Mary Pickford

MARY PICKFORD



Amber Tucker

United States History

Mr. Headley

January 17, 2006

Gladys Smith was a small town girl that became famous as a young child. As a young child Gladys Smith no longer Gladys Smith, she was renamed by a director by the name of David Belasco. He changed her name from Gladys Smith to Mary Pickford from then on everyone has known her as Mary Pickford.

Mary Pickford was one of the most famous women in the 1920’s. She was an actress. She didn’t star in movies like what we have today the ones with sound, she was the star in silent screen movies. She starred in movies such as “Pollyanna” followed by “Suds” and then three releases in 1921 entitled “The Love Light,” “Through the Back Door,” and Little Lord Fauntleroy” all which were silent movies. Mary Pickford had great success when it came to her videos. Peopled loved her. She had very long curly hair that she wore in long curly braids. That style made her look younger then she really was. That is why she was always asked to play rolls of either child or a teenager. Mary was always the first name that would come to mind when they needed an experience young person to play a roll. Even though she was not young she looked very young.

“Pollyanna” was her first United Artist release, and many others followed after. When Mary played in the film “Pollyanna” she was twenty-seven years old. She played the part of a fifteen year old child. Her beautiful long curly hair she decided that she wanted to cut it off. She cut it into a short bob style. Cutting off her hair was her way of setting a new updated style for herself for life. She was sort of tired of the childish rolls she was being asked to play, even though she was good at it, she thought it was time for something different.

Mary was married and her and her husband Douglas Fairbanks were looked at as the couple everyone wanted to be like. Mary and Douglas both got divorces to the prier mates in order to get married. In 1920 Mary and Douglas became the King and Queen of the Hollywood world. They were loved, admired, and envied because of the glamorous life they lived. They lived in the biggest most beautiful house that everyone wanted. Mary’s success continued through the 1920’s she was the most popular female movie star and the highest paid. Mary Pickford was not just know in the United States but she was known all over the world. For instance Mary and Douglas would go on a trips to Europe and were bombarded by a stampede of people. People would come from all over to come see her if they knew she was coming into town. That would happen every time she would go to Europe. Being loved and admired all over the world was exciting for Mary. Every film that Mary had was a big success and everyone loved her.

Mary was so successful that studios in town didn’t even have enough room to accommodate her demands and didn’t even have enough to pay her. It seemed as if Mary was not the only star in that predicament. There was this actor by the name of Charlie Chapmen. They were pretty much in the same spot no one had enough room to accommodate them nor did they have enough funds. What they did was put their heads together and got together and came up with a plan. What they did was got together with Mary’s husband Douglas and came up with the United Artist.

In 1923 Mary brought director Ernest Lubitsch from