Lillian Gish, Anna Deavere Smith and an Honor for Selma Service by National Guardsman James G. Patterson

March 11, 2014

Dear LDGish.blogspot.com Readers,

On the evening of March 10, after seeing award-winning actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith give a magnificent performance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” LDGish.blogspot.com editor James Patterson returned home to find in his mailbox a resolution from the State of Alabama honoring his father for his National Guard service at Selma in March 1965. The year 2014 is the 49^th anniversary of the historic march.

Patterson has something more in common with Smith. She was recipient of the Lillian Gish Arts Prize in February 2013 in New York. Patterson enjoyed a friendship with Miss Gish from the late-1960s. In the 1920s Miss Gish was considered an artist more than a movie star. Today, Smith is considered an artist.

When 1920s era film magazines asked readers to name the greatest artists in silent film, Charlie Chaplin was the frequent choice for male artist while Miss Gish was frequent choice for female artist.

This divine occurrence of attending Grace Cathedral and receiving the honor from Alabama, is another of many times when my life has taken a positive turn connected in a way with my friendship with Miss Gish.  Photos below.

James Patterson

Life Member Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum

Member, California Historical Society

Member, Alabama Historical Association

 

US Army veteran James G. Patterson who saw service in Korea. Dad often said his National Guard Service at Selma was more dangerous than Korea. Many of those who served with him in the Alabama National Guard also recalled the intensity of the service due to threatened Klan violence. Dad and his fellow Guardsmen were trained with M-1 rifles and instructed by commanders to use them on any bystanders who ran toward the marchers, especially Dr. King. One of the commanding officers told the Guardsmen Dr. King might be killed but "he's not going to be killed in Selma."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace Cathedral's alter before Anna Deavere Smith's performance. At play's end, the entirety of Dr. King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" were projected across the church. It was amazing! Sold-out performance.

 

 

One of the many signs around Grace's exterior frontage inviting people to attend he service. I had an orchestra seat, D 1, three rows from the stage. California Episcopal Bishop Marc Handley Andrus, formerly Alabama Episcopal Bishop, and his wife, sat a few seats away me. We exchanged greetings and spoke briefly of my residency at St. Dunstan's Episcopal College Center at Auburn University.  

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