Way Down East

   Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. and William A. Brady produced Joseph R. Grismer's revision of Lottie Blair Parker's four-act melodrama at the Manhattan Theatre, where it opened on 7 February 1898 for 152 performances. Annie Moore, who has lost an out-of-wedlock child, works as a servant on the farm of Squire Bartlett, who does not know of her past. When he finds out, he dismisses her and she becomes lost in a snowstorm. Narrowly escaping death, she is rescued by David, the squire's son, who has fallen in love with her. Brady revived the play twice on Broadway (1903, 1905), and several motion picture versions appeared (1908, 1914, 1935), with a 1920 adaptation directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish regarded as a cinematic masterpiece for its time.