American Cinematographer - January 1986 - 38

Long

came on.

a

favorite

swell ovation. Then

on

came our

the circuit, he received

a

villain, Lawrence Griffith,

and

a tremendous round of applause came from the
curtained-off boxes. Well, the laughter from the au¬
dience damn near broke up the show. Everyone in the
house knew where our villain had been spending his

time.

This
season,

and

we were

was our

last

all in doubts

performance of the

as to

the future. Some
back to San

had money, and would wend their way
Francisco. Others were wondering where

the hell they
sleep, let alone eat. But as the final curtain came
down, Barney Bernard and Scott Seaton, his manager,
told us all to meet them in the lobby of the hotel at
midnight. Bernard went to a local gaming house where
he was known and hocked his wife's jewelry - and his
own. At the hotel he paid us all in full, and we returned
would

to

San Francisco first class. In the theater

nard

men like Ber¬
few and far between. On the road he would

are

corral me, send me to his sweet wife, and she would
make me read the Bible and spell certain words. They

knew I

missing school, and they
acquire some kind of education.
Next morning, Larry and I stood on
the front of the ferry boat watching the approaching San
Francisco skyline. He was to go east, as he had played
out the coast and was homesick for the big city. I was to
return to Los Angeles and school, as I had promised my
mother l would drop the theater and get a necessary
education. Larry handed me a watch - a phoney gold
number, but I still have it - and we parted.
A few years later l was selling auto¬
mobiles during the day and going to business college at
night. Walking up Spring Street on Saturday, l saw a

Although Griffith is
said to have

used

never

script when
shooting, this photo
proves that he did
refer to a script in
a

his office
one

on at

fourteen and

least

occasion. Below:

Itleilan, in turtle-neck

was

wanted

to

familiar

figure approaching.

help

me

"Hello, Larry," I chirped.

sweater, with J.
Warren Kerrigan

in a
1912 Flying "A " film
directed by Allan

He

Belasco

stopped and

gave

me

that

and said, "Well, well, if it isn't Neilan."
We entered a bar and ordered
drinks. Under the impression that he was playing some
local theater, l asked him where he was playing. He

Dwan.

stare

hesitated, then replied:
"No, l

am monkeying around with
pictures."
Since last meeting him I had become
a rabid movie fan, knew all the company trademarks,
and most of the people that appeared on our local

the films

The theater, the old Reno

House,

was

the house

situated

across

the tracks. On

one

Opera
side of

of boxes.

Looking through a
peephole in the curtain, I noticed that these boxes in
particular had curtains drawn to shield the occupants
was

a

from the audience

row

on

that is motion

screens.

"What

the main floor. Curious, l asked

the house electrician for the

reason. He laughed and
explained that the boxes in question were reserved for
the local ladies of the evening, and the drawn curtains
prevented the married men and their wives from seeing

God, you're not

said ladies, so there would be no embarrassment among
the husbands.

He

One or two of the people in our cast
played Reno, and as they made their respective en¬
trances they received applause. Then Barney Bernard

had

the

American

Cinematographer

company?" I asked.
"Biograph," he replied.
Suddenly it dawned on me - "My
GRIFFITH of the Biograph, are you?"
"Yes, my lad, that's me - Griffith of

Biograph."
Even in 1910

he was world famous.
using his real name - David Wark Griffith. Al¬
though Biograph never gave any of their people screen
credit of any kind, he nevertheless was known to every
was

exhibitor in the country.
He had finished his work in Califor¬

nia, and

36

-

January 1986

was

leaving for New York the

next

day. We had
American Cinematographer - January 1986

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