This archive brings together the Mary Pickford collections of Chris Milewski and Pamela Short. High-resolution, non-watermarked scans are available upon request (subject to availability and discretion) by emailing filmiracle[at]yahoo[dot]com. If you notice any errors or can provide additional information, don't hesitate to get in touch. This website is a work in progress and will be updated as new material becomes available.
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.
11x14 colored print, issued by the Photoplayers Portrait Co. of New York in 1914, featuring a Mary Pickford portrait by White Studio. It's worth noting that "this richly colored portrait on heavy art photo-board to stand on your bureau will not require a frame, as embossed design frames it. A new pose-rich in color. The most beautiful and artistic colored photograph of this popular star ever made." All for 25 cents! Incidentally, the dress Mary is wearing is the same one worn in the oddly-placed opening shot of one of Mary's greatest films--Tess of the Storm Country (1914.)
Postcard featuring a Mary Pickford portrait by what I believe to be White Studio but I can be wrong about that. (Or maybe Gould & Marsden? Apeda?) The reverse advertises a July 24, 1914 screening of Never Again (1910) and When We Were In Our Teens (1910) at Marcus Loews' Royal Theatre at Pearl and Willoughby in Brooklyn, NY. Incidentally, those two shorts are among my favorites of Mary Biographs as she truly excelled at comedy and played best alongside Billy Quirk.
These pieces seemingly belong to a series of nicely hand-tinted, oddly sized (4.625" x 6.5") photo cards featuring portraits by Sarony and White, ca. 1915. I do not have all too much information about them but I suspect they were produced by Kraus Mfg. Co. N.Y. as they're clearly quite similar to, and featuring the same portraits as several of their abundantly popular postcards. From Mary Pickford's Estate.
Manufactured by Chicago's Vassar Cap Company, the Mary Pickford Cap (actually a variety of caps) was "the greatest sensation in years" and "the craze of the age" -- the age being late-1914, when the hats cost an upwards of $2.95, until about the mid-1915 when some were on special for as low as $.59.
In otherwise good condition, this black cloth cap may be missing its light-colored trimming/band that is present in several photos of Mary sporting it by White Studio (unless that was a personal add on as it seems to be missing in at least one of Mary's photo.) Printed logo inside the hat.
The November 11, 1914 Dry Goods Reporter reported, "A new cap, called the 'Mary Pickford,' which is said to have been designed by the popular moving picture star of that name, has made its appearance and through the publicity given it in an advertising way in the Chicago daily papers, gives promise of becoming popular.
"The cap is made of cloth, velvet, corduroy, satin and mohair and it comes in a variety of the season's favored colors. It is made with a pleated full crown with a rubber in the back which persists of adjustment. The front of the cap has a visor which protects the face and gives an air of jauntiness which is becoming to young girls, for whom the cap is intended.
"The Vassar Cap Company, the manufacturers, announced in an advertisement in the Sunday papers that on Monday several pretty girls would promenade about the downtown streets between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The first fifty persons who said to one of the girls, 'You are wearing the new Mary Pickford caps,' would be presented with an order for one of the caps which could be procured at any of the leading State street stores. Although a perfect blizzard raged in Chicago at the time, the girls were approached many times over fifty times by women who wanted one of the caps. The was the means by which the cap was brought directly to the attention of the consumer."
For more information, see the sampling of advertisements below (from Photoplay 12/1914, Fort Wayne Sentinel 11/19/1914, Dry Goods Reporter 11/11/1914, and Duluth Herald 11/20/1914.) These ads are for reference only and not part of this collection.
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