This sweetly refreshing cocktail is named in honor of the legendary silent film actress, Mary Pickford. Did you know she was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that glitzy organization that brings us the Academy Awards and the much-coveted Oscar statuette?

Pickford was born on April 3, 1892, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a birth certificate that reads Gladys Marie Smith. She became Mary after her second baptism as an infant. Her paternal grandfather was an English Methodist immigrant and her mother was a staunch Irish Catholic who insisted her daughter be baptized to both religions. Being the Catholic parent (and the mother, right?), she favored the Catholic christened name - Mary.

Mary Pickford became her stage name in 1907, when little Mary was touring the United States by rail car along with her mother and Mary’s little brother and sister (Jack and Lottie Pickford). Fans adored the Pickford children, especially Mary, who became known as America’s Sweetheart, The Girl With The Curls, and, perhaps most endearing of all, simply as Little Mary.

As Mary grew up, so did the fledgling film industry, with Mary at the forefront. While Hollywood movies featuring Pickford drew long lines, gossip tabloids featuring Pickford drew many readers. Seems America loved a Hollywood scandal just as much then as now and Mary lived large.

Some fun facts about Mary to share while enjoying her namesake cocktail:

1 - She had three husbands (Owen, Douglas, Charles) and two adopted children (Roxanne and Ronald), with whom she had difficult relationships.
2 - Mary fell in love with hubby #2, Douglas Fairbanks, while on tour throughout the US to promote Liberty Bonds to help fund World War I (WWI); she was still married to Owen.
3 - Married on March 28, 1920, just 26 days after divorcing Owen, the Fairbanks newlyweds honeymooned in London and Paris.
4 - Pickfair, the dazzling Beverly Hills mansion the couple built, was so famous foreign dignitaries would request an invitation when visiting the White House.
5 - So many world-famous guests from all walks of society, nobility, and government visited Pickfair that the Fairbanks became known as Hollywood’s royalty.
6 - Mary’s 1929 haircut, from flowing curls to flapper-style bob, so scandalized her fans that it became front page news around the world.
7 - Superstars in silent films, Pickford and Fairbanks careers both fizzled once talkies came to town. About movies with sound, Pickford famously said, “Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo.”
8 - In 1919, Pickford co-founded United Artists studio, along with Fairbanks, DW Griffith (who “discovered” Mary), and Charlie Chaplin. She was one of the 36 founding members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
9 - After retiring from acting in 1933, Pickford devoted her time to producing movies and founded Mary Pickford Cosmetics in 1937.
10 - The silent film, Coquette, earned Mary the 1929 Best Actress Award and became a turning point in her career. Gone was the bubbly girl with the flowing curls; the new Mary was a flirty, sophisticated vixen.

On May 29, 1979, Pickford died from a cerebral hemorrhage. She is buried in the famed Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

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Mary Pickford - the Recipe

What you’ll need: a cocktail shaker / strainer, cocktail glass filled with crushed ice

Into an ice-filled cocktail shaker, pour

2 jiggers white rum
2 jiggers pineapple juice
1 teaspoon grenadine

Shake until beverage is very cold, pour over the ice in the cocktail glass, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.