Lillian Gish
Perhaps none of the young women now appearing in motion pictures has arisen more rapidly in popular favor than has Lillian Gish, one of the Majestic stars, who is now only seventeen years old. She gained her first stage experience in Springfield, her home city, when six years of age. Her aunt was a member of a theatrical company playing The Little Red Schoolhouse. A child was needed in the play and Miss Gish was pressed into service. She went out on the road with the company and remained several weeks.
Miss Gish was ambitious to be a dancer. After taking a course in fancy dancing, she became one of the fairy dancers with Sarah Bernhardt during one of her American tours, when eight years old. After two years with Bernhardt, Miss Gish quit the stage and entered a girls’ school where she remained until she was fifteen. She then left school and went to New York to complete her dancing course.
The natural poise and power of expression possessed by Miss Gish attracted D. W. Griffith’s attention and he promptly engaged her for the Biograph Company. This was two years ago. Under the able instruction of Mr. Griffith, Miss Gish made rapid progress, and in less than a year she was considered one of the foremost emotional actresses in silent drama. When Mr. Griffith left the Biograph to become chief producer of the Reliance and Majestic companies in the Mutual Film Corporation, Miss Gish went with him.
With only two years’ experience before the motion picture camera, Miss Gish has gained the distinction of being one of the most natural emotional actresses in the silent drama. Her chief charm lies in her natural poise. She seems to live in the part she is endeavoring to portray, and in the art of conveying her emotions to the motion picture screen, without resorting to gestures of unnatural facial expressions, Miss Gish is probably without a peer.
Miss Gish has two hobbies — collecting rare old books and playing golf. She is a keen student of literature and very fond of Shakespeare’s works. She is also a lover of poetry, with Tennyson’s poems as her favorites. She appeared recently in The Battle of the Sexes, Home, Sweet Home, and other Griffith productions.
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$80,000 Theater for Detroit.
Detroit Theaters, Inc., 1106 Union Trust Building, Detroit, Mich., composed of William F. Klatt as president, and James Strasburg as secretary-treasurer, is to build an $80,000 picture house in Woodward Avenue, between Englewood and Rosedale Avenues, that city. Plans have been completed by William B. Stratton, architect, and work will be started shortly. The structure will be two stories in height, of brick and stucco with stone and marble trimmings. The name of the house will be the Rosedale, and it will have a seating capacity of 1,800. The appointments will be luxurious and the furnishings will be of the first order. A pipe organ of the latest type will be one of the numerous interesting features.
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Sullivan Purchases Grand Theater.
C. S. Sullivan, proprietor of the Royal at Escanaba, Mich., has purchased the Grand Theater in that town. Mr. Sullivan has completely remodeled his latest acquisition, making it one of the most handsome and up-to-date picture houses in upper Michigan. It has a seating capacity of 350. The projection battery consists of two Simplex projectors and a Mercury Arc Rectifier. The pictures are projected upon a Gold Fibre screen, and the X-Ray lighting system is used. The program is changed three times a week — Monday, Thursday and Sunday. The house had been closed for about eight months before Mr. Sullivan took it, and business has been excellent since the house has been under its new management.
Collection: Moving Picture World, June 1914
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see also Ernest Shipman (1914)