The House That Shadows Built (1928)

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EXIT MARY PICKFORD 247 bidding. At that moment Mary Pickford blazed above all other stars like the ascendant Venus over the constellations. The rise of Charlie Chaplin came a little later; yet Chaplin had just signed with the Mutual Company for ^10,000 a week and a bonus. Any firm could afford to lose money on her for the prestige she gave its other productions. At this crisis of her affairs, she was working in Hollywood. Between pictures, she came to New York, the financial centre of the business. The hammering, the polite, insinuating approaches, had begun before she left California. She saw Adolph Zukor, told him frankly that she was worth more money. ‘T agree with you,” he said; but he made no offer. “Well, before I sign with anyone else. I’ll see you again,” said Mary Pickford. Forth she went to a round of blandishment and entertainment and to a first-class impersonation of feminine hesitation and capriciousness. Half a dozen times the ink was wet on the pen with which she was to have signed; and always at the last moment she drew daintily back. First to raise the ante was an agent of the American Tobacco Company, which still felt disposed to trifle with motion pictures. He offered ^7,000 a week. Vitagraph raised it again. John R. Freuler of the Mutual Company, which already had Chaplin, capped the stricture. He laid before her a contract which meant virtually a million a year. There the bidding stopped; it had reached the peak. Mary Pickford had taken pains to