Mary Pickford - Parte 2: A FASE GRIFFITH E ZUKOR
Mary worked for Griffith for a year and a half. During this time she fell in love with Owen Moore, another Biograph actor. They were married, secretly, in January of 1911. Pickford was eighteen; Moore twenty-three. The secret was kept even from Mary’s mother, who was shocked and dismayed when she found out, months later.
After she had appeared in eighty Biograph shorts, Pickford left the company for Carl Laemmle’s IMP company. Laemmle had previously snatched another anonymous Biograph actress from Griffith, Florence Lawrence, and publicized her name to great effect. Now they offered the same inducement to Pickford: more money and name recognition. Creatively, however, the collaboration was an unhappy one. Thirty-four (now I suppose that should be “thirty-five”) films later, Pickford broke her contract. After an abortive attempt to make one-reelers with her husband as director at the Majestic Company, she ended up back on Griffith’s doorstep.
In rejoining Griffith, Pickford accepted the fact that talented collaborators and a happy work environment were more important than being on your own. Griffith, on the other hand, accepted the fact that Mary was no longer anonymous. The public now knew her name, and her films were very popular. The next year produced some of the greatest results of the Biograph days.
Mary excelled at parts that moved from adolescence to dawning romance. She was every man’s perfect first love. Marriage or sex might be a part of the story, though often this was implied as coming only after the denouement.
In December 1912 David Belasco offered Mary a chance to return to the theatre to play the part of the little blind girl in A Good Little Devil. Mary jumped at the role, but decided it should be accompanied by an increase in salary. Belasco agreed.
Toward the end of the successful run a man by the name of Adolph Zukor offered to make a film of A Good Little Devil using the original cast. It would be a feature film, a classy project with a famous director, Edwin S. Porter. Far from fearing actor recognition, as had Biograph, Zukor welcomed it. The slogan of his newly formed company was “Famous Players in Famous Plays.”
Over the next four years, from 1913 to 1916, Mary Pickford made twenty-one feature films for Zukor and his Famous Players Film Company. Zukor’s company, in turn, became part of Paramount Pictures. By early 1916 she was making $2000 a week plus a $10,000 bonus each time she finished a picture. At a time when the average annual family income was under $2000, Mary Pickford was making $150,000 a year.
Mary Pickford had become a phenomenon the like of which the world had never seen. She would not be the last. Charlie Chaplin, a comparatively new kid on the block, would eclipse her, just slightly. But by 1916, twenty-four year old Mary Pickford was generally acknowledged to be the most famous and popular woman, not just in America, but in the world. How did this happen?
American movies had become an international business. Domestically, hundred- seat nickelodeons were being replaced by legitimate theaters of up to one and two thousand seats, now referred to as “movie palaces.” Internationally, it was easy to export films. Change the language of a few dozen intertitles, and Pickford pictures could be sent to France, Sweden, the Austro-Hungarian empire and even farther afield to Russia or South America. Distributors made still more money with block booking schemes. “You want the new Mary Pickford film? I’m sorry, her films are not available individually, you must buy the entire Paramount slate for the month of March. Thank you for your business.”
After she had appeared in eighty Biograph shorts, Pickford left the company for Carl Laemmle’s IMP company. Laemmle had previously snatched another anonymous Biograph actress from Griffith, Florence Lawrence, and publicized her name to great effect. Now they offered the same inducement to Pickford: more money and name recognition. Creatively, however, the collaboration was an unhappy one. Thirty-four (now I suppose that should be “thirty-five”) films later, Pickford broke her contract. After an abortive attempt to make one-reelers with her husband as director at the Majestic Company, she ended up back on Griffith’s doorstep.
In rejoining Griffith, Pickford accepted the fact that talented collaborators and a happy work environment were more important than being on your own. Griffith, on the other hand, accepted the fact that Mary was no longer anonymous. The public now knew her name, and her films were very popular. The next year produced some of the greatest results of the Biograph days.
Mary excelled at parts that moved from adolescence to dawning romance. She was every man’s perfect first love. Marriage or sex might be a part of the story, though often this was implied as coming only after the denouement.
In December 1912 David Belasco offered Mary a chance to return to the theatre to play the part of the little blind girl in A Good Little Devil. Mary jumped at the role, but decided it should be accompanied by an increase in salary. Belasco agreed.
Toward the end of the successful run a man by the name of Adolph Zukor offered to make a film of A Good Little Devil using the original cast. It would be a feature film, a classy project with a famous director, Edwin S. Porter. Far from fearing actor recognition, as had Biograph, Zukor welcomed it. The slogan of his newly formed company was “Famous Players in Famous Plays.”
Over the next four years, from 1913 to 1916, Mary Pickford made twenty-one feature films for Zukor and his Famous Players Film Company. Zukor’s company, in turn, became part of Paramount Pictures. By early 1916 she was making $2000 a week plus a $10,000 bonus each time she finished a picture. At a time when the average annual family income was under $2000, Mary Pickford was making $150,000 a year.
Mary Pickford had become a phenomenon the like of which the world had never seen. She would not be the last. Charlie Chaplin, a comparatively new kid on the block, would eclipse her, just slightly. But by 1916, twenty-four year old Mary Pickford was generally acknowledged to be the most famous and popular woman, not just in America, but in the world. How did this happen?
American movies had become an international business. Domestically, hundred- seat nickelodeons were being replaced by legitimate theaters of up to one and two thousand seats, now referred to as “movie palaces.” Internationally, it was easy to export films. Change the language of a few dozen intertitles, and Pickford pictures could be sent to France, Sweden, the Austro-Hungarian empire and even farther afield to Russia or South America. Distributors made still more money with block booking schemes. “You want the new Mary Pickford film? I’m sorry, her films are not available individually, you must buy the entire Paramount slate for the month of March. Thank you for your business.”
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