Mary Pickford's 'My Best Girl' with live music at Flying Monkey on Wednesday, Aug. 30

PLYMOUTH — She was known as America's Sweetheart, but often played assertive take-charge characters that made her a role model to movie-goers around the world. She was Mary Pickford, who ruled the entertainment industry as the Queen of Hollywood during the silent era.

See for yourself with a screening of "My Best Girl" (1927), one of Pickford's landmark feature films, on Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 6:30 p.m., at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 Main St.

The screening will feature live music for the movie by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

The show is the latest in the Flying Monkey's silent film series, which gives audiences the opportunity to experience early cinema as it was intended: on the big screen, with live music and with an audience.

Set in a big city department store, "My Best Girl" explores what happens when romance blossoms between a humble clerk and the wealthy store owner's son.

The result is a sparkling rich-man-poor-girl romantic comedy from 1927, starring Pickford alongside leading man Charles "Buddy" Rogers, who would later become Pickford's real-life husband.

An industry pioneer who became Hollywood’s first movie star, Pickford enjoyed a cult-like popularity throughout the silent era that made her a national icon and an international celebrity.

Pickford also possessed a business savvy that gave her nearly total control of her creative output, with her own production company and a partnership in a major film distribution company, all before she was 30 years old.

Dubbed "America's Sweetheart" early in her screen career, the nickname was misleading, as Pickford's popularity was rooted in her portrayal of assertive women often forced to battle for justice in a male-dominated world.

After starring in hundreds of short dramas from 1910 to 1915, Pickford's popularity led to starring roles in feature films starting in the mid-1910s.

In 1919, she joined industry icons D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in creating the United Artists studio. In 1920, she married Fairbanks, with the pair reigning as Hollywood's royal couple for the remainder of the silent era.

In the 1920s, Pickford reduced her output to one picture per year. "My Best Girl" was her last silent feature before the industry switched to talking pictures.

Pickford made several successful talking pictures, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film "Coquette" in 1929.

Pickford, however, chose to retire in 1933. She lived in semi-seclusion until her death in 1979.

Accompanist Rapsis will improvise an original musical score for "The General" live as the movie is shown, as was done during the silent film era.

"When the score gets made up on the spot, it creates a special energy that's an important part of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of a full orchestra for the accompaniment.

For tickets, call 603-536-2551 or visit flyingmonkeynh.com.

For more about the music, visit effrapsis.com.