GME Presents DVD Fall Flashbacks - America’s Sweetheart, Mary Pickford

In order to further the presence of female stars in our distribution catalogue, we are offering (for the first time on DVD) classic silent films starring “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford -- FANCHON THE CRICKET, billed as an “adult fairy tale”, and LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY, a “tomboy of the tenements”.  Pickford stands in stature alongside such internationally renowned performers as Alla Nazimova (THE RED LANTERN) and Asta Nielsen, the latter who worked in both Denmark (AFGRUNDEN/THE ABYSS) and Germany (FOUR FILMS WITH ASTA NIELSEN).  

Born in Canada, Gladys Louise Smith (screen name:  Mary Pickford) acted in theatrical roles from an early age.  Throughout her early years, she moved between work on the stage and in the movies.  Her mother took her and her younger siblings (sister Lottie and brother Jack Pickford) on theatrical tours in the US, where young Gladys in 1907 garnered a supporting part in a Broadway play.  In 1909 she acted in her first screen role for director D.W. Griffith; her last for him was the now-famous THE NEW YORK HAT (1912).   She later achieved renown acting in films produced by Adolph Zukor (Famous Players Film Company, then Famous Players-Lasky, and later, Paramount Pictures).   According to film historian Kevin Brownlow, her starring role in TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY (1914) “sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America…”.  FANCHON THE CRICKET  soon followed in 1915.   

Mary Pickford was a savvy businesswoman.  At Paramount Pictures she eventually was able to gain control over the production of her own films.   When Pickford founded United Artists in 1919 (together with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks), she produced her own films.   She married Fairbanks a year later and they became known as Hollywood royalty;  by the time she produced and starred in LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY(1925), Pickford was a well-entrenched international star.  With the advent of sound, she shortly thereafter ceased acting, although Pickford continued to produce films into the 1940’s.  She sold her shares in United Artists in the mid-1950s.

◊

FANCHON THE CRICKET was based on a story by the French author George Sand.  Scenarist Frances Marion co-wrote the screenplay together with the film’s director, James Kirkwood.  In this movie,  Pickford plays her archetypal role as “The Waif”, a free-spirited girl who is strong, independent and determined.  Ostracized by her peers, Fanchon falls in love with the son of a wealthy merchant.  She ultimately demonstrates the power of love by healing her beau who has fallen ill; in doing so, she overcomes class distinctions and society’s disapprobation.  

Of Pickford’s on-screen allure in this film, Kevin Brownlow has written that “She is extraordinarily beautiful; the first close-up of her face among the glistening leaves comes as an almost physical shock”.  Kent Conrad wrote for the website Cinema Sentries that “Watching FANCHON, it's easy to see why [Mary Pickford] was one of the earliest real stars to make a name for herself. With her pale skin and dark features, her expressions can be read from practically any distance. She's always projecting to the camera, but never mugging or over-exerting herself like many silent-film actors would.   She seemed to be able to intuit just how much expression she should allow herself, how much she should hold back, and exactly what it would look like on camera.”  This 1915 version of this oft-filmed story also features Pickford’s younger brother and sister.  Pickford also starred in the 1925 remake.

◊

Also in 1925, Mary Pickford starred in LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY.  Her prior two films, (ROSITA and DOROTHY VERNON OF HADDEN HALL), both historical dramas, had not been as successful as she hoped.  Photoplay magazine received thousands of letters imploring her to once again play a child.  Pickford wrote the screenplay for LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY (based on a popular song) under the pseudonym of her grandmother.  In this film, she plays a “tomboy of the tenements,” surrounded by a cast of characters right out of the contemporaneous OUR GANG comedies produced by Hal Roach.  Pickford chose William Beaudine to direct, as he had successfully guided child actors in previous productions.  Later award-winning cinematographers Charles Rosher (SUNRISE, 1927) and Hal Mohr (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, 1935) lensed the production, for which a large backlot set of New York City’s Bowery was created at the Pickford Fairbanks Studio on Santa Monica Boulevard.  Mary insured that they use the “baby spot” light on her face to make her look younger (especially as she was now 33 years old and playing a teenager).  She also focused on her own physicality to convincingly play an active youngster.  With the film’s release, the Los Angeles Times reported that LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY…is the most amusing comedy she has made in ages, and marks her return to the hoyden type of role in which she has always won the height of favor.”

◊

Related Films of Interest Available from GME: