TEN SILENT SUPER-STARS FACING THE ADVENT OF 'TALKIES'

The revolution that changed not just movies, but could even kill...

The great movie pioneer D.W. Griffiths once said “we do not want now and we shall never want the human voice with our films.” Shame he failed to realise that film-making is a technical medium that will always develop. In the last 100 years we have had the introduction of colour, trick photography, 3D and CGI, among other numerous innovations such as CinemaScope - and even Smellovision. But none of these compare to the most revolutionary of cinematic changes: sound.

The silent era of the twenties holds little more than curiosity-value for many modern film fans. Other than a few notable exceptions such as Nosferatu (1922) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925), it’s become a long-forgotten part of cinema history. But back then we had the Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolies of their day! Big stars and talented actors who sadly failed to survive the test of time.

The coming of sound was controversial, since it ended the careers of many big names, whose voices disappointed their fans. Even if the voice was fine, some actors were unable to adapt their melodramatic style to the more naturalistic approach that came with ‘talkies’. The gangster classic Little Caesar (1931) is a very good example of this; the performances ranged from amateurish to hammy, only because the actors hadn’t quite adapted to the new medium.

Even when a big star survived the transition, his or her career would still suffer with the arrival of many talented (mainly British) actors who had made their name on stage and were trying to further their own careers in film.

To celebrate the artistic and commercial success of The Artist(2012), here are ten big stars from the silent era that are still remembered today, but only just!

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Rudolph Valentino

The ultimate movie heartthrob. The Italian born Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina D'Antonguolla was a dancer, waiter, taxi driver and gigolo before heading out to Hollywood. Originally cast as foreign villains, his good looks slicked-back dark hair and muscular frame quickly propelled him to stardom as the silent cinema’s great lover. The idol of every movie-going female, he played mysterious, dominant and exotic figures in tuxedos, military uniforms and Arab costumes. His handsome princes and sultans always swept his leading lady away to his far-off palace/tent/temple/ harem, as seen in his career defining turn as The Sheikh (1921). It was all pure Hollywood escapism, but like many screen actors, Valentino was a flawed mortal. Rumours of his impotence and homosexuality were further complicated by two short-lived marriages to lesbians. His early death, aged 31, from peritonitis prompted a circus-like wake as thousands of women paraded past his coffin as he lay in state (the funeral was paid for by his studio as the actor was $3 million in debt). It also led to a string of suicides among his most adoring fans. Looking at Valentino today, most women will wonder what the fuss was about. Dying only a few years before the sound revolution, one wonders how his career would have progressed in talking pictures.

John Gilbert

known as ‘The Great Love’, Gilbert was second to Valentino as the silent cinema’s great screen heartthrobs. More debonair and less mysterious than Valentino, Gilbert was the dashing, moustachioed hero who romanced many of the great leading ladies of the twenties, especially Greta Garbo; their on-screen chemistry was so intense it came as no surprise they were lovers in real life. After his performance in The Big Parade (1925), Gilbert was a star, and with Valentino’s death he had the field to himself. Unfortunately the coming of sound ended his career although the reason for his decline had more to do with studio politics. Despite being on a lucrative MGM contract, Gilbert had an enemy in Louis B. Mayer, and legend had it that the movie mogul made an offensive comment about Garbo that prompted Gilbert to punch his lights out. When Gilbert made his sound debut in His Glorious Night (1929), Mayer was said to have altered the sound equipment to make Gilbert’s voice much higher. The end result pretty much destroyed his street-cred as his shrill delivery reduced his fans to laughter. Losing his fortune in the Wall Street Crash, Gilbert turned to drink but refused to get out of his contract. His remaining output was strictly B-movie fodder. Already suicidal, a situation exacerbated by booze, his final humiliation came at a gay party he attended with lover Marlene Dietrich. While they danced, Gilbert’s toupee came off, evoking laughter from the crowd. It was as much as he could stand, and the following day he was found dead from a heart attack – he was 38.

Lon Chaney

‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’ - and the cinema’s first horror star, even though he made very few films in the genre. An established character actor, Chaney was perfect for the silent screen. The son of deaf mutes, he communicated with them using pantomime, and this was invaluable for his future screen performances. More importantly, his effective and often painful use of make-up enabled him to create horrific and grotesque characters that appeared inThe Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), London After Midnight(1925) and most memorably his career defining tune as Erik AKAThe Phantom of the Opera (1925). Like many silent stars that feared the talkies because of his voice, Chaney also had to tone down his use of pantomime. Any fears he might have had were proved wrong. Making his sound début The Unholy Three (1930), a remake of his 1925 film, critics and audiences were equally impressed by his distinctive vocal range and nicely underplayed performance. Sadly a new career in talkies was not forthcoming when the actor developed the throat cancer that eventually killed him. A strange and ironic fate to say the least!

Charlie Chaplin

Thanks to producer Hal Roach and Mack Sennett, the twenties was the golden era of slapstick comedy. And to many fans, Chaplin is the silent cinema’s greatest clown (no I haven’t forgotten Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd). His famous character ‘The Tramp’ is now an iconic figure in film history. A former member of Fred Karno’s Comedy Troupe, Chaplin's unique style of pantomime quickly established himself as a Hollywood star. His beloved Tramp, complete with bowler hat, toothbrush moustache, baggy pants and silly walk, was the 'underdog' facing life’s misfortunes but winning in the end. Looking at Chaplin today, his comedy, although ingenious, is at best only mildly amusing to modern sensibilities. Although his films were often overloaded with pathos, he remained popular in such films as Easy Street (1917) and The Gold Rush (1926), where he famously ate his boot! Chaplin’s reaction to sound was to ignore it. It seemed to work with City Lights (1931) and Modern Times(1936). When he finally spoke for the first time in The Great Dictator(1940) it marked his final appearance as The Tramp, who is mistaken for Fuhrer Adenoid Hynkel. Trying to vary his range was not too successful, and his outspoken socialist views and personal scandals quickly prompted an exile from the States.

