Jim Patterson, Lillian Gish and 1928's The Enemy

A few weeks ago, I saw scenes from Lillian's 1928 "The Enemy." This film is considered lost as the final reels are, as yet, unavailable in any collection. I liked what I saw of Lillian in the film and wondered if it existed in final form, what film historians would say of the work and Lilian's performance today.

Here is what Time magazine had to say about the film in its January 9, 1928, edition.

The Enemy. Two years ago in Manhattan, Playwright Channing Pollack offered theater-goers a play whose purpose was to prove the too often demonstrated assertion that War is Hell. Transposed now to the more extensive medium of the cinema, The Enemy monotonously but accurately hammers the nail of that assertion into the stout oak of the public intelligence.

The story is that of a young American who is roused from his wedding breakfast by the call to arms. His bride waits for him, trying to find money with which to buy food for herself and her baby, her mind always a battlefield of fears and sorrows. At last the young lieutenant who is supposed to have been killed. re-appears for a  conclusion that weakens, somewhat, the effect of the picture's sound and peaceful propaganda.

Brilliant direction by Fred Niblo does much to whip up a story that is pulling a heavy wagon of argument. But most of the credit for making The Enemy an engrossing and beautiful moving picture must go to Actress Lillian Gish, in the role of the wife whom war has robbed.

Now, 29,Actress Gish appeared on the stage for the first time when she was 4 years old at a salary of $10 weekly. Now she has $8,000 a week, a police-dog, a canary, a gluttonous appetite for licorice, and a reputation for frail, golden haired beauty that has suggested. in recent popular song, this recipe for exceptional loveliness: "Put Cleopatra in dish, add a dash of Lillian Gish."


I am hopeful a full print of The Enemy will surface somewhere in the world. Miracles do happen.







In a September 24, 1927 letter from I.G. Thalberg to Lillian, he addressed The Enemy in the third paragraph.

"The Enemy" looks very fine. It is still a trifle long and due to the fact that we just put out The Wind, I have not ruched on the editing of that picture, but you have nothing to worry about there. In fact, I think it will probably prove to be one of your most successful pictures."  Jim Note: We may never know  unless a full print can be found.


 Jim Patterson, Editor
www.LDGish.blogspot.com

Jim Patterson, Lillian Gish singing in Broadway Musical Jubilee

Here is our Playbill for Musical Jubliee at the St. James Theater. 

I had Christmas break and since I wanted to hear Lillian sing I was off, then by bus, to New York.

Here is Lillian's photo from the cover of Musical Jubilee Playbill. She was listed as "special guest star" for the production.

Here is the cast page from the Musical Jubilee Playbill from 1975. "and Special Guest Star Lillian Gish" just above title of the play.



Lillian's first song came in the tribute to the American military in Act I. She "sang" "I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier." It was a hit in 1912. She received large applause and did a commendable job, I thought. Lillian and Dorothy made their film debut, Twilight Zone theme music, in 1912.

Also in Act I, Lillian "sang" a hit from 1910 "Moonstruck"  This is interesting because Lillian was widely expected to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in 1987 for her last film "The Whales of August." Instead, Cher got the Oscar for, Twilight Zone music, her role in "Moonstruck."

In Act II, Lillian performed with Patrice Munsel and Tammy Grimes. Their song: 1928's "I Wanna Be Loved By You" written by Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar. At MGM in 1928, Lillian starred as Letty in "Le Vent."

Lillian's final song was the Gershwin's 1927 hit  "S Wonderful" which she performed as a solo.


The Who's Who in the Cast bio on Lillian has errors. It said she made her screen debut in 1913 when it was 1912 in Griffith's "An Unseen Enemy." A glaring mistake: It says "The Birth of a Nation" was from 1916. Who wrote that? So many errors in Lillian's publicity!

Jim Patterson, Editor
LDGish.blogspot.com

James Patterson Lillian Gish and McTeague's Saloon in San Francisco

Writer James Patterson at McTeague's Saloon in San Francisco. Lillian's letters are on my flash drive. The restaurant derives its name from the Frank Norris novel of the same name that became the incredible 1924 Erich von Stroheim film nine hour "Greed." One of the most starling endings of any film.


Navarro's Silent Film Guide says of the surviving version of "Greed," it is still considered a classic. von Stroheim famously accused the film editors of "butchery." Leading lady Zasu Pitts is strangely attractive as Trina. I could not immediately find a Lillian quote on the film and her autobiography, "The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me," does not mention the film or its director.

James Patterson, Editor
LDGish.blogspot.com
JamesPatterson705@gmail.com