Mary Pickford

Back in 2011, the TIFF Bell LightBox had its first ever exhibit in the Canadian Film Gallery.

The inaugural presentation was a chronicle in the film career of Mary Pickford (1892 - 1929).
They screened four of her popular films: Pollyanna - 1920,  Little Lord Fauntleroy - 1921,  Rosita - 1923 and Coquette - 1929).

Who does not know the story of Mary Pickford?
She may have been "America's Sweetheart", but she was born right here in Toronto.
In 1924, she visited the house where she was born on University Avenue.

City of Toronto Archives.

In front of the Sick Kids Hospital there is a small statue of her as well as a plaque.

In 1919, with three other film stars (Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith) Mary formed a production company called United Artists.
She was also a founding member of The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP).

Ms. Pickford was the first star (along with husband Douglas Fairbanks) to officially place hand and footprints in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in April 1927.

She was posthumously awarded a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

 After retiring from the silver screen, she continued to be involved in filmmaking.

In 1937, she married Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and they stayed together until her death in 1979.

Treasure Island

No, not the Robert Louis Stevenson tale about Long John Silver..... this is about a tiny island located in San Francisco Bay, California.
The island was originally built for the San Francisco 1939 World's Fair of the Golden Gate International Exposition. A full Wikipedia account can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island_%28California%29

But I like to tell my story of this intriguing piece of American history (albeit it is not that old).

Whilst watching some old Charlie Chan movies, starring Sydney Toler, I happen upon one titled "Charlie Chan at Treasure Island" (1939). This particular movie shows an aerial view of the island from the window of Charlie's plane.

 

Now this got my attention, so I started digging up some information.
The island was created from fill that was dredged from the bay in 1936-37.
One of the main attractions was the 81 foot tall Pacifica Statue that stood guard over the entrance to the Cavalcade of the Golden West pavilion.

After the exposition was over, the island was used as an airport for the Pan American World Airways flying boats, of which the China Clipper  is a unique example.

In the Clipper's initial flight across the Pacific Ocean to Manilla, the idea was to fly over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge (still under construction at the time); but once the pilot took off, he realized that the plane would NOT clear the bridge structure, and so was forced to narrowly fly under it instead.

The island was destined to become a piece of American history when at some point the Federal Government stepped in to offer the City another piece of land, so that the municipality could build a larger airport.
The swap was made, and the Navy moved into this strategic West Coast Base.

Unfortunately, the statue was  torn down and now we only have pictures left to view.

Tour of the Don Jail

In March of this year, I joined a group of Heritage Toronto members who were gathered inside the St. Matthew's Lawn Bowling Clubhouse on Broadview Avenue.

The Riverdale Historical Society and Heritage Toronto arranged for a presentation of two plaques commemorating the houses at the Don Jail (the Gatekeeper's House and the Governor's House).

Afterward we were treated to a special tour of the refurbished Don Jail.
We gathered on the second floor of the new Bridgepoint Active Health Centre, where an architect from ERA proudly began to explain some of the highlights surrounding the restoration of the Don.

We were lead through a skywalk that connected the health centre to the jail.
Restoration included removing some 30 coats of lead paint from all of the walls, and installing storm windows for better energy consumption.

The cells have been converted into administration offices, but the exterior entranceways have been left. The architects installed frosted glass where the cell doors would have been, and the interior walls were removed to accomodate office spaces.

The rotunda, with its catwalks and sky lights was fascinating....

A closer look at the supports:

It should be noted here that some human remains were found during the excavations in 2007, and you can read about it here in the Star:
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/260592

 John Greene was the first jail Governor and resided in the building until the stink of vomit, urine and molds from the cells finally forced him and his wife to move into their own residence on Gerrard Street.

According to the City of Toronto, the official plans for the remainder of the property will include a public park and a multi-use pathway to Riverdale East.