America’s Mary Pickford--Short, Sweet and Savvy

Mary Pickford started out as “America’s Sweetheart,” then realized the power of her popularity and turned herself into a mogul. Her career, like that of others in Hollywood, could have worn the brand “Only in America.”

The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana offers a look at the silent movie star tonight in a program featuring five of her early shorts, all made between 1909 and 1912. The mini-movies, each about 10 minutes, should give an idea of the range of Pickford’s screen personality, said Bowers spokesman Brian Langston.

“The films are valuable, we think, as a way to introduce our patrons to (one of the) important people in cinema,” he said. “Maybe from there, they’ll go on to learn more and see more” of her work.

In “In Old Madrid” (1911), Pickford plays a feisty senorita determined to see her boyfriend despite a guardian’s objections. Her character in “Sweet Memories” (also 1911) is an old woman who falls asleep, then dreams of her life from childhood to marriage.

“Lonely Villa” (1909), directed by D.W. Griffith, gives us a Pickford who must be rescued from a forbidding house. Another Griffith-directed short is “Female of the Species” (1912), in which the actress goes out of character to play a villainess who tries to persuade her sister to commit murder. In “Her First Biscuit,” a 1909 comedy, Pickford tries, badly, to make biscuits.

Pickford’s film persona, which in major releases wavered little from picture to picture, clearly reflected the attitudes of the day--Pickford was mostly purity and bliss, a make-believe darling for an emerging industry banking on the appeal of make-believe. She tended to be innocent on screen but a sharpie with good business sense off it.

Besides helping launch film through her box-office appeal, she had impact on a handful of important directors--including Griffith--early in their careers. She helped Mack Sennett on his way to comedy and first brought Ernst Lubitsch over from Europe.

Most important, she established United Artists in 1919 with fellow heavyweights Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Griffith.

Pickford, born in Toronto in 1892, was a stage actress before moving to film, eventually becoming one of Griffith’s regulars.

Wanting more control of her projects, Pickford decided to out-studio the studios. She started in 1916 by forming the Mary Pickford Film corporation, which led to her becoming independent, unburdened by contracts, in 1918.

The next year, she joined with Fairbanks (whom she married in 1920), Chaplin and Griffith, who were also sick of the dictatorial studio system, to form their own. United Artists immediately became a major player.

Bowers sticks with history but moves away from Hollywood for its final screening of the year. On Dec. 15 it will present a series of newsreels from the ‘20s, documenting several events, including the play of the New York Giants, the speeches of Mussolini and the discovery of Pompeii.

* What: Mary Pickford program, including five shorts.

* When: Tonight, Dec. 8, at 7:30.

* Where: The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana.

* Whereabouts: Take the Santa Ana (5) Freeway to 17th Street and head west to Main Street, then head north.

* Wherewithal: Included with museum admission of $4.50 for adults, $3 for seniors and $1.50 for ages 12 and under.

* Where to call: (714) 567-3600.

MORE SPECIAL SCREENINGS

Home for Christmas

(NR) Mickey Rooney stars in this 1990 film about an elderly homeless man who enters a rich family’s life to reveal a mystery that changes their Christmas. The film, directed by Peter McCubbins, screens Friday, Dec. 9, at 12:45 p.m. at the Cypress Senior Center, 9031 Grindlay St., Cypress. FREE. (714) 229-6776.

Little Women

(NR) June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O’Brien and Peter Lawford star in this 1949 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s tale of young women coming of age. The film, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, screens Wednesday, Dec. 14, and Dec. 16, at 12:45 p.m. at the Cypress Senior Center. FREE.