Pickfair - Fabled Home of Superstars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford

Pickfair drew a steady stream of international royalty, politicians, scientists and artists. An invitation to the Pickfair mansion meant you had made it in Hollywood.

Photos of the original Pickfair estate in the 1920's give us a glimpse of Doug and Mary's life. Even though the papers and magazines of the day tried to portray them as any other couple in America relaxing quietly at home, they entertained famous guests, employed servants and had an endless variety of activities available on the expansive grounds.

Over time the legendary estate gained a mystique. An icon of Hollywood, Pickfair held a fascination for film historians as well as young Hollywood hopefuls. It symbolized an era where the stars were idolized, where we believed true love lasted forever, where dreams could come true.


Alas, the Pickfair of that era is gone. This is its story.

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In 1919, Douglas paid $35,00 for 15 (or so) acres in the still wild hills above Beverly Hills. A hunting lodge was the only building on the property.

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. married in 1920. Were they secretly married at Pickfair? As enchanting as that may have been, they weren't married at Pickfair but were married in a private ceremony at the Glendale home of a Baptist minister.

The couple had Max Parker, an art director on many of their films, renovate the cozy lodge.
In the 1930's prominent architect Wallace Neff made further renovations, giving it more elegance and expanding it to an L-shaped, 22-room Tudor/Swiss Chalet mansion with a copper roof and green gables.

Atop a hill on 1143 Summit Drive, overlooking the canyons below and with a view of the Pacific Ocean, Pickfair was the center of Hollywood society and everyone wanted to be invited. The King & Queen of Hollywood entertained not only actors and actresses, but scientists, sports figures, political figures and royalty from all over the world.

Pickfair mansion, the second-most famous home in America behind the White House, was a beautiful and warm home, decorated with department store French reproduction furnishings, antiques and fine art.

Because of the popularity of Doug & Mary, others in the film industry built lavish homes nearby. Charlie Chaplin lived just down the street at address 1085 Summit Drive. Thus was created the Beverly Hills that today has some of the highest priced real estate in the world.

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Pickfair swimming pool
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Games were played on the sweeping lawns. Guests saddled up at the stables and rode horses to the ocean, passing few houses along the way. The crescent-shaped outdoor swimming pool with its sand beach was large enough to paddle a canoe! It was reportedly the first outdoor private swimming pool in the Los Angeles area.

Over the years, Pickfair went through many changes as it was continually redecorated and enlarged. For the most part, the house had the following features.

Ground floor

• porte-cochere


• red lacquered front doors


• entrance hall


• Wild West "saloon"

First Floor

• reception room


• living room


• dining room


• breakfast nook


• kitchen


• screening room


• sun porch


• servants quarters

Second Floor

• master suite and 5 guest bedrooms

Third floor attic

• the Oriental Room - gifts from Doug & Mary's travels and costumes from their movies

Doug & Mary saw their careers foundering due to their age, changing tastes of the public and the advent of the talkies. Their marriage had fallen apart and they divorced in January 1936, reportedly having lived for several years in opposite wings of Pickfair.

Mary kept Pickfair. In 1937 she married her third and last husband, handsome movie actor & bandleader Charles "Buddy" Rogers who was 11 years her junior.

Buddy and Mary had met in 1927 when they starred in "My Best Girl." (That same year, Buddy had starred in "Wings," winner of the first Oscar® for Best Picture.) They lived at Pickfair during their entire marriage of 42 years, the rest of Mary's life.

Photo Courtesy of Flixster - Share Movies
Buddy Rogers and Mary Pickford in "My Best Girl"

Douglas Fairbanks died December 12, 1939.

Throughout the 1960's, Mary was still involved in business and social functions, opening Pickfair for charity benefits. The couple sold off parcels of the land. They raised two adopted children, but the children grew into teenagers, fell out of favor and no longer lived at Pickfair.

Mary gradually became more and more reclusive. In her later years she began spending all her time upstairs in her bedroom, rarely leaving the house. She accepted few visitors and preferred to speak to them on the telephone from her second-floor bedroom as they spoke to her from a phone on the first floor.

