1.
Staunton, Virginia
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Staunton is an independent city in the U. S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,746, in Virginia, independent cities are separate jurisdictions from the counties that surround them, so the government offices of Augusta County are in Verona, which is contiguous to Staunton. Staunton is a city of the Staunton-Waynesboro Metropolitan Statistical Area. Staunton is known for being the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U. S. president, the city is also home to Stuart Hall, a private co-ed preparatory school, as well as the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. The area was first settled in 1732 by John Lewis and family, in 1736, William Beverley, a wealthy planter and merchant from Essex County, was granted by the Crown over 118,000 acres in what would become Augusta County. Surveyor Thomas Lewis in 1746 laid out the first town plat for Beverley of what was originally called Beverleys Mill Place, founded in 1747, it was renamed in honor of Lady Rebecca Staunton, wife to Royal Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Gooch. Staunton thus played a role in the mid 18th century expansion of the economies of the American Colonies which, in turn. It served as capital of Virginia in June 1781, when state legislators fled Richmond, for instance, in 1815, a slave named Henry ran away from John G. Wrights Staunton plantation. Wright later placed an ad in the Daily National Intelligencer in Washington and this ad is notable in its genre for the fact that it notes that Henry was an excellent cook and was widely travelled, having been to the West Indies. In August 1855, President Franklin Pierce visited Staunton and he gave a speech at the Virginia Hotel, in which he stated that his feelings revolted from the idea of a dissolution of the union. He said that t would be the Iliad of innumerable woes, located along the Valley Pike, Staunton developed as a trade, transportation and industrial center, particularly after the Virginia Central Railroad arrived in 1854. Factories made carriages, wagons, boots and shoes, clothing, in 1860, the Staunton Military Academy was founded. By 1860, Staunton had at least one pro-union, pro-slavery and at least one pro-secession, pro-slavery newspaper. The Spectator ran editorials before the war urging its citizens to vote for union, while the Vindicator ran, on May 23,1861, Virginians voted on whether or not to ratify articles of secession from the Union. The articles were approved throughout the Commonwealth. In Staunton the vote was 3300 in favor of secession and 6 opposed, during the Civil War, the town became an important Shenandoah Valley manufacturing, staging area and supply depot for the Confederacy. On May 2,1862, Union General John C, frémont occupied Staunton while on his way to a rendezvous with General Nathaniel P. Banks to pursue Stonewall Jackson into what would become known as the Battle of Cross Keys, fought near Harrisonburg, by October 1862 Staunton was back in rebel hands, occupied by the 2nd South Carolina infantry
2.
Santa Monica, California
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Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. The Census Bureau population for Santa Monica in 2010 was 89,736, due in part to an agreeable climate, Santa Monica became a famed resort town by the early 20th century. The city has experienced a boom since the late 1980s through the revitalization of its core, significant job growth. The Santa Monica Pier remains a popular and iconic destination, Santa Monica was long inhabited by the Tongva people. Santa Monica was called Kecheek in the Tongva language, the first non-indigenous group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer Gaspar de Portolà, who camped near the present-day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3,1769. Named after the Christian saint Monica, there are two different accounts of how the name came to be. One says it was named in honor of the feast day of Saint Monica, another version says it was named by Juan Crespí on account of a pair of springs, the Kuruvungna Springs, that were reminiscent of the tears Saint Monica shed over her sons early impiety. In Los Angeles, several battles were fought by the Californios, following the Mexican–American War, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave Mexicans and Californios living in state certain unalienable rights. US government sovereignty in California began on February 2,1848, in the 1870s the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, connected Santa Monica with Los Angeles, and a wharf out into the bay. The first town hall was a modest 1873 brick building, later a beer hall and it is Santa Monicas oldest extant structure. By 1885, the towns first hotel was the Santa Monica Hotel, around the start of the 20th century, a growing population of Asian Americans lived in and around Santa Monica and Venice. A Japanese fishing village was near the Long Wharf while small numbers of Chinese lived or worked in Santa Monica, the two ethnic minorities were often viewed differently by White Americans who were often well-disposed towards the Japanese but condescending towards the Chinese. The Japanese village fishermen were an economic part of the Santa Monica Bay community. Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. built a plant in 1922 at Clover Field for the Douglas Aircraft Company, in 1924, four Douglas-built planes took off from Clover Field to attempt the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. Two planes returned after covering 27,553 miles in 175 days, the Douglas Company kept facilities in the city until the 1960s. The Great Depression hit Santa Monica deeply, one report gives citywide employment in 1933 of just 1,000. Hotels and office building owners went bankrupt, in the 1930s, corruption infected Santa Monica. The federal Works Project Administration helped build several buildings, most notably City Hall, the main Post Office and Barnum Hall were also among other WPA projects
3.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, however, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
4.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
5.
