Two Day Magazine

  2. At the time, failed stage actors resorted to the less profitable trade of making motion pictures. Mary, counseled and encouraged by her mother, negotiated ruthlessly for her pay with film producers used to exploiting their talent, but there was only one Mary Pickford, and the tiny actress was tough as nails. Mary was the first woman to earn $1 million in one year. At a time when suffragettes were struggling to grant women the vote, Mary Pickford, ironically, broke down economic boundaries for women, but often did so by portraying women on screen as helpless, childlike damsels in distress.

As film profits first began to surge, studio execs conspired to cut the film artists out of their increasing percentage of the box office. The actors and directors fought back.

3. Appalling in the politically correct Hollywood of today, the biggest grossing film debut in those days was “The Birth of a Nation”, a white-supremacist tribute to the Klu Klux Klan. This earnings record went unchallenged until the 1970s. Regrettably, it portrayed the attitudes of many in its day. Its director D. W. Griffith (undeniably a master cinematographer, however racist), with Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, founded United Artists, which still thrives today. Fairbanks signed on, too, motivated partially by profit, but certainly also to be near Mary. Mary’s husband had become a bitter alcoholic, jealous his own fame was eclipsed by his wife, as Mrs. Beth Fairbanks’ place in Doug’s heart was eclipsed by “Little Mary”.

4. In 1920s Hollywood, marital infidelity could end a career. This contrasts starkly with the present, when a tabloid break-up can jump-start a failing star’s come-back. Both Catholics, both divorced quietly, and married each other in a private ceremony, terrified the public would turn against them for it. They needn’t have worried. Neither understood at the time that PR was, in essence, story-telling. Consider which headline would sell more papers: “FILM’S LEADING LADY MARRIES THE KING OF HOLLYWOOD” or “MARY PICKFORD AND OWEN MOORE BACK TOGETHER”. Owen who?

The public couldn’t get enough of the God and Goddess of Hollywood, and thronged to them in London, Spain, even Moscow and Japan. Producing and distributing films themselves, they had hit after hit. Mary was a sort of demigoddess disguised in human form, whose immortality seemed to be obvious to everyone but herself. She spent almost none of her vast earnings until Doug helped her get in touch with her glamorous off-screen self.

But, Douglas was a jealous demigod, and would have no other gods before him. The whole world loved Douglas Fairbanks, especially Douglas Fairbanks. Doug spoiled himself with lavish cars, luxury cruises, and the first fashionable Hollywood mansion, around which other stars rushed to stake claims on the most glamorous real estate in America.