I am going to attempt to write each day for a full week about Ladies... films that starred women, directed, written, anything where women were prominent in the making of the film. This Girl Week is hosted by Dell On Movies, another mad movie nut whom you should take a look at because he has seen some fun films especially the bad ass gals from the 60s and 70s like Pamela Grier. Here is my first entry...
WAY DOWN EAST-1920-STARRING LILLIAN GISH(OCT. 14, 1893-FEB. 27, 1993)
The great Lillian Gish stars in a melodrama, directed by D.W. Griffith, about an innocent, naive woman who is duped by an a-hole into believing they get married. He knocks her up before revealing it was all a sham and leaving her to deal with the townsfolk and her family. She has the baby but, the baby dies and, disgraced, she leaves town and ends up at the steps of a lovely family with a very nice young man, played by Richard Barthelmess. The climatic scene took place in a real blizzard where the cameraman, Billy Bitzer, made a small fire under his camera so it would not freeze. Lillian's face was frozen from the winds and, when she ended up on the ice flow, she decided to have her hair and hand in the frigid waters. Afterward, part of her hair literally broke off and her hand suffered nerve damage and gave her pain for the rest of her life.
Lillian was one of the first actresses to be known by name (the first was Florence Lawrence) starting in 1912. She became a stock actress with D. W. Griffith working in his films for many years and spoke highly of him until her dying day. She believed the Silent Cinema was the best form since everyone around the world could enjoy the films and not be hindered by the language barrier. She was also strong in her belief to not enter World War 2 since she saw the horrors of World War 1 first hand.
Lillian and her sister, Dorothy, opened their home to young actresses who came to Hollywood hoping for a career, and made sure they were taken care of. The home is now an exclusive hotel (I think the hotel built on from pictures I looked at). Lillian fell out of favour in the mid to late 20s, so she returned to the stage and received many accolades before returning to film in the mid 40s.
She looked quite waif-like but was made of sturdy stock surviving the flu from 1918 (50 million died), going above and beyond in her films, if she thought it would give a greater effect. She learned French, German and Italian when she lived, for a time, in Europe. Showed John Huston and Burt Lancaster up, who were going to teach her how to shoot, when she shot more accurately and faster then them because she was taught how to shoot by the western outlaw Al J. Jennings.
In 1976, the Bowling Green State University named their Theatre and Film Department after Lillian and Dorothy Gish(she was an actress as well) and Lillian attended. Over the years, they received memorabilia and photos to be displayed plus they received donations from her friends and associates to enlarge it. Unfortunately, in 2019, the Black Student Union called to have her name taken off because of her involvement in the horrible film, "The Birth Of A Nation." Her name was taken off of it which is a shame. Over 50 famous people from Helen Mirren, James Earl Jones to Martin Scorsese signed a petition to have her name reinstated. I would have signed this as well. Gish's other worthy films of notes:
Broken Blossoms-1919 (also quite racist but take it for the times)
Orphans Of The Storm-1921 (stars her sister, Dorothy, as well)
The White Sister-1923
The Scarlet Letter-1926
La Boheme-1926
The Wind-1928
Duel In The Sun-1946
The Night Of The Hunter-1955
The Whales of August-1987
I abhor that film (The Birth Of A Nation) from the moment I saw it and do believe her reverence for Griffith is rose coloured to say the least, but her acting and what she gave to the world should never be diminished. The memorabilia did show pictures from this film but I think it should still be shown, but have it put in place by African American scholars, film makers etc who can shed the horrors of what this film did to resurrect the evil and vile KKK. I love this actress but I don't agree with everything she stated and I hate censorship. One must learn from history so it has a tougher time to repeat itself. Just a thought...
By the way, the early times of Cinema up until the later 1920s, had a huge amount of women in front and behind the camera. Check out Alice Guy, a director (great documentary I watched called "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blanche" narrated by Jodie Foster. Lois Weber(starred, directed and wrote her films), Lotte Reiniger an animator who developed the multi-planed camera that Disney took and further developed it for his works. Writers were plenty like Anita Loos, Frances Marion, June Mathis and even a producer, African-American, named Maria P. Williams-an amazing lady!
