LIFE AND LILLIAN GISH
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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
OF CANADA, Limited
TORONTO
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[Illustration: “HELENA”]
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LIFE AND LILLIAN GISH
ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE
_New York_
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
_1932_
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Copyright, 1932,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
All rights reserved—no part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission in writing from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief
passages in connection with a review written
for inclusion in magazine or newspaper.
Set up and printed. Published October, 1932.
_Printed, in the United States of America by_
J. J. LITTLE AND IVES COMPANY, NEW YORK
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“Tranquilly, Lillian Gish sits, dressed in white organdie, her ash blond
hair down her back, relaxed on the window seat, looking out for hours
into the depths of the California night.
“‘What are you looking at, Lillian?’ Mrs. Gish has asked for years.
“‘Nothing, Mother, just looking.’”
ALLENE TALMEY.
“She is an extraordinarily difficult person to know, and if I hadn’t
gone to live with her ... and been with her through some of the most
trying times of her life, I doubt whether our casual contacts at the
studio would have brought me any intimate knowledge of her. There seems
to be a wall of reserve between her and the outside world, and very few
people ever get through that wall.
“The little things of life simply don’t worry her at all. Gales of
temperament can rage around her—she remains undisturbed.... I have seen
her at a time when anyone else would have been distraught with anxiety,
come quietly in from the set, eat her luncheon calmly and collectedly
(for first of all, Lillian believes in keeping fit for her work), then
pick up some little book of philosophy and read it steadily until they
sent for her.
“She refuses to believe that there are people in the world who are
jealous of her and want to harm her. I remember someone once remarking
that a certain person was jealous of her and hated her, and I can still
see the look of utter surprise on Lillian’s face. But it never made any
difference in her treatment of that person. In fact, I doubt whether she
remembered it when she met her again.
“She is intensely loyal to those who have helped her along the path of
success. She likes to be alone. She has an inexhaustible fund of
patience, and a quiet sense of humor.”
PHYLLIS MOIR
(secretary to Lillian, 1925-27)
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CONTENTS
PART I
I. A Girl Child, Born with a Caul
II. Life and a Little Girl
III. On Nat Goodwin’s Shoulder
IV. “Theatre People”
V. A Little Trouper
VI. Adventures of Dorothy
VII. Mary Pickford in the Scene
VIII. “Down the Line”
IX. “Her First False Step”
X. Dorothy’s Tree
XI. “Supporting Bernhardt”
XII. Massillon Days
XIII. Where the “Road” Ends. Nell
XIV. A Convent School. Typhoid
XV. Shawnee
XVI. It Sounds Like Heaven