Douglas Fairbanks

before Errol Flynn cornered the 'dashing hero' market for himself, Douglas Fairbanks was the silent screen’s swashbuckler par excellence. In fact he went further by doing all the spectacular stunts himself in lavishly-mounted big-budget costume adventures such asThe Mark of Zorro (1920), Robin Hood (1921) and The Thief of Baghdad (1924). An astute businessman who also produced several of his movies, he formed United Artists in 1919 with D W Griffith, Charlie Chaplin and his wife Mary Pickford. Although he was a long-established stage star before coming into films, Fairbanks never really suited sound. But then he already knew his days were numbered. Now a little too old for swashbucklers (Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power were the new kids on the block) and with more money than he knew what to do with, Fairbanks decided to quit while he was ahead. Sadly his retirement was cut short by a heart attack at 56.

Mary Pickford

A stage performer since she was five, Mary Pickford emerged as the silent screen’s most famous actress. Such was her fame she was dubbed ‘America’s Sweetheart’ even though she was Canadian by birth. With an almost unbroken runs of films shorts, the waif-like, fluffy haired Pickford was always cast as cute little girls - which included title roles in Pollyanna (1920) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921) when she was well into her thirties. Attempts to widen her range were none too successful. This probably explains, after forming United Artists with her husband, why she became more involved in producing than acting. Like Fairbanks (whom she divorced in 1936), she knew that her time was up with the coming of sound, and subsequently retired from acting in 1933 to become a production executive and successful businesswoman. Spending her remaining years as a recluse, she ended her days as a senile, bedridden alcoholic in a rest home.

Tom Mix

Before John Wayne was king of the cowboys; it was the flamboyantly-dressed Tom Mix who delighted fans (among them Peter Cushing) as the star of countless low-budget westerns made between 1909 and 1929. A former US Marshall (unconfirmed) and rodeo rider (his horse 'Tony' was as famous as his master), Mix added flair and a little cowboy realism to the silent screen. Although he adapted to sound without too many problems thanks to his deep husky voice, Mix was advancing in years, and with John Wayne coming on the scene (both actors despised each other), the inevitable decline would follow. After sustaining injuries from falling off a horse, Mix left Hollywood and invested in a circus, losing a million dollars in the process. He was about to return to films as a character actor when he was killed in a car crash in Arizona in 1940. A monument was erected to his memory. 'Tony' outlived his master by two years.

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

The 300 pound baby-faced Roscoe Arbuckle was perhaps second to Chaplin as one of the all time great silent comedians, but sadly his cult status has more to do with a scandal that effectively ended his once promising career. Very nimble, despite his hefty physique, Arbuckle specialised in naughty, grown-up fat boys in several slapstick shorts that emphasised his genial demeanour and plump features. Such was his huge success, the former Keystone Cop had just signed a lucrative contract with Paramount to make features when a sensational murder trial in 1921 ruined everything. Often hosting orgiastic parties, the intoxicated Arbuckle was said to have raped (and squashed) young actress Virginia Rappe in a hotel room, first with a bottle and then with a piece of ice that ruptured her bladder. Arbuckle got charged with murder, but after two hung juries, was acquitted, and was later dramatised in a semi-fictional style in James Ivory's The Wild Party (1975). The whole sordid incident destroyed Arbuckle’s career. His films were banned, his contract was torn up and the Hayes Office barred him from working in films again. He continued to direct under the name William Goodrich. With the coming of sound, Arbuckle made a low-key comeback in a number of shorts, but died in his sleep aged 46 before anything came of it.

Jackie Coogan

Where would slapstick comedy be without kids? Before Shirley Temple, Bobby Driscoll and MacCauley Culkin, there was the blonde, chubby-faced Jackie Coogan, chosen by Chaplin to play his most definitive role as The Kid (1921), an orphan who steals just as many laughs as Chaplin’s Tramp. After appearing in a couple of more shorts for Chaplin, Coogan branched out into starring roles, which endeared him to millions of fans. As one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars, he was also their youngest millionaire. Sadly his inevitable decline had less to do with sound and more with a child star’s greatest setback – growing up. Although he scored hits with the early talkies Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931), the thirties proved to be a turbulent time for the young actor. Coogan was involved in several acrimonious court battles with his mother and stepfather over his earnings (Coogan was finally left with $125,000.00 out of a reputed $4 million). With his popularity on the wane, attempts to widen his range were unsuccessful. After military service during World War 2, Coogan returned to the cinema as a bald headed, heavyweight character actor. He won a new generation of fans with his memorable performance as Uncle Fester in the TV series The Addams Family. Coogan remained a working actor until his death in 1984.

Lillian Gish

If Mary Pickford was the female star of the silent era, then Lillian Gish was the first lady of the pioneering days. Discovered by D W Griffith, Gish certainly made an impression in his epics Birth of a Nation (1915) andIntolerance (1916). More versatile than Pickford, she emerged as one of the finest leading actresses of the twenties, tackling a whole variety of roles. Like Griffith, Gish did not feel sound was right for the cinema, silent movies having more impact and power in her opinion. Once the talkies arrived, she left Hollywood and reinvented herself as a successful stage actress. Of course the human voice was here to stay and Gish returned to films in character roles, most notably Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter (1953). Remaining extremely busy in her later years, she rounded off her screen career on a high opposite Bette Davis and Vincent Price in The Whales of August (1987), She died in 1992.

Its unlikely The Artist will ever begin a new market in silent films but at least we owe a gratitude for the film-makers for showing modern fans where cinema first started – with no voice at all.

14 Famous People Who Survived the 1918 Flu Pandemic

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With the news filled with sensationalized stories of the current Ebola outbreak, it's important to remember that we've been here before, and that people survive. Here are 14 famous people who contracted the flu in 1918 and lived to tell the tale.

