Mary

Are you a film buff who received a holiday gift certificate for books? Not to worry. Here's a post-Christmas guide to three books about legendary cinema stars, and a fourth about some of Hollywood's bit players. "Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies": Christel Schmidt edited this lavish exploration of one of cinema's first film stars, who by the age of 20 had appeared in more than 100 silent movies (among them "Sparrows," "Daddy-Long-Legs" and "Little Lord Fauntleroy"). Known as "America's Sweetheart" because of her long, curly blond locks, Pickford was in reality a savvy businesswoman - the first female movie mogul.

Donny and Marie Osmond hit the stage at the Pantages Theatre in a cloud of nearly palpable pizazz. For two hours the indefatigable showbiz veterans, kicking off "A Donny and Marie Christmas in Los Angeles," sang, danced and smiled - oh, did they smile - with a weapons-grade enthusiasm that belied their seen-it-all experience. At one point on opening night Tuesday, a visibly sweat-streaked Donny, 54, blazed through a rat-a-tat mash-up of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up," "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz and, just for good measure, a line or two from the Korean pop smash "Gangnam Style.

Mary Kelly's recent work at Rosamund Felsen Gallery frames an epoch - the period from World War II through the Cold War - in a few shrewd conceptual strokes, employing as she often has in her work, the voice of the individual bystander as a mirror to the broader forces of history. At the center of the show is a pair of stark freestanding sculptures, both titled “Habitus” and made in collaboration with Kelly's husband, Ray Barrie, that are based on bomb shelters developed in London during the Blitz.

There's nothing quite like a Mary Meeker report on the "State of the Internet" to get Silicon Valley geeks excited. Monday night the former Wall Street analyst and now Kleiner Perkins venture capital partner presented her latest report at a Stanford University entrepreneurship event.  As always, the slidedeck from the report (below) is long. It covers a lot of ground, but can best be summed up this way: Smartphones are huge. And as disruptive as smartphones have been, we're just at the start of that revolution.

A Northern California community was in mourning Monday after three members of a family — including a teenage boy — died while attempting to rescue their dog from the powerful surf. The Humboldt County coroner said Howard Kuljian, 50, and his wife, Mary Scott, 54, of Eureka, Calif., drowned Saturday after rushing into the water at Big Lagoon, a beach north of Eureka. Officials say the family dog had run into the ocean to fetch a stick when it was pulled in by waves. The couple's 16-year-old son, Gregory Kuljian, ran in after the dog, prompting his father to enter the water as well.

WASHINGTON -- Mary Schapiro said Monday she will step down as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission next month. Schapiro, who has headed the Wall Street watchdog since 2009, had been widely expected to depart the commission after the presidential election. She announced that her last day would be Dec. 14. “It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to work with so many dedicated SEC staff who strive every day to protect investors and ensure our markets operate with integrity,” Schapiro said in a written statement.

WASHINGTON - Mary L. Schapiro's departure as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission will leave the agency - at least temporarily - deadlocked as it continues to try to enact tough reforms on Wall Street. Schapiro, 57, said Monday that she will resign effective Dec. 14. President Obama quickly designated SEC Commissioner Elisse B. Walter as the agency's new chairwoman. Walter is not expected to radically change the regulator's agenda. But her move will leave the five-member SEC commission one person short - and effectively deadlocked on controversial issues such as Dodd-Frank financial reform, new regulations for money market mutual funds and a push to rein in high-speed trading.

Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs) on Friday conceded defeat in her Coachella Valley congressional race against Democratic emergency room doctor Raul Ruiz. "Today, I called Dr. Ruiz and congratulated him on his impressive victory. Dr. Ruiz will do a fine job if he is guided as well by the people of the congressional district as I was. Please give him the opportunity to succeed," Bono Mack said in a statement. Ruiz said he thanked Bono Mack for her dedicated public service when the two spoke Friday, and he assured voters that he would strive to represent everyone in the district, no matter their party affiliation.

Actors often do their best not to seem intimidated by other actors. But sometimes you just can't help being starstruck. Just ask Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who was so nervous around her "A Good Day to Die Hard" costar Bruce Willis that she barely interacted with him on the set of the upcoming action flick. “He's just such a big movie star. During that entire movie shoot I was, like, silent,” said Winstead, who joined Aubrey Plaza and Bella Heathcote on the Los Angeles Times' third-annual Young Hollywood roundtable Friday.

The temperatures in Southern California in the last few weeks have swung dramatically from toasty to mild. Regardless of the weather outside, visitors to a new attraction next to the Queen Mary in Long Beach are advised to wear a heavy coat. We are talking about temperatures at a frigid 9 degrees. The operators of the iconic ocean liner on Nov. 17 will open an ice kingdom, featuring castles, sculptures, a 6,500-square-foot ice skating rink and a 100-foot ice slide. The chilly entertainment will be offered under the giant dome that had previously housed the Spruce Goose, the giant aircraft built by the late billionaire Howard Hughes.