November 25, 1947. Copyright and reprinted with permission of Ira Gallen.
[On November 25, 1947, Seymour Stern prepared a list of forty-seven typewritten questions for D. W. Griffith, and recorded his replies in longhand. Many times, the director has no answer, other times, the response is well-known and not worthy of record. I have listed the questions with the most interesting or unusual responses.]
What was your boyhood like? Was it a happy one?
Very happy.
Was it entirely spent in La Grange and Louisville?
House was on stock farm— was in country, not in La Grange itself. About eighteen miles from Louisville, seven or eight from La Grange village on a rural turnpike. Best farm in Oldham County. Worth $30,000 today. At thirteen, went Louisville for first time.
Did you go to public (grammar) school?
Passed exam for second year high school, but didn’t go…. Chief intellectual influences: father and moreso the sisters.
Apart from school, what was the chief cultural and intellectual diet of (a) your boyhood, (b) your youth?
Literary evenings and literary societies. Shakespeare, Dickens, Thackeray, Keats, Tennyson, and the other English poets. Especially Pickwick Papers.
When did you go with the stock company? Names some places? Jeffersonville, Indiana, and small towns.
When and with what company did you try again in the theatre?
In about ’97 or ’98, returned to Louisville and soon after joined Meffert Stock Company. Oscar Wilde and popular plays from New York. Oscar Eagle and Esther Lyon, Robert and Ralph Cummings [were principals involved]. Robert fired D. W., but next day Lyon took over the company and when Eagle returned, D. W. was restored. In ’99, D. W. went to Chicago for a few weeks with Eagle’s own company and played lead role in Abraham Lincoln.
When and why did you leave Biograph?
1912 [incorrect]. He wanted ten percent of profits. J. J. Kennedy of Empire Trust Co. told Griffith he, D. W., was only a “cog in the machine.”
Year, date and place of your meeting with Linda Arvidson?
Met Linda in 1905 or ’06 in San Francisco, where he was playing in Market Street Stock Company, probably run by [David] Belasco. Linda was an actress, but not in D. W.’s troupe.
Marriage did not last?
Date of separation is 1911. Professional incompatibility.
When did you meet H. E. Aitken?
Right after he left Biograph. Aitken got in touch. He was a promoter then, not yet a producer.
When did you first meet Thomas Dixon?
He had played about 1907 in one of Dixon’s plays. Dixon went along with traveling company. D. W. knew him well.
Where did you live in Los Angeles while you were directing (a) The Birth of a Nation; (b) Intolerance; and (c) Hearts of the World?
Alexandria Hotel. Had a corner suite. Kid McCoy came down to help D. W. in trim boxing.
How much part, if any, did Thomas Dixon have in filming The Birth of a Nation?
None. Never saw production. Was in East during shooting.
What were the terms of your financial arrangement with Epoch regarding your share of the profits from The Birth of a Nation?
D. W. was to get forty percent of the profits, but was talked into accepting twenty-two percent.
Who helped finance The Birth of a Nation?
[W. H.] Clune put in $15,000; stock was sold in Pasadena and L.A.
Who financed Broken Blossoms?
Famous Players put up $80,000; U.A. bought if from Famous Players for $250,000. Production itself entirely independent.