Lillian Gish Fan Art and Correspondence Jim Patterson Editor

On the cover of Script, October 1942. The Dream Princess of Hollywood (Note: Commandos Strike at Dawn) Lillian's birthday is October 14.

The American Rose Society named a rose in honor of Lillian Gish. 1985.

Holiday Telegram from Senator and Mrs. Jacob Javits circa early-mid 1960s. It is addressed to Lillian and Dorothy.

European sketch of Lillian circa 1920s.

Lillian Gish as "The White Sister" 1923.

Note from Vincent Price, Lillian's co-star in her last film "The Whales of August." Vincent's wife, Coral Browne Price died in 1991 and Lillian sent "warm and welcome words of sympathy." Vincent wrote: "My life is profoundly changed - I'll miss her for the rest of it."

Jim Patterson
www.LDGish.blogspot.com
www.JEPWriter@gmail.com

Sounds for Silents Foreword by Lillian Gish (1969) with Note by Jim Patterson

In  1970 Lillian Gish write the Foreword to the book Sounds for Silents, published by DBS in New York, and authored by Charles Hoffman. The odd sized purple book is unpaged with illustrations and facsimiles of musical compositions. The book also contains 1 sound disc (analog 33 1/3 rpm).

Foreword

To tell a story in pictures, unaccompanied solely by music, is difficult. It is a form more challenging that that with spoke words, which at best is bastard theater. The silent film with music is almost entirely a 20th century product. Nothing like it had ever been  seen before. . Here was truly a new art form. The age-old art of the theater, based on the author's words to reveal his plots and thoughts, spoken from a stage by players who are lighted and framed by the scenery of designers, is a vastly different art. In the silent film, earth and sky could dwarf ost scenery, and music was used to frame and enhance the story being told.

When we made the silent film version of La Boheme, the estate of Puccini was in litigation, making it impossible for us to use his music. A substitute score composed by Messrs. David Mendoza and William Axt was beautiful. The famous critic, George Jean Nathan,  said he thought it better than the one being sung at the Metropolitan Opera. It contributed greatly to the long runs enjoyed by that sad story.

No one today seems to understand this better than Charles Hoffman.

Today, his music for this same film has the same effect.

When I see old films run at the Museum of Modern Art here in New York, he uses his enormous musical repertory to heighten the mood of each scene. He memorizes the film and the music, blending the changes so adroitly  that you, watching, are unaware of how the intense vibrations of these sounds are created. Only when it is over, do you realize how your mind has been caught and held captive by what you have seen and heard.

The art of theater is seen and heard from too great a distance to look into the eyes of players and read their thoughts. On stage the voice, almost unaided, must reveal emotion, whereas the camera can be so intimate that it can give something like an x-ray of the human psyche. John Barrymore, who knew both arts well, said that if the camera held your face on screen long enough, it would not only reveal what you had for breakfast, but tell who your ancestors were.

Many of our modern films seem to be returning to the purer forms of telling a story in motion pictures, depending upon music and animation rather than words.No doubt there are minds at work now with enough creative imagination to convert film into a universal language understood by everyone everywhere. What an enormous force and help it would be if each one involved took the responsibility for what he was saying. Such power goes far beyond the printed word. It could show the problems, work out solutions, or at least clarify, simplify and lead to helpful, even peaceful, understanding. Then those films with music could be sent around the world as the Universal Esperanto!

Lillian Gish
New York
1969

Jim Patterson Note: The silent La Boheme, often described as the non-Puccini version for the reason Lillian cited, was an MGM production directed by Texan King Vidor and released in 1926. This was the only screen pairing of Lillian with John Gilbert, who gained stardom as the on-screen lover of Greta Garbo. Lillian's most remembered leading man, she also starred with Ronald Coleman, whose film career rose in the 1930s, "Lost Horizon" and he remained a leading man until his death. Coleman's widow acknowledged Lillian's condolences with a card that said, "Ronnie's in Shangra-La."

Gish Writing and Film Scholar Jim Patterson at Gish Prize ceremonies in New York. 2014.
Recipient Maya Lin.

Gish Scholar Jim Patterson with fan Art of Lillian Gish Various Years

Fan Art of Lillian circa 1920s

Fan Art of Lillian circa 1920s

Fan art of Lillian inspired by her role in "The White Sister" 

Fan art of a mature Lillian Gish circa 1950s

Fan art of Lillian circa 1910s

Fan art of Lillian inspired by her role in "The Scarlet Letter" (MGM)

A cartoon tribute to Lillian's early silent work with DW Griffith chasing her while shooting a gun to see her reaction. 

100th Anniversary of "Intolerance" with Lillian Gish and Review by Jim Patterson

                                                    Lillian Gish at her Sutton Place residence late 1970s.

On August 6, 1916  D.W. Griffith's silent film epic "Intolerance," which intercut four stories in four different settings and time periods, was sneak-previewed in Riverside, California. 

Two of the most famous scenes in silent cinema history come from "Intolerance." First, the Babylonian Gate scene which was the most elaborate scene ever staged for a film at that time. The scene is used in my review of a 2013 restoration and published in the San Francisco Examiner. The U.S. Postal Service used the scene on the cover of its stamp program the year it issued a First Class postage stamp for D. W. Griffith. Gregory Peck was the emcee for the program and Lillian Gish spoke. 1975.

The second most famous scene in silent cinema history is of Miss Gish, the 18 if 1898 was her birth or 23 if it was 1893, endlessly rocking the cradle. This haunting scene, used to connect the four stories, is unforgettable. She is patiently rocking the cradle of time as intolerance is depicted in four different time periods. 

