Additional information
by Anke Brouwers (Author), Mary Pickford (Author)
Famous motion picture actress Mary Pickford wrote her inspirational self-help manual "Why Not Try God?" in 1934, with the aid of her collaborator Adela Rogers St. Johns. For nearly eighty years its thoughtful approach toward spirituality has encouraged and inspired her audience. Pickford's positive approach gives anyone, believer or non-believer, a rationale on which to build faith, and a path to understanding the difficulties we face in life. It contains her most famous quote: "...this thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down," along with her prescription for how to pull yourself back up again for a new beginning. Pickford starts her story with her own youthful rebellion against a God whom she thought unjust, after the death of a childhood friend. She continues with her own turnabout as an adult, including stories of people who have inspired her and the thoughts of scientists and philosophers in whose statements on religion she has found meaning and understanding. "Why Not Try God?" is ultimately a cheerful work, a short, effective essay on why we should believe, and how such belief can become a positive influence that will help us meet our daily challenges and affect our lives and the lives of those around us for the better. This new edition, simply and elegantly set, contains a new "Afterword" by film scholar and educator Anke Brouwers. Dr. Brouwers reveals the reasons that caused Mary Pickford to write "Why Not Try God?" and gives us a context for understanding her work that will of interest both to fans of the actress and to the general public.
Author Biography
Mary Pickford (1892-1979), known as "America's Sweetheart," was for at least twenty years of the last century, the most famous woman in the world. Born in Canada, she toured America as a child actress on stage before starting to work in the movies for director D.W. Griffith at the Biograph Company in 1909. In a few years time she was the most popular player of the cinema, becoming her own producer, and co-founder of United Artists with future husband Douglas Fairbanks in 1919. Pickford's world-wide popularity lived well beyond her years as an actress, and in 1934 she published her first book, a short essay on spirituality and personal growth titled "Why Not Try God?" It was an instant best-seller. Mary Pickford's thoughts on God, or "the Universal Mind," are still relevant today. In later years she became a philanthropist and volunteer for the Red Cross, and other causes to which she happily gave her time and money.
