the two pics on the left have to be much earlier cause I recognize Shirley in the center, she looks to be about 10. That would date the pics around 1933. The girl on the far right is of Edna Todd she and her brother Bill are the ones that helped Bill Donati with his book. He dedicated his book to them. The little blonde girl on the far left is of Thelma Todd the second"

 

 

 

 

A closer view of two of the pictures above.

 

 

 

 

 

Signature of  Thelma Todd's "niece" ( actually a cousin ) Thelma Todd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newspaper article about Donati's book. 

 

And finally, here is a picture of the "other" Thelma Todd that was published in a Lawrence newspaper in 1935.

 

 

 

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Story on William Donati's Thelma Todd Book Online

William Donati, author of THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THELMA TODD, sent word that there is a story about his book in an online magazine. I have been able to embed a link the article on this blog. Click on the image below to read the article.

 

UNLV Magazine Summer 2013







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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THELMA TODD On List Of Best Film Books 2013

Donati's book made the list of best film books of 2013.

But I'll let him tell you about it himself. Might as well, since he's the one that told me:

"Thomas Gladysz, an arts journalist who writes

for the Huffington Post, included The Life and Death of

Thelma Todd in his Best Film Books of 2012. This is quite

an honor because Gladysz is a silent era historian and

authority on Louise Brooks.

Last summer I spoke about Thelma and my biography

at the Lawrence Library. What a thrill to be back in

Thelma's hometown. I had the pleasure of meeting Thelma's

relatives who attended my lecture.

William Donati"

It's good to hear that this book has been well recieved. It gives you a sort of a feeling of accomplishment when something you were able to help with turns out so well.



Baring An Early Starlet's Roots ( Donati's Thelma Todd Book ):
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x2054914123/Baring-an-early-starlets-roots-in-Lawrence


Google Books Listing ( With My Review ):
http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Life_and_Death_of_Thelma_Todd.html?id=LQsB66qPGmgC



San Francisco Silent Film Festval:
http://sfsilentfilmfestival.blogspot.com/2012/12/best-films-books-of-2012.html