Mae Marsh

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Mae Marsh
Publicity photo of Marsh, 1916
Born
Mary Warne Marsh

(1894-11-09)November 9, 1894
Madrid, New Mexico Territory, U.S.
DiedFebruary 13, 1968(1968-02-13) (aged 73)
Hermosa Beach, California, U.S.
Resting placePacific Crest Cemetery
Redondo Beach, California
OccupationActress
Years active1910–1964
Spouse
Louis Lee Arms
​
​
(m. 1918)​
Children3
RelativesMarguerite Marsh
(sister)
Frances Marsh
(sister)
Oliver T. Marsh
(brother)

Mae Marsh (born Mary Warne Marsh;[1] November 9, 1894[2] – February 13, 1968) was an American film actress whose career spanned over 50 years.

Early life[edit]

Mae Marsh was born Mary Warne Marsh in Madrid, New Mexico Territory, on November 9, 1894.[3] She was one of seven children of Mae T. (née Warne) and Stephen Charles Marsh. By 1900, the Marsh family had moved to El Paso, Texas, where Mary's father worked as a bartender.[4] Mae's father died in 1901, and the following year, her mother married William Hall, a native of Virginia. The family later moved to California, where Mae attended Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Hollywood as well as public school.[1]

A frequently told story of Marsh's childhood is "Her father, a railroad auditor, died when she was four. Her family moved to San Francisco, California, where her stepfather was killed in the great earthquake of 1906. Her great-aunt then took Mae and [her older sister] Marguerite to Los Angeles, hoping her show business background would open doors for jobs at various movie studios needing extras."[3]: 113  However, her father, S. Charles Marsh, was a bartender, not a railroad auditor, and he was alive at least as late as June 1900, when Marsh was nearly six.[2] Her stepfather, oil-field inspector William Hall, could not have been killed in the 1906 earthquake, as he was alive, listed in the 1910 census, living with her mother and sisters.[5]

Marsh worked as a salesgirl and loitered around the Hollywood sets and locations while her older sister worked on a film, observing the progress of her sister's performance. She first started as an extra in various movies, and played her first substantial role in the film Ramona (1910) at the age of 15.

“I tagged my way into motion pictures,” Marsh recalled in The Silent Picture. “I used to follow my sister Marguerite to the old Biograph studio and then, one great day, Mr. Griffith noticed me, put me in a picture and I had my chance. I love my work and though new and very wonderful interests have entered my life, I still love it and couldn't think of giving it up.”[3]: 114 

Career rise[edit]

Marsh worked with D. W. Griffith in small roles at Biograph when they were filming in California and in New York. Her big break came when Mary Pickford, resident star of the Biograph lot and a married woman at that time, refused to play the bare-legged, grass-skirted role of Lily-White in Man's Genesis. Griffith announced that if Pickford would not play that part in Man's Genesis, she would not play the coveted title role in his next film, The Sands of Dee. The other actresses stood behind Pickford, each refusing in turn to play the part, citing the same objection.

Years later, Marsh recalled in an interview in The Silent Picture: “...and he called rehearsal, and we were all there and he said, ‘Well now, Miss Marsh, you can rehearse this.’ And Mary Pickford said ‘What!’ and Mr. Griffith said ‘Yes, Mary Pickford, if you don't do what I tell you I want you to do, I'm going to have someone else do The Sands of Dee. Mary Pickford didn't play Man's Genesis so Mae can play The Sands of Dee.’ Of course, I was thrilled, and she was very much hurt. And I thought, ‘Well it's all right with me. That is something.’ I was, you know, just a lamebrain.” [3]: 117 

Working with Mack Sennett and D. W. Griffith, she was a prolific actress, sometimes appearing in eight movies per year and often paired with fellow Sennett protégé Robert Harron in romantic roles.[6]

The Birth of a Nation (1915)[edit]

Marsh in The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Marsh, in the memoir Screen Acting (1921) recalled her performance as “ Little Sister” in the “cellar scene” in which Union cavalry invade the Cameron family plantation in The Birth of a Nation, an example of her “counter-dramatic” acting:[7]

It was a matter of some moment of how [my character] the Little Sister would be affected. I can hear your average director: “Roll your eyes” he would say, “Cry! Drop to your knees in terror!” In other words, it would be the same old stuff...

