“I am a Madonna of the future.” — Emily Stevens
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
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“This is me, ungrammatically speaking, and is inseparable from me. I was born to it. Needless to say that I love to act, whether before the camera or on the stage. It is second nature to me, just as making hats or dresses is to anyone else. I’ll never forget my first appearance, though. It was with my cousin, Mrs. Friske, in ‘Becky Sharp.’ I was a maid, and I had just one line to say, but I was as frightened as though I had to make a curtain speech. But that was the end of stage-fright for me, and it was not so long until I had graduated to Becky herself.” — Emily Stevens
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
“That is one big reason I am so in love with the profession I was born to. One keeps right on growing in all directions. The real artist does not grow old, because the years only bring greater perfection. Many clever people appear on the stage for a season or two – they are here today and tomorrow they are gone. But the real artists survive. Their power does not grow less with the years, but greater, and there is no class of people who are so universally loved and so kindly remembered as these great souls who go on through the years striving to cheer and help the multitude. My ambition is not and has never been to be a star of today, but a star of all the tomorrows.” — Emily Stevens
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
“Yes, I feel much the same way about the photoplay. It is a great art, but it is comparatively young, and every art must have the mellowing influence of time to bring it to its perfection. Lots of wonderfully clever people are putting their best effort to the directing and producing of pictures now, and in time, the unworthy productions will be weeded out and the truly artistic will predominate because the great class of people whom pictures reach are becoming educated to appreciate the best and will demand it.” — Emily Stevens
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
“About the work, it is very much the same; that is, the spirit is the same. I like it in some ways as well as the stage, and in some ways I don’t, but vice versa. I’ve certainly had a chance to show my versatility. Which do I like best, comedy of tragedy? I like whatever I’m doing best. And, as for favorite roles. I always like the one I’m doing better than any I’ve done before!” — Emily Stevens
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
