Bound and Gagged: The Story of the Silent Serials

The adventure, romance, and pathos that were so much a part of the silent serial during the early years of the motion picture industry have vanished from the scene of the Hollywood movie studio. The present generation neither remembers - for none was born yet - nor cares; for to them the silent serial is but a small part of the American past which might never even have existed. But to those who themselves were growing up in the pre-talkie era, when the motion picture industry itself was just beginning to unfold its wings, the silent serial was an outlet for the fancies of children and the dreams of adults. It was an action-packed, thrill-a-minute entry into the world of exciting experiences. Bound and Gagged is the story of the silent serial: its birth; its growth; its heroes and heroines; its successes and failures; and finally its demise.