A Universal Jewel

At nineteen months, the precious Peggy-Jean

Began the climb to immortality;

one of the biggest draws upon the screen,

a Captain steering through a star-filled sea.

Success was short: financial ruin loomed,

and dropped this pearl into the bitter cup

of being spent yet hardly having bloomed.

“How does it feel, sixteen and all washed up?”

Then from the silvered ashes she did rise,

rechristened with a name from hallowed myth;

adversity had honed her, made her wise,

and forged a bright and talented wordsmith…

Diana Serra Cary, pioneer:

the proof that good comes when you persevere.

Diana Serra Cary, the former Baby Peggy Montgomery

(still with us!)

His Majesty, the American

Oh Douglas Fairbanks!  Has there ever been
A name which conjures up such suave finesse?
You were like nothing else they'd ever seen,
Your wit and humor bright and effortless;
Add in your strength and athlete's nimble air
And there was born a modern Musketeer -
So likeable that even an affair
With Mary made the audiences cheer.
As Robin Hood, or Baghdad's swarthy Thief
You made a genre single-handedly,
The "costume picture" to this day is strong -
Just one part of your lasting legacy.
Through ninety years, the public you've delighted...
It wasn't only artists you united!

Douglas Fairbanks

Slim

In honor of Veteran's Day, one of the best soldiers ever on the silver screen.

Cry "Anger!" and let loose the honest word
About a man who had such evil wrought
Against his work, his life; the things inferred
Were hardly what contemporaries thought.
Machinist-trained, he started with small roles
In serials, but then The Big Parade
Propelled him to success and the bright whole
New world it opened up. But then the shade
Leaked in, the microphone the cleft;
Although at first Arthur and Dane did well,
A stalled career, depression, lastly theft
Hastened his end - of that I will not tell.
About his death I am not here to lecture.
Go learn the truth, not Kenneth's base conjecture.

Karl Dane

Kenneth Anger did Dane a great disservice in Hollywood Babylon, painting him a desperate vagrant selling hot dogs outside the MGM lot.  Please visit the link and discover the real Karl Dane.

Our Best Girl

A half-grown woman draped in love's first blush,
Or spunky child - a gangly playful girl
All smiles as she skates on each soapy brush,
The sunshine flashing in each sausage curl.
But don't be fooled! The Mary on the screen
Might look like innocence personified;
The real Pickford's business sense was keen
(She was yet Lottie's daughter down inside.)
She fought for actor's rights, for distribution,
Ensured the care of colleagues old and ill,
With Charles and Doug, began a revolution
That changed the movies - and continues still.
And if you happen to pass by Pickfair,
I have no doubt that Gladys lingers there...



Mary Pickford

Scrubbie's Sonnet

Her liquid gaze could melt the coldest heart,
Her perfect face framed ‘round by ebony;
Since early on her dancing was an art –
Lithe hands and limbs in quaking ecstasy.
Not one to walk on eggshells, biting wit
And knife-blade tongue would often trouble make;
But unrelenting, in the face of it
She’d stand, too proud to let it see her break.
From featured player to forgotten star,
To author/critic, razor-edged and quick:
A sharpened, honey-coated scimitar,
A heady blend of sex and arsenic.
With such a life – complex beyond compare –
How strange her strongest legacy’s her hair.



Louise Brooks