EXCLUSIVE INTERVEIW WITH AMERICA’S SWEETHEART

Mary Pickford

K.N.

What events in your early life made you interested in the arts?

M.P.

Well, when I was only five I was invited to take part in a play entitled “the silver king”. Even though my
mother thought it was quite horrid at the time, but she agreed to let me and my sister, Lottie, act in this
play. This was my first play and I took great joy from it. Shortly after that, I was to do a small role in “The
Littlest Girl”. This came at the same time my mother set up an interview with the head of the Valentine
Stock Company to do “The Silver King” yet again.

Once we had accommodated ourselves, I spoke and said “I want to play Cissy Denver.” I put my hands in
Ms. Blanke’s hand and looked up into her face and said “Please, lady, let me try.” (Mary Pickford, 1955) I
was determined to learn this long part no matter who doubted me. By the time I laid down to sleep that
same night, I had already memorized the first act of the play.(Mary Pickford, 1955) After this success, I
went on to play Eva in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, which led to a domino effect of acting roles. I played Willie
in “East Lynne”, The Baby in “Bootles Baby” and finally Mabel Payne in “The Little Red Schoolhouse”. I
and my family soon became nomad struggling actors of New York going from play to play.

K.N.

What role did mentors play in helping you develop the interest and talents you have as an artist ?

M.P.

One exceptional mentor that supported me and helped me in my art was most defiantly my mother. My
mother went out of her way to make sure me, my sister, and my brother were happy and cared for. I
remember one Christmas she made sure we all got exactly what we wanted by staying up all hours of the
night to save up enough money. My mother studied cues and line with me for “the silver king” as soon as
we walked out to catch a street car. My sister, my brother, my mother and myself were very close so we
acted in plays together as a family.

My mother signed us up to be in “the fatal wedding” and soon after she got sick. She had to endure 24
hours of surgery. Amazingly enough she still managed to ride all the way to New York from Toronto the
next day. This was just so we could go to rehearsal for “the fatal wedding”. After such selfless actions
mother was coldly yelled at by a shrewd director. Without my mother I don’t think I would be as
successful as I am today.
K.N.

What was the world of art like in your particular field when you entered it?

M.P.

When I entered the wonderful world of film acting, it was quite new. At this point in time, film
was still silent and black and white. They were usually referred to as “flickers” at this time and
drew much attention from the American people. As a result of the films being silent, most of the
acting had to be very big and exaggerated. Using your mostly body language and facial
expression to act out a character. Much of the films were very melodramatic, which I personally
dislike.

Also, at that time it was common for you to act in silent films and not have your name presented
or even when you were billed. I happened to be one of the few exceptions of the film industry at
that time, having my name put on my work eventually. Another thing about film at this time is
that I work in was greatly improvised but still had a script. The first time I had walked into
Biograph Studios I was yelled at by D.W. Griffith for wasting his film after losing my temper at
Owen Moore for calling me a dame, which I did not appreciate. D.W. Griffith said angrily that I
was to never waste any film time because film cost so much a foot in those days.

K.N.

How did the major cultural, political, and economic situation impact your work?

M.P.

Well, the fact that I was able to be in so many movies and raise to stardom was because of the
pride and excitement in America mainly during and after the Great War. In only one year I was
able to do nearly 52 films. At this time America was very care free and very much content with
their lives. Americans weren’t too worried about what was happening in Europe with the bombing
of house and cities. Specifically, in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” her family lives on a farm
which is the situation for a lot of Americans before and after the industrial age.

This age during the great war was a time when there were women movements and a huge increase
in jobs, most of which consisted of working in a factory building new military technology to help
win the war once we were pulled in, in 1917. This also put out new products like automobiles and
radios which are reflected in many of my films. This was also a time when films started to show
more realistic aspects of society. These were including poor people, working people and other
average parts of society. A few examples of this reflected in some of my own work is movies like
“My Best Girl”, “Pollyanna”, and “Sparrows”. “My Best Girl” shows a girl who works at a five-
and-ten cent store, “Pollyanna” who is an orphan and “Sparrows” is again about an orphan only
they are treated like slaves.

K.N.

What were your major accomplishments and methods you used in your art?

M.P.

One of my biggest and earliest achievements was going from small theatres around New York to
becoming what I like to call a “Belasco Actress” and performing on Broadway. The next
achievement would be reluctantly getting into film acting and making ten dollars a week to a
hundred dollars a week. I would eventually start to make $150,000 at a time when the average
family income was less than $2,000. I also take pride in the company created by Myself, D.W.
Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin. It was called United Artists, and the studio was
named Pickford-Fairbanks Studios.

I also reached an achievement by doing numerous movies a year, one year as said earlier I played
various roles in 52 different movies. Some examples would be “The Poor Little Rich Girl”,
“Daddy Long Legs”, “Pride of The Clan”, “Tess of Storm Country” and several more. Winning
an Academy Award for best actress when I played a southern bell in my first “talkie” film
“Croquette” was perhaps the greatest of them all. By 1918 I had played in 224 movies total, and
produced my own play.

K.N.

What were key opportunities you had that led to turning points in your life and art?

M.P.

