The Queen of Crookdom and Cinema’s Poe, or the cinema of Priscilla Dean and Tod Browning

Image source: Wikimedia Commons Years before Lon Chaney and Tod Browning were silent Hollywood’s actor/director ambassadors of the macabre, Browning’s chief thespian collaborator was a Manhattan-born actress once dubbed cinema’s “Queen of Crookdom.” This monarch of crime was Priscilla Dean. For the classic film initiated, Tod Browning needs little introduction. Famous for early sound era chillers like Dracula and Freaks, he was considered the screen’s answer to Edgar Allan Poe with his attraction to dark stories and odd characters. By contrast, Priscilla Dean is a name that will only ring bells for die-hard silent film aficionados. In the 1910s and 1920s, she was a prolific star associated with crime dramas and westerns. Universal Studios long considered her the queen of the lot. Faded collective memory of the silent era often recalls the virgins and the vamps, but Dean fit into neither category. Her characters were tough dames who knew the score and weren’t shy about pulling a gun on…