Rating: 
Summary: fabulous
Review: Since this is one of the very best biographies of a movie actor this longtime film buff has ever read, I have to say I don't understand other readers' quibbles with it. The book isn't just beautifully written and well-researched, it's full of insights, perceptions and thoughts -- which most biographies are terribly short of. Silent movies and silent-movie acting are difficult subjects to discuss in fresh and provocative ways, and here Whitfield also triumphs. Her book is a great introduction to the early days of film and of film stardom too. But beware: this isn't a pop or trashy biography, and it isn't fanzine stuff either. This is literate, intelligent work -- think Arlene Croce or Simon Callow. Could that be what some readers are annoyed by?
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Woman - Fascinating Book
Review: This biography is comprehensive without being dry and "scholarly." It reads like a novel, and it is a surprisingly even-handed biography, illuminating Miss Pickford's genius while showing us her not-so-attractive side. Time is spent on the alcoholism that was a prominent part of the last half of her life, and on her fights with family, including her three husbands, her two adopted children and the friendships she made, cultivated or broken along the way.A good deal of time is also spent on how United Artists worked in its inception, why the founders thought that such a company was necessary and on the politics inside the company throughout its history. There is a Notes section that tells us where the anecdotes and quotes come from, and a tantalizing bibliography that I will end up using in search of other books on Miss Pickford and on silent film in general. Buddy Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. were still around when this book was being researched and written, and they, along with numerous others, seem to have shared insights that help us understand the lady, and Fairbanks sheds some light on her complex and lasting love with his father - they continued to be very close up until his death. This may be one of the last things that Fairbanks and Rogers contributed to, and if this is how they would be remembered, its not a bad thing. If you are interested not only in her films (which run far afield of just the "Little Mary" whom we all have heard about and seen), and for an interesting, highly readable overview of silent film in general, this biography is a must read. I am personally glad I bought it for myself, rather than borrowing it from the library (as I do with many books), because as I learn more about the era and see more of her films, I'm sure I'm going to want to go back to it again (probably more than once).
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Woman - Fascinating Book
Review: This biography is comprehensive without being dry and "scholarly." It reads like a novel, and it is a surprisingly even-handed biography, illuminating Miss Pickford's genius while showing us her not-so-attractive side. Time is spent on the alcoholism that was a prominent part of the last half of her life, and on her fights with family, including her three husbands, her two adopted children and the friendships she made, cultivated or broken along the way. A good deal of time is also spent on how United Artists worked in its inception, why the founders thought that such a company was necessary and on the politics inside the company throughout its history. There is a Notes section that tells us where the anecdotes and quotes come from, and a tantalizing bibliography that I will end up using in search of other books on Miss Pickford and on silent film in general. Buddy Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. were still around when this book was being researched and written, and they, along with numerous others, seem to have shared insights that help us understand the lady, and Fairbanks sheds some light on her complex and lasting love with his father - they continued to be very close up until his death. This may be one of the last things that Fairbanks and Rogers contributed to, and if this is how they would be remembered, its not a bad thing. If you are interested not only in her films (which run far afield of just the "Little Mary" whom we all have heard about and seen), and for an interesting, highly readable overview of silent film in general, this biography is a must read. I am personally glad I bought it for myself, rather than borrowing it from the library (as I do with many books), because as I learn more about the era and see more of her films, I'm sure I'm going to want to go back to it again (probably more than once).
