DW Griffith -- A Return Engagement by Special Request -- March 10, 2022

Evening Capital and Maryland Gazette, 22-March-1922

Way Down East, released in 1920, was still touring the country, doing big business.

Alexandria Gazette, 13-March-1922

Caldwell Tribune, 21-March-1922

Meanwhile Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation was still in release, giving aid and comfort to the second Ku Klux Klan.

Richard Barthelmess, 125 -- May 9, 2020

www.listal.com

Actor Richard Barthelmess was born 125 years ago today, on 09-May-1895. He played leads opposite Lillian Gish in two movies directed by DW Griffith, Broken Blossoms and Way Down East.  Barthelmess joined with Charles Duell and director Henry King to form the Inspiration Picture Company.  Their first production was Tol'able David, which became a huge hit.  After the talkies started, he dropped from the lead in the original Dawn Patrol to smaller parts. 

He served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II.  He left the film business after the war. 

Photoplay, June, 1925

Bessie Love #15 -- March 10, 2014

I have always been fascinated by the career of actress Bessie Love.  She was born in Texas.  Her name was Juanita Horton.  Her family moved to Los Angeles and she went to Los Angeles High School.  Looking for work, she met director  DW Griffith and got a small part in Intolerance.  She appeared in movies with William S Hart and Douglas Fairbanks.  She was a 1922 WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star.  She played many leading roles, most famously in The Lost World, but never broke through until the talkies came, when she starred in The Broadway Melody.  Her career was hot again for a few years, but then tailed off.  She continued to appear in small parts in movies until the early 1980s.


In this item from the June, 1925 Photoplay, Bessie Love relaxes on Miami Beach with director John Robertson and leading man Richard Barthelmess "after finishing a day's work on Soul-Fire."