2. america’s sweetheart
1.True or False. Mary Pickford went into movie
acting against the support and advice of her family.
2.True or False. Mary Pickford’s films addressed
social causes of the day.
3.What was Mary Pickford’s involvement in WWI?
4.What was the public’s reaction to Mary when she
cut her hair?
5.What was “Pickfair”?
4. broken blossoms
What emotional responses do you have either for or against the
film?
In what ways was the story paradoxical or ironic?
Describe the various relationships between
men with men
men with women
women with women
Is this film worth seeing now? What truths still translate?
What does this movie have to say about evil in the world? What
are the ways people are good and bad?
What are Lucy’s options?
How is “the other” treated?
8. SPORT
more than mere play
competition served as a
great leveler
gave purpose to old
virtues that had appeared
obsolete
now yielded physical
rewards
9. “Fairbanks is a faun who has
been to Sunday School. He
has a pagan body which yields
instantly to any gypsy or
heathen impulse...but he has a
mind reliably furnished with
a full set of morals and
proprieties; he would be a
sympathetic companion for
anybody’s aunt.”
Booth Tarkington,
contemporary dramatist
11. working girls/serial queens
Serial queen appeared on
and off the screen as
healthy, robust, and self-
reliant, unlike the “sickly
women” of the past. They
roamed far and wide
unchaperoned...breaking
into new activities
16. Always end in
marriage
Saved by suitor
after she gets
herself into
trouble
17. pearl white
(writer/
producer “perils
of pauline”
“Nearly all scenario-writers or authors
for film are men; and men usually
won’t provide for a girl things to do
that they wouldn’t do themselves. So
if I want really thrilly action, I ask
permission to write it in myself.”
18. “All over the world
Pearl White’s name
has become a
synonym for courage
and daring…to her,
leaps over cliffs, and
dives off decks of
ocean liners, are as
prosaic and
uneventful as her
morning grapefruit.”
American Magazine
19. “At home the moving picture star, who will dare
anything to make her last picture the greatest, reads
and plays and cooks and eats and primps like any
other girl.”
Motion Picture Classic
20. “We don’t want to be
marble; besides there
would not be enough
pedestals to go around,
anyway…Why not give
our men the same
comradeship that many
of them never find
outside of their clubs?”
Response to the New York
State Federation of
Women’s Clubs objection
to women as “pals”
28. “I always tried to get
laughter into my pictures.
Make them laugh and make
them cry and back to
laughter. What do people
go to the theater for? An
emotional exercise, and no
preachments. I don’t
believe in taking advantage
of someone who comes to
the theatre by teaching
them a lesson. It’s not my
prerogative to teach
anything.”
Mary Pickford
29. virtue and vitality
on screen
championed the
reforms of the
Progressive
movement
30. virtue and vitality
off screen
used celebrity
status as an activist with Pres. Herbert Hoover
extensive
commitment to
sell liberty bonds
Motion Picture
Relief Fund
32. virtue and vitality
on screen
expanded the perimeters of
respectable female behavior far
beyond 19th century standards.
33. virtue and vitality
on screen
expanded the perimeters of
respectable female behavior far
beyond 19th century standards.
the kidnap
34. virtue and vitality
on screen
expanded the perimeters of
respectable female behavior far
beyond 19th century standards.
the kidnap
cast as foreigner
35. virtue and vitality
on screen
expanded the perimeters of
respectable female behavior far
beyond 19th century standards.
the kidnap
cast as foreigner
primitive
36. virtue and vitality
on screen
expanded the perimeters of respectable
female behavior far beyond 19th century
standards.
the kidnap
cast as foreigner
primitive
youth
playful
37. virtue and vitality
on screen
expanded the perimeters of respectable
female behavior far beyond 19th century
standards.
the kidnap
cast as foreigner
primitive
youth
playful
subordinate
38. virtue and vitality
off screen
astute businesswoman
1909 started at Biograph at
$10/day
1914 started at Famous Players
@ $500/wk
by 1916 was earning $10,000/
wk plus %50 of film profits.
also choose stories, director and
cast
by 1918, she partnered with
Griffith, Fairbanks, and
Chaplin to form United Artists
39.
40. virtue and vitality
off screen
youth
“We are our own sculptors.
Who can deny that passion
and unkind thoughts show
on the lines and expressions
of our faces...young people
seldom have these vices until
they start getting old, so I
love to be with them. The
impulses of youth are
natural and good.”
