Born in Toronto as Gladys Marie Smith, Mary Pickford became the biggest celebrity of the Silent Era. She came to be known as “The Girl with the Golden Curls” and “America’s Sweetheart.” Mary was possibly the first celebrity to shrewdly make sure her public persona as America’s Sweetheart stayed in tact. She was never pictured with alcohol or even with a cigarette but that didn’t stop people from naming drinks after her. Or from herself imbibing in illegal hooch for that matter.
In 1909 Mary joined the Biograph Film Company in New York City, where she was hired by D.W. Griffith and became an immediate success, appearing in fifty-one (51!) films in that first year alone, they were all short films but still that’s almost a film a week. Her on screen debut was, Two Memories which featured another Canadian, Mack Sennett. We’ll have to do another article on him and his raucous studio in the near future.
She left Biograph in 1910 and appeared in films by Carl Laemmle’s Independent Moving Pictures Company, which later became a part of Universal Studios in a few years. She only stayed at IMP for a little while, bouncing around to Majestic Studios and back to Biograph here and there.
Probably her most famous role is that of Gwendolyn in Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) where she played the role of a child at the age of 25. Other notable roles are Tess of the Storm Country (1914), Daddy-Long-Legs (1919) and Sparrow (1926). She won an academy award for her first “talkie” in Coquette (1929).
Douglas Fairbanks & Mr. Syphilis
In 1920 she married Douglas Fairbanks, Hollywood’s first power couple. Their home known as “Pickfair” brought about a mansion explosion in the then little known town of Beverly Hills. It was with Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin that she co-founded United Artists. She was also one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka the people who give out Oscars).
Her brother, Jack Pickford aka Mr. Syphilis was mentioned in a previous article about pinup artists where we featured a Vargas painting of his first wife Olive Thomas. She and his other two wives were former Ziegfield girls, Olive died after drinking Jack’s syphilis medication. Her death was ruled an accident but that didn’t stop it from becoming one of Hollywood’s first scandals. The next year Fatty Arbuckle would say “hold my beer” and bring about the biggest Hollywood scandal of the 1920s. That’s another article we’ll have to write about because well, he was probably framed.
Anyway, what you’re all here for, the recipe. Concocted in Havana by bartender Fred Kaufman when he was working at the Hotel Sevilla while Pickford was in Cuba with her husband Douglas Fairbanks.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz white rum (we used Greenbar’s Silver Rum to keep it Hollywood)
- 1 oz pineapple juice
- 1 barspoon (teaspoon) grenadine
- 1 barspoon (teaspoon) Maraschino liqueur
- Garnish with a branded cherry (we just used a maraschino cherry)
Instructions:
Combine all the ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled glass and add the cherry.
Smooth and sweet like Mary Pickford, this drink isn’t that bad. I wouldn’t have more than one but it’s pretty good and would fit in any Tiki bar. Which is the best way I’d classify this, a Silent Era Tiki drink.
While we’re on the subject of Mary Pickford recipes, here’s a few others from Movies Silently, where Fritzi the Silent Film historian at that website makes recipes from old Hollywood Cookbooks. Here’s some of Mary Pickfords:
The Mary Pickford Sandwich
Mary Pickford’s Raspberry Jam Tarts
Further Reading:
I got this recipe from Contraband Cocktails by Paul Dickson
Some stories about Mary Pickford, her brother and others are in the awesome book, Of All the Gin Joints by Mark Bailey and Illustrated by Edward Hemingway.
Sunshine and Shadow by Mary Pickford (autobiography)
