Letter from Lillian Gish, New York, New York, to Edward Wagenknecht, 1949 February 22 : typescript signed.

Apologizing for not having written sooner and mentioning that she doesn't use the typewriter herself and has found a "kind friend" to help her catch up on her correspondence received since Caroline Clark left in August; writing about the experience of doing a fifty-minute version of "The late Christopher Bean" for television, adding that her sister Dorothy did John Patrick's "The story of Mary Surratt" on February 13th, and remarking that "I believe it spells the beginning of the end of the era of celluloid"; mentioning that Jed Harris has postponed "The father" "as Paul Lucas is making a talking film", and that his "Red gloves" is closing and that she understands that his "The heiress" "is suffering from the general lack of business on the road"; writing that Glenn Hughes and Robert Gray were in New York for Christmas, that she is in New York with her mother's nurse, who has not been well, and that her sister Dorothy has had less trouble with her ulcers and is living at the Elycee with Nora McCullaugh; remarking that she saw "Hamlet" in California, and that she disagreed with most of it but "had a wonderful time watching it", adding that she is "so grateful for the Olivier version", critiquing Jean Simmons's performance as Ophelia and stating that she liked her better in "Black Narcissus", wishing that she John Gielgud would "give us his version before it's too late, and reflecting "Wouldn't it be wonderful if [John Barrymore] had left us a record on films so we could compare all their styles?"; writing that she was "bitterly disappointed" with "Death of a salesman", and that "the people seemed too unreal. I can't believe there are such godless, empty human beings anywhere.", but conceding that "a third of the audience was sobbing while I sat unmoved and tired at the end of a long, long evening", going on to add that her sister Dorothy had been offered "the woman's part" and declined because she did not like the play ("she refused and was devastated when she read the reviews, but I think she was absolutely right"); encouraging him to pursue his idea of writing a book on "The films in America to The birth of a nation."