PICKFAIR Heirs lose KEY to Fabulous ESTATE

During her busy lifetime, silent screen diva Mary Pickford  Pickfair

collected opulent furnishings, decorative art, jewelry and fittings to adorn PICKFAIR, the Beverly Hills Georgian manor she and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. constructed in Beverly Hills when they married.



The glamourous mansion is now up for sale at $60 million. Designed by California architect Wallace Neff in 1919 and named after its original residents -- silent film actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford --

the house was originally a hunting lodge. It was later transformed into a 22-room mansion and is believed to be the first private property in Los Angeles to have its own swimming pool. In the 1920s, visitors to the

home included everybody who was anybody -- George Bernard Shaw, AlbertEinstein, H.G. Wells, Amelia Earhart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joan Crawford and Noel Coward.





Located at 1143 Summit Drive, in the San Ysidro Canyon near Los Angeles, California, the property was a hunting lodge when purchased by Fairbanks and Pickford in 1919. They renovated extensively to transform the lodge into a 22 room mansion luxuriously decorated with ceiling frescos and the highest quality art and furnishings available. The property was said to have been the first private property in the Los Angeles area to include a swimming pool (set in a large formal garden).



During the 1920s the house became the focal point for social activities, and the couple became famous for entertaining there. An invitation to Pickfair was a sign of social acceptance into the closed Hollywood community, and European royalty was also accommodated and entertained at the mansion. Dinners at Pickfair were legendary.

Fairbanks and Pickford were divorced in January 1936, and Pickford resided in the mansion with her third husband, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, until her death in 1979. A recluse in her later years, Pickford received few visitors.



It stood empty for several years after Pickford's death and was sold to Los Angeles Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, before being purchased by actress Pia Zadora and her husband Meshulam Riklis. They announced they were planning renovations to the famous building but later revealed that the house had in fact been demolished and a new larger mansion constructed in its place.aced with public criticism, Zadora defended her family's actions, stating that the house was in a poor state of repair, and was infested by termites.



The only remaining artifacts from the original Pickfair are the gates to the estate with their prominent P motif.



Though Fairbanks left her for a younger woman after many years of marriage, Mary Pickford continued to live in the house with her devoted subsequent husband Buddy Rogers, for over 50 years in all. Since she wanted to have more of a family life, the couple adopted a boy, Ronald "Ronnie" Charles Rogers, and a girl, Roxanne but there are no direct heirs, since Roxanne passed away recently of 'ostereoporosis' and Ronald after a troublesome youth involving prisons terms for theft and drugs, was found in Central Park toothless and has literally disappeared from the circuit.

Ron and Roxanne Rogers



How did such a picture-perfect family end up this way ? According to Nicholas Eliopoulos, producer and director of

MARY PICKFORD, THE MUSE OF THE MOVIES says : " It isn't really that Mary was a bad mother, but you can't expect someone over 50 adopting with no

previous experience with children, and have them turn out as model kids."

But Pickford was not a loving mother and paid little attention to her kids. The split occurred when 18-year old Roxanne fell for a boy that Mary did not approve of AT ALL and refused to give her consent for their wedding at Pickfair. Consequently, her daughter ran away with her own choice and spent many years cut off from the estate and her adopted parents, with no financial support.



Appearing briefly in the documentary, she seems hardened, haggard...

"She had a very tough life", says Nicholas. "You should have seen her before they put the makeup on, for the film", he adds . "Unfortunately, the relations never improved throughout the years with Mary who was a tough old bird, but Roxanne did have a daughter 'Katina' and unfortunately, passed away a year ago in her early fifty's from 'Ostereoporosis', believe it or not."

Growing up at Pickfair

The children's life in a Hollywood mansion was not normal. "It was so big," Ronnie would remember, "you needed a road map to find the bathroom. I was in awe, but they told me I was going to be living there." Pickford and Rogers treated the children like theatrical props, sending them to boarding schools and posing them in family photographs when they were home on visits. Pickford became critical of their physical imperfections, including Ronnie's small stature and Roxanne's crooked teeth. Both children would later remark that their mother was too self-interested to provide genuine maternal love.

Out of Sight

As Ronnie entered adolescence, he became cold towards his mother. His sister grew rebellious. Both children married in their late teens, and Ronnie became so troubled that he once attempted suicide. Pickford went to see him in the hospital, complaining that he had interrupted a well-needed rest she was taking. It was at this point that the children faded from the public eye. Pickford and Rogers stopped talking about them and their friends stopped asking.

Deprived

Journalists reported that Roxanne and Ron worked odd jobs in the 1970s, and both lacked money. Devoted Pickford followers wondered why the children of a wealthy Hollywood icon should be financially deprived. After Pickford's death, their financial straits did not improve. Pickford's original will had granted each child $15,000, which she upped to $50,000 before she died. But the actual amounts they received from the estate were significantly smaller, according to Ronnie. Still, he had kind words for Mary Pickford. "I miss my mother," he would say in 2003. "Things didn't work out that much. You know. But I'll never forget her. I think that she was a good woman."

Nicholas Eliopoulos adds : "
I have a lot of Roxanne on film praising her mother and loving growing up at Pickfair...

it's just sad they never got much money from it...but the Grandchildren all got money for schooling, college as such, but they had to prove they were registered etc...."

After Mary Pickford died, the entire estate reverted to Buddy Rogers who remarried a real estate agent, Beverly, whose nieces in turn, now stand as heirs given that both Buddy Rogers and Beverly themselves died over the last few years.



This brings us to the part about the Oscars that Mary sold. The nieces of Beverly Rogers say Beverly and Buddy claimed that Mary never signed the Academy paper indicating they were in 1st position to get the Oscar's back for

$10...The Academy is seeking to block the sale of the 3 statuettes and a Judge has been appointed to rule whether Pickford signed away her rights to sell the 3 statues.

PICKFAIR up for sale