THEY dazzled Southampton dockers and swelling crowds as they elegantly stepped off a liner almost 100 years ago.

In 1920 Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were two of Hollywood’s biggest stars – the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor or Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones of their time.

Even in those days, photographers would follow their every move, hoping to get the latest scoop on the glamorous couple.

Mary had even been dubbed as “The World’s Sweetheart” by the press and her adoring fans.

The couple had just wed and were on the Red Star liner Lapland as part of their honeymoon, when they arrived in Southampton on June 21, 1920.

Interest was so great that two seaplanes had been specially chartered to deliver bouquets to the ship’s deck – including roses, Mary’s favourite flower.

By coincidence, Southampton mayor Sidney Kimber attended an official meeting on the ship with a top White House aide.

After the completion of his civic duties, Sidney was taken to meet the elegant couple, who clearly made an impression on him.

He later wrote: “They were a most delightful pair. Miss Pickford was essentially a gentle, refined girl, petite in figure, with delightful manners, and Douglas Fairbanks was robust, virile and full of life and fun.

“They were enjoying a remarkable and royal welcome. The huge crowd surged round the side of the liner, a few privileged persons were allowed to come on board and the battery of cinematograph cameras, which were busy photographing their interview with me, provided much publicity all over the country.

“The hosts of bouquets and telegrams all contributed to a gay but very human event.’’ There was nobody bigger than Douglas Fairbanks at the time – he was considered the “first king of Hollywood” by film-goers of the day.

His clean-cut good looks and dangerous stunts on the silver screen made him a firm favourite.

He and Mary met soon after he made his first film, and although they were both already married, the pair quickly fell in love.

They both feared that scandal would sink their careers, so in 1920 they divorced their former partners, making them free to marry and move into a large Beverly Hills estate – a gift from Fairbanks to his new bride.

The public naturally clamoured for news of their arrival in Southampton, but unfortunately all reports of the event in the Daily Echo were lost when the newspaper offices were bombed during the Second World War.

However, one eyewitness account can be found in an old copy of the New York Times.

“When the Lapland arrived at Southampton there was a big crowd waiting to see how Mary Pickford came up to the expectations aroused by her multiple appearances on the films, and Douglas Fairbanks proved a splendid press agent for his wife, and incidentally told a story of how he once worked his passage across the Atlantic as a stoker.

Ian Crump Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks enjoying their honeymoon on the Red Star liner Lapland 100 YEARS AGO AN INQUEST heard that the death of a woman during a concert at the Palace Theatre, Southampton, might have been caused by “excitement”. Harriett Jane Thornhill, 59, of Atherley Road, collapsed and never regained consciousness despite the efforts of a Dr Nelson who was also in the audience. A post-mortem found she had died of congestion to the brain as a result of excessive heat that “might have arisen from excitement”.

75 YEARS AGO THE number of cars on Hampshire’s roads had halved according to figures provided by the taxation department of Hampshire County Council. The number of quarterly and half yearly licences granted for cars in Hampshire totalled only 9,990. A spokesman for the council said that although not everyone applied for a licence within the 14- day grace period, it was accepted that those who were likely to apply for a licence would have already done so.

50 YEARS AGO GEMINI, a sleekly lined floating classroom for the pupils of Deanery Secondary School in Southampton, was launched in Cowes. It was hoped the 21ft diesel powered launch would further enhance the school’s reputation for teaching seamanship.

25 YEARS AGO NEW Forest Show organisers were predicting more than 100,000 visitors over the three-day event. They had been boosted by the record 40,000 attendance at the Netley Marsh Steam Engine Rally the previous weekend.

Top of the bill at the New Forest Show were the Royal Signals White Helmets motorcycle display.

Huge crowds greetedMary Pickfordand Douglas Fairbankson their arrival in Southampton “When Mary and Douglas got ashore at Southampton, men rushed forward to shake hands with the cinema queen, while women pressed around for a chance to kiss her. Even babies were held up for a kiss and more than one was lucky. At last the inevitable happened; Mary was lifted shoulder high and carried for 200 yards or more.

“A bouquet and an illuminated address signed by some 4,000 persons were to have been presented at the station, but the crowd was too strong and Mary and the presenter were swept aside. At last the pair reached their reserved compartment and left for London.

“When Mary and her husband were taking the train for London, she said: ‘We never expected such a welcome. It was simply great’.’’

The couple’s relationship was put under pressure when their careers began to flounder at the end of the silent movie era, and divorce papers were signed on January 10, 1936.

Only two months later and Fairbanks married Lady Sylvia Ashley, while Mary married the actor and band leader Charles “Buddy” Rogers the following year. Mary and Charles stayed together for more than 40 years until her death due to complications from a cerebral haemorrhage on May 29, 1979.

Douglas Fairbanks and Lady Sylvia Ashley remained together until his death at the age of 56, when he suffered a heart attack on December 12, 1939.

His last words were reportedly: “I’ve never felt better.”