The Demi Widow

When Mary Pickford 'kinda sorta' retired from acting in 1933 she took to writing...or more specifically religious screeching. She wrote several essays which turned into the books "Why not try God?" and "My Rendezvous with Life". At the time Christian Science was what Scientology now is in Hollywood, and Mary was a devout member. Her books were a mix of Jesus loving and a Lillian Gish styled biography (every story fictionalized and painting Mary in a good light).

I think by far my favorite is her 1935 essay "Why Die?" strictly for the title. I guess its impossible to ever know how much a celebrity relies on a ghostwriter but most of these books and essays have the same style and tone...if Mary didn't write them then her helped had to be the same over the years. Personally I think she had a good hand in them, as 20 years later her autobiography "Sunshine and Shadows" also takes the same tone.

Lord knows why but Mary decided being an author was a solid enough career (this writer notes its quite a dull career and does not advocate it at all). In 1935 she published her one and only official work of fiction "The Demi Widow". It sold well enough especially considering the depression but it must not have been satisfying enough for Mary: it was the only novel she ever published.

A lot of authors refer to it as a cutely written celebrity go at writing. I'm not literary critic...it is in fact literally one of the first pieces of fiction I've read in years (I prefer non fiction). However I do love it: the prose is good, the twists are interesting, and she literally had me laughing out loud at points.

In fact I enjoyed the book so much I'm still about 100 pages away from the ending...though I think I can see where its going. What is of particular interest about The Demi Widow is that its like an unmade Pickford film...a Pickford film I would have given my left hand to see made in say...1925. Of course it would have made a good talkie with all its witty banter and singing plot line. However there is one catch: Rudolph Valentino needed to be alive.

Mary had an interesting and cute relationship with Rudy. In the mid teens when he was a nobody and she a superstar he happened upon her and her mother in a cafe in New York. Too shy to introduce himself to her he politely introduced himself to Ma Pickford instead. He asked how to get into movies and Ma Pickford gave him advice. However she never introduced Rudy to Mary, which did not give Mary the chance to politely speak. Rudy left, and Mary was furious at her mother for not introducing her to 'the most handsome man she had ever seen.'

Years later when he was a new sensation and Mary was now part of the first celeb couple with Douglas Fairbanks, Rudy came to Pickfair. Doug had a serious jealous streak to begin with, and quite obviously the Latin lover seemed a threat to him. As Mary put it she had never seen Douglas be so rude to anyone...literally kicking Rudy out. Of course the men eventually became friends, went to each other's premieres, and Rudy joined UA. But Doug was always jealous: its believed he wouldn't even let Mary dance with other men (and thus missing out on one of the greatest chances ever!)

Rudy visited Mary on set, which distracted her so badly she couldn't get back into character. I believe it was for the remake of Tess of Storm County in 1922. When his one man strike from Famous Players-Lasky was underway in 1923 there were many rumors that so and so wanted Rudy to play Romeo in an adaption of Romeo and Juliet. In fact several people were said to be making that film, though none of them did. Depending who you ask his Juliet would have been Norma Talmadge or Mary Pickford. Imagine that!

Mary never did get her chance to act with Valentino...and surely it would have been impossible what with Doug's jealousy...at least until the 30s. However judging by The Demi Widow maybe it was something she always regretted.

The plot is typical Pickford fashion (obviously spoilers ahead, quit reading now if you do not wish to know the plot!!!). There's a aristocratic Californian girl who was raised in France named Coralee. She literally resembles Mary in every way only she has blue/violet eyes (Mary had brown). Her parents died and she had an arranged marriage that produced a child. However her husband died and wiped out his fortune before that. Now in extreme poverty Coralee lives in the slums with her nanna (nanny) and her toddler son named Toni. Coralee's evil rich sister in law wants custody of Toni, as he is the last of the family bloodline. Coralee is desperate for money...so she tries out for what is essentially a Ziegfeld style revue. She sings good but faints causing her to lose out on the audition. However one of the managers takes pity on her and she wins the spot anyways.

Preparing for her second audition she puts grease on her face and does her hair up. Upset over the ultimatum from her sister in law she takes her son and sings him to sleep. Down in the alley a rich Argentine playboy named Camilo hears her singing and is smitten. He buys a basket of groceries for an excuse to go meet the angel behind the voice. However when Coralee answers the door in her state of affairs he runs for the hills accidentally leaving some portraits of himself behind. Coralee is smitten, but eventually she figures out why he was there and why he ran and she gets the Pickford spitfire in her and vows to make him pay for it someday.

As said she wins her spot, the revue men deciding to make her the star of the show. But they must transform her into something more interesting then this timid little peasant girl. So they tell everyone she moved to America and lock her up in a mansion for weeks. They give her a makeover and practice her to death, renaming her Coco after her son's favorite word. Annoyed they cant bring the spitfire out in her one of the men spot the picture of Camilo and use it as a publicity angle saying she had an affair with the man. Coralee is annoyed, but she becomes hysterical when they tell her his plane crashed in the jungle, which will bring much press to her as a grieving ex...a 'Demi Widow'. Eventually Coralee agrees to go along, mostly for her son as he has nice things and cant be taken away now.

She becomes a major star going all Olive Thomas, a new guy on her arm and tons of jewels every day. But then Camilo is found alive and he confronts her about the story. His fiancee was not pleased to hear it and refuses to marry him unless Coralee tells the truth. This particular scene goes extremely Valentino by having Camilo threatening to rape her if she wont recant, though eventually they go into some sort of stare off instead. Camilo leaves and is intrigued, but hes not done with her yet.

Meanwhile evil sister in law has spotted Toni and Nanna in the park, causing Coralee great worry. That very day Camilo happens upon Toni who he takes an instant liking to, see he wants very badly to be a father and husband (also like Valentino). Toni likes him too but as he leaves Nanna freaks saying someone is after them, and Camilo whisks them away in his car. Nana says she cant take Toni out anymore but Camilo offers to drive them to the park everyday and protect them. Hes intrigued by the story about the poor hard working mother...not realizing he is Coralee's son.

Meanwhile still out for revenge he buys up every breakfast, lunch, and dinner date he can with Coralee under assumed names, and catches her in public so she cant confront him about it. He vows to not leave her alone and keep pushing her buttons until she tells the truth. She refuses because secretly she doesn't want him to be with his fiancee, she's still crazy about him.

END SPOILERS!

That's as far as I am in the book now...though I think its safe to assume there's some sort of happy non dead baby ending here. You can snag copies on ebay and amazon pretty cheaply, though one with a gorgeous dust jacket is much harder to find. I'd highly recommend it as it is a good story. However I still find it a shame that Mary never made it into a film...because it would have been an amazing one. Much better than Kiki.