My Best Girl (1927)

Joe Merrill, son of the millionaire owner of a chain of 5 and 10 cent stores, poses as Joe Grant, and takes a job in the stockroom of one of his father's stores, to prove that he can be a ... See full summary »

Director:

Sam Taylor

Writers:

Kathleen Norris (from the story by), Allen McNeil (screen play),

Stars:

Mary Pickford, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Sunshine Hart

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Mary Pickford	...	Maggie Johnson
Charles 'Buddy' Rogers	...	Joe Grant (as Charles Rogers)
Sunshine Hart	...	Ma Johnson
Lucien Littlefield	...	Pa Johnson
Carmelita Geraghty	...	Liz Johnson
Hobart Bosworth	...	Robert Merrill
Evelyn Hall	...	Esther Merrill
Avonne Taylor	...	Millicent Rogers
Mack Swain	...	The Judge
John Junior	...	Nick Powell

Storyline

Joe Merrill, son of the millionaire owner of a chain of 5 and 10 cent stores, poses as Joe Grant, and takes a job in the stockroom of one of his father's stores, to prove that he can be a success without his father's influence. There he meets stockroom girl Maggie Johnson, and they fall in love. This causes problems, because Mrs. Merrill had planned for her son to marry Millicent Rogers, a high society girl.

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Plot Keywords:

department store | arrest | california | shopgirl | engagement | 

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Taglines:

Have you seen it yet?

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 October 1927 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Caixeirinha

Filming Locations:

The Lot - 1041 N. Formosa Avenue, West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$483,103 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mary Pickford Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 80 min (1998)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mary Pickford's last silent film, released just after The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson.

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Quotes

Ma Johnson: I've been to the loveliest funeral, Pa.

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Connections

Featured in The 48th Annual Academy Awards (1976)

User Reviews

The End Of An Era For America's Sweetheart

A spunky stock girl in a large department store falls in love with the handsome son of the owner, who is working there incognito. Their ripening romance is threatened, however, by the antics of their two families.

Wonderfully warm & witty, MY BEST GIRL was Mary Pickford's last silent film. In it she bids farewell to the flickering shadows which made her the world's most famous celebrity. Fortunately, as her silent swan song, it is a very good picture, with excellent production values and equal dollops of comedy & heartbreak. Mary's face, and especially her eyes, express her every mood. This was the face of the shrewd & powerful woman who in a significant measure had created the motion picture industry - and who so soon would be leaving it.

Her co-star is young Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, who would score a huge success this same year of 1927 as the star of the epic WINGS, winner of the first Oscar for Best Picture. Here he displays the charm for which he became famous. Although 12 years younger than Mary in real life, he was a good knight to her lady in distress, protecting & loving her through her final silent film.

The rest of the cast is also very good: Lucian Littlefield as Pickford's tiny, ineffectual father; Sunshine Hart as her massive, emotional mother, a woman whose greatest delight is going to strangers' funerals; and Carmelita Geraghty as her flapper sister. Hobart Bosworth gives dignity to the role of Rogers' father. Comic Mack Swain appears as a harried judge. Movie mavens will recognize Nigel De Brulier in a poignant role as a crippled match seller.

The film has been restored and given an evocative new score. It will delight fans of Pickford & the silent cinema for years to come.

After MY BEST GIRL, Pickford made four talkies and even won an Academy Award, but she retired from the screen in 1933, very wealthy, her legend intact, and involved herself in various good works. Her divorce from Douglas Fairbanks came in 1936 and she married 'Buddy' Rogers in 1937, becoming, in truth, his best girl. For the next 42 years he cared for her, as age and alcohol took their toll on Little Mary. Pickford became increasingly secluded in Pickfair, rarely leaving the upper floors of her fabled mansion in her last years. She did not want her fans to see the old woman she had become. Surprisingly, she did make a TV appearance for a few moments in 1976 when she accepted an Honorary Oscar. Then it was back into the shadows. America's Sweetheart died in May of 1979 at the age of 87.

Never a great movie star, but a very well-loved gentleman, 'Buddy' Rogers involved himself with charities & various humanitarian causes. He died in 1999, at the age of 94.