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Woman - Fascinating Book
Review: This biography is comprehensive without being dry and "scholarly." It reads like a novel, and it is a surprisingly even-handed biography, illuminating Miss Pickford's genius while showing us her not-so-attractive side. Time is spent on the alcoholism that was a prominent part of the last half of her life, and on her fights with family, including her three husbands, her two adopted children and the friendships she made, cultivated or broken along the way. A good deal of time is also spent on how United Artists worked in its inception, why the founders thought that such a company was necessary and on the politics inside the company throughout its history. There is a Notes section that tells us where the anecdotes and quotes come from, and a tantalizing bibliography that I will end up using in search of other books on Miss Pickford and on silent film in general. Buddy Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. were still around when this book was being researched and written, and they, along with numerous others, seem to have shared insights that help us understand the lady, and Fairbanks sheds some light on her complex and lasting love with his father - they continued to be very close up until his death. This may be one of the last things that Fairbanks and Rogers contributed to, and if this is how they would be remembered, its not a bad thing. If you are interested not only in her films (which run far afield of just the "Little Mary" whom we all have heard about and seen), and for an interesting, highly readable overview of silent film in general, this biography is a must read. I am personally glad I bought it for myself, rather than borrowing it from the library (as I do with many books), because as I learn more about the era and see more of her films, I'm sure I'm going to want to go back to it again (probably more than once).
Rating: 
Summary: Informative and Interesting
Review: This book is ideal for anyone who knows absolutely nothing about Mary Pickford. If you've read each and every book about Mary Pickford and/or Douglas Fairbanks then this book is familiar ground and still a pleasure to read. There are dry spaces and not a lot of surprises. As I said before, if you know next to nothing about Mary Pickford you'll find this a fascinating read. I was pleased to read more about her brother, Jack, and sister, Lottie, then I'd read in other books. It wasn't all negative which is something I've noticed in some bios--the negative is what is the most fascinating. This book was written with a heavy hand in places but despite the fact that it was old territory for me, I could not put it down once I started. It was detailed beyond belief. My suggestion is this: If you had any doubts about this book as an investement, it's a good one! It contains the entire life of a woman who was the cornerstone to an industry. The heartbreaking part is that no one, it seems, in Hollywood now seems to care much about the history or the preservation of her legacy. The films are there, but the places are long gone because there is no room in most of Los Angeles for the past.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good But Should have been better.
Review: This is a very good book on silent legend Mary Pickford but it should have been a better one. I don't think the author was fair to Miss Pickford on several occasions. Most outrageous is her trashing Miss Pickford's autobiography SUNSHINE AND SHADOW when the book is clearly the main source of reference for Whittfield's book (it is even the ONLY source given for a chapter or two of Whittfield's book.) She also at times seems not to want to give Mary the benefit of the doubt in personal matters, as if because she praises her film work she must be more critical of her private life to suggest a writer's detachness. At least this book is FAR better than the mean-spirited biography one man wrote in the late 1980's. Still, I eagerly await Kevin Brownlow's new book on Mary and I suspect despite being a "picture book" it will be THE Pickford biography to stand.
Rating:
Summary: Nice- but did anyone proofread this?
Review: This is a very nice book on an important actress. It becomes obvious that it was written while Buddy Rogers and Douglad Fairbanks Jr. werre living and updated to mention their deaths. It seems no one bothered to proof read the text when this was done.
Pg 366- "The University of Southern California will in herit these items after Rogers's death"
Pg 369- "On April 21, 1999, Rogers, frail at ninety-four, died..." Pg 369- "Fairbanks Jr. continues his career of good works". It should have been "Continued" because in four lines he "died at the age of ninety-four..." OK- this is nit-picking, but when you pay for a Paperback, you have the right to expect that an editor should have gone over the manuscript. Were they rushing this out to catch some of the interest generated by the re-release of Pickford's films?
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent portrait of a lost era and a lost star.
Review: This was one of the very best biographies I have ever read. So much information has been lost about the silent days of cinema, about the places and famous people that were so much apart of that exciting time. Read it for the history, the glimpses of immortals (Chaplin, Griffith, Fairbanks) and for the beginnings of the language of film itself. The author rationalizes Mary's behavior a bit too much, but still manages to paint a portrait of a young working woman with a strong "Stage Mother" and a shrewd (and unfashionable for a woman) business sense. We don't get too much of a sense of who Mary really was from the book, but the author did the best she could, I believe, considering that little "Gladys Mary Smith" had started working in pictures over 80 years ago. And while you may not walk away from the book feeling that you have any better of an idea of who Pickford was, you will have had a finely detailed look into her fascinating world. An incredible read.
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