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Life and Lillian Gish

An authorized biography of Lillian Gish, the renowned silent film star known in her heyday as the First Lady of American Cinema. Albert Bigelow Paine chronicles Gish's early life, her close relationship with her sister Dorothy, her rise in film as an actor with Biograph Studios and muse of D. W. Griffith, her short time as a contract actor with MGM, and her return to the stage in the advent of the talkies. Peppered throughout with intimate and amusing anecdotes, this is a must-read for film historians, silent film enthusiasts, and admirers of one of cinema's legendary talents. (Tomas Peter) (10 hr 2 min)

Chapters

Epigraph

Prologue

A Girl Child, Born with a Caul

Life and a Little Girl

On Nat Goodwin's Shoulder

'Theatre People'

A Little Trouper

Adventures of Dorothy

Mary Pickford in the Scene

'Down the Line'

'Her First False Step'

Dorothy's Tree

'Supporting Bernhardt'

Massillon Days

Where the 'Road' Ends. Nell

A Convent School. Typhoid

Shawnee

It Sounds Like Heaven

'Mr. Biograph'

Griffith's Group of Players

Belasco Delivers a Verdict

A Studio on Pico Street

The Path to Stardom

'Home Sweet Home'

'The Birth of a Nation'

'Intolerance'

There Were No Love Affairs

The Nightmare of War

Under Fire

France

'Hearts of the World'

'Broken Blossoms'

'I Work Such Long Hours'

Director Lillian

'Way Down East'

Sad, Unprofitable Days

Picturing the Reign of Terror

Italy

'The White Sister'

'Romola'

Also, the Intelligentsia

'La Bohême'

'The Scarlet Letter'

'The First Lady of the Screen'

'Wind'

Good-bye California

Reinhardt

The Shadow Speaks

On the Flying Carpet

'One Romantic Night'

'Uncle Vanya'

'Helena' in New York

'The Penalty of Greatness'

Working with Lillian

'Uncle Vanya' Takes the Road

Reliving the Years

A Few Notes

L'Envoi