1. WALT DISNEY

If he hadn’t contracted the flu, we might never have had Mickey Mouse. Even though he was only 16 at the time, Disney lied about his birth year to sign up for the Red Cross Ambulance Corps at the tail end of WWI. Then he got sick. By the time he was ready to ship out, the war was over.

2. GEORGIA O’KEEFFE

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The famous painter was just 30 years old when she came down with the flu. Unfortunately, O’Keeffe had to hide her illness from most of her friends, because she was being cared for by a married man 24 years her senior. Once she recovered enough she started inviting friends over, but, still too ill to cook, she asked one of them to bring her own egg for breakfast.

3. MARY PICKFORD

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The silent film star was at the height of her fame when she fell ill. While her bout with the flu was uneventful, the pandemic affected her in other ways. Pickford had two films out at the time, but many movie theaters were forced to close in order to stop the spread of the disease. The irritated owners petitioned for all other places that people gathered together, like grocery stores, to be forced to close as well, claiming they had been unfairly singled out.

4. DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

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The Prime Minister of Britain came very close to dying of the flu. He was confined to his bed for nine days, had to wear a respirator, and was accompanied by a doctor for over a month. All of this was happening within weeks of the end of WWI. Because it was thought that news of the PM’s illness would hurt the morale of the British people and “encourage the enemy,” his condition was kept mostly hidden from the press.

5. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Who knows how different the world might have turned out if we had lost FDR in 1918? At the time, he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and had been in Europe for two months before contracting the flu on the boat home. Despite the disease killing tens of millions worldwide, his case was considered notable enough for its own article in the New York Times.

6. WOODROW WILSON

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Considering Wilson was President of the United States and he was dealing with the end of WWI, 1918 was a seriously inconvenient time to get sick. Not only did he get the flu, but he fell ill so violently and so quickly that his doctors were sure he had been poisoned. When Wilson was well enough to rejoin the “Big Three” negotiations a few days later, people commented on how weak and out of it he seemed.

7. WILHELM II

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While the German Kaiser was undoubtedly upset to get sick himself, he had reason to be happy about the flu epidemic, or so he thought. One of his military generals insisted—despite the fact that the surgeon general disagreed—that the illness would decimate the French troops, while leaving the Germans mostly unharmed. Since Germany needed a miracle to win the war, the flu must have seemed like a godsend. In the end, it ravaged all armies pretty much equally, and Germany surrendered.

8. JOHN J. PERSHING

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While the great American general got sick himself, the flu gave him a much larger problem. His troops were dying at a faster rate from illness than from bullets. Soon there were more than 16,000 cases among US troops in Europe alone. Pershing was forced to ask the government for more than 30 mobile hospitals and 1500 nurses in a single week.

9. HAILE SELASSIE I

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The future emperor of Ethiopia was one of the first Africans to contract the disease. His country was woefully unprepared for the epidemic: There were only four doctors in the capital available to treat patients. Selassie survived, but it's unknown how many people the flu killed in Ethiopia; it killed 7 percent of the population of neighboring British Somaliland.

10. LEO SZILARD

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You may not have heard of him, but the atomic scientist Szilard might have saved the world. While he survived the flu during WWI (thanks to “humidity treatments”), what he should be remembered for is his foresight before WWII. When he and other physicists were discovering different aspects of nuclear fission, he persuaded his colleagues to keep quiet about it, so that the Nazis wouldn’t get any closer to making an atomic bomb.

11. KATHERINE ANNE PORTER

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The author turned her experience with sickness in 1918 into a short novel called Pale Horse, Pale Rider. The story is told by a woman with the flu who is tended to by a young soldier. While she recovers, he contracts the disease from her and dies.

12. ALFONSO XIII

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Alfonso was the King of Spain when the “Spanish” flu hit, and he was not immune to its outbreak. Obviously, his country must have been responsible for the sickness, since it got the unwanted distinction of being part of the illness’ name. Actually, the flu was no worse in Spain than anywhere else. But the Spanish media covered the pandemic, unlike most journalists in other countries, who were under wartime censorship. The result was an unfair association that persists to this day.

13. EDVARD MUNCH

The Scream artist had an apparent obsession with sickness and death long before he came down with the flu, painting many works on the subject. But the flu obviously affected him especially. He painted two different self-portraits, one showing him while he was ill, and one showing him shortly after recovering (above).

14. LILLIAN GISH

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The silent film star started feeling sick during a costume fitting and collapsed with a 104° fever when she got home. Fortunately, she could afford two doctors and two nurses to attend to her around the clock. While she recovered, it wasn’t all good news. Gish complained later, “The only disagreeable thing was that it left me with flannel nightgowns—have to wear them all winter—horrible things.”

Lillian Gish, 99, a Movie Star Since Movies Began, is Dead

Lillian Gish, the last of the great silent film stars, who performed for more than 85 years in movies, theater and television, died in her sleep on Saturday evening at her home in Manhattan. She was 99 years old. 

Her personal manager, James E. Frasher, said the cause was heart failure. 

"She was the same age as film," Mr. Frasher said. "They both came into the world in 1893." 

Miss Gish was still performing as recently as the late 1980's. In 1986, she appeared as Alan Alda's hilariously addled mother in "Sweet Liberty," and in 1987 she was widely praised for her sensitive portrayal of an indomitable old woman in "The Whales of August," which co-starred another movie legend, Bette Davis. Advocate of an Early Start 

"To become an actress, one cannot begin too soon," said Miss Gish, and she meant it, for she had made her acting debut at the age of 5. 

Under the guidance of the director D. W. Griffith, Miss Gish became the pre-eminent actress in silent films, appearing in classics like "The Birth of a Nation," "Intolerance," "Broken Blossoms" and "Way Down East." 

After performing in dozens of one- and two-reel silent movies (with running times of 10 or 20 minutes) and then in the longer Griffith epics, Miss Gish made a successful transition to the "talkies," and later into television. 

