Mary Pickford, Pioneer of Early Cinema
Here’s a Women’s History Month shoutout to the most powerful women in the classic studio era, Mary Pickford (1892–1979). Ms. Pickford was a superstar of the silent era and a savvy businesswoman who co-founded United Artists. She was one of three women who notably took on the studio system by challenging the monopolistic practices of the major studios. I write about the other two women, Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, in a forthcoming article in the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review.
Ms. Pickford’s independent streak revealed itself in the way she managed her acting career. Not wanting to be tied down to one studio with a long-term contract, she made films with the best directors of the era at different studios, increasing her asking price with each film. In 1916, she was the first movie star to form her own production company, Mary Pickford Film Corporation. In 1919, she joined forces with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks (whom she would marry in 1920), and director D. W. Griffith to create United Artists for the purpose of producing feature films independent from studio oversight.
To appreciate Ms. Pickford’s undertaking, let’s set the stage. By 1930, through a series of consolidations and economic Darwinism, the number of studios went from over sixty in the early 1920s to eight in 1930, which collected 95% of the revenue. These eight companies, Paramount, MGM, Fox (later Twentieth Century Fox), Warner Brothers, RKO, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and United Artists, were called “the majors.” Pickford’s United Artists, along with Universal and Columbia, have traditionally been classified as “the Little Three.” The Little Three owned production facilities and had international distribution, but did not own theaters. To get their films into U.S. theaters, the Little Three had to deal with the “Big Five.”
Paramount, MGM, RKO, Fox, and Warner Brothers, i.e. the Big Five, controlled exhibition across the United States. Although the Big Five owned a small percentage of theaters, they were able to control exhibition nationwide through a host of monopolistic practices. The practice most relevant to our discussion is block booking.
Block booking involved pre-selling a group of films to theaters. A full block consisted of a studio’s entire annual output. The smallest block consisted of 12 features. Theater owners were encouraged to buy the full block without having seen any completed films and before production had even started on some films. The Big Five kept the best bookings for themselves, and allotted the remaining, marginal bookings among the Little Three.
In 1938, the Department of Justice, at the behest of independent theaters, sued the majors for antitrust violations. Although the Little Three were included in the suit, block booking was the major issue of the litigation. The Big Five entered into an agreement with the government called the Consent Decree of 1940, which severely curtailed block booking. This opened up access for the independents such as Pickford’s United Artists. But, within a year, the Big Five were renegotiating the terms of the Consent Decree with exhibitors. After learning of this development, Mary Pickford and other independent producers acted swiftly.
In 1941, Ms. Pickford formed the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP) with Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Walt Disney, David O. Selznick, Samuel Goldwyn, Alexander Korda and Walter Wanger. SIMPP campaigned to rally public support for their cause.
In 1944, Ms. Pickford delivered an impassioned address on live radio, known as the “Up in Arms” address. She spoke before an exhibition of Samuel Goldwyn’s new film “Up in Arms,” which featured Danny Kaye’s first starring role. The film was an example of the independents being shutout from domestic theaters. You can read the full text of Ms. Pickford’s speech here: Mary Pickford’s “Up in Arms” address: The monopoly-fighting independent filmmaker (cobbles.com)
Finally, SIMPP filed its own antitrust suit which ultimately led to the landmark 1948 decision in U.S. v. Paramount Pictures, et. al. The U.S. Supreme Court in the Paramount case ordered the Big Five to divest themselves of their theaters. This was a key factor in the demise of the studio system. Other factors include the rise of television and other leisure activities, which kept audiences away from movie theaters, and the “De Havilland law,” which ended long-term contracts between stars and studios (discussed more thoroughly in my forthcoming article).
Stars used their artistic freedom to set up their own production companies with the help and guidance of Mary Pickford and SIMPP. More and more features were originated outside of the major studios by stars’ production companies. United Artists found its niche by helping finance and distribute these films to the now wide-open exhibition market. Out of the ashes of the classic studio era rose a new era of creativity called Postwar Hollywood. These developments were due in no small part to the strong sense of independence and artistic integrity of Mary Pickford.
#WomensHistoryMonth
©2021
Sources: Mary Pickford Foundation at www.MaryPickford.org; www.cobbles.com (website for the book Hollywood Renegades by J.A. Aberdeen); Russell Fowler, “3 Women Take on the Hollywood Studio System,” Tennessee Bar Journal, July 2019; Richard B. Jewell, The Golden Age of Cinema (2007); Douglas Gomery, The Hollywood Studio System: A History (2005); Drew Casper, Postwar Hollywood (2007); U.S. v. Paramount Pictures, et al., 334 U.S. 131, 68 S.Ct. 815 (1948).
