ORCHESTRA:

(FANFARE)

(SIGNATURE FADES DOWN UNDER)

 

KEECH:

The makers of Hinds Honey and Almond Cream present the great motion picture director and star discoverer, Mr. D. W. Griffith. Now Mr. Griffith has told you many times how trifles can swing things one way or another for the girls who flock to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Trifles are important to the girl who wants success in her job, too...to the girl who's looking for a husband...or trying to keep one!

Don't have unattractive hands! For it's so easy to keep them lovely, no matter how much housework you do. Simply rub on Hinds cream after hands have been in water, after exposure and before going to bed at night.

At the close of this program Mr. Griffith is going to make an announcement of an unusual offer to radio listeners, this offer is yours absolutely without cost. Be sure to listen for Mr. Griffith's announcement.

And now, Mr. Griffith..... I've got a question for you tonight.

GRIFFITH:

What's that, Mr. Keech?

KEECH:

Well, we read and hear a lot about temperament causing so much trouble between actors and managers. What have you to say about that?

GRIFFITH:

Fighting with temperamental artists is a game, like nearly all games, including perhaps Life itself. You can't win and you can't lose.

KEECH:

Have you any particular case in mind?

GRIFFITH:

Well, I had a very peculiar experience with this temperamental business in one of my first big pictures..incidentally about the best known of all. [It was the first picture ever shown at two-dollar prices and was quite a big experiment at that time. We were spending more money on it than I had thought was in the world just a few years before.] It had been rehearsed six weeks before we started taking, and everybody concerned was naturally in a very nervous state as to what the finish of it would be. Our leading man in the picture was great in his part..but he was slightly temperamental.

KEECH:

What was the picture, Mr. Griffith?

GRIFFITH:

The Birth of a Nation..and the leading man I'm referring to was Henry Walthall as the Little Colonel.

KEECH:

What do you mean by temperamental?

GRIFFITH:

Well, I think Walthall always thought he was cut out to be a poet or writer.

KEECH:

Did he write anything himself?

GRIFFITH:

Well, I suspect he did though he never sprung any of it on us. But he would get hold of a volume of Poe or Dante [(Poe being a favorite of his)], go up in the hills or somewhere by himself, get to reciting or reading the lines, and forget about movies and everything else. Well, the time came when we had taken quite a little of the picture and now we were coming to a big scene. Eight o'clock in the morning we were on the set ready to take an important love scene. The set was beautifully arranged, woodland background, and so on. Miss Lillian Gish who was playing the feminine lead was on the set, all made up, and what a picture she was in the old~fashioned costume. And right behind her the sassy little Miss Mae Marsh - shading her face with a little two by four period parasol...but no leading man. George Siegman was my assistant. (CALLING OUT) Siegman..Siegman...

SIEG:

Yes, Mr. Griffith - what is it?

GRIFFITH:

Where is our leading guy? Get him on the set.

SIEG:

Yes sir..I'1l have him here in a jiffy.

GRIFFITH:

You can go to your dressing room, Miss Marsh. Miss Gish, you'd better wait here. The Colonel will be here in a minute.

SIEG:

(APPROACHING IN GREAT EXCITEMENT) Mr. Griffith, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few minutes for Walthall.

GRIFFITH:

Wait again! Now this is the fourth time we've had to wait for that bird. Is he in his dressing room?

SIEG:

Yes sir...but....

GRIFFITH:

But what?

SIEG:

He isn't made up. Not even his costume on.

GRIFFITH:

Well, what on earth's the matter with him? Can't he read time?

SIEG:

Yes sir...but his clock is slow.

GRIFFITH:

Slow? Well, he set it that way. What was he doing?

SIEG:

Lying flat on his back, in his old clothes, reading "Annabelle Lee" aloud.

GRIFFITH:

[To an audience?

SIEG:

There are a couple of blackbirds and sparrows outside the window. That's the only audience I saw.]