Between film and television roles, she also worked on the stage. In 1930 she starred as Helena in Jed Harris's Broadway production of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," and in 1973 she appeared as the nurse in Mike Nichols's revival of the play. She made her last Broadway appearance in 1975, in "A Musical Jubilee." 

Especially in her youth, Miss Gish evoked an aura of fragility, and hers was a vulnerable waiflike beauty. The renowned theatrical impresario David Belasco pronounced her "the most beautiful blonde I have ever seen." George Jean Nathan, the Broadway critic who courted Miss Gish without success for more than a decade, compared her to Eleonora Duse. 

Miss Gish, though not always in excellent health, was accustomed to hard work and took a no-nonsense view of her physical attributes. 

"I didn't care about being a beauty," she said in an interview in 1975. "I wanted to be an actress. When I was in the movies, I didn't care what I looked like, except for that image up there on the screen. I wanted to create beauty when it was necessary; that's an inner thing. But if all you have is a facade, it isn't interesting." 

Throughout her life Miss Gish remained singularly devoted to her mother and to her sister, Dorothy, who was younger, but who became an actress at about the same time Lillian did. Mrs. Gish died in 1948 after a long invalidism, and Dorothy Gish died in 1968. 

Miss Gish, who never married and who leaves no survivors, finally rejected Mr. Nathan's long series of marriage proposals, and said that a primary reason was his "seeming resentment" of her devotion to her family. She gave another reason for staying single: "Actresses have no business marrying. I always felt that being a successful wife was a 24-hour-a-day job. Besides, I knew such charming men: perhaps I didn't want to disillusion any of them." 

Lillian Diana Gish, a daughter of the former Mary Robinson McConnell and James Gish, was born on Oct. 14, 1893, in Springfield, Ohio. The family moved to Baltimore, where Mr. Gish became a partner in a candy store. Before the turn of the century, he abandoned his wife and two daughters. He died in 1911. 

Mrs. Gish took her daughters to New York City, rented an apartment on West 34th Street that was large enough to include two boarders, and began working in a department store. When Lillian was 5, a Gish boarder, an actress named Alice Niles, persuaded Mrs. Gish to let her take the child with her to act in a production of "In Convict's Stripes," which played one-night stands across the country. Lillian's salary was $10 a week. 

At the age of 4, Dorothy joined another touring troupe; so did Mrs. Gish. The Gishes were separated at least half of each year, and life was lonely for Lillian as she traveled constantly and shared squalid hotel rooms with other company members to save money. More than once, she nearly fell into the hands of Elbridge Gerry's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which was dedicated to protecting children who worked in sweatshop factories as well as on the stage. 

When the Gishes were together in New York, they shared quarters with Charlotte Smith, whose daughter Gladys was a bit player on Broadway. Lillian won the role of a dancer, a part that Gladys had hoped for, in Sarah Bernhardt's 1905 engagement on Broadway. She Knew Pickford As Gladys Smith

In 1909, while visiting friends in Baltimore, Lillian and Dorothy dropped in to see a short film called "Lena and the Geese," and immediately recognized its star as Gladys Smith. The next year the sisters showed up at the Biograph film studios in Manhattan, at 11 East 14th Street, and asked to see Miss Smith. 

That very day Gladys Smith, who had changed her name to Mary Pickford, introduced the Gishes to D. W. Griffith, who at that time was churning out at least three one-reelers a week for Biograph. 

He took the sisters to a rehearsal hall, where he produced a revolver and began to shoot over their heads. He later explained that he wanted to see how they reacted. They evidently passed the fear test, for within hours they were playing small roles in "An Unseen Enemy." Each received $5. 

That was the beginning of an artistic collaboration between Lillian Gish and Griffith that lasted more than a decade. During that time Miss Gish appeared in dozens of Griffith's short films and starred in most of his critically and economically successful longer ones. 

In some films she played bit parts; in others, she played several roles. Sometimes she was the star. All of Griffith's Biograph actors were moved around in this way: it was not until after the success of "The Birth of a Nation" that any received on-screen credit. One Source of Pride: Doing Own Stunts

Miss Gish was proud of the fact that she became an accomplished horseback rider, and performed her own stunts in dangerous scenes. She also learned to edit film, set up lights and pick costumes, and she directed two films for Biograph, one of which starred her sister, Dorothy. 

During most of her years with Griffith, Miss Gish and the rest of the Griffith company of actors and technicians divided their time between New York and Los Angeles. In 1913, when Griffith joined Mutual Productions, Miss Gish, her sister and many other artists at Biograph moved with him. Miss Gish starred in his first Mutual film, "The Battle of the Sexes," in 1914. 

Securing financial backing for "The Birth of a Nation," a Civil War epic and a milestone in the history of the motion picture, was a major battle for Griffith, for the movie's costs constantly outstripped the budget estimates. It was said to have cost $300,000. 

First released in February 1915, under the title "The Clansman," the film ran an unheard-of two hours and was shown at first in only a handful of road-show theaters, to the musical accompaniment of a 30-piece orchestra. Customers paid $2 to see what soon became known as "The Birth of a Nation." Despite the high admission price, the picture was a great hit. 

"In it I played Elsie, the sweet and virginal daughter of the family around which the action was built," Miss Gish said in 1975. "I played so many frail, downtrodden little virgins in the films of my youth that I sometimes think I invented that stereotype of a role." 

Miss Gish's role in Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916) was small. Griffith had envisioned the film as his ultimate contribution to the motion-picture art, but he was forced to trim it drastically on the insistence of his creditors. Many other stars of the day, including Constance Talmadge, Bessie Love and Erich von Stroheim, made brief appearances. Propaganda Films For World War I

During World War I, the Gish sisters went with Griffith to Europe to make propaganda films, among them the immensely successful "Hearts of the World" (1918). By that time, Griffith had joined Adolph Zukor's company, which later became Paramount Pictures. 

Hendrick Sartov, the still photographer for "Hearts of the World," eventually became a cinematographer for Griffith and invented for Miss Gish the "Lillian Gish lens," now called a soft-focus lens, which gives its subject a warmly blurred appearance. 