Mr. Griffith, when he came to the cellar scene, asked me if there had been a time in my life when I had been filled with terror:

“Yes.” I said.

“What did you do?” he inquired.

“I laughed,” I answered.

He saw the point immediately. “Good” he said, “let’s try it.”

It was the hysterical laugh of the little girl in the cellar…that was far more effective than rolling the eyes or weeping would have been.”[8]

Intolerance (1916)[edit]

Marsh in Intolerance (1916)

D. W. Griffith's cinematic handling of the courtroom episode in Intolerance, in particular his use of close-ups for “dramatic intensity,” are widely recognized.[9] According to film historian Paul O’Dell, “Mae Marsh gave to Intolerance one of her most memorable” portrayals,[10] identifying her role as the “Dear One” as integral to the film's success:

Much more mention should be made of the performance of Mae Marsh, which in this scene reaches one of its many peaks. Sir Alexander Korda included her performance as one of the most outstanding pieces of acting in the silent film era, and June Berry rated her playing of the Dear One as only second to Falconetti’s Joan of Arc (1928).[11]

Mae Marsh, in her 1923 memoir Screen Acting, comments on her struggle to fully deliver the sequence: “The hardest dramatic work I ever did was the courtroom scene in Intolerance. We retook the scenes on four different occasions. Each time I gave to the limit of my vitality and ability. I put everything into my portrayal that was in me...”[11]

March signed a lucrative contract with Samuel Goldwyn worth $2,500 per week after Intolerance, but none of the films she made with him were particularly successful. After her marriage to Lee Arms, a publicity agent for Goldwyn, in 1918, her film output decreased to about one per year.

She starred in the 1918 film Fields of Honor. Marsh's last notable starring role was as a flapper for Griffith in The White Rose (1923) with Ivor Novello and Carol Dempster. She re-teamed with Novello for the film version of his hit stage play The Rat (1925).

In 1955, Marsh was awarded the George Eastman Award,[12] given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.

Sound films[edit]

Marsh returned from retirement to appear in sound films and played a role in Henry King’s remake of Over the Hill (1931). She gravitated toward character roles, and worked in this manner for the next several decades. Marsh appeared in numerous popular films, such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1932) and Little Man, What Now? (1934). She was co-starred with Henry B. Walthall again in Bachelor of Arts (1934). She also became a favorite of director John Ford, appearing in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), 3 Godfathers (1948), and The Searchers (1956).

Marsh has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1600 Vine Street.

Personal life and death[edit]

In Manhattan on September 21, 1918, Marsh married Samuel Goldwyn's publicity agent Louis Lee Arms.[13] The couple, who had four children, remained together for 50 years, until 1968, when Mae died from a heart attack at Hermosa Beach, California.[14][15] Louis died at the age of 101 on June 11, 1989.[16] They are buried together in Section 5 at Pacific Crest Cemetery in Redondo Beach, California.[15]

Filmography[edit]

