Laugh and Live (Illustrated)

Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin were the film industry's first superstars. They enjoyed fame and fortune worldwide. LAUGH AND LIVE, Fairbank's autobiography, recounts these times. It stayed on the bestseller lists for two years after its 1917 publication.

Fairbanks writes that "happiness is for all who strive to be happy--and those who laugh are happy. Laughter is a physiological necessity. The nerve system requires it . . . laughing automatically re-oxygenates the blood. . .and relieves the tension from your brain."

"The benefits of laughter decades before Norman Cousins!" (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

Douglas Fairbanks (1883–1939) was a very successful actor, director, screenwriter, and author. Raised by his mother after she separated from his father, he attended the Colorado School of Mines and Harvard University, traveled, and worked at variuos jobs before making his Broadway debut in 1902. In 1915, he went to work in Hollywood, where he married Mary Pickford. He made highly successful early social comedies and popular swashbucklers, including The Mark of Zorro and The Iron Mask, during the 1920s. He retired from acting in 1936.