“No woman can be a success
on the screen if she dissipates
even one little bit.”
41.
42.
43. marriage kept
exploration of
sexuality and
freedom as a
woman properly
held in check
and created
additional
avenues for
consumption
44. sparrows
Compare/contrast Mr. Grimes and Battling
Burrows.
Why does Grimes have a limp?
How do Lucy and Molly deal with their
problems?
Mary consistently defies the men in her life -
why is this defiance tolerated?
Name the ways in which Mary uses her head.
How is Mary’s sexuality contained in this
film? Or, how did her character still uphold
Victorian values?
What is the significance of the film’s ending?
45. working girl
“Our serial queen meets
more celebrities every week
than her small-town sisters.
Her gowns are perfect
visions of delight. THe story
of her adventures in New
York is a narrative al all the
joys of refined, metropolitan
existence.”
pg 108 - Lary May
46. Women are my greatest fans because
they se in my vampire the
impersonal vengeance of all their
unavenged wrongs..they have
lacked either the courage or will
power to redress their grievances.
Even downtrodden wives write me
to this effect. And they give me the
greatest compliment: “I know I
should sympathize with the wife,but
I do not.” I am in effect a feminste.”
Theda Bara
47. amnesia
in searching for some way to
graft thi aulity onto
otherwise “good women,”
filmmakers in this early
transition period from
1912-1914 used the device of
amnesia. The heroine loses
her memory and particiates
in forbidden activities free
from responsibility.
48. a fool there was - 1914
sex could destroy the social order (Lary May -
pag 106)
49. theda bara
popular 1914-1916
Unlike the blond young virgins who came before, Bara was
voluptuous and dark. Press releases protrayed this mysterious
beauty as the daughter of a French nobleman and an Algerian
princess; but in reality she was Theodosia Goodman of
Cincinnati, OH. Her exotic facade allowed the audience to
identify snsual evil with foreigners. Yet iw aws also clear that
she represented the quest for excitement -- and the danger of
taking it too far -- facing bored and anxious urbanites.
50. her freedom brings her in contact with a wider range of available
males. She also attracts them with sexual allure r - raises the chance
for an ensuing union based on something other than gentility.
false - her mother was her manager.\ntrue\nshe sold bonds\nthey didn’t like it\nhome for her and Douglas Fairbanks\n\n\n
Griffith’s Birth of a Nation - raped by a black man; Broken Blossoms - Cheng Huan Buddhist missionary - saves Lillian from her drunken father who regularly beats her. She is the suffering, virtuous heroine in need of saving - often at the hands of dangerous men.\n
\n
Like Henry Walthal - he was oppressed by the thought of work.\nHe is the “son” of Victorian parents - he ought to have the same work ethic, but work does not hold the same sense of satisfaction. (How is this resolved in THE AVENGING CONSCIENCE? a benevolent parent and turns out girl is more virtuous than originally thought)\nInstead - consumption is where he finds his greatest fulfillment. He’s not supposed to. Repeatedly, his character resolves this by.\n
Like Henry Walthal - he was oppressed by the thought of work.\nHe is the “son” of Victorian parents - he ought to have the same work ethic, but work does not hold the same sense of satisfaction. (How is this resolved in THE AVENGING CONSCIENCE? a benevolent parent and turns out girl is more virtuous than originally thought)\nInstead - consumption is where he finds his greatest fulfillment. He’s not supposed to. Repeatedly, his character resolves this by.\n
- now had the added benefit of physical reward.\n
\n
Fairbanks brought a youthful message.\nWhat would the female counterpart to this be?\n
shopgirls, secretaries, teachers\n
The history of serials starts in 1912 when McClure's Ladies World magazine devised a new strategy for building circulation: Each issue of the publication would feature a story about a continuing main character and a motion picture would show her exploits. \n
Almost immediately – film picked up on serials.\nAdrift from conventional family\nPerils of Pauline – Pauline’s guardian dies in the first episode\nThe Adventures of Kathlyn – her father is kidnapped\nNotably – it’s from patriarchal protection that all three heroines are tragically and prematurely separated from\n
\n
Instead of dreaming of doing something on their own – dreamed of being connected to someone powerful. Provided rich fantasy terrain for viewers. Could re-define themselves – always within the context of a new and different family or marriage partner\n
Despite their initial break from home life, heroine’s lives are inevitably circumscribed by familial ties in the end. While they may postpone marriage – it is always the final goal.\n
In reality, some of these women were quite powerful. Pearl White directed episodes and wrote matertial for herself.\n