Shorts[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1910 Ramona
1910 Serious Sixteen
1911 Fighting Blood
1912 The Siren of Impulse
1912 A Voice from the Deep On Beach Uncredited
Lost film
1912 Just Like a Woman In Club
1912 One Is Business, the Other Crime
1912 The Lesser Evil The Young Woman's Companion
1912 The Old Actor
1912 When Kings Were the Law At Court Uncredited
1912 A Beast at Bay The Young Woman's Friend
1912 Home Folks At Barn Dance
1912 A Temporary Truce A Murdered Settler Uncredited
1912 Lena and the Geese The 'Adopted' Daughter
1912 The Spirit Awakened The Renegade Farmhand's Sweetheart Lost film
1912 The School Teacher and the Waif Schoolgirl
1912 An Indian Summer The Widow's Daughter Lost film
1912 Man's Genesis Lillywhite
1912 The Sands of Dee Mary
1912 The Inner Circle
1912 The Kentucky Girl Belle Hopkins - Bob's Sister Lost film
1912 The Parasite Rose Fletcher Lost film
1912 Two Daughters of Eve
1912 For the Honor of the Seventh The Girl in Town Lost film
1912 Brutality The Young Woman
1912 The New York Hat Second Gossip
1912 The Indian Uprising at Santa Fe Juan Lost film
1913 Three Friends The Wife's Friend Lost film
1913 The Telephone Girl and the Lady The Telephone Girl
1913 An Adventure in the Autumn Woods The Girl Lost film
1913 The Tender Hearted Boy The Tender-Hearted Boy's Sweetheart Lost film
1913 Love in an Apartment Hotel Angelina Millingford, a Maid Lost film
1913 Broken Ways Minor Role Uncredited
1913 A Girl’s Stratagem The Young Woman Lost film
1913 Near to Earth One of Marie's Friends Lost film
1913 Fate Mother, Loving Family
1913 The Perfidy of Mary Mary
1913 The Little Tease The Little Tease, as an Adult
1913 The Lady and the Mouse Minor Role Uncredited
1913 The Wanderer The Other Parents' Daughter, as an Adult
1913 His Mother's Son The Daughter
1913 A Timely Interception Minor Role Uncredited
1913 The Mothering Heart Minor Role Uncredited
1913 Her Mother's Oath In Church Lost film
1913 The Reformers The Daughter Lost film
1913 Two Men of the Desert Lost film
1913 Primitive Man
1913 For the Son of the House The Young Woman Lost film
1913 Influence of the Unknown The Young Woman Lost film
1913 The Battle at Elderbush Gulch Sally Cameron
1914 Brute Force Lillywhite
1915 The Victim Mary Hastings, Frank's Wife Lost film
1915 Big Jim's Heart Lost film

Silent features[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1914 Judith of Bethulia Naomi
1914 The Great Leap; Until Death Do Us Part Mary Gibbs Lost film
1914 Home, Sweet Home Apple Pie Mary Smith
1914 The Escape Jennie Joyce Lost film
1914 The Avenging Conscience The Maid
1914 Moonshine Molly Molly Boone Lost film
1915 The Birth of a Nation Flora Cameron - The Pet Sister
1915 The Outcast The Girl of the Slums
1915 The Outlaw's Revenge The American lover Lost film
1915 Her Shattered Idol Mae Carter
1916 Hoodoo Ann Hoodoo Ann
1916 A Child of the Paris Streets Julie / the Child-Wife
1916 A Child of the Streets Lost film
1916 The Wild Girl of the Sierras The Wild Girl Lost film
1916 The Marriage of Molly-O Molly-O Lost film
1916 Intolerance The Dear One
1916 The Little Liar Maggie Lost film
1916 The Wharf Rat Carmen Wagner Lost film
1917 Polly of the Circus Polly
1917 Sunshine Alley Nell Lost film
1917 The Cinderella Man Marjorie Caner
1918 Field of Honor Marie Messereau Lost film
1918 The Beloved Traitor Mary Garland
1918 The Face in the Dark Jane Ridgeway Lost film
1918 All Woman Susan Sweeney Lost film
1918 The Glorious Adventure Carey Wethersbee Lost film
1918 Money Mad Elsie Dean Lost film
1918 Hidden Fires Peggy Murray / Louise Parke Lost film
1918 The Racing Strain Lucille Cameron Lost film
1919 The Bondage of Barbara Barbara Grey Lost film
1919 Spotlight Sadie Sadie Sullivan Lost film
1919 The Mother and the Law The Little Dear One
1920 The Little 'Fraid Lady Cecilia Carne Lost film
1921 Nobody's Kid Mary Cary Lost film
1922 Till We Meet Again Marion Bates Lost film
1922 Flames of Passion Dorothy Hawke
1923 Paddy the Next Best Thing Paddy Lost film
1923 The White Rose Bessie 'Teazie' Williams
1924 Daddies Ruth Atkins
1924 Arabella Arabella Lost film
1925 Tides of Passion Charity Lost film
1925 The Rat Odile Etrange
1928 Racing Through Lost film

