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Remembering Mary Pickford

Autor: Josefina Ortega | Fuente: La Jiribilla | 16 de Agosto 2012

When Mary Pickford arrived in Havana in March, 1954, she was only a few days away to be 60 years old. She was already retired and completely dedicated to business; however, the presence of America´s Sweetheart—as she was called—awakened some yearning among those who here dreamed about her amazing blues eyes and her blond curls.

She was accompanied by her third husband, the once screen heartthrob Charles “Buddy” Rogers, 12 years younger than her and with whom, in 1943, she adopted two kids: Ronald and Roxanne.

Her reception at the airport was quite an event. The news provoked curiosity in the young people. Who was that lady with the gentile smile and wearing that small hat who made the front-page news?

The diva was flattered with flowers, journalists and photographs since she was, without any doubt, one of the great figures of the silent cinema, one of the most powerful and better paid actresses of her time.

Actually, Mary Pickford was—as Alejo Carpentier wrote in 1952—the “eternal naive. She was so small that she could play the role of Little Lord Fauntleroy. She was really lovely while playing the characters of small-town girls lost in New York, of maids from the poor areas that went through all hells without besmirching themselves, of tender heroines from novels whose end awarded virtue and ridiculed vices.”

The truth is that time had left its mark on “little Mary” and “the girl of the golden hair”, as she was also known.

Gladys Louise Smith was her real name and she had been born in Toronto, Canada, on April 8, 1892, but—according to what the actress said in the Cuban capital city—she was in the United States since she started to perform as a professional at the age of five.

Her rise in the industry was meteoric. First in theater and then in cinema where, in few years, thanks to her roles as poor girl with an angelic face and pretty curls—she represented less age—she became America´s sweetheart, and the first star of the cinema with fans all over the world. 

“The Poor Little Rich Girl” and “Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm” were her first successes in 1917. During this time she met the famous actor Douglas Fairbanks, and they got married in 1920 after they both got divorced first. Precisely, a year before, the couple along with Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith founded the film production company named United Artists.

Thanks to her film “Coquette”, Pickford was granted her first Academy Award in the history of sound films for Best Actress. “Secrets,” which was filmed in 1933, was her last film. From that moment on she focused on her work as a producer.

Despite that, Mary Pickford was still  news in Havana in 1954, where she was welcomed with opened arms. She stayed at Sevilla Hotel, and told the chronicler Germinal Barreal (Don Galaor) from Bohemia magazine, that she was just passing through, on her way to the Cinema Festival in Argentina.

The star was invited to have a drink and she preferred to explain her wish:

“-See, you are going to mix rum and pineapple juice, and then you are going to blend it with grenadine and a lot of crushed ice, but really crushed.

- I know what you want—says the bartender interrupting her: A Mary Pickford Cocktail.

- Exactly! I am Mary Pickford!”

The actress would also say about her childhood:

“Mom made ends meet with magic. We had barely ten pennies for food every day. Back then there was misery and financial difficulties, but my mother put all her efforts to gather some coins so she could cook something for her children.”

She was far away from imagining her future success, a success that would make her a millionaire and internationally admired.

In 1975, she was granted an honorary Academy Award for her contribution to the development of film industry.

Mary Pickford died of cerebral hemorrhage in her mansion in Santa Monica, on May 29, 1979 at the age of 87 and after succumbing to alcohol and lived for decades in complete isolation with her husband and children, receiving only very few visits of her friends.

According to experts, the famous Mary Pickford cocktail, inspired by America´s Sweetheart, was created in Havana by the renown bartender Constantino Ribalaigua, the owner of El Floridita, who was born in Spain but later became naturalized Cuban and died in Havana in 1952.


Mary Pickford Cocktail

Ingredients:
½ ounce of Havana Club Añejo Blanco rum
1½ ounce of pineapple juice
grenadine
ice
cherry

Preparation:
In the cocktail shaker:
1½ ounce of pineapple juice, ½ ounce of Havana Club Añejo Blanco rum, some drops of grenadine and ice cubes.

Beat manually and serve strained in a cocktail glass.
Decorate with a cherry.

Translation: Adriana Pérez (Cubarte)