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Mary Pickford Lost Film Discovered/ Mary Pickford Cocktail

TomJH replied to ThelmaTodd's topic in General Discussions

Thanks very much, Thelma Todd, for the links to the YT Pickford sites, as well as the reference to Mary's incredible business acumen. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were, of course, Hollywood's first royal couple. An invitation to Pickfair was the highest social compliment that could be extended to someone within the film community during the '20s. But it was far more than just inhabitants of the film world that went there, as well known politicians and dignitaries, as well as genuine royalty, strained to visit Doug and Mary on their 56m acre estate, as well. Among the guests were George Bernard Shaw, Thomas Edison, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, Charles Lindbergh, Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin, who considered Fairbanks his best friend. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. wrote much about his father and Mary in his autobiography, Salad Days. He related a moment of profound significance in their relationship which occured in 1916, at a time when the silent swashbuckling king had known Mary for about a year but was still married to Doug Jr.'s mother. Fairbanks and Pickford went for a ride in her limousine around Central Park on a very sad occasion just after the death of Doug Sr.'s mother. They were talking about his mother, of course, and at one moment Fairbanks finally broke down weeping, almost inconsolable in his grief. Mary did all that she could to comfort Fairbanks and, after he had regained his composure, they both noticed that the car clock had stopped. By their calculation the clock had stopped at the about the same moment at which Fairbanks had broken down in the car. Afterward the words "by the clock" had a special coded meaning between Doug and Mary, an expression which, when used by either of them over the years to come, would remind them of this tender emotional moment that they shared and, in turn, strengthen their relationship. In 1920 Mary and Doug would marry, travelling to London and Paris on their honeymoon where, as the most famous couple in the world, they were mobbed by the fans. Their glory days in popularity and on the screen would be from the late WWI years through the '20s. With the talkies both their careers would suffer, in spite of Pickford receiving an Oscar for Coquette. Fairbanks also had numerous affairs, some of them becoming public much to Mary's humilation, as she became a secret drinker. In January, 1936 they were divorced. Afterward, however, Fairbanks decided that Mary had been the "great love of his life," and he went through great efforts to try to court her all over again, visiting her at Pickfair where she still resided, taking her for rides in the country, as well as sending her letters of romantic devotion in which he pleaded with her for a second chance. Pickford, after all the pain she had gone through, however, combined with the public humiliation over his affairs, was determined that the Great Romance was over. Fairbanks fell in and out of depression over his failure to revive the relationship, and impulsively set sail on a luxury liner for Europe. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. had been with his father during this period, and had been taken by surprise with Doug Sr.'s sudden departure for Europe. Doug Jr. was at the Waldorf Towers, where his father had been staying, and was told that there was a Western Union telegram for his father, which had arrived early that morning and had been overlooked, with his father departing not knowing of its arrival. Doug Jr. nonchalantly opened the telegram. It was from Mary Pickford, saying, words to the effect "All is forgiven . . . Let us be together again . . . forever." Doug Jr. immediately tried to contact his father on the ship to get him the news. After a frustrating hour to contact the ship and even more time to get his father on the luxury liner, he gave Fairbanks the news of Mary's telegram. His father, however, refused to believe him, accusing him of lying. Doug Jr. pleaded with him to then call Mary himself if he doubted him. His father's response was to hang up the phone. Shortly afterward, Fairbanks flew to Paris with an English socialite he had been courting for some time, Sylvia Ashley, where they were married. Three years later Fairbanks suffered a sudden, unexpected heart attack. The day following the attack he had a tone of urgency as he asked his brother to give Mary a particular message if anything happened to him. That evening he succumbed. The next morning, with the world waking up to the news that the great Douglas Fairbanks was dead, his brother contacted Mary by phone. Mary Pickford then received her last message from Douglas Fairbanks. It was three words - "By the clock." Upon hearing those words Pickford was silent. Soon afterward, however, she made the following statement to the press, "He passed from our mortal life quickly and spontaneously as he did everything else in life, but it is impossible to believe that vibrant and gay spirit could ever perish."

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