Sue Sue Applegate wrote:Dear Mr. Birchard,
I feel we are so privileged to have you with us here at SSO, and we are all grateful to Lynn for arranging your visit.
One of my favorite actresses is Lillian Gish, and I was wondering what insights you might give us about her life and her films, and if she and Mr. De Mille ever crossed paths much socially or professionally.
Miss Gish once said that "I've never been in style, so I can't go out of style," but maybe you might illuminate those moments when she was "in style." Her longevity, and her brilliant performance in Night of the Hunter decades after her first screen performance certainly reveal her dedication to her craft and her expertise , and I was hoping you might comment on her body of work.
Thank you.
Thanks for the kind words.
I'm sure that Gish and DeMille must have met along the way, but they never worked together, and there's no indication that they were close socially.
My thoughts on Lillian Gish are somewhat random. I remember seeing her in person at UCLA's Royce Hall a number of years ago when she brought her one-woman show to town. The evening consisted of her reminiscenses and film clips. Most of what she said was readily available in the many published interviews she gave and in her own book, but what I remember most of the evening was that the clip she showed from "The Wind" was accompanied only by a track of wind blowing sound effects, and it was an eerie, appropriate and highly effective way to treat the climactice scenes.
The most startling Lillian Gish screen role for me was in "Annie Laurie," which I saw at Cinecon 25 in Cleveland, Ohio, the last of Cinecon's roving years before it settled in Los Angeles. The film was screened at an Arts auditorium, and organist Bob Vaughan was seated behind the screen and could only see the film via a tiny, flickering TV monitor mounted on the organ console, but he really made the film come alive. In many ways the film is a "by-the-numbers" Gish vehicle, with moments from her famous films dusted off, slightly modified, and trotted out again because "If they loved it once, they'll love it again." But the film was absolutely magical with Bob Vaughn's score that day. And director John Robertson became a favorite of mine, and he hasn't disappointed as I've been able to see some of his other films since, including "Captain Salvation" (1927), "The Bright Shawl" (1923), "The Single Standard" (1929), "His Greatest Gamble" (1934), et. al.
I've also come to know that Miss Lillian's memories were not always 100% accurate (whose are?). She was D.W. Griffith's greatest champion in later years, but when he initially left Biograph in 1913 neither Gish nor any of the other members of the Griffith Stock company quit in protest. They all stayed on at Biograph for several months until he finally landed at Reliance-Majestic, and during this time Gish and Blanche Sweet sometimes worked with director Tony O'Sullivan at Biograph. Gish was not alone in neglecting to remember that Griffith's loyal troupe had not been loyal to the point of foolishness. I asked Blanche Sweet about working with O'Sullivan and she denied she ever worked with him. But I have O'sullivan's scrapbook, so I knew different, but I didn't call her on it.