Pearl White (Perils of Pauline and Exploits of Eloise)\n
\n
Women no longer want to be placed on pedestals\n
\n
Both Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford had a background in legitimate stage – which added legitimacy to their celebrity status. \nMary - is a good girl - surprisingly conservative\n
Born in 1893 in Toronto, Canada to an alcoholic father, who managed a small grocery market. Mother/grandmother - Irish catholic, very strict. But, mother put her on stage at the age of 7. Had ambitions to join David Belasco - famous Broadway director. But, even by 1909, you could make more money in movies.\n
Victorian traditional female - poor peasant girl whose love redeems a young man from his wasted life - turns out she’s actually long lost child of a noble family. Griffith’s actors weren’t named in credits, but the audience noticed her and started referring to her as “the girl with the curls”.\n
1913 - returned to stage\neventually turned into a film. Here that Adolph Zukor who had been pilfering Broadway stars to bring him into his company, picked Mary Pickford\n
Tess is a rebellious, independent, energetic Cumberland mountain girl who we first see dancing a jig. Tess raises the illegitimate daughter of a friend who is in dire straights. Is not supported by church or community - don’t know her good deed. She is plucky and forthright. When the church elder refuses to baptize Tess’ baby, she sprinkles the infant herself. Leads the farmers - ala Norma Rae. Finally vindicated.\n
\n
Unlike the moralizing of Griffith, Pickford specifically tried to avoid pounding home a moral. Her goal was to entertain. Plucky, buoyant, mobile, could cross boundaries of ethnicity and gender\n
Half the stars appeal lay in her ability to confront the major social problems of the day and resolve them on the personal level. Often overcoming prejudices against women, social class, and issues involving the disadvantaged worker, especially children. The Eternal Grind - abuse of workers (women and children). Tess and the Storm Country - helped organize farmers/tradesmen against an oppressive sheriff (and church elder) \n
WWI traveled extensively to sell liberty bonds. Army named two canons after her and made her an honorary “colonel”. At the end of World War I, Pickford conceived of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, an organization to help financially needy actors.\n
always chaperoned by her mother\n
\n
In Little Peppina and Less Than the Dust - American girl snatched from Victorian home by foreigners. THis gives her an excuse for taking on a different perwonality without guilt. Growing up with gypsies, Italians, Hindus, or Indians, she learns to wear their exotic clothes, assume a swarthy complexion, and participate in public festivals with both men and women.\n
Mary as an Irish, Japanese or Dutch girl who mingles in saloons, dances in New York or embodies exotic qualities of an Asian or European female, complete with bright clothes and a sensual personality.\n
Hearts Adrift - lone survivor on a deserted island when family’s ocean liner crashes. She learns to fish and build a hut. A gentleman also gets shipwrecked. She nurses him back to life. They “get married”. Then his fiance finds him. Come to rescue him. She can’t bring herself to leave the island - throws herself into a volcanoe - price she must pay for confronting traditional model of sexuality and society.\n
People who had grown up with Victorian values were unwilling to use the quest for sexual mutuality as a means for questioning the economy or the class order. So, instead of integrating these forces into a mature identity, they isolate their rebellious impulses into realm of pre-adult responsibility.\n\nRepeatedly, Pickford was the joyous, spontaneous female who brought into her personality that which Victorians had repressed - the playfulness of childhood and adolescent blossoming. - radiant image of girlish beauty - played 16 and 17 year olds well into her late 20s. If she showed more of her body than past stars - it was okay because it was young and innocent.\n
ultimate goal was still marriage. \n
mother did alot of her negotiating.\n
with director maurice Tournier\n
easy to see why she and Douglas Fairbanks got along so well. Her beauty and exercise regimen was widely publicized.\n
Another vehicle for the blending of production and consumption ethic. She was such a hard and virtuous worker - but an equal advocate for defining oneself through purchases\n
So associated with youth - when her mother died, she cut off her hair. Total public outcry. They didn’t want to see her age. But, couldn’t buy her as young woman anymore. Popularity died out.\n
marriage to Douglas Fairbanks - safe exploration of sexuality\nPickfair\n
She is religious, young and abused\nneed money - and lots of it - male still needed to protect and provide - more on her own terms\n