Sound[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1931 Over the Hill Ma Shelby
1932 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Aunt Jane
1932 That's My Boy Mom Scott
1933 Alice in Wonderland Sheep
1934 Little Man, What Now? Wife of Karl Goebbler
1935 Bachelor of Arts Mrs. Mary Barth
1935 Black Fury Mrs. Mary Novak
1936 Hollywood Boulevard Carlotta Blakeford
1939 Drums Along the Mohawk Pioneer Woman Uncredited
1939 Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence Empire State Building Tourist Uncredited
1939 Swanee River Mrs. Jonathan Fry Uncredited
1940 The Man Who Wouldn't Talk Mrs. Stetson
1940 The Grapes of Wrath Muley's Wife Uncredited
1940 Four Sons Townswoman Uncredited
1940 Young People Maria Liggett
1941 Tobacco Road County Clerk's Assistant Uncredited
1941 The Cowboy and the Blonde Office Worker Uncredited
1941 For Beauty's Sake Night Manager Uncredited
1941 Belle Starr Preacher's Wife Uncredited
1941 Great Guns Aunt Martha
1941 Swamp Water Mrs. McCord Uncredited
1941 How Green Was My Valley Miner's Wife Uncredited
1941 Remember the Day Teacher Uncredited
1942 Blue, White and Perfect Mrs. Bertha Toby
1942 Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake Mrs. Purdy Uncredited
1942 It Happened in Flatbush Aunt Mae, Team Co-Owner Uncredited
1942 Tales of Manhattan Molly Robinson sequence
1942 Just Off Broadway Autograph Seeker Uncredited
1942 The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe Mrs. Phillips Uncredited
1942 The Man in the Trunk Mrs. Inge Uncredited
1942 Quiet Please, Murder Miss Hartwig Uncredited
1943 The Meanest Man in the World Old Lady Uncredited
1943 Dixie Dugan Mrs. Sloan
1943 The Moon Is Down Villager Uncredited
1943 Tonight We Raid Calais French Townswoman Uncredited
1943 The Song of Bernadette Madame Blanche - Townswoman Uncredited
1943 Jane Eyre Leah Uncredited
1944 The Fighting Sullivans Neighbor of Mrs. Griffin Uncredited
1944 Buffalo Bill Arcade Customer Uncredited
1944 Sweet and Low-Down Apartment House Tenant Uncredited
1944 In the Meantime, Darling Emma Uncredited
1945 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Tynmore Sister Uncredited
1945 State Fair Ring-Toss Spectator Uncredited
1945 The Dolly Sisters Annie Uncredited
1945 Leave Her to Heaven Fisherwoman Uncredited
1946 Johnny Comes Flying Home Bus Passenger Uncredited
1946 Smoky Woman Watching Parade Uncredited
1946 My Darling Clementine Simpson's Sister Uncredited
1947 The Late George Apley Dressmaker Uncredited
1947 Miracle on 34th Street Woman in Santa Line Uncredited
1947 Thunder in the Valley Flower Vendor Uncredited
1947 Mother Wore Tights Resort Guest Uncredited
1947 Daisy Kenyon Woman Leaving Apartment Uncredited
1948 Fort Apache Mrs. Gates
1948 Green Grass of Wyoming Race Spectator Uncredited
1948 Deep Waters Molly Thatcher
1948 The Snake Pit Tommy's Mother Uncredited
1948 3 Godfathers Mrs. Perley Sweet
1949 A Letter to Three Wives Miss Jenkins Uncredited
1949 Impact Mrs. King
1949 It Happens Every Spring Greenleaf's Maid Uncredited
1949 The Fighting Kentuckian Sister Hattie
1949 Everybody Does It Higgins - the Borlands' Maid Uncredited
1950 When Willie Comes Marching Home Mrs. Clara Fettles Uncredited
1950 The Gunfighter Mrs. O'Brien Uncredited
1950 My Blue Heaven Maid Uncredited
1950 The Jackpot Mrs. Woodruff in Photo Uncredited
1951 The Model and the Marriage Broker Talkative Patient Uncredited
1952 The Quiet Man Father Paul's Mother Uncredited
1952 Night Without Sleep Maid Uncredited
1953 The Sun Shines Bright G.A.R. Woman at the Ball
1953 Titanic Woman to Whom Norman Gave His Seat Uncredited
1953 Powder River Townswoman Uncredited
1953 A Blueprint for Murder Anna Swenson - Lynne's Housekeeper Uncredited
1953 The Robe Jerusalem Woman Aiding Demetrius Uncredited
1954 A Star Is Born Malibu Party Guest Uncredited
1955 Prince of Players Witch in 'Macbeth' Uncredited
1955 The Tall Men Emigrant Uncredited
1955 The Girl Rush Casino Patron Uncredited
1955 Good Morning, Miss Dove Woman in Bank Uncredited
1955 Hell on Frisco Bay Mrs. Cobb - Steve's Landlady Uncredited
1956 While the City Sleeps Mrs. Manners
1956 The Searchers Dark Cloaked Woman at Fort Guarding Deranged Woman Uncredited
1956 Girls in Prison 'Grandma' Edwards
1956 Julie Hysterical Passenger
1957 The Wings of Eagles Nurse Crumley Uncredited
1958 Cry Terror! Woman in Elevator Scenes deleted
Replaced by Marjorie Bennett
1958 The Last Hurrah Mourner at Wake Uncredited
1960 Sergeant Rutledge Mrs. Nellie Hackett Uncredited
1960 From the Terrace Sandy's Governess Uncredited
1961 Two Rode Together Hanna Clegg Uncredited
1963 Donovan's Reef Family Council Member Uncredited
1964 Cheyenne Autumn Woman Uncredited

