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Talbot's daughter writes less about his famous co-stars than the environment in which they worked. Of particular interest are the so-called pre-Code Hollywood films
-- "Three on a Match" and "Heat Lightning" are two of Talbot's
-- that were made after the formation of self-censorship rules in 1930 and their actual enforcement in the mid-1930s. Bad guys and girls might go unpunished, crime and other misdeeds paid rather well, a woman might put career ahead of marriage, and sex was often more than suggested. Margaret Talbot doesn't shy away from considering her father's limitations as a performer. He joined those actors unhappy with the unbridled demands of the studios in founding the Screen Actors Guild, which didn't enamor him with Warner Bros. While good-looking and talented, he lacked the screen presence to become a major star and wasn't clever about nurturing his career. He accepted practically any role, especially from the 1940s on, when he was no longer under contract. That's how he ended up in films directed by cult figure Ed Wood, one of them the infamously awful "Plan 9 From Outer Space." Lyle Talbot never lost the thrill that came from performing. His daughter provides an endearing and insightful portrait of an actor and a father
-- and of a country that always enjoyed the thrill of being entertained.
[Associated
Press;
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