MARY PICKFORD, who rose to worldwide fame as a silent film star and whose movie success was matched by her business acumen, was born April 8, 1892. The best rock music from movie soundtracks provides John’s playlist on Crosscurrents, Monday April 8 at 8:00 AM./ Listen live on102.7fm, or 103.1fm. or https://www.ktoo.org/listen/krnn/
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Curious about Mary Pickford? Here we are…
Mary Pickford, who reigned supreme as “America’s Sweetheart” in the era of silent films, was born April 8, 1892. Beloved in her heyday as a girl with golden‐brown curls and a smile of beguiling innocence, Miss Pickford was the first movie star to have her name in marquee lights, the first to be paid in the thousands of dollars a week and one of the first to achieve an international reputation; she embodied the American dream — a person who rose by her own talents from rags to riches, indeed, to very great wealth.
In the years of her triumphs, she captured public adulation in “Daddy LongLegs,” “Pollyanna,” “Little Lord Fauntleroy” and “My Best Girl.” She ranked with Charles Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks Sr., her husband, as the best‐known and most admired of Hollywood personalities. She was perceptive enough to select the best photographers, directors and supporting actors, and generous in giving them credit; and she herself was a dedicated and hard‐working actress.
At the zenith of her career, the 5‐foot, 110‐pound Miss Pickford won the hearts of movie patrons because she possessed a look of invincible goodness and innocence. Sinister scoundrels, silent and gesturing, sought her ruin. She was brave and sweet through it all. When she played a rich girl, she exhibited humility; and when she was in rags, she was patient.
From the outset of her movie life, Miss Pickford undertook to learn all she could about the technical making of films. She was “a walking motion‐picture company,” a Hollywood observer remarked; and she had a sharp eye for the profits her work would earn. This was an important factor in the establishment, in 1919, of United Artists, film‐distributing company that handled the movies of Miss Pickford, Mr. Fairbanks and Mr. Chaplin. The three stars were the company’s nucleus.
Although her success as a star was matched by her success as a businesswoman, Miss Pickford apparently regarded it as a phenomenon that might prove as transitory as the fame of so many of her contemporaries. She never forgot the poverty of her early years.
“Mary Pickford was essentially a comedienne . . . Her films were almost always comedies. The light episodes being laced with genuine pathos and much excitement. The character of Mary Pickford was an endearing little spitfire. She was delightful; she projected warmth and charm. Whenever a situation got out of hand, she would not submit to self-pity. She would storm off and do something about it . . . Her playing was completly naturalistic.”
In 1937, Miss Pickford was married to Buddy Rogers, a bandleader who was 11 years her junior. They adopted two children, Ronald and Roxanne. After her marriage, Miss Pickford receded from the limelight until she was only a memory to those who had once cheered her, or wept with her, on the silver screen. And then she became the recluse of Pickfair, a legend.
SOURCE: New York Times, Washington Post
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