Customer Reviews

Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This biography is comprehensive without being dry and "scholarly." It reads like a novel, and it is a surprisingly even-handed biography, illuminating Miss Pickford's genius while showing us her not-so-attractive side. Time is spent on the alcoholism that was a prominent part of the last half of her life, and on her fights with family, including her three husbands, her two adopted children and the friendships she made, cultivated or broken along the way.

A good deal of time is also spent on how United Artists worked in its inception, why the founders thought that such a company was necessary and on the politics inside the company throughout its history. There is a Notes section that tells us where the anecdotes and quotes come from, and a tantalizing bibliography that I will end up using in search of other books on Miss Pickford and on silent film in general.

Buddy Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. were still around when this book was being researched and written, and they, along with numerous others, seem to have shared insights that help us understand the lady, and Fairbanks sheds some light on her complex and lasting love with his father - they continued to be very close up until his death. This may be one of the last things that Fairbanks and Rogers contributed to, and if this is how they would be remembered, its not a bad thing.

If you are interested not only in her films (which run far afield of just the "Little Mary" whom we all have heard about and seen), and for an interesting, highly readable overview of silent film in general, this biography is a must read. I am personally glad I bought it for myself, rather than borrowing it from the library (as I do with many books), because as I learn more about the era and see more of her films, I'm sure I'm going to want to go back to it again (probably more than once).

I must recommend this biography by Whitfield, who exhaustively researched Pickford's life and "milestones" in breathtaking scope and clarity. Pickford, like others in her field of the silent era, endured poverty, the threat of separation from her mother and siblings... and worked on stage from the age of five. Pickford's mindboggling success,was the combination of angelic charm, savvy business sense, and being at the right place at the right time.
Pickford was a legend in her own time. A woman so popular she became the first and only celebrity to achieve the title of :America's Sweetheart. In Whitfeild's writing is both well researched and choc-a block full of privite anecdotes throughout; from her Father's accidental death, to working with Belasco and D.W Griffith (secretly marrying Owen Moore at 17), and Zukor, to selling war bonds with Chaplin and Fairbanks (husband #2), creating United Artists (1919) and moving on after the invasion of the "talkies". Also explored are her rivals in the industry (especially Gloria Swanson...Sunset Boulevard would have been all the more poignant had Mary starred in it), and her public loves (Owen Moore, Douglas Fairbanks, and later Buddy Rogers). Most fascinating is Pickford's steadfast devotion to her mother Charlotte, and her unsuccessful attempts to help her brother Jack and sister Lottie, who, like Mary became alcoholics. Through the strength of Whitfields data regarding Pickford, we begin to understand Mary's life from the dual -dilemma of her love of her fame and public, to the hold her career had on every decision she made, and how she at times, was paralyzed, as the "most recognized woman in the world."
Mary became typecast as "Little Mary" and she turned out some of the best movies of her generation with "Stella Maris(1919)
" Daddy Long Legs(1919)" "Little Annie Rooney(1925)" "Suds(1920)" "My best Girl(1927)"
She had great difficulty "growing up" in her roles, (which were met with opposition by devoted fans), and using more mature characters and subjects...this is evident in Kiki (1932) one of her attempts to break from her "girl with the curls" image.
(She eventually cut her curls in 1928 after charlotte died, mirroring a symbolic (umbilical cord) , cutting her past away.
Mary was unequaled at the pinnacle of her career, but her intense celebrity status that had became a source of great adoration, was followed abruptly with detachment and pain as old hollywood moved into "Talkies", and the Iconography of Mary was later constantly compared to Shirley Temple in the Thirties. Mary stopped making pictures alltogether by 1933. This wonderful book charts the ups and downs of her unimaginable career, personal life, with recorded insights from those who knew her best. She was an astonishing woman, and Whitfield, though respectful, brings humor, wit and insight into the biography of America's most mystifying "sweetheart". A +

Since this is one of the very best biographies of a movie actor this longtime film buff has ever read, I have to say I don't understand other readers' quibbles with it. The book isn't just beautifully written and well-researched, it's full of insights, perceptions and thoughts -- which most biographies are terribly short of. Silent movies and silent-movie acting are difficult subjects to discuss in fresh and provocative ways, and here Whitfield also triumphs. Her book is a great introduction to the early days of film and of film stardom too. But beware: this isn't a pop or trashy biography, and it isn't fanzine stuff either. This is literate, intelligent work -- think Arlene Croce or Simon Callow. Could that be what some readers are annoyed by?

