Quote:
"The main problem [Nell] Shipman faced [while writing her autobiography] in the 1960s was that she, in contrast to such 'as told to' memoirs, was writing against film-historical oblivion. Until then, official film history had virtually ignored her presence and work in the American silent cinema. So how could she boast of her talent and merits without sounding merely pretentious and pathetic? In my opinion, Shipman chose understatement as one of her rhetorical strategies."
-- Annette Förster

Source:
Förster, Annette. "Nell Shipman on the American Popular Stage." In Women in the Silent Cinema: Histories of Fame and Fate. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017. (p. 292)