Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story has been packing the parlour of Spadina Museum where Toronto-based actress Denise Norman, above, is bringing Dean Burry’s biography of “America’s Sweetheart” to life. I was lucky enough to get a seat at yesterday’s sold-out matinee of the show. Norman, with the assistance of pianist Sherry Squires, sings her heart out as she traces the path of Toronto’s precocious and ambitious Gladys Smith who hightails it first to Broadway, where she adopts the Pickford stage name, and then to Los Angeles, where her gold curls and winning smile land her on top of the Hollywood heap.
When Pickford started in silent films in 1909, actors were not even identified in the credits; within a few years her star power was strong enough to see her name appear above the film title on theatre marquees — Pickford was the first actor to command a $1 million salary. She eventually married Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and the pair became Hollywood’s first and perhaps ultimate power couple. Together they forged United Artist Studios (with Charlie Chaplin and W.D. Griffith) and co-founded the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences. As Pickford (Norman) sings in the show’s theme song, “All my dreams were met.”
WHERE/WEHN: Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story at Spadina Museum (285 Spadina Road, 416.392.6910), Thursday thru Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm until February 27; tickets $17 – $20, advance reservations recommended.
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