In the fall of 1919, Griffith moved his entire company to Mamaroneck, N.Y., where he built his own movie studio on a huge estate. It was there, and on locations in New England, that he filmed Miss Gish's popular melodrama "Way Down East," released in 1920. 

Miss Gish wrote in her autobiography that she volunteered to perform the dangerous climactic scene in that film, in which the heroine, lying on the ice floe in a freezing river, is headed for almost certain doom over a waterfall. 

The frail-looking Miss Gish lay on the floe, her hair and one of her hands trailing in the frigid water. "My face was caked with a crust of snow and ice, and little spikes formed on my eyelashes, making it difficult to keep my eyes open," she recalled. "It was a delicious scene, one of my really favorites, but I remember being cold for days afterward." 

"Orphans of the Storm," a French-Revolution melodrama released in 1922, was Griffith's last financially successful picture and, perhaps not coincidentally, the last Miss Gish made for him. "With all the expenses I have, I can't afford to pay you what you're worth," he told her. "You should go out on your own." 

With heavy investments of her own money, she then made two successful movies in Italy, "The White Sister" and "Romola." 

In the mid-1920's Miss Gish became embroiled in a long legal battle with Charles Duell, a socialite who had been her financial adviser (and, as she said in 1975, "sort of my Svengali"), over sums he claimed she owed him. Miss Gish munched carrots during the trial, and newspaper photographs of her stirred a carrot-chomping fad across the country. 

Americans had become enchanted with the new artistic aristocracy, made up of movie stars like Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino and Miss Gish. Earlier, in a movie, when Miss Gish had pushed up the sides of her mouth with her fingers to demonstrate feigned happiness, the gesture became a much-copied fad. From the Silents To the Talkies 

Miss Gish made the transition from silents to talkies in 1930 in "One Romantic Night," with Rod LaRocque and Conrad Nagel. By that time, she had signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. "My contract called for six pictures in two years, for which I was paid, I believe, a million dollars," she wrote. 

Miss Gish made a triumphant return to the stage in 1930 in "Uncle Vanya" on Broadway. In 1936 she played Ophelia to John Gielgud's Hamlet and Judith Anderson's Queen Gertrude, and in 1941 she began a record-breaking 66-week run in "Life With Father" in Chicago. In 1960, she starred in "All the Way Home" on Broadway. 

As Miss Gish grew older, roles were more difficult to come by, but she played in summer stock and in an occasional movie, like "The Comedians," "The Night of the Hunter" and "The Undefeated." An early recruit to television, she appeared in "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Helen Hayes and in Horton Foote's "Trip to Bountiful." 

Commenting on what was to be Miss Gish's last screen performance, in the 1987 "Whales of August," Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times: "There's not a gesture or a line-reading that doesn't reflect her nearly three-quarters of a century in front of a camera. Scenes are not purloined when she's on screen." 

Photos: Lillian Gish. (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times, 1986) (pg. A1); Lillian Gish in the play "Life with Father" with Louis Calhern. (Vandamm Studio); Miss Gish, left, with her sister, Dorothy, in D. W. Griffith's 1922 film "Orphans of the Storm"; Miss Gish in D. W. Griffith's film "Way Down East" in 1920. (pg. B10)

In 1920, Lillian Gish both delivered a landmark performance in D. W. Griffith’s Way Down East and directed her sister Dorothy in Remodelling Her Husband. This was her sole director credit in a career as a screen actor that began with An Unseen Enemy in 1912 and ended with The Whales of August in 1987. Personal correspondence examined by biographer Charles Affron shows that Gish lobbied Griffith for the opportunity to direct and approached the task with enthusiasm. In 1920 in Motion Picture Magazine, however, Gish offered the following assessment of her experience: “There are people born to rule and there are people born to be subservient. I am of the latter order. I just love to be subservient, to be told what to do” (102). One might imagine that she discovered a merely personal kink. In a Photoplay interview that same year, however, she extended her opinion to encompass all women and in doing so slighted Lois Weber, one of Hollywood’s most productive directors. “I am not strong enough” to direct, Gish told Photoplay, “I doubt if any woman is. I understand now why Lois Weber was always ill after a picture” (29). What should historical criticism do with such evidence?

Lillian (a/d/w) and Dorothy Gish. USW 

By far the most common approach has been to argue that Gish did not really mean what the press quotes her as saying. Alley Acker, for instance, urges us not to be fooled by Gish’s “Victorian modesty” and goes on to provide evidence of her authority on the set (62). Similarly, Affron argues that Gish’s assertions of subservience were partly self-serving. Self-effacement contributed to her star persona as “D. W. Griffith’s virginal, ethereal muse” (15). Gish cultivated this image throughout her career, and Affron finds it exemplified by the oft-repeated story of her masochistic performance in Way Down East’s 1920 ice floe rescue. A different Gish surfaces in an interview with Anthony Slide first published in 1970. There we encounter a decisive and resourceful woman who surmounted extraordinary practical difficulties in directing Remodelling Her Husband. In addition to directing, Griffith gave her the job of supervising completion of a new studio in Mamaroneck, New York.
Neither subservience nor modesty inflect Gish’s assessment of the results: “We finished at 58 thousand dollars, and it made, I think, ten times what it cost, which not many films do today” (Slide 1977, 124). Gish also told Slide that she had wanted to make an “all-woman picture” and had recruited Dorothy Parker to write the titles. In the film, Dorothy Gish portrays a young wife who reforms her philandering husband by leaving him to work in her father’s business. Unfortunately, neither Affron nor Slide has been able to confirm Parker’s role, and no print is known to survive.