Mary Pickford was a key figure in American cinematic history. She became the first major silent-film actress and went on to become the first major female film executive as one of the founders of Untied Artists. Popular known in her acting heyday as "America's sweetheart", she enchanted moviegoers with her portraits of golden-haired princesses as well as her moving portrayals of sad-eyed waifs. Eileen Whitfield's Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood recreates Pickford's personal and professional life in vivid detail from her poverty-stricken childhood in turn-of-the-century Toronto, through her undisputed reign as mistress of Pickfair (the Beverly Hills estate where she and her actor husband Douglas Fairbanks entertained in the 1920s), to her sadly moving demise in 1979. Pickford is "must" reading for all Mary Pickford fans and students of the American cinema.

Eileen Whitfield's research and writing make this book a standout. This obviously took years to compile, write, and edit, but the result is a complete, fascinating look at this legendary actress and woman. As I read it, I kept wondering why she hasn't followed up with another Hollywood biography. She's that good.

I've just finished reading the book "Mary Pickford: The Woman who made Hollywood" and I am left questioning "Who is Mary Pickford?" The author, Eileen Whitfield, thoroughly researches every aspect of Pickford's career-- her early stage struggles and triumphs, the start of her film career beginning at Biograph and the pinnacle of her success as the Queen of Hollywood with her King, Douglas-- but I am left with an abstract image of Mary. The business side of Mary is covered -- Her frugalness, her art of business at a time when it was not admired of women, is deeply discussed -- but something is missing. . . Emotion. I was shocked when the most important events in Mary's life (The deaths of her Mother, Sister, Brother, and ex-husband Douglas along with her suspected abortion, etc.) were relatively overshadowed by the seemingly endless sideline discussions of background issues not pertaining directly to Mary. For example, Pickford's reaction to the death of Fairbanks was reduced to maybe 2 pages (if not a little less) while the discussion of the emergence of film (Edison) to the life story of the creator of film narrative (DW Griffith) took 4 consecutive pages without a mere mention of Mary. In my humble opinion, the last chapters were the most important because suddenly the business of films became the side story (less discussed) while the tragic Pickford finally emerged, consumed by the family illness, Alcoholism. As I closed the cover for the last time, Mary's life felt somehow incomplete. I was left wondering, "Who was Mary Pickford?" I guess I'll try another book for the answer.

This is a very good book on silent legend Mary Pickford but it should have been a better one. I don't think the author was fair to Miss Pickford on several occasions. Most outrageous is her trashing Miss Pickford's autobiography SUNSHINE AND SHADOW when the book is clearly the main source of reference for Whittfield's book (it is even the ONLY source given for a chapter or two of Whittfield's book.) She also at times seems not to want to give Mary the benefit of the doubt in personal matters, as if because she praises her film work she must be more critical of her private life to suggest a writer's detachness. At least this book is FAR better than the mean-spirited biography one man wrote in the late 1980's. Still, I eagerly await Kevin Brownlow's new book on Mary and I suspect despite being a "picture book" it will be THE Pickford biography to stand.

Although I've read several books on Mary Pickford, I was still glued to my seat as I read this fascinating biography. This book really concentrates on her relationships with her husbands Owen Moore; Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; and Buddy Rogers. It is also thorough in covering her family of Charlotte, Jack, and Lottie. My only disappointment was that the not much of the actual making of her films was covered in-depth. The book has a perfect title, as she was probably the most powerful person in Hollywood from about 1915 until the coming of sound.

Eileen Whitfield, who put 8 years of her life into this project, has at last given us a reputable biography on the career of America's Sweetheart. They don't get much better or more honest than this. The research is meticulous, and the sources well documented. This is many, many times superior to the Eyman book of the early 1990s, which made the mistake of bashing Mary Miles Minter, one of my favourite actresses!

This was one of the very best biographies I have ever read. So much information has been lost about the silent days of cinema, about the places and famous people that were so much apart of that exciting time. Read it for the history, the glimpses of immortals (Chaplin, Griffith, Fairbanks) and for the beginnings of the language of film itself. The author rationalizes Mary's behavior a bit too much, but still manages to paint a portrait of a young working woman with a strong "Stage Mother" and a shrewd (and unfashionable for a woman) business sense. We don't get too much of a sense of who Mary really was from the book, but the author did the best she could, I believe, considering that little "Gladys Mary Smith" had started working in pictures over 80 years ago. And while you may not walk away from the book feeling that you have any better of an idea of who Pickford was, you will have had a finely detailed look into her fascinating world. An incredible read.