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

He Goes Home to Visit His Mother 113 to be slender and petite. Their success was not outstanding. Lillian Gish was demure and blushed at a rude word. The women of America tried this, too, thereby startling their men no end. In the picture the heroine was always shaking down her golden, sunlit hair. Our women shook theirs down, too, but not so successfully as the heroine did. Also the heroine was sweet and demure, but when the right man came along she was all fire. The women of America seemed to succeed better here. Money began to pour in to Epoch Films Corporation. The first thing that Griffith demanded of the business office was to pay off the individuals who had believed in him and had put up their money. The Reverend Thomas Dixon rejoiced in the spotlight that suddenly fell on him. He said that he had believed in the picture from the very first. Griffith, who had lived in obscurity, was now the mosttalked-of man in America outside of political figures. He was criticized and denounced. Now and then a voice piped up and said he had given the world a new art. Such a person, however, was soon put in his place. His attackers said he was killing "the living theater," as they tenderly called it. The Shuberts announced they would hire no one who had had a prominent part in any movie. This didn't quite demoralize the new and growing group called "movie actors." One who came through with calm nerves was Mary Pickford. An item that kept her from trembling too much at the Shubert thunderings was that she was now making $2,000 a week. D. W. Griffith was thrilled with the overwhelming success of the picture, but secretly looked down on it. It was cheap entertainment for the unthinking masses. He had started out to do something and he had made a success of it. But the thing that he had made a success of was tawdry. The money was coming in; as soon as he had enough of it, he would stop and