Looking for Mabel Normand

Mary Pickford, Her

Legend At Biograph

 (1910)

by
Marilyn Slater

MENDER OF NETS
AS IT IS IN LIFE
AN ARCADIAN MAID
WILFUL PEGGER

This collection of director D.W. Griffith's Biograph work features four short films, all starring Mary Pickford.

Mary Pickford has such a presence on the screen if we are not careful we might overlook her skill but for an evening of movies at home, Mary is really a wonderful companion.  The characters she created will linger with me and the lovely memory will just grow. She is that good.

Another icon on this tape is the ‘great and power wizard’ D.W. Griffith. Did you realize that he made around 500 films while at Biograph?  He was the man of magic that created cinematic storytelling in a way no one had done, he changed moving pictures.

Biograph was Griffith's very own stock company; he picked the writers, actors and crew.  He pulled stories from daily news, re-did Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare and even the Bible.  It was the time before the script, if he thought he could tell the story on film he did.

His stock company was the fountain of the movie industry; he had actors and actresses one day as the leads in a film, the next day they would be an extra. (Mary Pickford was a star).  When his stock company players moved on to other production companies in interview after interview they give DWG credit for teaching them the craft. Lionel Barrymore, Harry Carey, Mae Marsh, Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett, Henry B. Walthal and so many more.

THE MENDER OF NETS, Pickford plays a fisherman's daughter who is proposed to by a dishonorable man (Charles West) and later must plead for his life.

The Mender of Nets (1912)

Biograph Company
Director: D.W. Griffith
Cinematography by G.W. Bitzer
Release Date: February 15, 1912 (USA) 
Genre: Romance
Runtime: USA: 16 min (16 fps)

 Mary Pickford is the ‘Mender’ of her fisherman father's nets. Charles H. West is a young fisherman, who falls under her spell and proposes marriage to her. Mabel Normand is the ‘dishonored’ other woman. Mabel's brother attempts to shoot Charles West when he finds out that West is not going to make an honest woman of Mabel.  This is an odd role to find Mabel in but she does a very fine job of it. There is nothing funny here. When Mary finds out the West has an obligation to Mabel, Mary pleads for his life and convinces West to do the right thing by Mabel and she returns to ‘mending nets’ with a tear.’ The whole melodramatic story is dominated by the seascape of Santa Monica Bay, it is only 959 feet of film and the artistry of D.W. Griffith is here but G. W. Bitzer at his best behind the camera. 

Cast
Mary Pickford ...  The Net-Mender
Charles West  
Charles Hill Mailes  
Marguerite Marsh  
Mabel Normand  
 
Filming Locations:
Santa Monica, California, USA

AS IT IS IN LIFE (1910)

A hardworking widower and his daughter (Pickford) on a pigeon farm.

Biograph Company
Director: D.W. Griffith
Writer: Stanner E.V. Taylor
Cinematography: G.W. Bitzer   

Release Date: April 4, 1910 (USA) 
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 16 min (16 fps)

Cast
George Nichols ...  George Forrester
Gladys Egan ...  George Forrester's Daughter, as a Child
Mary Pickford ...  George Forrester's Daughter, as an Adult
Marion Leonard ...  George Forrester's Sweetheart
Charles West ...  George Forrester's Son-in-Law
Kate Bruce ...  The Maid
William J. Butler  
W. Chrystie Miller ...  An Old Man
Frank Opperman ...  The Daughter's Husband's Companion
Anthony O'Sullivan ...  Worker on Farm
Mack Sennett ...  Owner of a Pigeon Farm (unconfirmed)
   
Filming Locations:
Los Angeles Pigeon Farm, Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California, USA

AN ARCADIAN MAID (1910)

Pickford an impressionable serving girl convinced by a sweet-talking salesman into robbing her employers. D.W. Griffith film about an out of work maid (Mary Pickford) who gets a job and soon starts getting hit up on by a playboy. “This is fine with the maid until she learns the man is talking about her to his friends. Here's another Griffith film that's pro-woman and anti-man as the men in the movie are pretty cut and dry villains while the Pickford character is seen as an angel. There's nothing wrong with this as it adds to the story and Griffith certainly knows how to handle it.” (Michael Elliott)

Biograph Company
Director: D.W. Griffith
Writer: Stanner E.V. Taylor
Cinematography: G.W. Bitzer   

Release Date: August 1, 1910 (USA) 
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 16 min (16 fps)

Cast
Mary Pickford ...  Priscilla
Mack Sennett ...  The Peddlar
George Nichols ...  The Man of the House
Kate Bruce ...  The Lady of the House
William J. Butler ...  Second Man
Charles Craig ...  In Gambling Hall
Edward Dillon ...  In Gambling Hall
John T. Dillon ...  In Gambling Hall (as Jack Dillon)
Frank Evans ...  First Man
Francis J. Grandon ...  On Train
Joseph Graybill ...  In Gambling Hall
Henry Lehrman ...  In Gambling Hall / On Train
W. Chrystie Miller ...  On Train
Anthony O'Sullivan ...  On Train
Alfred Paget ...  On Train
Vivian Prescott ...  In Gambling Hall
Filming Locations:
Westfield, New Jersey, USA

WILLFULL PEGGY(1910)

Pickford plays a strong-willed 18th century lass who rejects all suitors until a patient English lord is finally able to win her grudging respect.

Wilful Peggy (1910)
Biograph Company
Director: D.W. Griffith
Writer: Frank E. Woods
Cinematography: G.W. Bitzer
Release Date: August 25, 1910 (USA) 
Genre: Romance
Runtime: 17 min (16 fps)
Cast
Mary Pickford ...  Peggy
Clara T. Bracy ...  Peggy's mother
Henry B. Walthall ...  The Lord
Kate Bruce ...  Woman at the inn
William J. Butler ...  A servant
Verner Clarges  
Charles Craig ...  Man at the party
Edward Dillon ...  Man at the inn / Man at the party
Francis J. Grandon ...  Man at the party
Robert Harron  
Guy Hedlund ...  Man at the wedding
Dell Henderson ...  A servant
Grace Henderson ...  Woman at the party
Henry Lehrman ...  Bumpkin
Stephanie Longfellow ...  Woman at the party
Claire McDowell ...  The maid
W. Chrystie Miller ...  Man at the wedding
Alfred Paget ...  A servant
Billy Quirk ...  Man at the party
Gertrude Robinson ...  Woman at the party
W.C. Robinson ...  Man at the wedding
Mack Sennett ...  Man at the wedding
Mabel Van Buren ...  Woman at the party
Filming Locations:
Cuddebackville, New York, USA