Edna · Purviance

The Sea Gull is now available at Edna's new site ednapurviance.com.

Special thanks to the following:
Garen Ewing, The Rainbow Orchid - Special Edna Post
Luke McKernan - The Bioscope - Special Edna Post

“The Sea Gull” tells the story of the only “lost” film ever produced by Charlie Chaplin’s studio. Also known as “A Woman of the Sea,” the film starred Edna Purviance, Chaplin's leading lady for over 30 films in eight years.

The unreleased 1926 silent film was written and directed by Josef von Sternberg, who later became famous for “The Blue Angel.” A gallery displays over 50 newly-discovered production still photos from the film, accompanied by the title captions used in the story.

These photos are from Edna's personal memorabilia, handed down through her family. “The Sea Gull” also features extensive new information about Edna, with never-before-seen family photos. Features over 100 previously unpublished images in B&W and color.

The book is researched and written by Linda Wada, with the full support of Edna Purviance’s family descendants, in particular, Lita and Ellie Hill, Edna’s grandnieces.

The Sea Gull was released January 13, 2008 and is available and in stock only at ednapurviance.com. Visit Edna's Place blog for more information.

Link to the latest sample of the book.

The Sea Gull "A Woman of the Sea"
Published by Leading Ladies
by Linda Wada
Layout and design by Wesley Wada
with over 50 production stills from the Hill Family Collection - Lita and Ellie Hill, Edna's grand nieces (From Edna's personal photos)

First book to feature Edna Purviance and about Charlie Chaplin's lost film production.
Starring Edna Purviance and directed by Josef von Sternberg.

Early Reviews
Last fall, Leading Ladies (publishers of The Sea Gull) mailed out a few copies for review from known Chaplin and silent film experts like Kevin Brownlow to longtime Edna fan and Nevada writer David Toll. Here is a peek at the comments sent back about The Sea Gull:

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"THE SEA GULL is an important contribution to film history, and worth buying for the stills alone. The look of the film, revealed in these marvellous photographs, makes it all the more tragic that it was destroyed.

This book provides the nearest experience we will have to seeing it. Thank you for all the hard work. It is much appreciated."

Kevin Brownlow - Silent Film Historian - London, England

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"It is beautiful, informative and edifying all at once. All your hard work has resulted in a marvelous achievement. It's a great work and beautifully presented."

David W. Toll - Nevada Writer - Nevada

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I congratulate you on a very interesting and attractive book...  I really hope it may lead to the discovery of other material about
The Seagull."

Kate Guyonvarch - Association Chaplin - Paris, France

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"Let me first congratulate you on the fruition of your years of research and dedication to Chaplin's leading lady Edna Purviance.

 I'm sure that Chaplin and Edna fans alike appreciate your efforts and commitments.

This ground breaking work has greatly enriched our understanding of Edna's life and works, and uncovered much of the mystery around "A Woman of the Sea," Chaplin's lost film.

Not for your dedication and perseverance, we might never even have a glimpse of the film.

I like the design of the book in particular. It looks very clean and classy. The stills from "The Sea Gull - A Woman of the Sea" with the reconstructed story line are no doubt the brightest spots of the book.

They not only help us better understand the film but also offer us an opportunity to appreciate the photography, the set, the decoration, the costume and of course the actors.
 
So "The Sea Gull - A Woman of the Sea" is not completely lost after all.

The book makes pleasant reading, with so many eye-catching still photos and a well-balanced story of Edna's private and professional life.

I hope you'll give us a fuller account of Edna's life and career before and after "The Sea Gull - A Woman of the Sea" in future editions."

 Ted Lu - Discover Chaplin - Montreal, Canada

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Some Comments from Fans since the release

"Almost Speechless! ...the book is PHENOMENAL! ... is even
better than I imagined! I am so impressed. This is such a great contribution to Chaplin/Edna scholarship, and I applaud your hard work and dedication." - PC

"Received "The Sea Gull" book this afternoon.  What an outstanding treasure trove of outstanding pictures and research.  Thank goodness Edna fans (and Edna herself) have someone like you to create such a wonderful book!!"
- MM

"...it blew me away, it's amazing, better than I could have imagined." - GCE

"I have received The Sea Gull, and what a wonderful work it is! It is a very beautiful and important book and I enjoy it immensely." - IG

"The book is beautiful!" - DH

"Reading it was a real pleasure. It's very well conceived, with images illustrating perfectly the story. The progression towards the shooting of the film is very clear for every star involved (Edna, Charlie, Von Sternberg...). It's one of the most enjoyable books I've read about Chaplin. One point strucks me when seeing the pictures of Edna in A Woman of the Sea: She's so fresh and beautiful in these pictures!" - DD

"I received my book!!!!! It is wonderful. I enjoy to see pictures of Edna I never seen before." - FB

"I think it looks smashing. The photos are so interesting, Ellie had a treasure of images for sure. Really you guys did a wonderful job and Lita was so pleased. What you left for her certainly helped her to pass from this world knowing Edna's story would go on forever." - BT

"Great book!" - BK

"How beautiful, great book this is! Your matchless ultimate work help us to make unknown facts clear about the lost film and Edna." - SO

