Front matter
Reading edition
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
OF CANADA, Limited
TORONTO
“HELENA”
LIFE AND LILLIAN GISH
ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1932
Copyright, 1932,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
All rights reserved—no part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission in writing from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief
passages in connection with a review written
for inclusion in magazine or newspaper.
Set up and printed. Published October, 1932.
Printed, in the United States of America by
J. J. LITTLE AND IVES COMPANY, NEW YORK
“Tranquilly, Lillian Gish sits, dressed in white organdie, her ash blond hair down her back, relaxed on the window seat, looking out for hours into the depths of the California night.
“‘What are you looking at, Lillian?’ Mrs. Gish has asked for years.
“‘Nothing, Mother, just looking.’”
Allene Talmey.
“She is an extraordinarily difficult person to know, and if I hadn’t gone to live with her ... and been with her through some of the most trying times of her life, I doubt whether our casual contacts at the studio would have brought me any intimate knowledge of her. There seems to be a wall of reserve between her and the outside world, and very few people ever get through that wall.
“The little things of life simply don’t worry her at all. Gales of temperament can rage around her—she remains undisturbed.... I have seen her at a time when anyone else would have been distraught with anxiety, come quietly in from the set, eat her luncheon calmly and collectedly (for first of all, Lillian believes in keeping fit for her work), then pick up some little book of philosophy and read it steadily until they sent for her.
“She refuses to believe that there are people in the world who are jealous of her and want to harm her. I remember someone once remarking that a certain person was jealous of her and hated her, and I can still see the look of utter surprise on Lillian’s face. But it never made any difference in her treatment of that person. In fact, I doubt whether she remembered it when she met her again.
“She is intensely loyal to those who have helped her along the path of success. She likes to be alone. She has an inexhaustible fund of patience, and a quiet sense of humor.”
Phyllis Moir
(secretary to Lillian, 1925-27)
CONTENTS
PART I
I. A Girl Child, Born with a Caul
II. Life and a Little Girl
III. On Nat Goodwin’s Shoulder
IV. “Theatre People”
V. A Little Trouper
VI. Adventures of Dorothy
VII. Mary Pickford in the Scene
VIII. “Down the Line”
IX. “Her First False Step”
X. Dorothy’s Tree
XI. “Supporting Bernhardt”
XII. Massillon Days
XIII. Where the “Road” Ends. Nell
XIV. A Convent School. Typhoid
XV. Shawnee
XVI. It Sounds Like Heaven
PART II
I. “Mr. Biograph”
II. Griffith’s Group of Players
III. Belasco Delivers a Verdict
IV. A Studio on Pico Street
V. The Path to Stardom
VI. “Home Sweet Home”
VII. “The Birth of a Nation”
VIII. “Intolerance”
IX. There Were No Love Affairs
X. The Nightmare of War
XI. Under Fire
XII. France
XIII. “Hearts of the World”
XIV. “Broken Blossoms”
XV. “I Work Such Long Hours”
XVI. Director Lillian
XVII. “Way Down East”
XVIII. Sad, Unprofitable Days
XIX. Picturing the Reign of Terror
PART III
I. Italy
II. “The White Sister”
III. “Romola”
IV. Also, the Intelligentsia
V. “La Bohême”
VI. “The Scarlet Letter”
VII. “The First Lady of the Screen”
VIII. “Wind”
IX. Good-bye California
X. Reinhardt
XI. The Shadow Speaks
XII. On the Flying Carpet
XIII. “One Romantic Night”
PART IV
I. “Uncle Vanya”
II. “Helena” in New York
III. “The Penalty of Greatness”
IV. Working with Lillian
V. “Uncle Vanya” Takes the Road
VI. Reliving The Years
VII. A Few Notes
VIII. L’Envoi
ILLUSTRATIONS
“Helena”
A Scene from “Her First False Step”
Lillian and Dorothy Gish
David Wark Griffith
Lillian and Dorothy, During the Griffith Period
Lillian as Elsie Stoneman, in “The Birth of a Nation”
Mrs. Gish and “Her Girls,” Mary Pickford, Mildred Harris, Dorothy and Lillian
Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess in “Broken Blossoms”
“Anna Moore”
The River Scene in “Way Down East”
“The White Sister”
“Romola”
Mimi at the Pawnshop ... “La Bohême”
Miss Gish as Hester Prynne, in “The Scarlet Letter”
“Wind.” Letty, Burying the Man She Had Killed
“The First Lady of the Screen”
“Camille”
PROLOGUE
(Scene: Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya”—end of second act. Lillian Gish as Helena)
First Woman in Front of Me: “They say she’s been playing over twenty-five years.”
Second Woman in Front of Me: “Goodness! How old is she?”
“The piece I read said about thirty or so....”
“Oh, began as a child; is Gish her real name?”
“I believe so; the piece said....”
“Do you like these Russian plays?”
“I like her, in anything. I loved her in ‘Broken Blossoms,’ though it nearly killed me.”
“I wonder why she left the movies.”
“Oh, lots of ’em do; the piece said....”
“Do you suppose that is all her own hair?”
“Oh, I think so; the piece said....”
LIFE AND LILLIAN GISH
PART ONE