The Demi-Widow

Indianapolis / New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers, 1935. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Near Fine. 8x6x1. Signed by author. First edition. Signed without inscription by Mary Pickford on front endpaper. Includes new facsimile jacket. Spine titles rubbed with some loss of gilt, light 1/2 inch spot on top page edge, owner bookplate on front endpaper, light crease to rear jacket corner. 1935 Hard Cover. 272 pp. The first novel by the popular actor who was quite influential in Hollywood. From the jacket: "Mary Pickford has been loved as perhaps no other star of the screen ever has been or ever will be. Now, to the delight of her public, (truncated) she has turned her gifted talents to writing. Her message of faith and optimism Why Not Try God', has been immensely popular. The Demi-Widow is her first novel, but it is not the novel of a novice. It is as modern as Mary Pickford herself, and as appealing, as fascinating, as charming. The author has happily chosen the theater for the background of her book - a Parisian theater. She has been thoroughly cosmopolitan in her choice of characters. The lovely, violet-eyed heroine, born in California, has grown up in a convent school in France. The handsome, dark-eyed young hero hails form the Argentine; the publicity director, from Hollywood; the impassioned suitor, from Russia. It is an exciting situation. Against the background of fashionable Paris, with its women in beautiful gowns, gorgeous jewels, luxurious motorcars, moves a brave young girl-widow determined to keep body and soul together and bring up her precious baby in happy surroundings. Mary Pickford writes of the world she knows and she portrays it so vividly that the reader too becomes intimate with it. And underneath all the glamour, romance and drama of the plot, there are a sincerity, an earnestness, a beauty of spirit that are the familiar marks of the author. They will be recognized at once and place this novel apart from others, in a niche of its own." "Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 - May 29, 1979) was an Oscar-winning Canadian motion picture star and co-founder of United Artists in 1919. She was known as 'America's Sweetheart,' 'Little Mary' and 'the girl with the golden curls.' She was one of the first Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood and one of film's greatest pioneers. She was an outstanding influence in the development of film acting. Because her international fame was triggered by moving images, she is a watershed figure in the history of modern celebrity. As one of silent film's most important performers and producers, her contract demands were central to shaping the Hollywood industry. The American Film Institute named Pickford among the greatest female stars of all time (AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars). (Inventory #: 2308538)