• Dorothy Gish circa 1917
    Uncategorized

    Happy Birthday Dorothy Gish

    Happy 125th birthday to Dorothy Elizabeth Gish. I absolutely love this portrait of Dorothy circa 1917-1918 looking mischievous and wearing the black wig seen in most of her Artcraft films between 1917-1919. Why the powers that be elected to hide Dorothy’s more natural blonde locks is anyone’s guess. This portrait by Little has captured Dorothy’s delightful personality here. As a photo maven, any information on this photographer has been elusive in my research. The soft focus seems to catch her just before she bursts into peals of laughter. She looks much like the cat that captured the canary. This photo does inspire because this is the person I want to…

  • Uncategorized

    Musings on Photographs

    While I’ve not been aggressively on the hunt for photos of Dorothy, it is hard not to pass up a great image. One thing I have noticed, candid shots of her seem to be relatively rare. I have found some, with her husband James Rennie and several with sister Lillian. Not very often shots of Dorothy by herself. I’ve got a few. Dorothy and Lillian looking very chic just above. I suspect now that I am back to sorting papers and such, I will be paying more attention to eBay searches for great photos of Dorothy. In fact, I purchased two fantastic photos of her just last week.    

  • Uncategorized

    Dorothy Gish and Rudolph Valentino

    In reviewing a few interviews with Dorothy Gish, I came upon some anecdotes that were naturally of great interest.  I thought I’d share the gist of them here. Dorothy starred in a film in 1919 called Out of Luck (aka Nobody Home) and one of her leading men in the film was a young Italian by the name of Rudolph Valentino.  The film was supervised by D.W. Griffith and directed by Griffith alumnus Elmer Clifton.  Dorothy plays a young woman who is unable to make a decision between two suitors.  Valentino was cast as the slightly shady and villianous suitor.  It was he to whom the stars pointed as the man…