Jean Harlow: The first Hollywood car crash?

[stella blue]

I've always been fascinated with Mary Pickford. Anybody got any dirt on her?

[Sasha]

Originally Posted by stella blue

I've always been fascinated with Mary Pickford. Anybody got any dirt on her?

She was married to the dashing swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks, and they called their Hollywood estate "PickFair". She formed United Artists with Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith.When she cut her hair in a 1920's bob it was on the cover of the NYT. I have a dim memory of reading that she had multiple abortions but I may be mixing her up with someone else. She definitely died an alcoholic.

[Novice]

Originally Posted by stella blue

I've always been fascinated with Mary Pickford. Anybody got any dirt on her?

seriously google is great - I've learnt load of stuff from what other put onthe net.
To get you started here is stuff from her wiki page..

Relationships

Pickford was married three times. She first married Owen Moore (1886–1939), an Irish-born silent film actor, on January 7, 1911. It is believed she became pregnant by Moore in the early 1910s, but had a miscarriage or an abortion; some accounts suggest this led to her inability to have children.[4]:125 The couple had numerous marital problems, notably Moore's alcoholism, insecurity about living in the shadow of Pickford's fame, and bouts of domestic violence. The couple lived apart for several years, and Pickford became secretly involved in a relationship with Douglas Fairbanks.
Pickford and Fairbanks' romance was well along by the time they toured the U.S. in 1918 in support of Liberty Bond sales for the World War I effort, and the phrase "by the clock" became a secret message of their love. (Once during their courtship, Fairbanks was discussing his mother's recent death as the couple was driving. When he finished the story, the car clock stopped. The pair took this as a signal that Fairbanks' late mother approved of their relationship.)

Portrait circa 1921


Pickford divorced Moore on March 2, 1920, and married Fairbanks on March 28 of the same year. The tone of their European honeymoon was set by a riot in London as fans tried to touch Pickford's hair and clothes (she was dragged from her car and badly trampled). In Paris, a similar riot erupted at an outdoor market, with Pickford locked in a meat cage for her own protection, then pulled to safety through an open window. The couple's triumphant return to Hollywood was witnessed by vast crowds who turned out to hail them at railway stations across the United States.
The Mark of Zorro (1920) and a series of other swashbucklers gave the popular Fairbanks a more romantic, heroic image, and Pickford continued to epitomize the virtuous but fiery girl next door. Even at private parties, people instinctively stood up when Pickford entered a room; she and her husband were often referred to as "Hollywood royalty." Their international acclaim was so vast that foreign heads of state and dignitaries who visited the White House usually asked if they could also visit Pickfair, the couple's mansion in Beverly Hills.[1]
Dinners at Pickfair were legendary. Charlie Chaplin, Fairbanks' best friend, was often present. Other guests included George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Elinor Glyn, Helen Keller, H. G. Wells, Lord Mountbatten, Fritz Kreisler, Amelia Earhart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Noel Coward, Max Reinhardt, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Austen Chamberlain, and Sir Harry Lauder. Lauder's nephew, Matt Lauder, Jr., a professional golfer who owned a property at Eagle Rock, near Pasadena, California, taught Fairbanks to play golf. Pickford and Fairbanks were the first actors to leave their handprints in the courtyard cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre (Pickford also left her footprints). Nonetheless, the public nature of Pickford's second marriage strained it to the breaking point. Both she and Fairbanks had little time off from producing and acting in their films. When they weren't acting or attending to United Artists, they were constantly on display as America's unofficial ambassadors to the world—leading parades, cutting ribbons, making speeches.
The pressures increased when their film careers both began to founder at the end of the silent era. Fairbanks' restless nature found an outlet in almost-constant overseas travel (something which Pickford did not enjoy). The relationship was irrepairably damaged when Fairbanks' romance with Sylvia, Lady Ashley became public in the early 1930s. This led to a long separation and a final divorce on January 10, 1936. Fairbanks' son by his first wife, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., claimed that his father and Pickford regretted their inability to reconcile for the rest of their lives.
On June 24, 1937, Pickford married her last husband, actor and band leader Charles 'Buddy' Rogers. They adopted two children: Roxanne (born 1944, adopted 1944) and Ronald Charles (born 1937, adopted 1943, a.k.a. Ron Pickford Rogers). As a PBS American Experience documentary noted, Pickford's relationship with her children was tense, and she eventually criticized their physical imperfections, including Ronnie's small stature and Roxanne's crooked teeth. Both children would later remark that their mother was too self-absorbed to provide real maternal love. In 2003, Ronnie recalled that "Things didn't work out that much, you know. But I'll never forget her. I think that she was a good woman." [18]
In March 1928, Pickford's mother Charlotte died of breast cancer, followed by her brother Jack in 1933 and sister Lottie in 1936. Owen Moore, an incurable alcoholic, died in 1939. Fairbanks, meanwhile, died of a heart attack in 1939. Upon hearing of his death, Pickford reportedly began to weep in front of her new husband Rogers, saying "My darling is gone."[1] But according to Pickford, she held her tears back for fear of hurting Rogers, and only allowed herself to weep when she found herself alone on a train.[19] Still, as her marriage to Rogers wore on, Pickford often rhapsodized about Fairbanks, and from time to time mistakenly addressed Buddy Rogers as "Douglas." [20]
Ronald and Roxanne each left Pickfair at a young age. Pickford and Rogers stayed together for over four decades until Pickford's death from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 87.

