Hello friends, welcome, welcome to the eighth episode in our series about prohibition from

hatchets to hoods.

A few years back in 2019, a board at Ohio's Bowling Green State University reached a decision

that prompted some of Hollywood's most celebrated stars like Helen Mirren, James Earl Jones

and Martin Scorsese to send them a letter of protest.

The board had voted to remove the name Gish from the campus's Gish Theatre.

Despite the fact that the late actress it was named after Lilian Gish has long been hailed

as the first lady of American cinema and had a career that lasted 70 years.

What prompted the college to drop her name and for so many others to disapprove of that

action, it has to do with Lilian's leading role in one of the most controversial American

films ever made.

A silent film that hit theaters during the tumultuous years leading up to prohibition.

A film called The Birth of a Nation.

I'm Sharon McMahon and here's where it gets interesting.

In the era of silent film, Birth of a Nation was a groundbreaking mega blockbuster.

It was the Titanic or the Avatar of its day.

Based on a 1905 book called The Clansman, the film took nearly 8 months to shoot and it

cost $500,000 to make which was more than 10 times its initial budget.

Its director, D.W. Griffith, used a variety of new techniques like fades, flashbacks and

jump cuts to show the passage of time and close-ups of faces to emphasize emotion.

Its epic battle scenes required thousands of actors and extras and its stars, including

Lilian Gish, were a listers.

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