Pickford Week!

EVERY EVENING DURING PICKFORD WEEK / PRIZES IN GOLD TO THE WINNERS

If You Think You Resemble Mary Pickford Don't Hesitate --Enter the Contest Now

 It's odd how random bits of information about ancestors comes to you. 

I was working on the family of Ida Dixon and Stephen Bruggy, just going through the material I had and adding it to the new software when I came across Stephen's death certificate. I'll write more about that in another post. But the certificate raised some questions and I thought I'd just have a quick look in the Elizabeth Daily Journal through the Elizabeth Public Library's website.

So I ran a search on "Bruggy" for the years I was interested in. I got a lot of hits for Frank Bruggy, who was an athlete of some note, and nothing at all for Stephen. (I didn't stop to find out if Frank and Stephen are related in some way.)

But then the name of Ida and Stephen's daughter, Mildred Amelia, popped up in a result, and while I know you're not supposed to get distracted by the bright shiny objects, I followed this one down a delightful little rabbit hole that led to some fun bits of information, and an hour or so of silent film viewing. 

In this clipping from the Journal on September 22, 1909 we see that the Broad Street Theater is having "Pickford Week" featuring two films, The Hoodlum, starring Mary Pickford, and Burglar By Proxy, starring her brother, Jack Pickford.

But, more important to our glimpse into family history, the theater was also promoting a Mary Pickford look-alike contest. And what young woman wouldn't want to have her resemblence to Mary Pickford, the attractive young star of stage and screen, recognized? 

Miss Mildred Bruggy - a Mary Pickford Look-Alike?

To be clear, I have no idea what Mildred Amelia Bruggy (b. September 1898) looked like.  I've never seen a photograph of her, or anyone in her immediate family. I suppose the main point is that she thought she looked like Mary Pickford, and the manager at the Broad Street theater thought the resemblance was sufficient to allow her to appear on the theater stage in the competition.

I wonder if she did her hair up in Pickford-style curls? 

 

As you can see from the photo on the left, Pickford was a beauty. She was also a great talent, an astute business woman, and a philanthropist. I've included some links below if you'd like to know more about this cinema pioneer.

 

The manager of the Broad selected eleven young ladies to go on stage to be compared to the star of the show. According to the article that appeared toward the end of Pickford Week, the film program and the contest were a great success. Unfortunately, try as I might, I never did find out who won the contest!

The Hoodlum

The feature film for "Pickford Week" was the second made by Mary's production own company. In January 1919 Mary, Douglas Fairbanks, Chalie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith joined together to form United Artists Corporation, and Mary formed The Mary Pickford Company, producing films to be exclusively distributed through Unite Artists.

The Hoodlum is the story of a spoiled rich girl who ends up living in the slums of New York City, and learns to get along with the various residents, and, naturally, finds love. It is a charming film, which I watched without the musical accompanyment that theater goers would have enjoyed. Miss Pickford was a great actress, and I think, a comic genius. You can view the film here, but be advised that it is a silent film. 

 

 

Learn More About Mary Pickford

 Schmidt, Christel. "Mary Pickford." In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds.  Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013.  <https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-nkzz-e525>.

Mary Pickford Foundation, https://marypickford.org.

Wikipedia contributors, "Mary Pickford,"  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Pickford&oldid=995549713(accessed 22 December 2020).

Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Mary Pickford." Published 25 May 2020. <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Pickford>, accessed 22 December 2020.

 

Images on this page:

Pickford Week advertisement, Elizabeth (New Jersey) Daily Journal, 22 September 1919. Elizabeth Daily Journal Archive, images on-line; Elizabeth (New Jersey) Public Library. Downloaded 21 December 2020.

"Pickford Week Scores," Elizabeth (New Jersey) Daily Journal, 25 September 1919. Elizabeth Daily Journal Archive, images on-line; Elizabeth (New Jersey) Public Library. Downloaded 21 December 2020.

Mary Pickford Portrait; Wikimedia Commons contributors, "File:Mary Pickford cph.3c17995u.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository,https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mary_Pickford_cph.3c17995u.jpg&oldid=518451029 (accessed 22 December 2020).

 First National Pictures, advertisement for the film The Hoodlum (1919); 30 August 1919, page 25.  Exhibitor's Herald, June - September 1919 on the Internet Archive; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Hoodlum_(1919)_-_9.jpg; viewed 22 December 2020.