 Lillian Gish (a/d/w) 1922. USW 

When the biographical approach emphasizes the difference between Gish’s public persona and her private ambition, it invites us to see her demurral as a clever tactic. By identifying with “the weaker sex” she turns a low expectation of women to her own advantage. That Gish left behind such a large volume of paper makes this hypothesis extremely tempting. Not only have there been numerous published accounts of her life, but her papers, available through the New York Public Library, include personal correspondence, business documents, and scrapbooks spanning the years 1909–1992. In addition, her correspondence with Anthony Slide is available through the Margaret Herrick Library. These sorts of sources urge us to seek a more complicated woman behind the public star persona. 

Lillian Gish (a/d/w), PCMC 

A different source might shift focus to the terms of public discourse and allow us to ask if these terms were as conventionally fixed as the search for the private woman can make it appear. For instance, the Paramount-Famous Players press book (which suggested stories for exhibitors to plant in local papers) provides not one but two different ways to promote Remodelling Her Husband, the famous actress’s directorial debut. The first approach resembles the above-quoted Photoplay and Moving Picture Magazinearticles, emphasizing Lillian’s “delicate physique” and her decision to abandon directing as too rigorous an endeavor. The second strategy, however, foregrounds her “prowess” and presents Dorothy as cajoling Lillian into the director’s chair. The studio publicity department thus promoted directing as something women might encourage their sisters to do while at the same time presenting women directors as an aberration in a profession that required masculine strength and discipline. How this apparently contradictory message played itself out in the trade press and the nation’s newspapers wants further explanation.

Lillian Gish (a/d/w) New York, 1922. USW

One could also take Gish’s remarks literally. After all, she advocates what would become the normative division of labor—women act, men direct—at a time when it was not clear that these work rules would, in fact, prevail. Similarly, while her praise of Griffith’s genius helped to ensure that her own contributions would be central to the story of American motion pictures, such veneration also promoted a particular version of historical events. By all accounts, Gish relished the role of spokesperson for silent film, and perhaps more work should consider her role as historian, critic, and theorist. Certainly Antonia Lant and Ingrid Periz aim to encourage such consideration by including Gish’s Encyclopedia Britannica article, “A Universal Language,” in their collection of women’s writing about the first fifty years of cinema. Echoes of Gish’s argument in that piece may be found in her less-known 1930 essay, “In Defense of the Silent Film.” With its conclusion that “Until the cinema returns from its prodigal excursion into sound it cannot expect to resume its logical development as an independent art” (230), the essay invites comparison with classic laments about the transition to sound from such filmmakers and film theorists as Bela Balazs, Rudolf Arnheim, Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Grigori Alexandrov. In the essay, Lillian Gish writes with authority from her experience as an actor and names a wide range of directors she considers important—all of them men.

Selected Bibliography

Acker, Ally. Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema, 1896 to the Present. New York: Continuum, 1991.
Affron, Charles. Lillian Gish: Her Legend, Her Life. New York: Scribner 2001.

------. “ A Universal Language.” Rpt. in Red Velvet Seat: Women’s Writing on the First Fifty Years of Cinema. Ed. Antonia Lant and Ingrid Periz. London and New York: Verso, 2006. 200–202, Originally published in The Theater and Motion Pictures: A Selections of Articles from the New 14^th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica New York and London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1929-33, 33-34.

Gish, Lillian. “In Defense of the Silent Film.” Revolt of the Arts. Ed. Oliver M. Sayler. New York: Bretano’s, 1930. 225–30.

Gish, Lillian and Ann Pinchot. Lillian Gish: The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1969.

Hall, Gladys. “Lights! Says Lillian!” Motion Picture Magazine (Apr.–May 1920): 30-31, 102.
Patterson, Ada. “The Gish Girls Talk About Each Other.” Photoplay (June 1921): 29.

Archival Paper Collections:

Anthony Slide Collection. BGSU.
Correspondence from Lillian Gish, 1962-1986. NYPL-BRTD.
D.W. Griffith papers, 1872-1969. MOMA.
Gish Film Theater Collection. BGSU.
Lillian Gish-actress / Anthony Slide, compiler. AMPAS-SC.
Lillian Gish letters and ephemera, 1936-1991.NYPL-BRTD.
Lillian Gish papers, 1920-1978. LOC-MD.
Lillian Gish papers and sound recordings, 1909-1992. NYPL-BRTD.
Reminiscences of Lillian Gish. CUOHRO.
Stark, Samuel. Theatre scrapbook collection, 1860-1950. SU.
Lucy Kroll papers, 1908-1998. LOC-MD.
Complete Project Bibliographies

Filmography

A. Archival Filmograpy: Extant Film Titles

1. Lillian Gish as Actress

Brutality. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Mae Marsh, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Miller, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: ARF, USR, USM, CAO, ROB, USW.

The Burglar's Dilemma. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, sc.: Lionel Barrymore (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Lionel Barrymore, Henry Walthall, Adolph Lestina, Lillian Gish, si, b&w. Archive: USR, USM, GBB.

A Cry For Help. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Walter Miller, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

In the Aisles of the Wild. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Claire McDowell, Harry Carey, Lillian Gish, si, b&w. Archive: USM, GBB.

The Musketeers of Pig Alley. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Elmer Booth, Alfred Paget, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: BRR, CAQ, ITG, DKK, DEI, ARF, USR, USW, USL, ROB, USF, SES, FRC, AUC.

My Baby. Dir.: Frank Powell (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Mary Pickford, Henry Walthall, Eldean Stewart, W. Chrystie Miller, Lillian Gish, Alfred Paget, Madge Kirby, John T. Dillon, Walter Miller, Jack Pickford, Dorothy Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USR, USW.

The New York Hat. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, st.: Anita Loos (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Dorothy Gish, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: CAQ, BRR, SES, USR, ILA, USW, USD, CAO, GBB, USL, USB, FRL.

The One She Loved. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Henry Walthall, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USR, USW.

The Painted Lady. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Blanche Sweet, Madge Kirby, Dorothy Gish, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 16mm. Archive: DEI, ARF, USR, USW, USL, ROB, USR, USI, AUC.

