Biograph girl
Biograph Girl was a phrase associated with two early-20th-century actresses, Florence Lawrence and Mary Pickford, who made black-and-white silent films with the Biograph Company. At that time, all studios refused to give actors on-screen film credit; they did not want them to gain public celebrity status and command higher salaries. This had already happened with stage actors, and the studios did not want to repeat the trend on film.[1]
Because the actors were mainly anonymous, the public and news media began to call the popular actress
After Lawrence left Biograph, Mary Pickford began gaining in popularity with the studio and was soon nicknamed the new "Biograph Girl" until she, too, received billing credits in her films.
Coincidentally, both Lawrence and Pickford were both originally from
. As well, both were raised by their mothers, as their fathers died within a week of each other (in unrelated accidents) in February 1898.References
- ^ Lorusso, Edward. "Florence Lawrence - The First Movie Star". Retrieved July 23, 2012.
- ^
Knight, Arthur (1959). The Liveliest Art. New American Library. ISBN 9780025642102. Retrieved July 23, 2012.