GRIFFITH:

Well, we can't put up with this stuff. We'll never be able to finish this picture with this expense going on. I'll have to get rid of him. I'11 just have to show him we can get somebody else for this part. Siegman, try to hurry him up. I'll rehearse Miss Gish in a scene and take her close-ups...and her other scene until he's ready.

[(THEME SONG.."SWEETEST BUNCH OF LILACS"...FIRST VIOLIN SOLO...SOFTLY...THROUGH REHEARSAL OF LOVE SCENE.)]

GRIFFITH:

All right, Miss Gish. We'll take the scene of your approaching, seeing your lover and the close-ups of you looking at him; and we will take the view of both of you together after Walthall gets ready. You know the lines. I won't try to act them - I'll just read them - (SPEAKING)..."It would take more than three years to wipe out the memory of you. The time I first saw you...you were dressed in white and you were in my memory just as you look now. It was moonlight then, too."

MISS GISH:

I'll bet you're not good enough at figures to remember how many girls you've said that to.

GRIFFITH:

(REHEARSING) You don't really mean that...Some things we never forget. I really mean I do not think there is anything so frail and different and dear as you. That is why I've carried the memory so long.

MISS GISH:

Perhaps I may have remembered, too.

GRIFFITH:

(REHEARSING) Oh, you did...you did! (APPROACHING) Oh, I beg your pardon...you had a red rose in your hair that night. Here is one in the garden. Put it in your hair..and we shall forget any time has gone since the last time we met. (CHANGE OF VOICE) Hey, props...I told you to have some red roses planted here. Now, script girl, don't forget when the roses come in, see that Miss Gish has a rose in her hair on the second shot in the insert.

(MUSIO IN STRONG...FADES DOWN...OUT)

 

GRIFFITH:

So we finished the close-ups of Miss Gish and by that time the tormenting leading man was on the set. I called him aside....

Walthall, you've held us up again. I wants to talk to you. (IN FIRM TONES) Just look here...we've been working together for years, but I am not going to stand for any more of this nonsense.

WALTHALL:

(SOFT AND BEAUTIFUL TONES) But Mr. Griffith...

GRIFFITH:

Now don't "but" me nor pull any soft soap on me. I'm telling you I'm going to put someone else in this part if you don't get in on time!

WALTHALL:

But, Mr. Griffith...my clock was slow. I thought I had plenty of time to make up.

GRIFFITH:

Well, forget your clocks and your books and be here on time after this.

WALTHALL:

Then I'm not fired?

GRIFFITH:

(CHANGED VOICE..VERY FRIENDLY) What were you reading?

WALTHALL:

"It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a young girl lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabelle Lee."

GRIFFITH:

(FORGETTING HIS BUSINESS HIMSELF) No...that isn't right..."That a maiden lived"....it isn't a girl....

SIEG:

(WITH NOTE OF SATIRE IN VOICE) All ready..all ready here.

GRIFFITH:

All right...we're coming.

CAMERA:

Everything set.

GRIFFITH:

(MOST FRIENDLY TONE..CONFIDENTIALLY ) Now, Walthall, this picture is so full of action you don't have much time for love scenes. You'll have to put this over big...

VOICES:

(MISS GISH AND OTHER ACTORS...KIDDINGLY)
Why, here comes Mr. Walthall!
Mr. Henry Walthall!
Only a couple of hours late!
Oh, you're here, are you?

GIRL:

We'll buy you an alarm clock, Henry.

VOICE:

He needs one.

GRIFFITH:

All right...that's enough kidding..let's go..let's go!

(MUSIC)

 

GRIFFITH:

Things went on great between us for a time. Then we came to the biggest scene, as we thought, in the picture...the hero's homecoming scene. He had been a soldier in the lost cause, and came back to a home in rack and ruins. We were all ready to catch the early morning light to get the soft effect. Everything was set. Everybody made up...ready to go..but again..no Walthall!

Siegmen! Where the devil is Walthall?

SIEG:

I don't know..I don't know. I've looked everywhere.

PROPS:

(RUNNING ON) He's not at his house. They say he left there at daybreak.

GRIFFITH:

Well if he left at daybreak he must be somewhere around.

