When the movies were young (1925)

104 When the Movies were Young Walker's younger sister Betty in 'The Warrens of Virginia." So "The Warrens of Virginia" with Gladys Smith, rechristened by Mr. Belasco "Mary Pickford" (a family name) came and went. The magic wand of Belasco had touched Mary, but magic wands mean little when one needs to eat. "The Warrens of Virginia" finished its run, and Mary, her seventeen years resting heavily upon her, was confronted with the long idle summer and the nearly depleted family exchequer. So arrived the day in the late spring, when from the weary round of agencies and with faint hope of signing early for next season little Mary wandered to the old Biograph studio at 1 1 East Fourteenth Street. Such a freshly sweet and pretty little thing she was, that her chances of not being engaged were meagre. Since that day when she first cast her lot with the movies — that day in June, 1909, when the Pickford releases so inauspiciously started, they have continued with only one interruption. That was in January, 191 3, when in David Belasco's production of "The Good Little Devil," she co-starred with Ernest Truex. What an exciting day at the studio it was when it was discovered that Mr. Belasco was up in the projection room seeing some of Mary's pictures! Mary's return to the legitimate was a clever move. It made for publicity and afterward served her, despite the shortness of the engagement, as a qualification for becoming an Adolph Zukor-Famous Player. Mr. Zukor established his "Famous Players" through the production of "Queen Elizabeth," the first feature picture with a famous player, the player being no less a per