The union between legendary Hollywood actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks produced many things: A 15-year marriage; co-starring roles in The Taming of the Shrew (1929); the founding of United Artists with D. W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin; the creation, along with 34 others, of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and, from 1922 through 1927, Pickford-Fairbanks Studios.
The 18-acre studio was located at 1041 North Formosa Avenue, just off Santa Monica Boulevard in what would become the city of West Hollywood. The immediate surroundings were mostly undeveloped, back when metropolitan Los Angeles was the nation’s leading agricultural producer. Nearby parts of town might have an orange or lemon grove, but Pickford-Fairbanks Studios was cultivating epics.
Pickford starred in the hits like Rosita (1923) and Sparrows (1926), the latter featuring a backwoods swamp set. Fairbanks, in Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924), each of which carried million-dollar budgets (what would be $18 million today). Robin Hood’s monumental outdoor set mimicked an English castle and village, and Bagdad featured domes and mosaics that were part of a renowned, not necessarily culturally-precise production design—a spectacle to behold nonetheless.
During the Pickford-Fairbanks era, the entrance to the studio featured a hump-shaped sign with the two principals’ names, befitting their ownership as well as the myriad movies in which they starred. As the years passed, the names on the sign changed, but the filmmaking continued.
In 1917, the location launched as Hampton Studios, founded by Jesse D. Hampton. Five years later, Pickford-Fairbanks arrived. In 1927, the spot was rechristened United Artists Studio, home to productions by Chaplin and independent producers who distributed their works via United Artists. In 1940, Samuel Goldwyn Studios became the moniker, named after one of the aforementioned independent producers, and the footprint shrank to 11 acres. In 1980, Warner Hollywood Studios took over. Then, in 1999, the lot became The Lot. In 2012, The Lot’s owners tore down many of the remaining edifices from the ‘20s and ‘30s and opened a multi-story office park with tenants such as HBO, to accompany the sound stages.
Given the site’s longevity, a veritable who’s who of Hollywood worked here: Errol Flynn, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Lawrence Olivier. And movies that were shot here? Nothing short of: Stagecoach (1939), Some Like it Hot (1959), West Side Story (1961), and The Green Mile (1999). In the Pickford-Fairbanks era, both stars had bungalows on the property, as did Gloria Swanson and, later, Frank Sinatra. Howard Hughes had a private garage. George and Ira Gershwin, offices. Supposedly, there was a secret tunnel from a soundstage to the bar next door, the Formosa Café.
Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in 1892 in Toronto. She was an impoverished immigrant tasked with earning a living for her family. Soon, under her new name, she became known as the first “America’s Sweetheart,” an Academy Award–winning actress—for Coquette (1929)—and one of the country’s best known and wealthiest women. Fairbanks was from Denver, born Douglas Elton Ulman in 1883, and went onto star in blockbusters such as The Mark of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), and The Iron Mask (1929). Leaving their mark on Hollywood in more ways than one, the duo were the first to put their prints in concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.