The New York Hat", 1912, is a short silent film directed by
D. W. Griffith, starring
Mary Pickford, from a screenplay by
Anita Loos, one of the most notable of the
Biograph Studios short films and is perhaps the best known example of Pickford's early work. "The New York Hat" is a short, adorable movie that stars the legends of early film (Mary Pickford and her brother
Jack,
Lionel Barrymore, the
Gish Sisters). The film was made by
Biograph when it and many other early
U.S. movie studios were based in
Fort Lee, New Jersey at the beginning of the
20th century.
Mollie Goodhue leads a cheerless, impoverished life, largely because of her stern, miserly father.
Mrs. Goodhue is mortally ill, but before dying, she gives
the minister, Preacher Bolton, some money with which to buy her daughter the "finery" her father has always forbade her. Mollie is delighted when the minister presents her with a fashionable
New York hat she has been longing for, but village gossips misinterpret the minister's intentions and spread malicious rumors. Mollie becomes a social pariah, and her father tears up the beloved hat in a rage.
All ends well, however, after the minister produces a letter from Mollie's mother about the money she left the minister to spend on Mollie.
Soon afterwards, he proposes to Mollie, who accepts his offer of marriage.
It's interesting to observe that this early work features thematic elements that would recur in films by both director and star. Several of Mary Pickford's strongest vehicles present her as a lower class girl who is painfully aware of her status and longs for acceptance by her 'betters' --who, as often as not, are snobs unworthy of her admiration. Griffith, meanwhile, went on to demonstrate a special contempt for busybodies in his later work, such as the "reformer ladies" in the modern story of INTOLERANCE.
Watch Pickford act before, with, and after "The New York Hat". Her performance is great; she plays her part as a young woman, not a little girl, simply and effectively. Her emotions are extraordinarily well-conveyed, for
G.W. Bitzer's camera, under Griffith's direction.
Mary Pickford
... Miss Mollie
Harding (the girl)
Charles Hill Mailes ... Mr. Harding (her father)
Kate Bruce ... Mrs. Harding (her mother)
Lionel Barrymore
.. . Preacher Bolton (minister)
Alfred Paget ...
The Doctor
Claire McDowell ...
First Gossip
Mae Marsh ...
Second Gossip
Madge
Kirby ... Shopkeeper/At
Mother's Deathbed
Lillian Gish ...
Customer in
Shop/
Outside Church
Jack Pickford ...
Youth outside church
John T. Dillon ... Church
Board Member (uncredited)
Dorothy Gish ... (uncredited)
James Kirkwood ... Undetermined
Role (uncredited)
Marguerite Marsh ... Windowshopper (uncredited)
Mack Sennett ... (uncredited)
Directed by
D.W. Griffith
Produced by Biograph
Written by Anita Loos and
Frances Marion
Cinematography G.W. Bitzer
Resources: wikipedia.org, imdb.org
New soundtrack and dubbing: Cinemateca
Music:
Kevin MacLeod (
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/ ) licensed under
Creative Commons licence:
Attribution 3.0 Unported (
CC BY 3.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
3.0
- published: 31 Oct 2013
- views: 2084