SIEG:

(RECEDING) There's the watchman. Maybe he's seen him.

GRIFFITH:

(YELLS) Make-up man, did you see anything of Mr. Walthall?

VOICE:

No, I haven't seen him.

GRIFFITH:

Has anybody seen anything of Mr. Walthall?

2nd VOICE:

(AWAY) Not been around here!

SIEGMAN:

(APPROACHING) Here's the watchman..he says he saw him this morning.

GRIFFITH:

Where did you see him?

WATCHMAN:

He came in a little after daybreak, got a book and went out.

GRIFFITH:

What kind of a book?

WATCHMAN:

A big red book.

GRIFFITH:

My Lord, he's got Shakespeare...36 plays...we'll never find him!

EXTRA MAN:

(COMING UP) Mr. Griffith, I think I saw Mr. Walthall. I wasn't close but it looked like him, up on Topango Hill. He had a book in his hand and was making all kinds of gestures...talking to himself I guess.

(MUSIC......IN STRONG...FADES DOWN)

 

GRIFFITH:

Then there was consternation. A flying column was sent out to comb the hills and suburbs for our disappearing hero. Meantime we had to unset our cameras and take all sorts of other scenes until he was discovered. Finally about five hours later, after our good light had faded and a lot of time had been wasted, he appeared.

WALTHALL:

I am sorry, Mr. Griffith, but I didn't know that I came on in the first scene.

GRIFFITH:

You knew perfectly well you were in the first scene. I told you...Siegman told you..and everybody else told you last night.

WALTHALL:

Well, I got to reading the last act of Anthony and Cleopatra....Did you ever read it, Mr. Griffith?

GRIFFITH:

Yes, but forget it. Now, Walthall, I've stood this as long as I can and I don't intend to stand it any longer. Do you think you're the only man who can play that part? You're fired, do you understand? You're through.

WALTHALL:

(IN A VERY QUIET VOICE) Well, if I'm through, that's all there is to it.

GRIFFITH:

Well, you're through.....

WALTHAL:

(RECEDING) All right, I'll go.

SIEGMAN:

The young boy that's playing the blacksmith.... Wallace Reid..he could play this part.

GRIFFITH:

(MUSINGLY) I don't know...Wallace Reid's pretty good in the blacksmith part.

PROPS:

Mr. Briggs of the home office will tickled to death. He says Walthall has cost us plenty. I'll tell him.

GRIFFITH:

(STILL MUSINGLY) Well, there's that fellow who played in that other play...Still...Siegman! Go call... go head off....(WHISPERING)....you know.

SIEGMAN:

(RECEDING) Yes sir..yes sir....

PROPS:

Here's Mr. Briggs, Mr. Griffith..

BUSINESS MAN:

(APPROACHING) Well, Mr. Griffith..Congratulations... You got rid of Walthall at last. [Now I've kept track of how many ways he's delayed this production, and it totals up to a lot of money...You should have fired him long ago. He's an irresponsible good for nothing.]

GRIFFITHS:

(CHANGING TONE) What do you mean?

BUS. MAN:

I say he's no good.

GRIFFITH:

(INTENSELY) Say, listen you, Henry Walthall is the best actor there is on the screen in the first place; in the second place he's a gentleman ... maybe you understand that ...

BUS. MAN:

I understand....

GRIFFITH:

And also outside of being late occasionally he's the finest guy that walks the earth.

BUS. MAN:

Have your own way ... until the money runs out.

SIEGMAN:

(RUSHING UP) I caught him.

WALTHALL:

Yes, Mr. Griffith?

GRIFFITH:

I told Siegman to head you off because there are some things I forgot to roast you about.

WALTHALL:

Fire away.

GRIFFITH:

Well, you're the most worthless, ungrateful scoundrel I know. You ought not to be allowed in the studio.

WALTHALL:

Well, don't I always play the part?

GRIFFITH:

Don't argue with me ... You are always arguing with some one. Why don't you throw away those books and pay attention to this picture. Now get to work.

WALTHALL:

You told me I was fired.

