The Washington herald., 1916-04-09
Personal Side OF D. w. Griffith as Human
AS His Professional Achievements Are Inspiring
enius of the Screen Whose Mastery Work In The Birth Of
Nation HAS Placed Him So High Above His Fellows Is Gen.
e Unassumng Neighbory and Altogether Regular Guy

Its present startling effect. This Is
another Griffith innovation and the
first time in history that score was
conceived and utilized under such cir
cpmstances.
Griftith's memory Is highly disciplin-
ed. He directed the great spectacle
without a scrap of paper before him,
and after taking portions of IL In odd
lots all over the country he sat down
in the late nights In the studio In Cali
fornia and there worked out In dra-
matte sequence the story as it is IN.
folded on the screen.
One statistician has figured out Grif.
fifth kept In mind a million scenes, ac-
tions, Incidents and details before he
ever began the work Of assembling IL
in narrative form. Not a hitch or an
'inaccuracy got By him. AS an evidence
OF this his secretary tells Of a soldier
who came into view on the film as
bugler all decked out in a spick and
span uniform.
"Great heavensl What were you
thinking ofT' cried Grifith from the
dim shadows Of the projecting room.
why, my boy, you've been lighting
through the hell Of war for four years,
with q half starved and half clothed
army. Go back and get a battered
old uniform, and let's do It all over"
The evolution Of the motion picture
that measured up to the Broadway
standard Of dramatic worth Is not sur.
prising in view of the big strides Of
the mechanical and the concentration
Of big minds with the big ideas on the
silent drama. Il may be said that
Darwin's theory of the law Of natural
selection has worked out in the case of
the motion picture and that the man
with the imaginative faculties has
won out. Gr1fith grew fast with the
development Of the silent drama. He
got too big for the battered trenches,
and he leaped out into the open. He
wanted to spread himself and had to
have room.
His larger pictures had run the Gus.
tomary course Of feature releases"
with increasing success, but after all
they were confined within the limlta.
tions of the business side Of the pres.
entation Of motion pictures. This
meant that they would be seen over
the different circuits that are laid out
in FINLAND and then pass out the same
as others. Their distinctiveness was
noticed. They surpassed other fea.
lures, but after all they were just
Griffith features and could only 60 so
far.
What was there to do to End an out
let? The time came when he had fn-
ished The Birth Of a Nation" He
knew he had a fine piece of work. His
vision extended further than that Of
the men who control the finances of
the motion picture business. A great
sum Of money had been invested in
this undertaking-more than was ever
expended in the making Of a great
spectacle. Nearly a year Of ceaseless
toll lay behind this enormous expense,
and here was the man who had seen
ahead Of his contemporaries, who had
evolved the great American epic, who
had multiplied detail until It was stag.
gering, and with this behind him the
foreglance was not inspiring.
There were so many theaters and so
many states and so many channels
through which It could pass and then
he was done. Griffith IS not an easy
going sort. He knew the limitations
Of the business, and he wanted to
break from this narrow field and go
before that great public which had nev.
er seriously regarded the motion pic
ture as an art possibility.
Behind him he had the record of
several great pictures which had been
hidden like the lights under a bushel.
There was judith Of Bethulia," as
fine a piece of poetic imagery and
rhythmic grouping as the art had ever
developed in America.
For contemporary study of the seamy
side Of American life he had vastly i'm
proved upon the late Paul Armstrong;
somewhat superficial study in heredity.
''The Escape" and made virile thing
of punch and power. He had combined