Richmond, Virginia
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Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond Region and it was incorporated in 1742, and has been an independent city since 1871. As of the 2010 census, the population was 204,214, in 2015, the population was estimated to be 220,289, the Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state. Richmond is located at the line of the James River,44 miles west of Williamsburg,66 miles east of Charlottesville. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, the city is located at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64, Major suburbs include Midlothian to the southwest, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west and Mechanicsville to the northeast. The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was settled by English colonists from Jamestown in 1609. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737 and it became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780. During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America, the city entered the 20th century with one of the worlds first successful electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a hub of African-American commerce. Richmonds economy is driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state. Dominion Resources and MeadWestvaco, Fortune 500 companies, are headquartered in the city, in 1737, planter William Byrd II commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the original town grid. The settlement was laid out in April 1737, and was incorporated as a town in 1742, Richmond recovered quickly from the war, and by 1782 was once again a thriving city. A permanent home for the new government, the Virginia State Capitol building, was designed by Thomas Jefferson with the assistance of Charles-Louis Clérisseau, after the American Revolutionary War, Richmond emerged as an important industrial center. The legacy of the canal boatmen is represented by the figure in the center of the city flag, on April 17,1861, five days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the legislature voted to secede from the United States and joined the Confederacy. Official action came in May, after the Confederacy promised to move its capital to Richmond. It became the target of Union armies, especially in the campaigns of 1862. The Seven Days Battles followed in late June and early July 1862, during which Union General McClellan threatened to take Richmond, three years later, as March 1865 ended, the Confederate capitol became indefensible. On March 25, Confederate General John B, gordons desperate attack on Fort Stedman east of Petersburg failed
6.
Hopewell, Virginia
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Hopewell is an independent city adjacent to Prince George County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,591, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Hopewell with Prince George County for statistical purposes. Hopewell is in the Tri-Cities area of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area, the city was founded to take advantage of its site overlooking the James and Appomattox Rivers. City Point, the oldest part of Hopewell, was established in 1613 by Sir Thomas Dale and it was first known as Bermuda City, which was changed to Charles City, lengthened to Charles City Point, and later abbreviated to City Point. Hopewell/City Point is the oldest continuously inhabited English settlement in the United States, Charles City Point was in Charles City Shire when the first eight shires were established in the Colony of Virginia in 1634. Charles City Shire soon became known as Charles City County in 1637, in 1619 Samuel Sharpe and Samuel Jordan from City Point, then named Charles City, were burgesses at the first meeting of the House of Burgesses. The burgesses separated an area of the county south of the river, including City Point, City Point was an unincorporated town in Prince George County until the City of Hopewell annexed the Town of City Point in 1923. During the American Civil War, Union General Ulysses S. Grant used City Point as his headquarters during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864 and 1865. His property included most of the present day city of Hopewell and Eppes Island, richard Slaughter, a former slave of Eppes, escaped to a Union ship during the Civil War, as did all but 12 of Eppes 130 slaves, choosing freedom. Slaughter recounted his story for a Works Progress Administration interviewer in 1936. The City Point Railroad, built in 1838 between City Point and Petersburg, was used as a part of the siege strategy. It is considered the oldest portion of the Norfolk and Western Railway, Hopewell, part of the Eppes plantation, was developed by DuPont Company in 1914 as Hopewell Farm, an incorporated area in Prince George County. DuPont first built a factory there, then switched to the manufacture of guncotton during World War I. Nearly burned to the ground in the Hopewell Fire of 1915, unlike most cities in Virginia, Hopewell was never incorporated as a town, but it was incorporated as an independent city in 1916. The same year, the city of Hopewell annexed the town of City Point. The Tubize plant was acquired by Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and was a major employer in Hopewell for decades. Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation and Hercules Chemical also established plants on portions of the old DuPont site. Hopewell made national news when, on December 22,1935, only one of the 15 occupants of the bus survived
7.
