What is Mary Pickford's Long Lost Secret?

See that breathtaking picture?

At one point that was going to be our new living room.

That's a shot inside Pickfair, the mansion once owned by the founding father and mother of Hollywood.


The gold framed picture is a signed photo of forgotten silent film star Mary Pickford. It's in my private collection.



The smiling picture is also of Mary Pickford, taken in 1929.




This other picture is of a rare old Chinese made cigar humidor once owned by Mary. I won it in the recent Pickford estate auction. It arrived today.

Why do I sometimes collect Mary Pickford items?

At one point I thought I was going to write a book about Mary and her lost business secrets, much as I've done for circus showman P.T. Barnum in There's a Customer Born Every Minute and BBDO ad genius Bruce Barton in The Seven Lost Secrets of Success.

I may yet do it, too.

Mary Pickford was America's Sweetheart, capturing the imagination of the public as "Little Mary," the teenager with spunk, in countless silent films in the early 1900s. She was charming, big eyed and perky.

She married famous swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks, and with slapstick king Charlie Chaplin and director D.W. Griffith, they formed United Artists. It was the first movie production company run by people who acted and directed. Mary and her team were the founders of Hollywood.

Pickford and Fairbanks were a world famous couple and the closest thing to royalty that era had ever seen.

Their famous estate in Beverly Hills, called Pickfair, went on the market a few years ago and I almost bought it.

Today, Pickfair stands as a majestic Venetian mansion with high ceilings, ballroom size living room, formal dinning room, master bedroom suite and three family bedroom suites, sweeping balconies, indoor spa and Jacuzzi with dome glass ceiling, massage room, hair salon, gym, disco, state-of-the-art 35mm theater, guest quarters featuring a three bedroom apartment, security guard offices and subterranean parking for additional 15 vehicles.

The original swimming pool remains as the showpiece of this 2.7 acres site that overlooks the magnificent views of Beverly Hills, the Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica Mountains, and the skylines of Century City and Los Angeles.

Just walking room to room in Mary's old castle would be a workout.

I'll settle for her humidor today.

But someone really needs to write about her as a strong business woman.

Mary died sad, lonely, alcoholic and virtually forgotten.

Yet her business genius helped create an empire. We can learn from that. And her.

Too many greats like Mary Pickford fall through the cracks of history, and we miss out on their insights and secrets to business success.

"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down." - Mary Pickford (1892 - 1979)

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS -- You can learn about her at www.marypickford.com/ Thank you.