Star maker : the story of D. W. Griffith (1959)

He Directs His First Picture 31 it. Another was 'Ostler Joe, the retelling of a famous poem; it was released June 9, this same year. He did not bother to see it. Linda thought it was splendid. Luck continued to walk with him. David sold other stories and, now that Mr. McCutcheon's attention had been directed to him, David was given acting parts, which he accepted, not with the elation that Linda experienced, but as a lowly way to make money. Most of the actors, as soon as they got their hands on the money, slid out of the studio as fast as they could. Griffith stayed, watching the director, absorbed in the details of putting a scene on the screen. Mr. McCutcheon noticed this. One day he said, "Griffith, you seem to take an interest in things. How would you like to direct a picture?" Griffith was taken by surprise. He didn't know whether he wanted to or not, he said. If he failed as a director, the studio would drop him and he wouldn't get another acting job. "I promise you that if you fail I'll still keep you on as an actor," McCutcheon said. "I'll take it, Mr. McCutcheon." That night he told Linda the news. "Now you'll get some place," she said. "It'll give us some money until I sell something," he said. Griffith began to turn over in his mind how he would direct a picture, and the details he would give it. The title that had been clapped on the story was The Adventures of Dolly. Dolly was a baby who got mixed up in as strange an adventure as anybody could want. She was kidnaped by gypsies; when pursuers were hard upon their trail, they put the unlucky child in a barrel and sent her down the river and over the falls. It would make people hold their breath, said the now friendly Mr. McCutcheon. The story