DuPont
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In the 20th century, DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kapton, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona, Corfam, and Lycra. DuPont developed Freon for the refrigerant industry, and later more environmentally friendly refrigerants and it also developed synthetic pigments and paints including ChromaFlair. In 2014, DuPont was the fourth largest chemical company based on market capitalization. Its stock price is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, DuPont was founded in 1802 by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, using capital raised in France and gunpowder machinery imported from France. It began as a manufacturer of gunpowder, as du Pont noticed that the industry in North America was lagging behind Europe, the Eleutherian Mills site is now a museum and a National Historic Landmark. DuPont continued to expand, moving into the production of dynamite, in 1902, DuPonts president, Eugene du Pont, died, and the surviving partners sold the company to three great-grandsons of the original founder. Charles Lee Reese was appointed as director and the company began centralizing their research departments, the company subsequently purchased several smaller chemical companies, and in 1912 these actions gave rise to government scrutiny under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The courts declared that the dominance of the explosives business constituted a monopoly. The court ruling resulted in the creation of the Hercules Powder Company, at the time of divestment, DuPont retained the single base nitrocellulose powders, while Hercules held the double base powders combining nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. DuPont subsequently developed the Improved Military Rifle line of smokeless powders, in 1910, DuPont published a brochure entitled Farming with Dynamite. DuPont also established two of the first industrial laboratories in the United States, where began the work on cellulose chemistry, lacquers. DuPont Central Research was established at the DuPont Experimental Station, across the Brandywine Creek from the powder mills. In 1914, Pierre S. du Pont invested in the automobile industry. The following year he was invited to sit on GMs board of directors, the DuPont company would assist the struggling automobile company further with a $25 million purchase of GM stock. In 1920, Pierre S. du Pont was elected president of General Motors, under du Ponts guidance, GM became the number one automobile company in the world. However, in 1957, because of DuPonts influence within GM, in the 1920s, DuPont continued its emphasis on materials science, hiring Wallace Carothers to work on polymers in 1928. Carothers invented neoprene, a rubber, the first polyester superpolymer. The invention of Teflon followed a few years later, DuPont introduced phenothiazine as an insecticide in 1935
8.
Nitrocellulose
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Nitrocellulose is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent. When used as a propellant or low-order explosive, it was known as guncotton. Partially nitrated cellulose has found uses as a film and in inks. In 1862 the first man-made plastic, nitrocellulose, was created by Alexander Parkes from cellulose treated with nitric acid and a solvent. Celluloid was used by Kodak, and other suppliers, from the late 1880s as a base in photography, X-ray films, and motion picture films. After numerous fires caused by unstable nitrate films, safety film started to be used from the 1930s in the case of X-ray stock and from 1948 for motion picture film. Henri Braconnot discovered in 1832 that nitric acid, when combined with starch or wood fibers, would produce a lightweight combustible explosive material, a few years later in 1838, another French chemist, Théophile-Jules Pelouze, treated paper and cardboard in the same way. Jean-Baptiste Dumas obtained a material, which he called nitramidine. These substances were highly unstable and were not practical explosives, however, around 1846 Christian Friedrich Schönbein, a German-Swiss chemist, discovered a more practical solution. As he was working in the kitchen of his home in Basel and he reached for the nearest cloth, a cotton apron, and wiped it up. He hung the apron on the door to dry, and, as soon as it was dry. His preparation method was the first to be widely imitated—one part of cotton wool to be immersed in 15 parts of an equal blend of sulfuric and nitric acids. After two minutes, the cotton was removed and washed in water to set the esterification level. It was then dried at a temperature below 40 °C. Schönbein collaborated with the Frankfurt professor Rudolf Christian Böttger, who had discovered the process independently in the same year. By coincidence, a third chemist, the Brunswick professor F. J. Otto had also produced guncotton in 1846 and was the first to publish the process, much to the disappointment of Schönbein and Böttger. The process uses nitric acid to convert cellulose into cellulose nitrate and water, 3HNO3+ C6H10O5 → C6H73O5 + 3H2O The sulfuric acid is present as a catalyst to produce the nitronium ion, the reaction is first order and proceeds by electrophilic substitution at the C-OH centers of the cellulose. The power of guncotton made it suitable for blasting, as a projectile driver, it had around six times the gas generation of an equal volume of black powder and produced less smoke and less heating
9.
