German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 689/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Terra-Film, Berlin. Katherine Griffith as Aunt Polly and Mary Pickford as Pollyanna in Pollyanna (Paul Powell, 1920), released in Germany as Sonne im Herzen (Sunshine in her Heart).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 689/2. Photo: Terra-Film, Berlin. Mary Pickford in Pollyanna (Paul Powell, 1920). The man could be William Courtleigh as the neighbour, John Pendleton. She is stealing his apples but he forgives her. He discovers Pollyanna is the spitting image of her mother who left him for her father.
The glad game
Pollyanna (1920) opens in the Ozarks where a distraught Pollyanna (Mary Pickford) is comforting her father the Reverend John Whittier (Wharton James) as he dies. After his death, Pollyanna is sent to live on a New England plantation with her rich spinster aunt Polly (Katherine Griffith). Her aunt is extremely harsh with Pollyanna by not allowing her to speak of her father in her house and choosing the attic for her bedroom. She even takes Pollyanna shopping for new clothes. One day, while playing on the plantation, Pollyanna gets in trouble with a servant woman and runs to hide in a haystack. There she meets Jimmy Bean (Howard Ralston), an orphan her age.
Taking pity on Jimmy, Pollyanna is certain eventually Aunt Polly will let him live with them. So she hides him in the cellar. One day, Aunt Polly insists on going into the cellar, despite Pollyanna's pleas for fear Jimmy will be discovered. Jimmy is asleep and Pollyanna believes they're in the clear; until Jimmy starts shouting in his sleep, having a bad dream about turnips chasing and trying to eat him. Pollyanna is amused but Aunt Polly is not. After some pleading, Aunt Polly relents and tells Pollyanna to bring some good quilts for Jimmy.
One day, as Jimmy and Pollyanna play with the other children, they try to steal some apples from a tree belonging to John Pendleton (William Courtleigh). John catches Pollyanna in the act, but forgives her, realizing she is the exact image of her mother, a woman he once loved deeply, but she loved Pollyanna's father instead. He tells Pollyanna this as he shows her a painting of her mother. Meanwhile, Jimmy fights his way in, fearing that Pollyanna is in danger. He tries to defend her but finds that everything is normal.
As Pollyanna settles in she seems to bring optimism to those she meets. She is insistent on playing a game her father taught her called 'The Glad Game', where one counts the things they are glad for. She visits an old shut-in who is supposedly grateful for nothing. Pollyanna brings along an old blind and deaf friend who plays the accordion. Upon discovering the woman is blind and deaf, the shut-in proclaims her gratitude for still having her sight and hearing.
One day, however, Pollyanna tries to save a child from a car but is herself hit and becomes paralysed. Aunt Polly finally realises how important her niece has become to her. She learns that the only doctor who can happily operate on Pollyanna by restoring the use of her legs is Chilton, her old lover. Swallowing her pride, Polly goes to him to ask him to perform the miracle. Chilton succeeds and Pollyanna can finally walk again. The whole town rejoices as Jimmie Bean finally declares his love for her.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 689/3. Photo: Terra-Film, Berlin. Mary Pickford in Pollyanna (Paul Powell, 1920).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 689/4. Photo: Terra-Film, Berlin. Mary Pickford in Pollyanna (Paul Powell, 1920). The man could be William Courtleigh, who plays the neighbour, John Pendleton, from whose tree Pollyanna has stolen apples. He is smitten with her as she is the lookalike of her mother, whom he once loved. She makes sure he adopts an orphan boy, Jimmy Bean (Howard Ralston), who she helped find lodgings.
Little girl pictures
Eleanor H. Porter created the character of Pollyanna in 1913 and made her the protagonist of a series of highly successful children's books. Catherine Chisholm Cushing's stage version was first staged at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway on 18 September 1916, closing in December after 112 performances. It starred the young actress Patricia Collinge, who was celebrated by audiences and critics alike for her performance.
In 1920, Eleanor H. Porter died at the age of 52. Precisely that year her character was first brought to life on screen by Mary Pickford. Pickford was then 27 years old and portrayed a 12-year-old. She had recently divorced her alcoholic husband, the actor Owen Moore and was on the verge of remarrying a second time to Douglas Fairbanks. According to the theatrical and cinematic conventions of the time, it was nonetheless common that experienced young actresses played teenage virginal leading roles, on screen as well as in the theatre.
Mary Pickford was no stranger to child roles, in fact, she had specialised in them with a long series of successful films. From Poor Little Rich Girl (Maurice Tourneur, 1917) to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Marshall Neilan, 1917), A Little Princess (Marshall Neilan, 1917), and Daddy Longlegs (Marshall Neilan, 1919). In Pollyanna, the actress again played the role of the teenager with long blond curly hair with great ease, alongside ‘real’ child actors such as Howard Ralston or Joan Marsh. In the following years, Pickford successfully played other child roles such as in Little Lord Fauntleroy (Alfred E. Green, Jack Pickford, 1921), Little Annie Rooney (William Beaudine, 1925), and Sparrows (William Beaudine, 1926).
Pollyanna (Paul Powell, 1920) was Mary Pickford's first film for United Artists, the company she helped found. The film was shot in California, Alabama Hills, Lone Pine and South Pasadena in September 1919. The Mary Pickford Company produced it with an estimated budget of $300,000. Pollyanna has a copyright year of 1919 but was first released in 1920. Pollyanna became a major success. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "This splendid family film, based on the Eleanor H. Porter classic, is as spunky & cheerful as its innocent heroine. 28-year-old Mary Pickford is wonderfully believable as a little girl. She exhibits the sweet charm which made her the world's most famous celebrity. She dominates her every scene with star quality few others ever possessed. The rest of the cast is also very good, especially Katherine Griffith as sullen Aunt Polly & Howard Ralston as young orphan Jimmy Bean. The sets & location filming are also worthy of mention.
During its first theatrical run, the film grossed $1.1 million (approximately $16,730,000 today) worldwide. It was extremely popular, became one of Mary Pickford's most defining 'little girl' pictures and made her Hollywood's first great star. A complete print of Pollyanna is preserved at the Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education. The Pickford Corporation also owns the copyright. There is also a famous film remake, Pollyanna (David Swift, 1960), produced by Disney and starring Hayley Mills and Jane Wyman. In the following decades, several television versions followed.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 689/6, 1919-1924. Photo: Terra-Film, Berlin. Howard Ralston and Mary Pickford in Pollyanna (Paul Powell, 1920).
British postcard. Photo: Walturdaw.
British postcard by Rotary Photo, London, no. S. 62-3. Photo: Moody, N.Y.
Sources: Ron Oliver (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, Italian and English) and IMDb.
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