A Bumpy Ride
The St. Louis Airport, June 1941.
Norma Shearer (center) is all smiles, and Mary Pickford (left) musters one of her own. A decade earlier, Mary’s storybook marriage to the dashing Douglas Fairbanks was hanging by a thread when he met Sylvia Ashley-Cooper, a former lingerie model who’d married her way into society. She’d discarded her husband when she met Fairbanks.
So began an affair, and in due course Mary filed for a divorce from the love of her life. He and Sylvia later married.
You’re way ahead of me. Yep, that’s Sylvia on the right. You can imagine how Mary felt, having to share a long flight in a small plane with the last person on Earth she’d want to see.
On top of that, the press boys wanted a photo, but Mary was enough of a trouper to deliver the appropriate performance.
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– – – Christopher Snowden
diane said,
January 26, 2011 at 7:59 am
Poor Mary (although reading about her, she could probably
give as good as she got). Norma has this huge smile –
like she is really enjoying the joke!! Good on her!!
silentsgirl said,
February 1, 2011 at 9:15 am
In Silent Star, Colleen Moore’s autobiography, she discusses what Mary did on this flight. She brought out various pieces of jewelry, all of which she had purchased for herself, and said “and this Doug bought for me one Christmas, and this one was just a Tuesday present,” and on and on. Yes, I know we must take Silent Star with a jar of salt, but I *really* want this to be true. It’s hilarious, and so Mary-like.
Famous M said,
July 15, 2011 at 10:20 am
Mary is prettier!