Greenwich Village
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Greenwich Village, often referred to by locals as simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Greenwich Village has been known as a haven, the Bohemian capital, the cradle of the modern LGBT movement. Groenwijck, one of the Dutch names for the village, was Anglicized to Greenwich, two of New Yorks private colleges, New York University and the New School, are located in Greenwich Village. The neighborhoods surrounding it are the East Village and NoHo to the east, SoHo to the south, the East Village was formerly considered part of the Lower East Side and never associated with Greenwich Village. The western part of Greenwich Village is known as the West Village, some believe it starts at Seventh Avenue and its southern extension, a border to the west of which the neighborhood changes substantially in character and becomes heavily residential. The Far West Village is another sub-neighborhood of Greenwich Village that is bordered on its west by the Hudson River and on its east by Hudson Street. Greenwich Village is located in New Yorks 10th congressional district, New Yorks 25th State Senate district, New Yorks 66th State Assembly district, encyclopaedia Britannicas 1956 article on New York states that the southern border of the Village is Spring Street, reflecting an earlier understanding. The newer district of SoHo has since encroached on the Villages historic border, many of the neighborhoods streets are narrow and some curve at odd angles. This is generally regarded as adding to both the character and charm of the neighborhood. In addition, as the meandering Greenwich Street used to be on the Hudson River shoreline, much of the neighborhood west of Greenwich Street is on landfill, but still follows the older street grid. When Sixth and Seventh Avenues were built in the early 20th century, they were built diagonally to the street plan. Unlike the streets of most of Manhattan above Houston Street, streets in the Village typically are named rather than numbered, while some of the formerly named streets are now numbered, they still do not always conform to the usual grid pattern when they enter the neighborhood. The Districts convoluted borders run no farther south than 4th Street or St. Lukes Place, redevelopment in that area is severely restricted, and developers must preserve the main façade and aesthetics of the buildings during renovation. In the 16th century, Native Americans referred to its farthest northwest corner, by the cove on the Hudson River at present-day Gansevoort Street, the land was cleared and turned into pasture by Dutch and freed African settlers in the 1630s, who named their settlement Noortwyck. In the 1630s, Governor Wouter van Twiller farmed tobacco on 200 acres here at his Farm in the Woods, sir Peter Warren began accumulating land in 1731 and built a frame house capacious enough to hold a sitting of the Assembly when smallpox rendered the city dangerous in 1739. The building was designed by Joseph-François Mangin, who would later co-design New York City Hall, by 1821, the prison, designed for 432 inmates, held 817 instead, a number made possible only by the frequent release of prisoners, sometimes as many as 50 a day. The oldest house remaining in Greenwich Village is the Isaacs-Hendricks House, when the Church of St. Luke in the Fields was founded in 1820 it stood in fields south of the road that led from Greenwich Lane down to a landing on the North River. In 1822, a fever epidemic in New York encouraged residents to flee to the healthier air of Greenwich Village
10.
Jack Pickford
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Jack Pickford was a Canadian-born American actor, film director and producer. He was the brother of actresses Mary and Lottie Pickford. After their father deserted the family, all three Pickford children began working as actors on the stage. Mary Pickford later became a popular silent film actress, producer. By the late 1920s, his career had begun to decline due to his penchant for partying and frequent use of drugs, in 1933, Pickford died in Paris of progressive multiple neuritis, aged thirty-six. John Charles Smith born in 1896 in Toronto, Ontario, to John Charles Smith, an English immigrant odd-job man of Methodist background, and Charlotte Hennessy Smith and he was called Jack as a child. His alcoholic father left the family while Pickford was a young child and this incident left the family impoverished. Out of desperation, Charlotte allowed Jack and his two sisters Gladys and Lottie to appear onstage, beginning with Gladys, the eldest. This proved a source of income and, by 1900, the family had relocated to New York City. Due to the work the family was constantly separated until 1910 when Gladys signed with Biograph Studios, by that time his sister Gladys Smith had been transformed into Mary Pickford. Following suit, the Smiths changed their names to Pickford. Soon after signing with Biograph, Mary secured jobs for all the family, when the Biograph Company headed West to Hollywood, only Mary was to go, until Jack pleaded to join the company as well. Much to Marys protest, Charlotte threw him on the train as it left the station, the company arrived in Hollywood, where Jack acted in bit parts during the stay. Mary soon became a star, and by 1917 had signed a contract for $1 million with First National Pictures. As part of her contract, Mary saw to it that her family was brought along, giving the now-named Jack Pickford a lucrative contract with the company as well, by the time he signed with First National, Pickford had played bit parts in 95 shorts and films. Though Pickford was considered an actor, he was seen as someone who never lived up to his potential. In 1917 he starred in one of his first major roles as Pip in the adaptation of Charles Dickens Great Expectations, during World War I, Pickford served a stint in the Navy, afterward he returned to making films. By 1923, his roles had gone from several a year to one, in 1928, he finished his last film, acting as Clyde Baxter in Gang War
11.
