Poor Little Rich Girl



In this film directed by Maurice Tourneur from a script by Frances Marion, Mary Pickford portrays a waif neglected by her parents.

Quoting from Wikipedia: "Gwendolyn is an 11-year-old girl who is left by her rich and busy parents to the care of unsympathetic domestic workers at the family's mansion. Her mother is only interested in her social life and her father has serious financial problems and is even contemplating suicide. When she manages to have some good time with an organ-grinder or a plumber, or have a mud-fight with street boys, she is rapidly brought back on the right track. One day, she becomes sick because the maid has given her an extra dose of sleeping medicine to be able to go out. She then becomes delirious and starts seeing an imaginary world inspired by people and things around her; the Garden of Lonely Children in the Tell-Tale forest. Her condition worsens ..."

Made in New Jersey in 1917 (before the film industry moved to Hollywood), Poor Little Rich Girl stars Mary Pickford, Madlaine Traverse, Charles Wellesley, Gladys Fairbanks, and Frank McGlynn Sr.

 was added to the National Film Registry in 1991.

The movie is in the public domain; you can watch or download a copy at the Internet Archive.


 * Dawson Casting: Mary Pickford was 25 years old, playing an 11-year-old.
 * Parental Neglect: Not only her parents, but also the household servants, as shown in the very first scene of the film.
 * Spell My Name with a "The": The Library of Congress and the Internet Archive say the movie is titled "Poor Little Rich Girl", Wikipedia says it's "The Poor Little Rich Girl", while the publicity image used here says it's "A Poor Little Rich Girl".