Gladys Louise Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress, producer, screenwriter and film studio founder. A pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood career that spanned five decades, Pickford was one of the most popular actresses of the silent film era. Beginning her film career in 1909, by 1916 Pickford became Hollywood's first millionaire, and at the height of her career had complete creative control of her films and was one of the most recognizable women in the world. Due to her popularity, unprecedented international fame, and success as an actress and businesswoman, she was known as the "Queen of the Movies". She was a significant figure in the development of film acting and is credited with having defined the ingénue type in cinema, a persona that also earned her the nickname "America's Sweetheart".
Fred Astaire was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time" and had received numerous accolades, including an Honorary Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award.
Jack Pickford, was a Canadian-American actor, film director and producer. He was the younger brother of actresses Mary and Lottie Pickford.
Owen Moore was an Irish-born American actor, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.
Frances Marion was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos. During the course of her career, she wrote over 325 scripts. She was the first writer to win two Academy Awards. Marion began her film career working for filmmaker Lois Weber. She wrote numerous silent film scenarios for actress Mary Pickford, before transitioning to writing sound films.
A lost film is a feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. Early films were not thought to have value beyond their theatrical run, so many were discarded afterward. Nitrate film used in early pictures was highly flammable and susceptible to degradation. The Library of Congress began acquiring copies of American films in 1909, but not all were kept. Due to improvements in film technology and recordkeeping, few films produced in the 1950s or beyond have been lost.
Mary Claire Fuller was an American actress active in both stage and silent films. She also was a screenwriter and had several films produced. An early major star, by 1917 she could no longer obtain roles in film or on stage. A later effort to revive her career in Hollywood failed in the 1920s after talkies began to dominate film. After suffering a nervous breakdown, she was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC in 1947 and lived there until her death.
Violet Mersereau was an American stage and film actress. Over the course of her screen career, Mersereau appeared in over 100 short and silent film features.
Sweet Memories is a 1911 silent short romantic drama film, written and directed by Thomas H. Ince, released by the Independent Moving Pictures Company on March 27, 1911.
Charlotte Smith, known professionally as Lottie Pickford, was a Canadian-American silent film actress and socialite. She was the younger sister of fellow actress Mary Pickford and elder sister of actor Jack Pickford.
The Diamond from the Sky is a 1915 American silent adventure-film serial directed by Jacques Jaccard and William Desmond Taylor and starring Lottie Pickford, Irving Cummings, and William Russell.
Mary Pickford (1892–1979) was a Canadian-American motion picture actress, producer, and writer. During the silent film era she became one of the first great celebrities of the cinema and a popular icon known to the public as "America's Sweetheart".
La Petite Fadette, also published in English under the titles Little Fadette. A Domestic Story (1849), Fadette. A Domestic Story (1851) and Little Fadette (1967), is an 1849 novel written by French novelist George Sand, born Amantine Dupin. Sand wrote the rural story together with La Mare au Diable and François le Champi in the 1840s as she returned from Paris to the countryside of Châteauroux. The novel is one of Sand's best known today.
To Save Her Soul is a 1909 American short silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Mary Pickford. The film was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey when many of the early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based there at the beginning of the 20th century.
Little Annie Rooney is a 1925 American silent comedy-drama film starring Mary Pickford and directed by William Beaudine. Pickford, one of the most successful actresses of the silent era, was best known throughout her career for her iconic portrayals of penniless young girls. After generating only modest box office revenue playing adults in her previous two films, Pickford wrote and produced Little Annie Rooney to cater to silent film audiences. Though she was 33 years old, Pickford played the title role, an Irish girl living in the slums of New York City.
Jack Standing was an English born American actor.
A Girl of Yesterday is a 1915 American silent comedy film directed by Allan Dwan, and distributed by Paramount Pictures and Famous Players–Lasky. The film starred Mary Pickford as an older woman. Before this film, Pickford was mainly cast in "little girl" roles which were popular with the public. A Girl of Yesterday costarred Pickford's younger brother Jack, Marshall Neilan, Donald Crisp and Frances Marion, who later became a prolific screenwriter. Real life aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin also made a cameo in the film.
Esmeralda is a 1915 silent film starring Mary Pickford, directed by James Kirkwood, and produced by Adolph Zukor and stage impresario Daniel Frohman.
Mile-a-Minute Kendall is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by William Desmond Taylor and released by Paramount Pictures. Jack Pickford plays the title role, a wealthy, rakish young man who falls for a gold digger. The "beautiful but unscrupulous fortune hunter" who tempts Kendall is played by Lottie Pickford, Jack's sister; a contemporary review in Variety noted that "the idea of a sister 'vamping' her own brother is not exactly palatable." Louise Huff plays the "good girl" in the story.
On Your Toes is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and starring Reginald Denny, Barbara Worth, and Hayden Stevenson. It was part of a trend of sports films produced at various Hollywood studios at the time.