Mary Pickford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[stella blue]

While my post count here doesn't show it, I do know my way around the intertronz. I was just curious if anyone had any "secret" dirt on her. I think the Wiki's been updated since I last looked at it though - thanks for the post!

[BITTER]

Originally Posted by nana55

Mt dad loved Norma shearer, also Barbara "Sandwich) as he called her. I hear barbara was a real lesbian. Not surprised. It seems there were a lot of lesbians in old hollywood. I guess it's always been filled with people who are little "freer" with their sexuality.

I love Sandwich; IIRC, she may have been involved with Crawford and her female agent. Before she made it to Hollywood, she worked for NYC speakeasy maven Texas Guinan, who was bisexual herself, so...anything is possible. Texas Guinan * Texas Guinan: Guinan & Stanwyck's Broadway Nights

[Sojiita]

Originally Posted by BITTER

I think Joan Crawford was the slutty one. She allegedly has a porno film floating around somewhere.

Sounds like they were all the 'slutty one'

[BITTER]

Originally Posted by Sojiita

Sounds like they were all the 'slutty one'

Ok, Joan was the slutTIEST. NO ONE was as SLUTTY as Joan. Bette Davis called her "MGM's first case of syphilis!". Clark Gable had to teach her about personal hygiene after she caught a nasty bout of crabs. They were fuck buddies for the longest time, but Clark preferred blondes, AND he preferred the carpet to match the drapes.

[AliceInWonderland]

Originally Posted by stella blue

I've always been fascinated with Mary Pickford. Anybody got any dirt on her?

i read a great biography on her. not really any dirt, just that she turned to booze as she aged and was a work-a-holic and maybe not always the best wife (but who is and vice versa in hollywood) from a very very young age she worked her ass off like Judy (Gumm) Garland, but somehow Mary lasted many years in hollywood and lived a long life pretty scandal-free. it was her brother who was the major fuck up. his story is interesting to say the least!

i read in her biography that since she was always working she had to learn how to sleep standing up backstage as a child and it was a habit she carried with her into adulthood. she was a tough smart business woman too!

[bellini]

This thread was so entertaining! Thanks. I love old Hollywood. Some of the stars that were considered great beauties then, I just can't see. Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow, Betty Grable, blech.

My pick the most beautiful would be Jennifer Jones, Gene Tierny, Loretta Young, of course Vivienne Leigh. My supreme favorite is Rita Hayworth. Lana Turner was very beautiful when she was young then like Joan Crawford, something happened to make her look like petrified wood. But really pretty when she first started.

Some gossip I read about Rita is when she traveled with her father, who was her dancing partner, they would register as husband and wife. He treated her as his wife when they were on tour. It would explain a lot of her issues with men.

[WhateverLolaWants]

Oh yeah...her brother was a major playboy fuckup and his GORGEOUS lover managed to accidentally kill herself with medication upon discovering he had given her Syphilis. What was her name...Olive something...

[BITTER]

Originally Posted by bellini

This thread was so entertaining! Thanks. I love old Hollywood. Some of the stars that were considered great beauties then, I just can't see. Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow, Betty Grable, blech.

My pick the most beautiful would be Jennifer Jones, Gene Tierny, Loretta Young, of course Vivienne Leigh. My supreme favorite is Rita Hayworth. Lana Turner was very beautiful when she was young then like Joan Crawford, something happened to make her look like petrified wood. But really pretty when she first started.

