Taylorology

Taylorology was a fanzine centered on the unsolved 1922 murder of Hollywood silent film director William Desmond Taylor. The first issue was published in 1985, and two more printed issues followed. In 1993 it switched to monthly electronic publication which continued until 2000. The editor was Bruce Long, a staff member at Arizona State University. In addition to published issues, the Taylorology web site [http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology Taylorology web site, http://silent-movies.com/Taylorology Taylorology mirror site] has supplemental material pertaining to the Taylor case.

Contents

Although there was no fixed limitation on the subject matter, the contents of Taylorology generally could be categorized into the following areas:
*Facts and rumors pertaining to the Taylor murder, with maximum use of rare contemporary source material.
*Taylor's life and film career.
*The impact of the Taylor murder on Hollywood and America.
*The life and careers of individuals associated with Taylor, or individuals regarded as suspects in the Taylor murder.
*The silent film industry in which Taylor worked.
*Examination of various theories regarding the Taylor murder.
*Reviews of books, magazine articles, and televised documentaries (City Confidential, Perfect Crimes, Mysteries and Scandals) pertaining to the Taylor murder.
*Other Hollywood scandals during the same era as the Taylor murder.

Impact

The quantity of rare contemporary source material contained within Taylorology has given it a scholarly influence far beyond the confines of the William Desmond Taylor case. A few of the books which have cited Taylorology, and the source material it contains, are:
*Citation
last = Daly
first = Nicholas
author-link = Nicholas Daly
year = 2004
title = Literature, Technology, and Modernity
publisher = Cambridge University Press
id = ISBN 0521833922
*Citation
last = Marez
first = Curtis
author-link = Curtis Marez
year = 2004
title = Drug Wars: The Political Economy of Narcotics
publisher = University of Minnesota Press
id = ISBN 0816640602
*Harvard reference
Year= 2004
Editor=Charlie Keil, Shelley Stamp
Title=American Cinema's Transitional Era: Audiences, Institutions, Practices
Publisher=University of California Press
id = ISBN 0520240278
*Citation
last = Rickman
first = Gregg
author-link = Gregg Rickman
year = 2001
title = The Film Comedy Reader
publisher = Limelight Editions
id = ISBN 0879102950
*Citation
last = Higham
first = Charles
author-link = Charles Higham (biographer)|Charles Higham
year = 2004
title = Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery
publisher = University of Wisconsin Press
id = ISBN 0299203603
*Citation
last = Shapiro
first = Harry
author-link = Harry Shapiro
year = 2004
title = Shooting Stars: Drugs, Hollywood and the Movies
publisher = Serpent's Tail
id = ISBN 1852426519
*Citation
last = Hammill
first = Faye
author-link = Faye Hammill
year = 2007
title = Women, Celebrity, and Literary Culture Between the Wars
publisher = University of Texas Press
id = ISBN 0292716443

Footnotes

References

* "A Story to Die For," Roth, Evan, CyberSurfing Column, "Washington Post," January 12, 1995.
* [Taylorology is] "an amazing historical record...a wonderful repository for innumerable interesting silent-era stories." Fleming, E. J. (2007), "Wallace Reid: The Life and Death of a Hollywood Idol," McFarland, viii.
* "Taylorology...filled with reproductions of clippings, incisive comments, and cross-references to other sources of information...was a constant source of scholarly entertainment, amusement, and enlightenment." Higham, Charles (2004), "Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery," University of Wisconsin Press, 207.
* "The most exhaustive source for the study of this seminal Hollywood moment is the massive web site compiled by Bruce Long, Master of Taylorology, whose hypertext study winds through the labyrinth of news reports and almost infinite sources on any person even remotely touched by the affair." Louvish, Simon (2003), "Keystone: the Life and Clowns of Mack Sennett," Faber and Faber, 181.
* "Ties That Bind: Searching for the Motion Picture Directors Association," Mitchell, Lisa, "DGA Magazine," November 2001. http://www.dga.org/news/v26_4/feat_mpda.php3 Retrieved on 2008-03-21. Taylorology is cited as one of "the few places on earth to find more than passing remarks about the MPDA."
* "Recommended site" designation on Silent Era's list of Notable Websites. http://www.silentera.com/info/siteLinks.html Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
* Included in "The best silent movie links on the web" from Silents are Golden. http://www.silentsaregolden.com/silentmovielinks.html Retrieved on 2008-03-21.