The very first opportunities I had that led to a turning point in my life was when I was very little
and had the chance to act with a small Toronto theatre company. Later I had the privilege of
going to New York and travel from place to place to acquire various roles across New York.
Many of these were with my family, my mother, my sister Lottie and my brother Jack. This kept
our bond I soon had went on to live with various people in New York that took care of while I
was on the road alone. This part of my life was bitter sweet because of the strong bond between
me and my beloved family. This was saddening but on the other hand I got into more and more
shows which would provide me with work to tell people about and money that I most definitely
needed at the time.
Getting into David Belasco’s play “The Warrens of Virginia” on Broadway was a turning point in
which I was given the opportunity to experience film acting. One other big turning point was
when I decided to audition for Biograph Studios. One reason is because this was my big break
into the film industry. The second reason was because I got paid 10 dollars an hour and I could
finally help my family out. Lastly a Biograph studio was the reason I met my first love, first
husband, and first ex-husband, Owen Moore.

K.N.

What personal choices did you have to make to become a successful artist?

M.P.

One big personal choice that I believe to be the strongest and best choice of my life is the fact that
I forced myself to step foot in the hated Biograph Studio because mother had suggested it and
there was no second guessing her. The day I walked in was one of the most horrible days I had
ever experienced. I was forced to wear quite grotesque make- up, called a “dame” which in those
days you were a “loose women”, screamed and yelled at for being angry at such a comment and
the next day shaken violently by D.W. Griffith. I stormed out in rage but of course came back and
continued to do so. This has obviously paid off to my benefit.

Another personal choice I made to become more successful was to involve myself in as many
roles as possible and to push directors to their salary limits. I was later invited to be a part in
another one of David Belasco’s Broadway plays “A Good Little Devil”. I decided to take the role
only if I had an increase in salary. Shortly after a man named Adolph Zukor was making a movie
of this play. I would go on to act in more than 21 of his films with his company, which later
became Paramount. I was soon making $2000 a week and $10,000 for finishing a picture.

K.N.

What hardships or roadblocks did you have to overcome in order to be an artist?

M.P.

In my early years my father died of a blow to the head which cause a blood clot. This was one of
the most devastating things that had happened t o me and my family. My mother was absent and
miserable after he died, so I formed a very close bond with her. Later in life when I was acting
across New York I did it to make extra money for my mother and family who worked so hard. If
it weren’t for this motivation I wouldn’t have met Mr. Belasco, which was my true theatre break
through, and I certainly wouldn’t have made it this far.

Other hardships were while I was traveling with mother, Jack and Lottie. I remember several days
were we barely got any sleep and had to wake up at three in the morning. One time jack was so
tired he refused to get out of bed so we could catch the train. Mother was forced to take action
whether she liked it or not because our lives literally depended on catching the train, so she
jumped on the train with me and Lottie and threw Jack into the snow so he could scrabble to
getup before the train got too much speed. We would also travel for hours on end to different
theatres in different cities and go without food for three days straight. All of our effort, sleepiness,
and starvation eventually paid off in the future.

K.N.

What kind of limitations did you run into as both an artist and a person?

M.P.

One of the biggest limitations I faced was with my fans. When I was a child with my long blond
curls that everybody adored I played in child roles perfectly. That was fine at the time but as I got
older my fans insisted that I continue to pay child roles. I began to despise any film in which I had
to play a child. “It would worry me that I was becoming a personality instead of an
actress”(Danny Peary,1978). “I realized that I had fallen under the spell of the hypnotizing
public”(Danny Peary,1978).

One limitation I faced was my first husband Owen Moore. I was secretly married to him for a
very short period of time. Our marriage was a disaster to start with. I divorced him and fell in love
with Douglas Fairbanks. We then got married and we are now very happy. We hope that it will
last.

K.N.

What personal stories best illustrate how you became successful in the arts?

M.P.

The story of how I met David Belasco is a good story because it shows my desperation and want
as a child to succeed. I made a vow to myself that if I didn’t make it to Broadway by fall I would
quit theatre for good. So, I searched for David Belasco. I went to the house of Miss Bates and got
her to send Mr. Belasco a note telling him to see me. After getting this message I stormed to his
office and demanded to see him. It took a doorman and a manager to deny me when I screamed
“MY LIFE DEPENDS ON SEEING MR. BELASCO!” (Mary Pickford,1955). Once Mr. Belasco
heard this cry he came out of office and told them to let me in his office. He asked me my name
and decided he didn’t like Gladys Smith and changed it to Mary Pickford. He asked me why I
wanted to see him and why my life depended on it. I replied “I’m thirteen years old and think I’m
at the crossroads of my life. I’ve got to make good between now and the time I’m twenty and I
have only seven years to do it in. Besides, I’m the father of my family and I’ve got to earn all the
money I can.”(Mary Pickford,1955). He was very amused by this whole conversation. He invited
me to come and see his show and I was to perform for him that same night. I was accepted in
“The Warrens of Virginia”. I had made my very first Broadway show and I was on my way to
stardom.
Works Cited
 Close Ups, The Movie Star Book. First Fireside Edition. New York: Simon and Schuster inc., 1978. Print

"http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/ua-studio-lot.htm ." www.cobblestone.com. 2005.

Cobblestone entertainment, Web. 8 Mar 2010.

<http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/index.htm>.

http://www.goldensilents.com/. 2004. goldensilents.com, Web. 8 Mar 2010.

http://www.imdb.com/." 1990-2010. IMDb.com, Web. 8 Mar 2010.

<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0681933/#actress1910>.

"http://www.marypickford.com/." 2008. Web. 8 Mar 2010.

<http://www.marypickford.com/library/about-mary-pickford>.

www.pbs.com." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pickford/. 1997-2004. New Content, Web. Mar 2010.

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pickford/filmmore/index.html

Sunshine and Shadow. Garden City, New York: Double and Company inc., 1955. Print