Sorry for the lengthy post:)
Hi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see you well enough to participate in another hop, dear friend! You put together an enlightening essay paying tribute to silent film star Lillian Gish. I have the utmost respect for Lillian and the filmmakers who braved the harsh elements, shooting in an actual blizzard to bring us Way Down East. It's amazing that she was willing to sacrifice and suffer injury for her craft. As you know, there are other examples of silent era film makers doing things like that, but few if any present day actors, actresses or camera operators would put themselves out there to such an extent for the sake of sheer realism, not when there are green screens and FX at their disposal. I have read about the making of this film before, perhaps here on your blog a few years ago, or maybe I studied it in my college course. I honestly can't remember.
I tend to agree with you that Lillian's name should not have been stripped from Bowling Green's Theatre and Film Department on the basis of her involvement in Birth of a Nation (a film I did study in college). I don't think such calls to action help the cause. In fact, I believe they hurt it by turning more people against the movement.
I am a fan of Annabeth Gish, and I jumped over to the Wiki article about her to make sure my memory was correct that she is not related to Lillian or Dorothy. Wiki has this interesting tidbit:
<< Gish is not, as has been frequently reported, related to the early silent film actress sisters Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish. When Gish first became interested in acting, she wrote a letter to Lillian Gish, who replied by encouraging Annabeth to stay away from the business. Lillian wrote, "There's too much talent and not enough work in the movies!" >>
Thanks for a wonderful piece on Lillian Gish and related topics. I wish you a safe and happy week, dear friend BB!
I have spoken about this film before but can’t recall when. I found out that Annabeth Gish was not related to the Gish gals but I didn’t know she got a letter from Lillian which is cool. I’m glad you think like me about her name being reinstated because it is about her body of work but I do believe that it needs to be shown how horrible that film is and the display needs to reflect what it did for film but, more importantly, how it affected the African Americans across the U. S.
DeleteHi Birgit - I applaud your knowledge about Lillian Gish - a name I know, but I'm not sure I've seen any of her work. One day I hope to correct this and watch one or two of her films ... nice to see you posting, as obviously feeling easier with life. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI am feeling better but I still can’t sit up for a long time at the computer sadly, I am getting better and that’s the main thing. I hope you can see one of her films one day.
DeleteI am generally for taking names/likenesses off of things for the racists, but in this case it did go too far. I have seen Birth of a Nation, and it is abhorrent. (I think my jaw was on the floor for half of it for the blatant racism.) But she didn't make it.
ReplyDeleteFunny story. I had wanted to see the movie just because, but when it was supposed to be on TV, it was preempted due to the "sensitive nature". My brother got me a copy on VHS. I watched it once. Not interested in seeing it again. A few years later, I sold all my VHS tapes at a garage sale. I sold Birth of a Nation (and many of the tapes) to an African-American man. I wonder what he did with it.
I know Whoopi Goldberg actually collects racist figurines etc.. from a special she did with Barbara Walters. She said she collects them because of the racist ways things were made. I wonder if the African American was a teacher or something to show how racism is imbedded in the U. S. And that this film reignited the horrible KKK.
DeleteCould be. I wouldn't be surprised. It totally shocked me how the KKK was presented as some sort of hero organization. Crazy.
DeleteI'm not familiar with this one but love the idea of a girls' week.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're resting.
Hugs
It seems like a fun week and I am trying to sit up more and for longer periods.
DeleteHi Birgit. Hope you are feeling better and all is well. I'm playing catch up tonight as we were away. Lillian Gish had a really long life didn't she? I enjoyed this post and look forward to tomorrow's post.
ReplyDeleteShe did have a long life and was quite a strong little lady. I hope you had a nice time away.
