Little Mary of the IMP Company - Empress Theatre RPPC / Postcard - 1911

"'Little Mary' of the IMP Company" RPPC / postcard produced in 1911 by the Empress Theatre which once "catered to the intelligent" at 416 9th Street NW in Washington, DC. The front of the card features a nice portrait of Mary that was often used by IMP during her somewhat brief and largely subpar stint with the company (photographer unknown and incidentally, with Mary in a dress that she wears in her first IMP, Their First Misunderstanding (1911.)) 

Regarding the postcard, the May 6, 1911 issue of The Moving Picture News noted, "Manager [Marcus] Notes, of the Empress, is issuing postals to his patrons of 'Little Mary,' of the Imp Company. These are artistically gotten up and form an attractive souvenir. This house makes a practice of advertising in its lobby its program for the week, arranged not by the photoplay to be seen, but the manufacturer of the film. In the way Manager Notes is furthering the cause of the Independents in a most unique manner, calling attention more to the producer of the film rather than to the subject." Or perhaps, we can assume, in some cases advertising not by the photoplay to be seen or the manufacturer of the film, but the star.

Perhaps one of my personal favorite pieces in the collection. Gifted from the Pamela Short Collection.

Mary Pickford - Muriel Straithmore Photos c. 1913

Portrait of Mary ca. 1913 by Muriel Straithmore -- whose most well-known, albeit still underused works featuring Mary are the "Votes for Women" and Mary "testing a luscious apple"(as described in the October 15, 1914 issue of Leslie's Weekly Illustrated Newspaper) photos. Handwritten on verso is the hyperbolic "Mary Pickford knitting for the soldiers. She is the famous moving picture star. A Toronto girl." I would imagine that caption was concocted some time after the photograph was taken. Incidentally, Mary wore this particular dress in In the Bishop's Carriage (1913.) Gifted from the Pamela Short Collection.

Another portrait by Muriel Straithmore ca. 1913, here interestingly showing Mary with crock and a bowl of potatoes. Gifted from the Pamela Short Collection.

Mary Pickford inked handprint by Alice Denton Jennings - 1939

Perhaps one of the most unique pieces in this collection is this Mary Pickford inked handprint by palmist Alice Denton Jennings. Jennings offered "character analysis and vocational guidance" based on the lines and measurements of one's hand. She was a renowned expert on the "science" and in 1942, wrote a book on the subject: Your Hand Tells All: A Manual of Simplified Palmistry. This handprint reportedly originates from Jennings' own collection and probably adorned the walls of her Atlanta, GA studio, where hung the handprints of many great people, from political figures to movie stars and in between. It is also signed in ink by Mary herself and dated 1939.

Mary, not at Jennings' studio but on a set that spared no expense and featuring a palmist print on the wall, in the 1911 IMP The Mirror. (Courtesy of the Mary Pickford Foundation.)

Mary Pickford Pillow Top - Stanbury - 1916

Photo pillow tops, popular in the early-1900s, were an easy way to dress up your boring couch pillows. One could have any photo printed on a sheet of fabric (typically an 18"x18" sateen square) which would would then be sewn onto a dull pillow and embellished however one's heart desired. R. K. Stanbury, seeing a way to cash in, printed the portraits of early stars on pillow tops and sold them, along with other photos and the like, via advertising in an assortment of publications. This Stanbury pillow top, cut down to 15"x15", trimmed with fringe and a back added, features a photo of Mary Pickford by White Studio.

An advertisement for the same. This ad is for reference only and is not part of the collection.

This pillow top on display at the Barrymore Film Center's 2023 exhibit, Power Couple: Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in Hollywood, albeit erroneously noted as being produced by B.K. Stanbury. 

Cinderella - Die cut Ad - 1914

 

A rather scarce Cinderella die-cut ad from 1914, additionally stamped for a March 12 NEW Theatre screening in a city unknown, issued by the Famous Players Film Company. What is most interesting and somewhat amusing is, yes, it shows Mary as Cinderella, but also as Queen Anna Victoria from her now-lost film Such a Little Queen (1914.) In any event, I am uncertain just which Famous Players films made use of similar advertising, but I can say that I have also seen die-cuts for Poor Little Peppina (1916) and Madame Butterfly (1915.) 

And redundantly, an ad for an ad. This scan comes from an issue of Moving Picture World magazine and is not part of the collection.

Fanchon the Cricket - Herald - 1915

A herald for my personal favorite Mary Pickford film, Fanchon the Cricket. 1915 - though this particular piece is stamped for a December 5, 1916 screening at an unknown theatre.

Less Than The Dust - Stanley Theatre (Philadelphia) Program 1916

 

4-page Stanley Theatre (Philadelphia) program, Vol. 1 No. 84 for week November 6, 1916. The big feature for the week was Mary's first picture produced by the Mary Pickford Film Corporation and the first distributed by Artcraft, Less Than The Dust -- a picture that Mary ultimately hated, having said "I made two pictures of which I have tried sedulously to wipe from my mind. One was entitled Less than the Dust and I remember how heartily I agreed with the woman who walked up to me in the street and said 'Oh, Miss Pickford. I loved you in the picture Cheaper than the Dirt.'” The second page of the program has a nice photo by Ira L. Hill that was notably used as the basis for a painted portrait of Mary that hung at Pickfair.