To my mind there is nothing so beautiful or so provocative as a secondhand book store...To me it is astonishing and miraculous to think that any one of us can poke among the stalls for something to read overnight--and that this something may be the sum of a lifetime of sweat, tears, and genius that some poor, struggling, blessed fellow expended trying to teach us the truth.

Before the formation of MGM in 1924 Barrymore forged a good relationship with Louis B. W. Neither child survived infancy though Mary lived a few months.

He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931) and remains perhaps best known for the role of the villainous Mister Potter character in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. Lionel Barrymore (April 28 1878 – November 15 1954) was an American actor of stage screen and radio as well as a film director.