Lillian Gish is Star in Fine Arts “Diane of the Follies” at Mission (1916)

Morning Press, Volume 45, Number 45, 24 October 1916

Lillian Gish is Star in Fine Arts “Diane of the Follies” at Mission

The main feature of the bill at the Mission theatre for the first half of this week is the Fine Art drama, “Diane of the Follies,” one of D. W. Griffith’s masterful productions, with a superb cast in which Lillian Gish is the bright particular star, following is a

Synopsis of the play:

Phillips Christy is a millionaire aristocrat, a man of delightful theories, one of which is that environment is the sum and substance ol life. He is writing a book promulgating this theory, which his ambitious sister urges him to finish. His chum, Don Livingston, coaxes him to join a theatre party. At a supper after the performance he meets Diane, the gayest, most charming and artificial of the girls of the Follies. To Diane Philips Christy falls captive. He tells his sister he will lift Diane of the Follies to their level —to the heights. After a few brief years of married life Diane wearies of the pose of living on the heights. Her husband, engrossed with his studies, does not realize this.

She becomes dizzy upon this elevation: she pines for her own people of the theatre. Her husband’s quiet dignity and even her child’s exquisite charm fail to interest her. Hungry for applause, Diane invites some of her former chums to visit her, to parade before them her wealth and position. Poor Phillips Christy realizes that his theory has’ proved false —his wife, after the most careful training toward the uplift, has sought her level in the chorus and filled his house with cigarette-smoking, cocktail-drinking women of the theatre. Resentful at her husband’s attitude regarding her friends and his intolerance of them, Diane determines to leave and seek happiness in the freedom of her early environment.

Diane of The Follies – Lillian Gish

She deserts her husband and child and is immediately installed as the star of the Follies. Later in the midst of her triumph, a message comes to her from her husband, requesting tier presence at the sick bed of their child. Before she arrives little Bijou, the child, has passed away. After the sad rites over the little child are performed, when Phillips Christy, never forgetting her breeding, asks Diane if she desires to remain in his home under the protection of his name, she, casting aside all artificiality, answers him truthfully from the depths of her soul.

• The photoplay is preceded by a rattling good Keystone comedy. “Ambrose’s Rapid Rise,” in which the favorite screen comedian. Mack Swain, has all the chance he wants in getting the laughs, and the Mutual Weekly, picturing interesting recent news events and unusual spectacles.

Triangle Program at Mission Theatre

“Diane of The Follies” with Lillian Gish as the Vivacious Star

Interesting to women are the marvelous gowns, 67 in number, which are worn by the women in the cast. Nineteen are worn by Miss Gish herself, which makes the play a wonderful fashion show as well as a dramatic entertainment.

The Jewels worn by Lillian Gish were loaned by a jeweler of Los  Angeles. She adorns herself with a pearl necklace worth $30,000.00, a coronet worth $20,000.00, rings worth $7,000.00; and a bracelet worth $3,000.00, in addition to her own Jewelry valued at $15,000. The total is $75,000 worth of precious stones, which every woman will want to see.

Diane of The Follies – Lillian Gish

Morning Press, Volume 45, Number 45, 24 October 1916

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Diane of The Follies – Lillian Gish

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