Lillian and Dorothy Gish as Young Conspirators

Lillian and Dorothy Gish as Young Conspirators
Friday February 24, 1956
Mirror, Only Human by Sidney Fields

"Quick Maturity: When she was 15 Lillian Gish was hired to play the part of a mother with small babes in D. W. Griffith's melodrama, "The Mothering Heart." The film studios were then on 14th Street near Hearne's department store. Griffith always rehearsed his cast for several weeks before he started shooting. After the first rehearsal he concluded sadly that the beauteous Lillian just wasn't mature enough to play a mother with babies.

Lillian rushed to her sister Dorothy and, after putting their heads together, returned to the set, Lillian mincing about under Griffith's nose. He took a second look, decided she appeared much older somehow, and put her in the cast.

And what did the Gish girls do to make Lillian grow up so suddenly? They simply walked into Hearn's and equipped Lillian with a pair of substantial falsies."

Comment: Victorian minded Griffith and eternally virginal leading lady Gish learned at the making of this film that Motherhood must be realistically portrayed. It wasn't a case of "sex sells" but "Motherhood sells." Lillian played a young mother in "Way Down East," directed by Griffith in 1920, but by that time physically looked the part. It wasn't a case of "sex sells

Lovely photograph of Lillian (L) and Dorothy Gish before DW. Uncredited.








Jim Patterson, Editor
www.LDGish.blogspot.com

Lillian Gish and the Very Slow US Postal Service

This is the Postal Service's canned response to the thousands of requests for a Forever stamp in honor of Lillian Gish. Most people get only a postcard. If you ask your US Congressperson to send your request to the Postmaster General, you will get a longer letter of acknowledgment. I keep waiting for the letter telling me "Lillian Gish is among those prominent figures selected by the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee for recognition." Some day this letter will arrive in my mailbox or inbox.

Jim Patterson, Editor
www.LDGish.blogspot.com

Lillian Gish and Kukla Fran and Ollie

This was the beginning of their correspondence. Lillian often said as a child she never learned to play like other children. Her life was always work and she was always focused on her work and her next gig. These characters gave her the opportunity to see the enjoyment children of a different era could have from something called playtime. She enjoyed the work of Walt Disney and appeared in several of his films. In some newspaper articles, she spoke of Tillstrom and his characters in a similar way she spoke of Disney. She told one New York reporter, in a clipping I located, Tillstrom created a different world for young minds.

Obviously this stationery was designed for kids. Mrs. Gish was delighted to have and never parted with it. For Miss Gish's childhood reflections see her last book "An Actor's Life for Me," which the NYT termed a "masterpiece."

Jim Patterson, Editor
www.LDGish.blogspot.com

Lillian Gish's Patience

A Star’s Patience with a Monitor Error

Jim Patterson 415 516 3493

Patience was often cited by friends and colleagues as a fundamental personal quality of silent screen actress Lillian Gish.

“She has an inexhaustible fund of patience,” said Phyllis Moir, Miss Gish’s secretary during her final years in Hollywood.  

Perhaps Lillian Gish developed patience while making silent films in which a director prepared her for a scene by shooting at her with a gun loaded with real bullets. Later, she placed her neck in a guillotine for a scene in the 1922 film “Orphans of the Storm.”

Miss Gish also needed patience when the Christian Science Monitor’s Arthur Unger interviewed her for a 1975 article. Unger reported on some of Miss Gish’s then current film related projects.

Aside from lecturing on silent film, she hosted a 12-week silent film series for the Public Broadcasting System. Unger’s article appeared in the Monitor July 31, 1975, and was syndicated nationally.

“She is a delicate woman who still projects an often- of- the-storm quality of beauty, tentative vulnerability – and, yet, firm resolve and intelligence,” Unger wrote.

Obviously, he intended to reference Miss Gish’s film “Orphans of the Storm” and something went terribly wrong from his copy to the Monitor’s pages and the pages of newspapers across the country who ran the article.

Unger mailed Miss Gish a clipping of the article with a letter, dated August 4, 1975. He wrote to return two photographs he used for the article. He also offered an apology.

“Please excuse the various typographical errors over which I have no control (often-of-the –storm, would you believe?),” he wrote.

After suggesting a more complete story about Miss Gish, Unger wrote, “Thanks for your time….and your patience.”

I corresponded with Miss Gish for nearly 30 years and I, too, can attest to her great patience. Our correspondence began when I was in high school and saw her in a TV production of “Arsenic and Old Lace” with her longtime friend actress Helen Hayes.

Miss Gish’s enthusiasm for her work appealed to me and I became a lifelong student of her films and writings.

I never sought acting advice from her as I was not interested in such a career. What I got from her was an appreciation for her enthusiasm for her work and, of course, her patience.

Looking back at her mail and photographs always comforts and relaxes me. It is a gift she had and I am forever grateful she shared it with me.

Since Miss Gish’s film career began in 1912 it is an understatement to say film technology has advanced. Film is simply in a different world today.

Likewise journalism. The typographical errors Unger had “no control” over are a thing of the past. Technology, spell checkers and digital corrections, has rendered errors obsolete.

Still, actors, journalists and readers need patience in doing their work and coping with modern life. Miss Gish, who never had a serious illness, lived to be 99. Perhaps, based on her example, patience leads to a healthy and long life. If so, I am glad I got a start on in high school.

(Note: Unger's papers are at the University of Missouri.)

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