From: John P. Miles
D.W. Griffith Corp.
Hollywood, Calif.
D.W. Griffith's Twenty-Year Record
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His 430 Pictures Gross $56,053,000
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Earns More Than Any Creative Artists of History
During his twenty years of effort in the motion picture industry, D.W. Griffith, the pioneer director, has made 430 pictures at a cost of $12,834,000.
The gross earnings of these pictures, more than two-thirds of which were one and two-reelers made prior to 1912, have already reached the stupendous figure of $56,053,000, with two of Griffith's latest productions still to be reported on.
Based on his last five program pictures made, Griffith's average grossage is in the neighborhood of $1,300,000 a picture, or approximately $500,000 more than the earnings of other Hollywood Director.
The estimated net profit derived from these 430 pictures covering the 20 years of Griffith's leadership in the industry is around $25,000,000, after proper deductions have been made for production costs, selling and overhead.
It is interesting to note that although Griffith has possibly made more money through his artistic efforts than any man in history, he is comparatively a poor man in respect to the mounting wealth of men like Joseph M. Schenck, Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse Lasky, Carl Laemmle, Adolph Zukor and others.
This is explained in the fact that he has used most of his great earnings in experimentation with new phases of production and the development of artistic pictures that have brought him little monetary return.
In twenty years Griffith developed motion pictures from the peep-show phase to their present dramatic and pictorial excellence. He invented or discovered the "long-shot", "flash-back", "close-up",- now one of the great indispensables- , "soft-focus effects", "camera angles" as exemplified in his Intolerance, and "dramatic suspense." He was also the first to bring realism into pictures and to replace the exaggerated stage technique of acting for simple naturalness.
The first "talking" picture was made by Griffith in 1920 when Dream Street was synchronized with the Kellum Process. At the time the director-producer attempted to get capital interested in sound but no one would listen to him.
The following resume of costs and grosses of Griffith pictures is illuminating:
|
Cost |
Grosses |
|||
| From 1908 to 1910; 206 one-reel subjects at about $1,000 each |
$206,000 |
$2,060,000 |
||
| From 1910 to 1912, 104 two-reel subjects at cost of $2,000 each |
$208,000 |
$2,080,000 |
||
| Three, four and five-reel pictures made after leaving Biograph, not included outstanding successes, estimated at 100. Production cost on these approximately $25,000 |
$2,500,000 |
$15,000,000 |
||
|
Outstanding Hits |
||||
| Birth of a Nation |
$110,000 |
$10,000,000 |
||
| Broken Blossoms |
115,000 |
1,250,000 |
||
| Hearts of the World |
425,000 |
1,500,000 |
||
| Intolerance |
1,600,000 |
1,750,000 |
||
| The Love Flower |
91,000 |
900,000 |
||
| Idol Dancer |
93,000 |
963,000 |
||
| The Battle of the Sexes (first) |
25,000 |
480,000 |
||
| Way Down East |
635,000 |
7,500,000 |
||
| Dream Street |
337,000 |
950,000 |
||
| Orphans of the Storm |
760,000 |
2,000,000 |
||
| One Exciting Night |
362,000 |
1,150,000 |
||
| White Rose |
425,000 |
900,000 |
||
| America |
795,000 |
1,750,000 |
||
| Isn't Life Wonderful |
260,000 |
400,000 |
||
| Sally of the Sawdust |
337,000 |
1,200,000 |
||
| That Royle Girl |
595,000 |
900,000 |
||
| Sorrows of Satan |
1,050,000 |
1,750,000 |
||
| Drums of Love |
505,000 |
|||
|
(Five months grosses) |
800,000 | |||
| Battle of the Sexes (second) | 400,000 | |||
|
(Two months grosses) |
270,000 | |||
Griffith's latest production, Lady of the Pavements, his 431st since the old Biograph days, is not included in this listing. Advance bookings in talking picture theaters indicate it will easily gross $1,250,000.
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Original press release by John P. Miles, circa. August 1928.
John P. Miles, "D.W. Griffith's Twenty-Year Record," D.W. Griffith Papers, 1897-1954 (Frederick, Md: University Publications of America), 1982, reel 16, images 4-6.
© 1982, Killiam Shows, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the current copyright holder.
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