Madge Tyrone

Madge Tyrone (January 5, 1884—April 13, 1955) was an American actress, film editor, and screenwriter active during Hollywood's silent era in the 1900s. She is known for her roles in Our Mutual Girl (1914) and The House of Tears (1915) and for writing for Rose o' the Sea (1922) and The Woman in His House (1920).

Along with screenwriters Anita Loos, Lucita Squier, and Dorothy Farnum, Tyrone was singled out as one of "the most important women playwrights" working with Louis B. Mayer.

Early life

Madge Tyrone was born Margaret Elizabeth Towle in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 5, 1884, to Irish Catholic parents, Henry C. Towle and Elizabeth Mooney. She attended Radcliffe College, a liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1901 to 1904, though she did not graduate.

Her younger half-sister, Ursula Parrott (born Katherine Ursula Towle, 26 Mar 1899—14 Sep 1957), was also a writer who is known for The Divorcee (1930), Strangers May Kiss (1931) and Left Over Ladies (1931).

Career

Acting

Leaving college early, Tyrone assumed the stage name "Madge Towle" to pursue a career in acting. Later, she took on the name "Madge Tyrone."

In 1909, Tyrone performed on stage in San Francisco, California, and Los Angeles, California, with Edwin Carewe, with whom she also worked in a number of Hollywood projects, such as Rio Grande (1920), Habit (1921), and The Lady Who Lied (1925). She was considered one of the proteges of Carewe.

In 1910, she traveled the country with the singer and actor Fiske O'Hara (nicknamed "The Irish Tenor".) That year, she also had a bit part as "Kitty Adair" in the musical The Wearing of the Green at Pittsburgh's Lyceum Theater.

In 1911, Tyrone was cast as the female lead in the Western love tragedy Boots and Saddles. Also in November and December of 1911, she appeared in a Broadway play by director Thomas McKean, called The Wife Decidesalongside Jane Wheatley, Ferike Boros, Nina Herbert, and Joseph Granby.

In the summer of 1913, Tyrone toured England for several months. After returning, she transitioned from stage to screen and began acting in films made at New York City-area studios. During that time, she also briefly worked as a newspaperwoman and magazine writer.

Her first screen appearance was in the role of "Madge Travers" in Reliance Motion Picture Corp.'s Our Mutual Girl(1914). The film, starring Norma Phillips, Mayme Kelso, and Jessie Lewis, was directed by John W. Noble, Oscar Eagle, Lawrence B. McGill, and Walter Stanhope. She was also seen in various future weekly installments of Our Mutual Girl in 1914.

Her last screen appearance was in a minor role in Hal Clarendon's 1916 film One Day, adapted from a novel written by the popular British writer Elinor Glyn.

Screenwriting

From 1916-1919, Tyrone was married and took a break from acting. After the divorce, she began working as a screenwriter from 1920 onwards.

In 1920, she and Edwin Carewe wrote the scenario for Rio Grande, a film based on a play by noted American playwright Augustus Thomas. Directed by Carewe, the film had in the lead cast Rosemary Theby, Allan Sears, and child actor Georgie Stone.

In 1920, Canadian-American film producer Louis B. Mayer added Tyrone to the story department of the production and distribution company "First National Pictures". She then wrote scenarios for The Woman in His House (1921, starring Mildred Harris, Ramsey Wallace, and Thomas Holding.)

The following year, she wrote the scenario for Habit—a silent drama film directed by Carewe, based upon a play by Tom Barry. The film starred Mildred Harris and W.E. Lawrence.

In January 1921, Tyrone was involved in a bad car accident in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Evening Express, she sustained a severe injury when her automobile skidded and turned turtle in an attempt to avoid a collision with another car. She made a full recovery after taking some time off.

In 1922, she was the scenarist for Fred Niblo's comedy-drama Rose o' the Sea starring Anita Stewart, Rudolph Cameron, and Thomas Holding.

Tyrone's final screenwriting credit was The Lady Who Lied (1925, directed by Edwin Carewe), an adaptation of English short story writer Robert Hitchens' novel Snake-Bite (1919), which she co-wrote with Lois Zellner.

Film editing

In 1921-1922, Tyrone also worked as an editor for three films: The Child Thou Gavest Me (1921), One Clear Call(1922), and The Song of Life (1922)—all directed by John M. Stahl.

Later years

After retiring from the motion picture career for reasons unknown, Tyrone returned to New York and Massachusetts and began working on the stage again. In March 1926, she performed a singing role at the annual Irish night celebration of the St. Alphonsus Association of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Two months later, in May, she played the role of "Ada May" in Easy Come, Easy Go (written by dramatist Owen Davis)—a three-act farce at the Park Theater in Boston.

In April 1928, Tyrone appeared in Michael Kallesser's Broadway play Marriage on Approval at Wallack's Theatre in New York. Technically, it was not a play, but rather a grouping of speakers discussing the subject of marriage.

Personal life

On September 21, 1916, Tyrone married Pennsylvania-born Edwin Van Dusan Paul, in Spokane, Washington. However, the marriage ended in divorce after around 3 years on July 28, 1919.

Death

Tyrone died in New York on April 13, 1955, at the age of 71.

Trivia

Tyrone was also an ardent suffragist, specifically in the mid-1910s. In 1915,

The New York City Woman Suffrage Party organized over 5,000 outdoor meetings and numerous parades as part of a push to pass a state initiative for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. In October 1915, Tyrone was one of a group of activists who made the rounds to banks, trust companies, and department stores to garner support for an October 23 suffragist parade across New York City. She also camped out on Wall Street to recruit parade marchers.