GRIFFITH:

(VERY EMPHATICALLY) I said nothing of the kind. I said you ought to be fired.

WALTHALL:

I heard you distinctly. You said I was fired.

GRIFFITH:

Don't argue. Get on your costume and makeup and get on this scene.

WALTHALL:

I have on my makeup and costume.

GRIFFITH:

Oh, oh ... I see...So you have..Well, of all the nerve... Then you didn't think I had fired you?

WALTHALL:

Why yes ... but still I thought you might change your mind.

GRIFFITH:

(CONFUSED) Well, I was so excited I didn't see you had your costume on ... and don't be late again! (NATURAL VOICE) Go on now. That home-coming scene...you know...dejected and worn. You walk along by the palings and the family are waiting for you and your old home is wrecked and your people have lost everything.

WALTHALL:

I know...I know the scene...Our people went through it.

[(MUSIC....."OLD KENTUCKY HOME".....FADES IN AS IT ACTUALLY WAS PLAYED IN THE SCENE OF "THE BIRTH OF A NATION")]

GRIFFITH:

Just as you rehearsed it, Walthall....that's great! All right, down the street....stop there a minute, Walthall. We only want one rehearsal this time. That's perfect. Now open the gate. Now your little sister, dressed in rags...no money for real clothes. Now you pretend not to take it seriously.
(PAUSE)
Now, in through the doorway, into your mother's arms.
That's it ....that's great.

Cameras....as soon as you're ready we'll take. Good Lord...what an actor! Come here, Walthall...you good for nothing! Confound you ... I could hug you for that!

(MUSIC SWELLS UP....THEN DOWN UNDER)

 

GRIFFITH:

As I have said - the play we were doing was "The Birth of a Nation" and Walthall was taking the part of the little Colonel. And when it was finally shown on the screen, I realized that without Walthall's beautiful performance it might never have been the great success that it proved to be. Often I have been telling you how stupid I was in making mistakes about actors. This time.....in putting up a bit with a temperamental genius, I don't think I was quite so dumb.

[Incidentally, for the benefit of those who have inquired...the trumpet call which opens this program every time comes from the same picture....it is the original Klan Call from "The Birth of a Nation".]

(MUSIC)

 

GRIFFITH:

And now for the offer Mr. Keech told you about at the opening of the program. It's a special for the ladies - and here it is - If you will just send your name and address to the A S Hinds Company, Bloomfield, New Jersey, you will receive a complimentary bottle of the famous Hinds Honey and Almond Cream. Do not fail to send your name and address promptly.

(ORCHESTRA: SIGNATURE)

 

CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENT:

(KEECH)
Here's a chance for the ladies to prove the Hinds 3-day beauty claim absolutely without cost. Just send your name and address to A.S. Hinds, Bloomfield, New Jersey and you will receive by return mail a 7-day trial bottle of Hinds Honey and Almond. Cream enough for 18 or 20 applications, absolutely without cost to you!

This remarkable offer has never been made over the air before. So don't fail to take advantage of it NOW! Remember, Hinds Honey and Almond Cream makes your hands soft, white and lovely in only 3 days, no matter how rough, red and toilworn they are. By the way, have you tried the new Hinds Beauty aids? They are Hinds Cleansing Cream, a delicate liquifying cream; Hinds Texture Cream, a greaseless skin softener; and Hinds Toning Cleanser, a remarkable liquid cleanser that refines pores.

Think of it! Red, rough, toilworn hands made exquisitely soft, white, lovely in 3 days - and at no cost to you! It's almost too good to believe, isn't it? Let me give you the address again for your complimentary bottle of Hinds Honey and Almond Cream. Mail your letter or postcard to A.S. Hinds Company, Bloomfield, New Jersey. As this is a very special offer, mail your request at once. Send your name tonight - the sooner you receive the bottle, the sooner you'll glory in the charm of alluring, soft, white hands!

(SIGNATURE)

 

In tonight's program Walthall was impersonated by .....
Siegman by,
Lillian Gish by,,

This is the National Broadcasting Company.