Some gossip I read about Rita is when she traveled with her father, who was her dancing partner, they would register as husband and wife. He treated her as his wife when they were on tour. It would explain a lot of her issues with men.

Watch what you say about Stanwyck; I love her.

Young was beautiful, but was known for being an obnoxious, hypocritical phony!

[bellini]

Stanwyck was a great actress, but beauty? Come on, no way.

Yes Loretta was a huge hypocrite, but a beauty nevertheless.

[BITTER]

Originally Posted by bellini

Stanwyck was a great actress, but beauty? Come on, no way.

Well, she wasn't ugly. She could look purty sometimes, but no, and even by her own admission, she was no great beauty.

Yes Loretta was a huge hypocrite, but a beauty nevertheless.

Mainly her face. Her body wasn't so hot.

Stanwyck would have been more fun to hang out with; she liked her cocktails.

[WhateverLolaWants]

Here we go. Another intriguing if disturbing story. The death of Olive Thomas
Olive Thomas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



On the night of September 9, 1920, the Pickfords went out for a night of entertainment and partying at the famous bistros in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris. Returning to their room in the Hotel Ritz around 3:00 a.m., Pickford either fell asleep or was outside the room for a final round of drugs. It was rumored that Thomas may have taken cocaine that night though it was never proven. An intoxicated and tired Thomas accidentally ingested a large dose of a mercury bichloride liquid solution, which had been prescribed for her husband's chronic syphilis. Being liquid it was supposed to be applied topically, not ingested.[4]
She had either thought the flask contained drinking water or sleeping pills; accounts vary. The label was in French which may have added to the confusion. She screamed, "Oh, my God!", and Pickford ran to pick her up in his arms. However, it was too late, she had already ingested a lethal dose.[8] She was taken to the American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly, where Pickford, together with her former in-law Owen Moore, remained at her side until she succumbed to the poison a few days later. Soon after her death, rumors began that she tried to commit suicide or had been murdered. A police investigation followed as well as an autopsy, and Thomas' death was ruled accidental.[4]
Of that night Pickford gave his account, on September 13 to the Los Angeles Examiner:

"...We arrived back at the Ritz hotel at about 3 o'clock in the morning. I had already booked airplane seats for London. We were going Sunday morning. Both of us were tired out. We both had been drinking a little. I insisted that we had better not pack then, but rather get up early before our trip and do it then. I went to bed immediately. She fussed around and wrote a note to her mother. ... She was in the bathroom. Suddenly she shrieked: 'My God.' I jumped out of bed, rushed toward her and caught her in my arms. She cried to me to find out what was in the bottle. I picked it up and read: 'Poison.' It was a toilet solution and the label was in French. I realized what she had done and sent for the doctor. Meanwhile, I forced her to drink water in order to make her vomit. She screamed, 'O, my God, I'm poisoned.' I forced the whites of eggs down her throat, hoping to offset the poison. The doctor came. He pumped her stomach three times while I held Olive. Nine o'clock in the morning I got her to the Neuilly Hospital, where Doctors Choate and Wharton took charge of her. They told me she had swallowed bichloride of mercury in an alcoholic solution, which is ten times worse than tablets. She didn't want to die. She took the poison by mistake. We both loved each other since the day we married. The fact that we were separated months at a time made no difference in our affection for each other. She even was conscious enough the day before she died to ask the nurse to come to America with her until she had fully recovered, having no thought she would die. She kept continually calling for me. I was beside her day and night until her death. The physicians held out hope for her until the last moment, until they found her kidneys paralyzed. Then they lost hope. But the doctors told me she had fought harder than any patient they ever had. She held onto her life as only one case in fifty. She seemed stronger the last two days. She was conscious, and said she would get better and go home to her mother. 'It's all a mistake, darling Jack,' she said. But I knew she was dying. She was kept alive only by hypodermic injections during the last twelve hours. I was the last one she recognized. I watched her eyes glaze and realized she was dying. I asked her how she was feeling and she answered: 'Pretty weak, but I'll be all right in a little while, don't worry, darling.' Those were her last words. I held her in my arms and she died an hour later. Owen Moore was at her bedside. All stories and rumors of wild parties and cocaine and domestic fights since we left New York are untrue...[4]

[BITTER]

Damn. That is some sad shit. All because hubby caught the syph.