It was 1966 and I was 12. The family vacation that year was California. My dad drove my mom, younger brother and me from the middle of the country to Los Angeles. My dad had built a bench to put in the back seat where our feet would be while sitting, so my brother & I had this big flat space full of blankets and pillows where we could hang out and lay down during the two-day drive. This was long before seat belts were required! There was no air conditioning in our car, so my dad drove all night through the desert so it wouldn't be so hot.

It was our first time in Hollywood and I was starstruck. We bought a map of the stars' homes. The one place I really wanted to see was Pickfair. I had been fascinated with silent movies for a long time and had read everything I could find about Mary Pickford with the golden curls.

We drove up Summit Drive and stopped at the wrought iron gates of Pickfair. Looking up the angled driveway, we could see part of the house. Pickfair was beautiful and the grounds were immaculate. It was hard to put feelings into words, to think that Mary Pickford might be so near that we could talk to her. We took some pictures of what we could see and of the gates with the "P" in elegant wrought iron.

YouTube video of Mary Pickford receiving an Honorary Oscar®

In 1976 The Academy gave Mary an Honorary Oscar® for lifetime achievement. She had already received a Best Actress Oscar® in 1929 for "Coquette."

Gene Kelly, on stage, introduces the segment. A camera crew had been sent to record Mary receiving the statuette at Pickfair, which gives us a wonderful film of coming up the driveway to the elegant front entrance. Inside, the camera pans the entry, the Regency dining room, a portrait of Mary, the curved stairway... and then frail-looking Mary herself seated in a chair in the living room.

After her taped acceptance is shown, there's a glimpse of her husband Buddy Rogers in the audience.

In an article in the newspaper "The Day" of New London, Connecticut dated April 4, 1979, Buddy Rogers said he and Mary discussed what to do with Pickfair. They offered it to the city of Beverly Hills, the University of Southern California and several charitable organizations, but no one wanted it unless money was provided to care for it forever. Buddy said that they didn't have that kind of money. 1979 newspaper article about Pickfair

Photo Courtesy of Library of Congress

Exquisite, phenomenal Mary Pickford
died May 29, 1979...

...a recluse in her Pickfair bedroom.

Buddy built a smaller mansion on the property, 1147 Pickfair Way, and called it "Pickfair Lodge." It housed all their memorabilia, including the Western bar. He moved into it and remarried.

In 1980 Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, bought Pickfair and the few acres that were still part of it for $5,362,500. (It had been on the market for $10 million.)

Dr. Buss modernized the plumbing and heating and did considerable renovating, but kept the flavor of the house as it was in its peak in the 1920s and 1930s. He added a tennis court and a library. Pickfair was home to a family and open to charity events once again.

In 1988 Jerry Buss sold the house and property to businessman Meshulam Riklis and wife actress Pia Zadora for $6,675,000.

In 1989, amid an outcry of protest from movie historians, preservationists and the neighborhood, Riklis and Zadora claimed that Pickfair was so riddled with termites that it
was beyond repair... and they had it torn down.

People wondered why the original house or the interiors couldn't be saved... or taken apart and rebuilt somewhere else as a historic building... or at the very least been rebuilt more sympathetic to the style of the original.

(Ironically, architect Wallace Neff himself had suggested tearing down Pickfair when he was asked to renovate it in the 1930's, saying they should just start over by building a new house. Doug & Mary had refused. The house held good memories and they couldn't tear it down.)

But by now the house had become so legendary and symbolic of Old Hollywood that many people were aghast that it had been razed.

Pickfair then........................................................ and now.

Riklis and Zadora built a Venetian monstrosity on the property. Completed in 1991, only a few original features of Pickfair were saved:

• the outdoor pool


• the original wrought-iron gates with the letter "P" on them


• possibly a portion of one wing of the house

In 2005 the new Pickfair and its remaining 2.7 acres were bought by Unicom Systems for
$17.6 million.

The house is now up for sale again at an asking price of $60 million... and yet considered a fixer-upper due to renovations needed to bring it up to date once again.

Although still called "Pickfair," the legend is gone, the mystique of a golden couple who captivated the world.

 

 

Doug & Mary used the phrase "by the clock" as a secret message of their love.

During their courtship, Doug was talking about his mother's death as they were driving. When he finished, the car clock stopped. They took this as a sign that his mother
approved of their love.

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