So Near, Yet So Far. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Mary Pickford, Walter Miller, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USR, USW, GBB.

Two Daughters of Eve. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Lillian Gish, Claire McDowell, Henry Walthall, si, b&w. Archive: USM, USL.

An Unseen Enemy. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, st.: Edward Acker (Biograph US 1912) cas.: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, si, b&w. Archive: FRC, ITG, DKK, ARF, USR, USM, NLA, USL, ROB, SES, GBB, USI.

The Blue or the Gray. Dir.: William Christy Cabanne (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

The Conscience of Hassan Bey. Dir.: William Christy Cabanne (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, William A. Carroll, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

The House of Darkness. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lionel Barrymore, Claire McDowell, Lillian Gish, si, b&w. Archive: USM, GBB, USL, USI, USF.

Just Gold. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Alfred Paget, Charles H. West, Joseph McDermott, Kate Bruce, Charles Mailes, Dorothy Gish, si, b&w. Archive: DEI, USM.

The Lady and the Mouse. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Henry Walthall, Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore, Dorothy Gish, si, b&w. Archive: USR, DEI, ARF, USM, ROB, GBB.

The Left-Handed Man. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Harry Carey, Charles West, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

A Misunderstood Boy. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore, Kate Bruce, Robert Harron, Charles Hill Mailes, Alfred Paget, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USL.

The Mothering Heart. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, aut. Hazel H. Hubbard (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Walter Miller, Viola Barry, Kate Bruce, Josephine Crowell, si, b&w. Archive: ITG, DEI, ARF, USR, USM, USL, ROB, USF, SES, GBB.

Oil and Water. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Blanche Sweet, Henry Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, si, b&w. Archive: ITG, GBB, USL.

The Madonna of the Storm. Dir.: Alfred Paget (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Harry Carey, Charles Hill Mailes, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

A Modest Hero. Dir.: Dell Henderson, sc. George Hennessy (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Walter Miller, Charles Hill Mailes, si, b&w. Archive: GBB, USM.

So Runs the Way. Dir.: W. Christy Cabanne (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Reggie Morris, W.C. Robinson, Kate Toncray, Joseph McDermott, Lillian Gish, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

The Stolen Bride. Dir.: Tony O’Sullivan (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Harry Carey, Claire McDowell, Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

A Timely Interception. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore, W. Chrystie Miller, William J. Butler, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh, Joseph McDermott, Walter Miller, Alfred Paget, si, b&w. Archive: USM, USF.

The Unwelcome Guest. Dir.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Mary Pickford, W. Chrystie Miller, Charles Hill Mailes, Claire McDowell, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USR, USW, USL, DEW.

A Woman in the Ultimate. Dir.: Dell Henderson (Biograph US 1913) cas.: Lillian Gish, Charles Hill Mailes, Henry B. Walthall, si, b&w. Archive: USM.

The Battle of Elderbush Gulch. Dir./sc.: D.W. Griffith (Biograph US 1913/4) cas.: Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: ITB, ITG, DEI, ARF, USR, USW, USM, USL, USF, USB, DEK.

The Battle of the Sexes. Dir. D.W. Griffith, sc. Daniel Carson Goodman (Majestic Motion Picture Co. US 1914) cas.: Donald Crisp, Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mary Alden, Owen Moore, Fay Tincher, W.E. Lawrence, si, b&w, 35mm, 5 reels. Archive: USR.

Home Sweet Home. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, sc. D.W. Griffith and Harry E. Aitkin (Reliance US 1914) cas.: Henry Walthall, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Mae Marsh, si, b&w. Archive: BEB, ITG, USM, USL, USF, DKK, AUC.

Judith of Bethulia. / Her Condoned Sin. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, st.: Thomas Bailey (Biograph US 1914) cas.: Lillian Gish, Blanche Sweet, Henry Walthall, Robert Harron, Kate Bruce, si, b&w, 35mm, 4 reels. Archive: BEB, SES, ITG, USR, USM, ITN, ISL, USL, USF, DKK, USI, DEK, AUC, YUB, FRL.

Lord Chumley. Dir.: James Kirkwood (Biograph US 1914) cas.: Henry Walthall, Lillian Gish, Mary Alden, Charles Mailes, Walter Miller, si, b&w. Archive: ITG.

Man’s Enemy. Dir.: Frank Powell (Klaw and Erlanger US 1914) cas.: Franklin Ritchie, Lillian Gish, si, b&w. Archive: ITG, USW, USM.

The Sisters/A Duel for Love. Dir.: W. Christy Cabanne (Majestic US 1914) cas.: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, W.E. Lawrence, Elmer Clifton, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USW.

The Birth of a Nation. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, sc.: D.W. Griffith, Frank E. Woods, st. Thomas Dixon (David W. Griffith Corp US 1915) cas.: Lillian Gish, Henry Walthall, Mae Marsh, si, b&w, 35mm, 12 reels. Archive: BGS, ITC, BEB, BRS, BRR, DKK, AUC, ITG, DEW, DEI, PLW, USR, RUR, USW, USM, GBB, NLA, ATM, ROB, CAQ, AOL, NOO, USL, USF, ESM, DEW, SES, USI, YUB, FRC.

Captain Macklin. Dir.: John B. O'Brien, sc.: Russell E. Smith (Majestic US 1915) cas.: Jack Conway, Spottiswoode Aitken, Lillian Gish, si, b&w, 35mm, 4 reels. Archive: USW.

Enoch Arden. Dir.: W. Christy Cabanne (Majestic US 1915) cas.: Lillian Gish, Wallace Reid, Alfred Paget, D.W. Griffith, Mildred Harris, si, b&w, 35mm, 4 reels. Archive: USR, USW, USL.

The Lily and the Rose. Prod: D.W. Griffith, dir.: Paul Powell, st. Granville Warwick, adp. Paul Powell (Fine Arts Film Co. US 1915) cas.: Lillian Gish, Wilfred Alden, Wilfred Lucas, Rozsika Dolly, Loyola O’Connor, Cora Drew, Elmer Clifton, Mary Alden, William Hinckley, si, b&w, 35mm, 5 reels. Archive: USW.

