Chapter I: Front Matter

WHEN THE MOVIES
WERE YOUNG

(_See p. 1_)

_Frontispiece._
]

WHEN THE MOVIES
WERE YOUNG

BY

MRS. D. W. GRIFFITH
(Linda Arvidson)

NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE

COPYRIGHT, 1925,
BY E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

_All rights reserved_

_Printed in the United States of America_

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. ELEVEN EAST FOURTEENTH STREET 1

II. ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS 8

III. CLIMACTERIC--AN EARTHQUAKE AND A MARRIAGE 14

IV. YOUNG AMBITIONS AND A FEW JOLTS 22

V. THE MOVIES TEMPT 29

VI. MOVIE ACTING DAYS--AND AN “IF” 37

VII. D. W. GRIFFITH DIRECTS HIS FIRST MOVIE 45

VIII. DIGGING IN 53

IX. FIRST PUBLICITY AND EARLY SCENARIOS 62

X. WARDROBE--AND A FEW PERSONALITIES 71

XI. MACK SENNETT GETS STARTED 77

XII. ON LOCATION--EXPERIENCES PLEASANT AND OTHERWISE 82

XIII. AT THE STUDIO 90

XIV. MARY PICKFORD HAPPENS ALONG 99

XV. ACQUIRING ACTORS AND STYLE 108

XVI. CUDDEBACKVILLE 115

XVII. “PIPPA PASSES” FILMED 127

XVIII. GETTING ON 134

XIX. TO THE WEST COAST 143

XX. IN CALIFORNIA AND ON THE JOB 155

XXI. BACK HOME AGAIN 173

XXII. IT COMES TO PASS 184

XXIII. THE FIRST TWO-REELER 190

XXIV. EMBRYO STARS 201

XXV. MARKING TIME 208

XXVI. THE OLD DAYS END 221

XXVII. SOMEWHAT DIGRESSIVE 234

XXVIII. “THE BIRTH OF A NATION” 245

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Biograph’s studio, Eleven East Fourteenth Street _Frontispiece_

“Lawrence” Griffith 6

Linda Arvidson (Mrs. David W. Griffith) 7

Linda Arvidson (Mrs. Griffith), David W. Griffith and Harry
Salter, in “When Knights were Bold” 22

Marion Davies, Forrest Stanley, Ruth Shepley and Ernest
Glendenning in “When Knighthood was in Flower” 22

Advertising Bulletin for “Balked at the Altar” 23

Biograph Mutoscope of the murder of Stanford White 38

The first Biograph Girl, Florence Lawrence, in “The Barbarian” 39

From “The Politician’s Love Story” 39

The brilliant social world of early movie days 54

“Murphy’s,” where members of Biograph’s original stock company
consumed hearty breakfasts 55

From “Edgar Allan Poe” 70

Herbert Pryor, Linda Griffith, Violet Mersereau and Owen Moore in
“The Cricket on the Hearth” 70

“Little Mary” portraying the type of heroine that won her a
legion of admirers 71

Register of Caudebec Inn at Cuddebackville 71

Caudebec Inn at Cuddebackville 86

From “The Mended Lute,” made at Cuddebackville 86

Frank Powell, Mr. Griffith’s first $10-a-day actor, with Marion
Leonard in “Fools of Fate” 86

Richard Barthelmess with Nazimova in “War Brides” 87

From “Wark” to “work,” with only the difference of a vowel 102

Biograph’s one automobile 102

Annie Lee. From “Enoch Arden,” the first two-reel picture 103

Jeanie Macpherson, Frank Grandin, Linda Griffith and Wilfred
Lucas in “Enoch Arden” 103

The vessel that was towed from San Pedro. From “Enoch Arden” 103

The Norwegian’s shack. From “Enoch Arden” 103

The most artistic fireside glow of the early days 118

The famous “light effect” 118

From “The Mills of the Gods” 119

Biograph’s first Western studio 119

A desert caravan of the early days 134

From “The Last Drop of Water,” one of the first two-reelers 134

Mabel Normand “off duty” 135

Joe Graybill, Blanche Sweet and Vivian Prescott in “How She
Triumphed” 150

Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand and Fred Mace in a “Keystone Comedy” 151

Lunch on the “lot,” Biograph’s “last word” studio, the second
year 151

Mary Pickford as a picturesque Indian 166

The Hollywood Inn, the setting for “The Dutch Gold Mine” 167

From “Comrades,” the first picture directed by Mack Sennett 167

Mary Pickford’s first picture, “The Violin Maker of Cremona” 182

Mary Pickford’s second picture, “The Lonely Villa” 182

Mary Pickford and Mack Sennett in “An Arcadian Maid” 183

Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett, Joe Graybill and Marion Sunshine in
“The Italian Barber” 183

Linda Griffith and Mr Mackay in “Mission Bells,” a Kinemacolor
picture play 198

A rain effect of early days at Kinemacolor’s Los Angeles studio 199

A corner of Biograph’s stylish Bronx studio 214

The beginning of the Griffith régime at 4500 Sunset Boulevard 215

Blanche Sweet and Kate Bruce in “Judith of Bethulia,” the first
four-reel picture directed by D. W. Griffith 230

Lillian Russell and Gaston Bell in a scene illustrative of her
beauty lectures, taken in Kinemacolor 231

Sarah Bernhardt, the first “Famous Player” 231

WHEN THE MOVIES
WERE YOUNG

WHEN THE MOVIES WERE YOUNG