Dressler museum broadens its focus

By Cecilia Nasmith

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Mayor John Henderson and Foundation spokesman Rick Miller

For decades, the Marie Dressler Foundation has enjoyed welcoming visitors to the Oscar-winning actress's birthplace at 212 King St. W., Cobourg.

In the new year, they will welcome two close friends of the actress to take up residence and share their own legendary stories – Norma Shearer and Mary Pickford.

Details were shared Saturday at Dressler's 151st birthday party at the Victoria Hall Citizens Forum – in the grand building constructed a scant eight years before she was born in that little Ontario cottage down the street.

Foundation spokesman Rick Miller said the permanent exhibition will be tentatively called Canada's Women Film Pioneers.

Many local residents are familiar with the details of Dressler's career as a popular stage and silent-movie star, and one of the few stars of the silent screen to make a successful transition to talking roles.

She won the Best Actress Oscar at the fourth annual Academy Awards ceremony for Min and Bill.

And in 1932 and 1933 – during the age of Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo and Clark Gable, Miller pointed out – she was Hollywood's top box-office attraction. In fact, as every other studio struggled during the Great Depression, Dressler has been accorded much of the credit for keeping MGM in the black. She was the first Hollywood actress (and first Canadian) to grace the cover of Time magazine.

Dressler's Oscar was the third of a unique three-peat – the third time in a row the Best Oscar actress went to a Canadian. The other two winners were Shearer and Pickford.

Shearer (1092-1983) got her 1930 Oscar for The Divorcee, The daughter of a wealthy Montreal family (and wife of legendary MGM producer Irving Thalberg), she appeared in 63 movies and was the first person to receive five Oscar nominations for acting (though, unfortunately, she did turn down the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind).

Toronto-born Pickford got her 1929 Oscar for Coquette. She was not only a talented performer in 249 films – she was also a creative producer astute businesswoman and co-founder (with husband Douglas Fairbanks) of the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio as well as the United Artists film studio and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences.

A centrepiece of the birthday celebrations for Dressler was a biographical film on another powerful woman of film, Frances Marion, actress and screenwriter for more than 200 movies (and at one time the world's highest-paid screenwriter). She was the first screenwriter in history to win more than one Academy Award (for The Big House and for The Champ), and her achievements are unparalleled by any female screenwriter since.

The American-born Marion was a close friend of both Dressler and Pickford, penning many screenplays for both. She was also at Dressler's bedside when she passed away.

Miller says that the Marie Dressler Museum has a film clip of Shearer handing Dressler her 1931 Oscar, and is delighted she and Pickford will be joining Dressler in the Cobourg home.

“These women were a power in Hollywood, a feat never seen again,” he said.

“These three were also producers, studio founders and savvy businesswomen.

“We think it's worth celebrating the achievements of Canadian women in film then and now, so we are strating with the pioneers.”

Miller described plans for a platform to celebrate these achievements with an educational and inspirational visitor experience, connecting those all-important early accomplishments with the women in film of today through the Toronto International Film Festival Cheer Her On program.

The form this may take will be influenced by the partners joining the foundation in this effort.

The University of Toronto's Museum Studies program has previously worked with the foundation to transform Dressler House from a memorabilia collection to a museum-quality attraction. They are involved in this current project as well.

The Los Angeles-based Mary Pickford Foundation is another partner, as is Darrin Barnes, who manages the Norma Shearer collection, as well as the Toronto Film Reference Library and the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Town of Cobourg is also a partner, Miller noted. They purchased the building following a catastrophic 1989 fire at a time when it had been a high-end restaurant for decades. They are co-operating with the foundation in extending a long-term lease.

Looking ahead, their Rear View documentary festival is slated for April 17 to 19. As the 2019 Rear View was sold out, Miller warned, “once we announce that tickets are for sale, stay tuned and get your ticket early.”

And then there's the Vintage Film Festival that has run for 28 years. The 2020 version will have the theme True Stories and will feature such films as M-A-S-H, Calamity Jane, A Hard Day's Night and Inherit The Wind. It will run Sept. 25 to 27, and tickets should go on sale in June.

The foundation, which has awarded a Marie Dressler Scholarship to Northumberland students for many years, also wants to continue to inspire young women of the local community to dream big and to chase those dreams.