Lillian Gish: A Life on Stage and Screen [Paperback]

Stuart Oderman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786440759 | ISBN-13: 978-0786440757 | Publication Date: May 13, 2009

With a theatrical career spanning nearly 100 years, Gish saw motion pictures evolve from flickers to blockbusters. Usually playing someone needing to be rescued or protected, her trademark delicacy and vulnerability belied a strong and complex woman whose fatherless childhood taught her frugality, love for her mother and her sister, Dorothy, and a distrust of men. The author, who was her friend, chronicles the hardships, heartaches, and fierce determination that shaped her all her days. With rare photographs and intimate recollections of Lillian, Dorothy, and many other important figures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Internationally acclaimed silent film pianist Stuart Oderman lives in East Orange, New Jersey. Through his fascinating career, Oderman has met many famous people; for example, his relationship with Lillian Gish spanned four decades. --Choice

"Rich interviews…informative" --The New York Review of Books

"Exhaustive research" --Classic Images

About the Author

Internationally acclaimed silent film pianist Stuart Oderman lives in East Orange, New Jersey. Through his fascinating career, Oderman has met many famous people; for example, his relationship with Lillian Gish spanned four decades.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: McFarland (May 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786440759
• ISBN-13: 978-0786440757
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,073,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Amateur Effort, October 23, 2000

By 

Kathleen Chamberlain (Emory, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lillian Gish: A Life on Stage and Screen (Hardcover)

Generally, the best biographies are *not* written by people who were friends of their subjects. Oderman's book is no exception to this rule. A long-time friend of Lillian Gish's, Oderman lacks the critical distance that incisive biography requires. He interviewed many sources, but he seems to have accepted their statements more or less without question, and his analysis, both of Gish and of film, is sketchy and superficial. Stylistically, Oderman's prose suffers from repetition, awkward phrasing, and a disconcerting lack of transitions. If he plans to publish more works with McFarland Press, he might consider asking them to find better copy editors. Typos, apostrophe errors, and usage gaffes such as "did not phase her" abound throughout the text. The most valuable parts of the book are the many quotations from Gish herself and from her contemporaries.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Thorough Study, June 4, 2001

By 

Helen C. Davidson "CairnMom" (Kearny, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lillian Gish: A Life on Stage and Screen (Hardcover)

This book is a very insightful study of a very great lady. I especially enjoyed the textbook format. But I would agree with one other reviewer that it was not proofread as well as it should have been. I had the great fortune to know Miss Gish, having been her and her sister Dorothy's neighbor in 1965 while she was at the Stratford theatre in Connecticut. I have personal photos which I would like to share with Mr. Oderman if he would e-mail me at [e-mail] . I am also fortunate to have several letters (typed with a full signature), a hand writted postcard and a personally written note sent after Dorothy's death. I would not part with them for the world! Miss Gish was a rare treasure and we will not see her like again. Thank you, Mr. Oderman!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Friend's Appreciation, May 1, 2000

By 

G. Pillson "georgiepillson" (Tilling on Rye) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lillian Gish: A Life on Stage and Screen (Hardcover)

"A Life on Stage and Screen" is an affectionate tribute to a woman the author clearly much admires. That said, it's still not the authoritative critical biography that Gish's status as an artist deserves. Oderman's writing is functional at best, and he provides little critical perspective on Gish's post-silent career, relying instead on a straightforward "and then she did this, and then that" approach. Even so, it's good at last to have some work in addition to her own memoir by which to gauge Miss Gish's life and works, and the author's personal touch does illumine what he presents as a rather sad off-screen/off-stage life.