On the 100th anniversary of "Intolerance" congratulations to all involved especially Lillian who fought to preserve it, screen it and honor it and the director. 

Jim Patterson
"Jim Patterson is THE Gish Guy." Harry Carey Jr. San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2006 Castro Theater.    

Lillian Gish Foreword in Sounds for Silents (1970)

(Special photo courtesy Library of Congress) 

Sounds for Silents by Charles Hoffman with Foreword by Lillian Gish. The book was published in 1970 and includes a recording of "Musical backgrounds." Hoffman, of the Museum of Modern Art, wrote musical accompaniment for several silent films including The Birth of a  Nation. His "musical background" for that film, more accurately a portion of it, is included on the recording.

I am posting Miss Gish's 1-page foreword in an accompanying blog post. She wrote the foreword as her book, "The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me" was still very popular. At this time she was also touring with her "The Movies with Lillian Gish" lectures. Miss Gish, an excellent writer, made many contributions to books on cinema.

In the main, Hoffman's brief book is his account of developing music for silent films screened largely at the Museum of Modern Art. Miss Gish often attended these screenings and Hoffman states in his book that his "musical background" for one of her silent films, "Broken Blossoms," has Miss Gish's personal approval.

About Lillian's attendance of film showings at MoMA, staff told me she frequently arrived and departed on her own. She took a cab from her Sutton Place residence to MoMA's theater which was at a different location. I recall this whenever I see a "restored" version of one of her films at the new MoMA theater.

As I write this I am planning a trip to Cliff Island, Maine, for a family remembrance of "The Whales of August" Lillian's last film. I'll be posting photos, something I could not do 30 years ago.


Special Note: Mrs. Diana Serra Cary, known as Baby Peggy in the 1920s and the sole remaining silent film star, is signing books, photos and other memorabilia for fans as her time permits. Her 1924 "Captain January" was remade in 1936 with Shirley Temple.

In spring 2016 the US Postal Service issued a Shirley Temple Forever Stamp and Mrs. Cary is signing sheets of Temple stamps for fans and collectors. Mrs. Cary's address is 738 5th Avenue, Gustine CA 95344. Fans have had stamps printed (ShutterFly) with Baby Peggy's image for Mrs. Cary's autograph. Mrs. Cary's office charges signing fees, postage and handling for all orders.

Jim Patterson
Writer/Researcher/Speaker
www.LDGish.blogspot.com

Broken Blossoms September 3 2016 at Washington's National Gallery

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/film-programs/pantomimes/broken-blossoms.html

Broken Blossoms at Washington's National Gallery September 3 2016! See details at above link.

Jim Patterson, Editor
www.LDGish.blogspot.com

Lillian Gish Inducted in the Alabama Arts Hall of Fame

Drawing of Lillian from the program, April 1977.

The Alabama Arts Hall of Fame initiated in 1972 and by April 1977 the following artists had been inducted:

Marian Anderson, Tallulah Bankhead, The Barrymores, Katherine Cornell, William Levi Dawson, Agnes De Mille, William Faulkner, Anne Goldthwaite, Erskine Hawkins, Jerome Hines, Edward Hopper, Samuel Lowe, Nell Rankin, Carl Sandburg, Ted Shawn, Edward Steichen, Thomas Wolfe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ernest Hemingway, Harry warren, Special Awards Gina Bachauer and Katina Paxinou. Jim Note: Some of the artists were Alabamians, others had a connection with the state while others had no connection.

Alabama Hall of Fame Honorees, April 1977, were author F .Scott Fitzgerald, author and wife Zelda Fitzgerald, actress and author Lillian Diana Gish, film pioneer D.W. Griffith, and musician Hugh Martin. 

For the Sixth introductory ceremony ambassador’s dinner Festival of Arts, the Arts Hall of Fame Committee included William H. Robertson MD, Chair, Frank E. Boyd, Jr., Wayne Palmer, George Seibels, Henry F. Robert Sr., Elbert Watson.

 The event was held at the Birmingham Alabama Civic Center on April 16, 1977. 

 Select program notes: The brief on Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald listed “Flappers and Philosophies” in 1920?

 For Lillian, the program had some awkward language including this: "Work in the early films was arduous, hard and dangerous. There were no stunt men and Lillian Gish risked her life, limb and health for the sake of her art.”  The word "double" or "stunt professional," or "stunt woman" would have been preferable. 

 This statement: “Miss Gish is still very active and productive and maintains a lively interest in all of the arts.” Jim Note: It might have been necessary as Lillian was either 79 or 84 years old at the time. 

 Finally this: “She [Lillian Gish] is guest star on the Cunard liner, QE II this spring.” Jim Note: This might have been a sales pitch for Cunard. 

For Griffith, “The Arts Hall of Fame takes pride in making this posthumous award which will be received by his long time friend, coworker, and admirer, Miss Lillian Gish.” 

 Final note: The small black program is described as Small: 7 1/4 by 9 1/4 with 12 pages. No credit for the sketches of the award recipients. Lillian’s sketch appears on page 6. Almost  directly opposite is the sketch of admirer Griffith. Jim Note: It is as though they are looking at each other. If you close the pages they are face to face. By 1977 Griffith was nearly 30 years deceased. 

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Writer and speaker Jim Patterson, a member of the California State Society, blogs on US actress Lillian Gish, 1912 to 1986..