Cold wet day. Trees covered with ice. To College 11-12. Bolted French at 8 A.M. Took nap in P.M. Candled eggs etc. To Albany Theatre at night with Doris Smith. "Broken Blossoms." Fine. Home. To bed 11:15 P.M. Thankful for health, friends, parents etc.
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This is one of the few times Stanford mentions the name of the movie he saw. This one, Broken Blossoms, or The Yellow Man and the Girl, is an adaptation of a short story by a British writer, Thomas Burke. Released in 1919, Broken Blossoms was directed and produced by none other than D.W. Griffith and starred the beautiful Lillian Gish. Richard Barthelmess played the yellow man, a role that made him a silent film star. There was one Chinese actor in the film--Moon Kwan, who must have been a well-known Chinese director, having directed 51 Chinese films, working until 1987 when he was 93. Donald Crisp played Battling Burrows, the girl's abusive father. Unlike Mr. Barthelmess, Donald Crisp made a successful transition to talkies, appearing in films for 44 more years.
Here is the IMDB site for the film: Broken Blossoms. It is set in London. One convenience of silent film, it seems, is that none of the actors had to fake a British accent.
There is a video available of the film, in case you're interested in seeing what Stanford and Doris saw. It's available from the Library of Congress at this address: Broken Blossoms. There's no music with it, though, something that makes me realize how much such accompaniment added to the enjoyment of a silent film, since music let the audience know what emotions they were supposed to be feeling.
I wonder if "bolted" meant cut class? I can't picture our upright Stanford missing class! He must have been very tired . . .
I couldn't find an Albany Theater in Schenectady at that time. Maybe it was in Albany? It's not clear.
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