Mary Brian
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Mary Brian was an American actress and movie star who made the transition from silent films to sound films. She was born Louise Byrdie Dantzler in Corsicana, Texas, the daughter of Taurrence J. Dantzler and her brother was Taurrence J. Dantzler, Jr. Her father died when she was one old and the family later moved to Dallas. In the early 1920s, they moved to Long Beach, California and she had intended becoming an illustrator but that was laid aside when at age 16 she was discovered in a local bathing beauty contest. One of the judges was famous motion picture star Esther Ralston and she didnt win the $25 prize in the contest but Ralston said, youve got to give the little girl something. So, her prize was to be interviewed by director Herbert Brenon for a role in Peter Pan, Brenon was recovering from eye surgery, and she spoke with him in a dimly lit room. He asked me a few questions, Is that your hair, out of the blue, he said, I would like to make a test. Even to this day, I will never know why I was that lucky and they had made tests of every ingénue in the business for Wendy. He had decided he would go with an unknown and it would seem more like a fairy tale. It wouldnt seem right if the roles were to be taken by someone they knew or was divorced, the studio renamed her Mary Brian. After her showing in the beauty contest, she was given an audition by Paramount Pictures, there she starred with Betty Bronson and Esther Ralston, and the three of them stayed close for the rest of their lives. Ralston described both Bronson and Brian as very charming people, the studio, who created her stage name for the movie and said she was age 16 instead of 18, because the latter sounded too old for the role, then signed her to a long-term motion picture contract. Brian played Fancy Vanhern, daughter of Percy Marmont, in Brenons The Street of Forgotten Men, Brian was dubbed The Sweetest Girl in Pictures. On loan-out to MGM, she played a college belle, Mary Abbott, opposite William Haines and she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926, along with Mary Astor, Dolores Costello, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Janet Gaynor, and Fay Wray. During her years at Paramount, Brian appeared in more than 40 movies as the lead and she worked with Brenon again in 1926 when she played Isabel in P. C. Wrens Beau Geste starring Ronald Colman and that same year she made Behind the Front and Harold Teen. In 1928, she played ingenue Alice Deane in Forgotten Faces opposite Clive Brook, her father, with Olga Baclanova as her vixen mother. Forgotten Faces is preserved in the Library of Congress and her first talkie was Varsity, which was filmed with part-sound and talking sequences, opposite Buddy Rogers
12.
Mary Pickford
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Gladys Louise Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress, writer, director, and producer. She was a co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Known in her prime as Americas Sweetheart and the girl with the curls, Pickford was one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood and a significant figure in the development of film acting. Pickford was one of the earliest stars to be billed under her name and she was awarded the second ever Academy Award for Best Actress for her first sound film role in Coquette and also received an honorary Academy Award in 1976. In consideration of her contributions to American cinema, the American Film Institute ranked Pickford as 24th in its 1999 list of greatest female stars of classic Hollywood Cinema, Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in 1892 at 211 University Avenue, A Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her father, John Charles Smith, was the son of English Methodist immigrants and her mother, Charlotte Hennessey, was of Irish Catholic descent and worked for a time as a seamstress. She had two siblings, Charlotte, called Lottie, and John Charles, called Jack, who also became actors. To please her husbands relatives, Pickfords mother baptized her children as Methodists, John Charles Smith was an alcoholic, he abandoned the family and died on February 11,1898, from a fatal blood clot caused by a workplace accident when he was a purser with Niagara Steamship. When Gladys was age four, her household was under infectious quarantine and their devoutly Catholic maternal grandmother asked a visiting Roman Catholic priest to baptize the children. Pickford was at this time baptized as Gladys Marie Smith, Charlotte Smith began taking in boarders after being widowed. One of these was a stage manager. At his suggestion, Gladys was given two roles, one as a boy and the other as a girl, in a stock company production of The Silver King at Torontos Princess Theatre. She subsequently acted in many melodramas with Torontos Valentine Company, finally playing the child role in their version of The Silver King. By the early 1900s, theatre had become a family enterprise, Gladys, her mother and two younger siblings toured the United States by rail, performing in third-rate companies and plays. After six impoverished years, Pickford allowed one more summer to land a role on Broadway. In 1906 Gladys, Lottie and Jack Smith supported singer Chauncey Olcott on Broadway in Edmund Burke, Gladys finally landed a supporting role in a 1907 Broadway play, The Warrens of Virginia. The play was written by William C. deMille, whose brother, Cecil, David Belasco, the producer of the play, insisted that Gladys Smith assume the stage name Mary Pickford. After completing the Broadway run and touring the play, however, on April 19,1909, the Biograph Company director D. W. Griffith screen-tested her at the companys New York studio for a role in the nickelodeon film, Pippa Passes