"I can't tell you how exquisite the Sea Gull book is!!!  We were looking through it last night, ooohing and aaahing.  The layout, the photos, the writing, the paper, the printing--everything is just perfect." - MM

"Beautiful book!" - JM

"The book arrived today, and it is absolutely fascinating. This is an important book-Leading Ladies should be very proud of themselves." - JW

"You have done a really magnificent job! The book is beautiful and the photos are so crisp & clear. I have read almost all of it already and am sure I will be re-looking and re-reading for some time to come - at least until the bio comes out!" - MC

"It looks great!" - DF

"I received the book today, very well packaged, and have just been through it. It is really wonderful to be able to see the photos, along with your reconstruction of the story. The book is very nicely designed overall, and your love of Edna shines through it all. Thanks very much for this contribution." - JB

"I have been reading the seagull book, it is beautifully produced. The photos are wonderful. What a terrific loss! the movie, that is. I hope you are greatly appreciated for bringing it to the attention of our generation." - JMc

"My wife was thrilled and I must say, the book is beautifully done. You can be very proud of this outstanding and long-overdue achievement!" - KB

"It's beautifully produced, the page quality and picture clarity are exceptionally good, the 8X10 (the front cover still) of Edna was a fine choice, and nicely protected. All of your careful personal touches - the handwritten card, especially - were thoughtful, and appreciated. The scholarship in it also was important, just the basic outline you provided in it on Edna's personal history alone was more than most of us have been able to learn about her before this." - HM
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The Sea Gull is available to order at: at ednapurviance.com.
Check Edna's .org and Edna's Place Blog for more. Released January 13th, 2008.

July 24, 2008 - Hollywood - Linwood Dunn Theater - 8PM
The Academy of Science and Technology presents

An exploration of the technology and locations used in Modern Times. Presenters for the program are Crag Barron (visual effects supervisor) and John Bengtson (lawyer and film historian) author of Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood through the Films of Charlie Chaplin. link>

A video featuring an introduction to the book by Linda Wada about Charlie Chaplin's lost film production, Directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Edna Purviance.

Intertitles featured in this video are from the original 1926 title list created by Josef von Sternberg (from the Chaplin Archives).

Also note: Eve Sothern (who also starred in the film) spelled her name as Southern, but Southern was not her original name. You can learn more about Eve and all the cast in this book available at ednapurviance.com.  LINK TO QUICKTIME VIDEO

Get to know, Edna's niece! I have a section of videos featuring Lita Hill, Edna Purviance's grand niece. See this link for details.

Josef von Sternberg to be main feature at the 2008 Il Cinema Ritrovato, in Bologna, Italy. Link to more>
(Josef von Sternberg is the director of The Sea Gull "A Woman of the Sea")

Currently, I have first edition books of The Sea Gull in stock, but we will be updating the book mainly because of Lita's passing and for some general updating. That means if you are interested in a First Edition copy of The Sea Gull, you should order pretty soon. The change over will happen with little notice. But the second edition books will not go on sale, until the stock of the first edition has sold out.

Also, the post office is planning a price increase in May on all shipping options we use.  I will have to see what the increases are before I change our prices (hopefully, none), but another reason to order now. LINK

Thanks to everyone for your recent orders!

Lita Hill, the grand niece of Edna Purviance, died on January 21, 2008, after a 14-year battle with the rare disease Scleroderma.

In 2006, Lita was a special guest at Cinecon 2006 in Hollywood, where Linda Wada premiered Lita's video interview about her life with Edna Purviance.

Lita knew Edna from the 1930s until Edna's death in 1958. She also lived with Edna during the early part of the 1950s.

Lita did enjoy seeing the release of the book The Sea Gull "A Woman of the Sea" on January 13, 2008. This is the first book to feature Edna Purviance and about the lost film production of Charlie Chaplin's, directed by Josef von Sternberg.

We plan a special dedication to Lita on ednapurviance.org in the next few months.

- Linda Wada, ednapurviance.org

The Sea Gull is NOT available to order just yet, but here is a link to special information about The Sea Gull.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I have been getting some questions about the coming The Sea Gull book. I am sorting out the last details with Leading Ladies, the publisher of the book. So things like price, etc. will be in a coming post on my Edna's Place Blog. So for now, enjoy the holidays!

The Sea Gull is scheduled to be released to the public the week of January 13th, 2008.

This launching will also honor the 50th Anniversary since Edna's passing on January 13th, 1958.

Edna has several exciting and tragic events that happened in January during her lifetime. It was also the month she started working on The Sea Gull in 1926.

We decided to honor Edna with the first book to feature her in January 2008.  See Edna's Place Blog and Edna's home site for more details.

We are now waiting for the hardbound proof of The Sea Gull. Once it returns, I will be announcing a date for the book release.

UPDATE: December 12, 2007 - We have received our hardbound proof book. It was created by another printer than the paperback. The printer did not meet our standards in producing the book, and we decided to NOT offer The Sea Gull in a hardbound version at this time. We continue to be pleased with our paperback version, and will continue with it. See next post for schedule launch.