Betsy’s Got a New Book!

Real estate columnist Betsy J. Green and new book covers | Credit: Courtesy

Santa Barabara is filled with beautiful sights and silent delights — much like our real estate columnist Betsy J. Green’s new book on silent film! 

What drew you into writing? How long have you been writing for the Independent?  I started writing years ago when I was an editor at Reader’s Digest in Hong Kong. My first article was about how Peking duck is made. I’ve been writing The Great House Detective column for the Independent since February 2020. (The paper chose that name for me, and I think it might have been a joke. When you Google “The Great House Detective,” you often get results for The Great Mouse Detective — a kids’ book and a Disney movie!)

Your new book, Behind the Scenes at the “Flying A,” takes a local view of silent film. What inspired you to look into silent film?  I started watching silent movies when I was working on my Way Back When series of books about life in Santa Barbara in the 19-teens. I was fascinated by how actors and film crews just popped up on the streets here and started filming — often without prior notice, so I collected lots of fun stories about this. This is the second book in my silent-movie series. The first was Movies & Million-Dollar Mansions, about silent movies (more than 60) made in Montecito.

Your book is labeled as part of a series; can you talk a bit about what you’re focusing on next? And other exciting things that are coming up for you?  The third book in the series will be published next summer — Silents on the Islands, about silent movies (more than 200) filmed on the Channel Islands. It will be published concurrent with the opening of my museum exhibit about silent movies in the new Chrisman California Islands Center in Carpinteria. I’m having fun picking out old movie photos for the display. People can learn more at my website: betsyjgreen.com.