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd (1980). Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 457–458. ISBN 9780674627338. Retrieved September 8, 2018. Mae Marsh.
  2. ^ a b U.S. Census records for 1900, El Paso, Texas, Sheet No. 6
  3. ^ a b c d Menefee, David W. (2004). The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 113–125. ISBN 9780275982591. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  4. ^ "Twelfth Census of the United States: Population Schedule, 1900", image of original enumeration page showing Mae Marsh (daughter) and other children in household of S[tephen] C[harles] Marsh and his wife "May", El Paso, Texas, June 1, 1900. Census page retrieved via FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 30, 2023.
  5. ^ U.S. Census records for 1910, Los Angeles, California, Sheet No. 4A
  6. ^ O’Dell, 1970 p. 49: O’Dell refers to an unpublished manuscript title Mae Marsh and Robert Harron by Harold Dunham. See Bibliography, p. 157, note no. 4
  7. ^ O’Dell, 1970 p. 16-17: Marsh “conveys beautifully the drama and tension of the situation through what might be called counter-dramatic terms...”
  8. ^ O’Dell, 1970 p. 16-17: Minor changes to punctuation for clarity, italics added for same. Quoted here, ellipsis in O’Dell And p. 157: Bibliography: footnote no. 1, Mae Marsh in Screen Acting, Photo Star Publishing Co., 1921
  9. ^ O’Dell, 1970 p. 72: “...the extreme close-up shots...are much quoted and illustrated as examples of Griffith's use of this technique...”
  10. ^ O’Dell, 1970 p. 8
  11. ^ a b O’Dell, 1970 p. 73-74
  12. ^ "Eastman House award recipients · George Eastman House Rochester". Eastmanhouse.org. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  13. ^ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", marriage license and certificate of Louis Lee Arms and Mary Warne Marsh, September 21, 1918, Manhattan, New York City. Retrieved via FamilySearch, March 30, 2023.
  14. ^ "Death of Mae Marsh", obituary, Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1968, p. F5. Retrieved via ProQuest Historical Newspapers (Ann Arbor, Michigan); subscription access through The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, March 30, 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Mae Marsh" (1894–1968), memorial, 5849996, Pacific Crest Cemetery, Redondo Beach, Los Angeles County, California. Accessed via Find a Grave (Lehi, Utah), online database, March 30, 2023.
  16. ^ "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, Louis Lee Arms, 11 June 1989; California Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento. Retrieved via FamilySearch, March 30, 2023.

Sources[edit]

  • O’Dell, Paul (1970). Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood (1970 ed.). New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. p. 163. ISBN 0-498-07718-7.

Bibliography[edit]

  • When the Movies Were Young by Linda Arvidson, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969
  • Adventures with D.W. Griffith by Karl Brown, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973
  • "Robertson-Cole Offers Mae Marsh in a Sumptuously Produced Play from Novel", The Moving Picture World, 18 December 1920
  • Mae Marsh in an Interview with Robert B. Cushman by Anthony Slide in The Silent Picture, New York: Arno Press, 1977

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mae Marsh.
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