DeleteGlad to hear you are coming along slow but sure, sometimes that's the best way so you can heal fully!
ReplyDeleteThe ending of Way Down East is memorable but the rest is the purpliest of old time melodrama. Lillian is good in it but she's been better and certainly appeared in better films.
From what I've seen her best silent is The Wind followed by Orphans of the Storm. Of her sound films I think Night of the Hunter is the unquestionable best, the rest of her talkies are a very variable lot. She's good in Whales of August but the picture is draggy and Duel in the Sun is an overblown misfire. I like Dorothy Gish as well though her output and impact is smaller.
The fervor with which the PC police are stripping names from building, statues etc. is out of hand. Taking down Confederate statues, plaques and so forth fine, those people were fighting against our democracy but to censure performers who simply participated, sometimes without a choice because they were under contract, is absurd. And the complete lack of taking the context of the time the work was created into consideration is terribly narrowminded. The Lillian Gish situation reminds me of what happened to the statue of Kate Smith that had greeted Flyers fans in Philadelphia for decades. Because she sang one racist song in the 30's (!) which wasn't seen as particularly racist at the time and which being as I said under contract she was given to sing they decided to negate the years of loyalty she showed the team, she was their mascot for decades and they played her version of God Bless America before every game they've removed her tribute statue and stripped her name from the stadium. Very sad and ridiculous.
Look forward to what else you'll be sharing! I sent a couple of posts to Dell and he'll be posting them over on his blog! Keep an eye out. :-)
I so want to see The Wind and Orphans Of the Storm plus the other silent I mentioned. This is pure melodrama for sure and archaic but I just love that scene at the end. Duel in the Sun is hilarious and I watch it because of that.
DeleteI did not hear that about Kate Smith and that is disgusting. For all she did for the veterans and how sensitive she was, I could see her crying over being this misjudged and dealt so horribly. This shows how little people know and why education is important.
I have heard of both Lilian and Dorothy Gish, but have never seen any of their films. I am going to enjoy your girl week and this latest blog hop.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are slowly getting better, and I applaud you for sharing this story, too. I feel sorry for people who are contracted to do something and it turns out to be racist years later. It's a bit like we send boys (and girls) to war, expect them to fight and kill, then come home all sane and happy.
Rest, relax, and enjoy this time. You deserve it.
I’m glad you enjoyed reading this and you are so right to compare it to veterans. They are to zealous, all around, and need to be educated. I am taking it easy for sure
DeleteHey Birgit! Glad to hear that you're feeling better. Thanks for doing this. I am beyond happy to hear you're going to attempt multiple posts this year! I've only seen Gish in The Birth of a Nation, and yeah, the less I say about that film the better, other than to say that it shouldn't be locked away never to be seen again. It should be shown to shed light on the horrors it helped bring about by making the KKK more popular. To a lesser extent, its technical advancements are integral to the advancement of cinema as an artform. I don't know enough about Gish to really say where I fall on having her name removed from things. I'll just note that I hope her admiration for Griffith was about his craftsmanship and not because of sharing troublesome viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to see what else you cook up this week, Birgit!
I agree with what you say and I think she would forgive Griffith anything. She knew he had a high regard for his father and grandfather who were for the Confederates. I just believe she gave so much for her craft. I don’t think she was racist but her blind spot needs to be looked at. This does not mean she should be vilified and have her name taken off when people do not know her love for her art. She gave money to help women men her craft and to universities to help the film and theatre depts.
DeleteThis is interesting! I've never heard of this, so I'm happy to start Girl Week learning about something new!
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you liked this post and hope you like the others
DeleteIn my opinion, Lillian Gish is the greatest silent actress! The Wind is probably my favorite Gish movie. BTW, one of my favorite movie anecdotes comes from Whales of August (1987): After the director complemented Gish for performing a pitch-perfect close-up, Bette Davis snapped back, "She should, she invented them." Anyhow, thanks for the lovely post, I enjoyed it!
ReplyDelete