The Children Pay. Dir.: Lloyd Ingraham, sc. Frank E. Woods (Fine Arts Film Co. US 1916) cas.: Lillian Gish, Violet Wilkie, Keith Armour, si, b&w, 5 reels. Archive: DKK.

A House Built Upon Sand. Dir. Edward Morrissey, sc.: Mary H. O’Connor (Fine Arts Film Co. US 1916) cas.: Lillian Gish, Roy Stewart, William H. Brown, si, b&w, 35mm, 5 reels. Archive: USW.

Intolerance. Dir./sc.: D.W. Griffith (D. W. Griffith; Wark Producing Corp. US 1916) cas: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, Margery Wilson, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: BGS, CAQ, BEB, SES, AUC, ITG, DEI, PLW, USR, RUR, USW, USM, GBB, NLA, ATM, ITN, ITC, ROB, USL, USF, ESM, USI, CAO, DKK, ITT, USB, YUB, USN, FRL.

Sold For Marriage. Dir. W. Christy Cabanne, st. William E. Wing (Fine Arts Film Co. US 1916) cas.: Lillian Gish, Frank Bennett, A.D. Sears, Pearl Elmore, Curt Rehfelt, William E. Lowery, Fred Burns, William Siebert, Frank Brownlee, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: ITG, USW, USR.

The Greatest Thing in Life. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, sc./st. Captain Victor Marier (D.W. Griffith/Artcraft US 1918) cas.: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Adolphe Lestina, si, b&w. Archive: GBB.

Hearts of the World. Prod./Dir.: D.W. Griffith, sc.: M. Gaston de Tolignac (D. W. Griffith US 1918) cas.: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, si, b&w, 13 reels. Archive: BEB, BRS, ITG, USM, GBB, NLA, ROB, USL, USF, USR, USI, FRC, AUC, FRL.

Broken Blossoms. Prod./Dir.: D.W. Griffith (D.W. Griffith US 1919) cas: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, si, b&w, 35mm, 6 reels. Archive: BGS, CAQ, BEB, BRS, BRR, ITG, DEI, PLW, USR, USM, GBB, RUR, ITN, ROB, USL, USF, USI, DKK, AUC, YUB.

The Greatest Question. Prod./Dir: D.W. Griffith, sc.: S.E.V. Taylor, st.: William Hale (D. W. Griffith US 1919) cas: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, si, b&w. Archive: USM, BEB, USR, USF.

A Romance of Happy Valley. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, sc.: Captain Victor Marier (D. W. Griffith US 1919) cas: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, si, b&w. Archive: BEB, ITG, USM, RUR, AUC.

True Heart Susie. Prod/dir: D.W. Griffith, st.: Marian Fremont (D.W. Griffith; Griffith’s Short Story series US 1919) cas: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, si, b&w. Archive: BEB, BRS, BRR, ITG, USM, GBB, NLA, ROB, USL, USR, DKK, USI.

Way Down East. Dir.: D.W. Griffith, sc.: Anthony Paul Kelly, cost.: Lucy Duff-Gordon (D.W. Griffith, Inc. US 1920) cas.: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, si, b&w. Archive: USW, BEB, ITB, ITG, PLW, USR, USM, GBB, NLA, RUR, ITN, ITC, ROB, USL, USF, DKK, SES, USI.

Orphans of the Storm. Prod./dir: D.W. Griffith, sc. Marquis de Trolignac (D.W. Griffith, Inc. US 1921) cas: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, si, b&w, 14 reels. Archive: BGS, BEB, SES, PLW, USM, USL, RUR, ITN, ITC, ROB, CAQ, USR, USF, ESM, GBB, AUC.

The White Sister. Pres.: Charles H. Duell, dir: Henry King, sc. George V. Hobart, Charles E. Whittaker (Inspiration Pictures US 1923) cas: Lillian Gish, Ronald Colman, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: ESM, USB.

Romola. Dir. Henry King, sc: Will M. Ritchey (Inspiration Pictures US 1925) cas: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, William Powell, Ronald Colman, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USM, USL, FRC.

La Bohème. Dir.: King Vidor, st: Fred De Gresac (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures US 1926) cas: Lillian Gish, John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, si, b&w. Archive: BEB, NLA, USR, ITT, AUC.

Annie Laurie. Dir.: John S. Robertson, sc: Josephine Lovett (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures US 1927) cas: Lillian Gish, Norman Kerry, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: USW, USL, GBB.

The Scarlet Letter. Dir.: Victor Seastrom, sc: Frances Marion (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures US 1927) cas: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: BEB, SES, USR, USW, ITN, USL, GBB, USB, DKK, AUC, YUB.

The Wind. Dir.: Victor Seastrom, sc./adp.: Frances Marion (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures US 1928) cas: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: ITN, BEB, ROB, ITG, MXU, USR, GBB, DKK, SES, FRC, AUC, YUB.

The Enemy. Dir.: Fred Niblo, sc.: Agnes Christine Johnston, Willis Goldbeck (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer US 1928) cas.: Lillian Gish, Ralph Forbes, Ralph Emerson, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Archives.

B. Filmography: Not Extant Titles:

1. Lillian Gish as Actress

Gold and Glitter, 1912; During the Round Up, 1913; An Indian's Loyalty, 1913; The Angel of Contention, 1914; The Folly of Anne, 1914; The Green-Eyed Devil, 1914; The Hunchback, 1914; The Quicksands, 1914; The Rebellion of Kitty Belle, 1914; The Tear That Burned, 1914; The Lost House, 1915; Daphne and the Pirate, 1916; Diane of the Follies, 1916; An Innocent Magdalene, 1916; Pathways of Life, 1916; Souls Triumphant, 1917; The Great Love, 1918; “Liberty Bond Short,” 1918.