She built her fame — and, incidentally, not an inconsiderable fortune — playing adorable, plucky young girls. But at age 28 Mary Pickford very much wanted to broaden her roles. One of the first vehicles Pickford chose to do that was SUDS, based on a one act play, in which she created a character that can be thought of as Chaplin-esque – decidedly un-glamorous but with a big, sentimental heart.

As Amanda Afflick, she is a drab, even grungy washer woman working long, hard, hours scrubbing clothes for a living in a London laundry where she’s often the butt of jokes by the other washer women. Even worse than that, she has no one who loves her. So when a handsome man brings a shirt in to be cleaned, Amanda falls head over heels in love with him. But alas, more than eight months have passed when the movie opens, yet Amanda’s heartthrob still hasn’t picked up his shirt. She washes it twice a week, to the scorn of her colleges, keeping it clean for his return. When the teasing of the other women gets to be too much for her, Amanda escapes into fantasy, spinning a tale of her royal ancestors and the man who gave her his shirt as a sign of his love.

Tickets: Just $10 Regular; $8 Students & Seniors

Presented by Garden State Theatre Organ Society & Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors’ Assn.

For more info: www.gstos.org

Loew’s Jersey Theatre, 54 Journal Square, Jersey City — directly across JFK Blvd from JSQ PATH Center. Discount parking in Square Ramp Garage on Magnolia Ave. behind Theatre