Mary Eaton (January 29, 1901 – October 10, 1948) was an American stage actress, singer, and dancer in the 1910s and 1920s, probably best known today from her appearance in the first

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...

film, ''

The Cocoanuts ''The Cocoanuts'' is a 1929 pre-Code musical comedy film starring the Marx Brothers ( Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo). Produced for Paramount Pictures by Walter Wanger, who is not credited, the film also stars Mary Eaton, Oscar Shaw, ...

'' (1929). A professional performer since childhood, she enjoyed success in stage productions such as the ''

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' were a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as '' The Ziegfeld Foll ...

''. She appeared in another early sound film, ''

Glorifying the American Girl ''Glorifying the American Girl'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced by Florenz Ziegfeld that highlights Ziegfeld Follies performers. The last third of the film, which was filmed in early Technicolor, is basically a Folli ...

'' (1929). Her career declined sharply during the 1930s.

Biography

Early life and career

Eaton, a native of Norfolk, Virginia, began attending dance lessons in Washington, DC, along with her sisters Doris and

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

, at the age of seven. In 1911, all three sisters were hired for a production of

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

's fantasy play '' The Blue Bird'' at the Shubert

Belasco Theatre The Belasco Theatre is a Broadway theater at 111 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Originally known as the Stuyvesant Theatre, it was bu ...

in Washington, D.C. While Eaton had a minor role in the show, it marked the beginning of her career in professional theatre. After ''The Blue Bird'' ended, in 1912, the three Eaton sisters and their younger brother Joe began appearing in various plays and melodramas for the Poli stock company. They quickly gained reputations as professional, reliable, and versatile actors, and were rarely out of work. A 1914 newspaper article described Mary Eaton as "the newest and littlest member of the company", adding that she had "admirable poise and grace." In 1915, all three sisters appeared in a new production of ''The Blue Bird'' for Poli; Doris and Mary were given the starring roles of Mytyl and Tytyl. The siblings then were invited to reprise their roles for a New York and road tour of the play, produced by the

Shubert Brothers The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of Broadway theaters in New York City's Theater District, as the hub of the theatre industry in the United States. Through the Shubert Organization, founded by brothers Lee, Sam, and Jac ...

. When the show closed, on the recommendation of the Shuberts, Mary began studying ballet in earnest with

Theodore Kosloff Theodore Kosloff (born Fyodor Mikhailovich Kozlov, ; January 22, 1882 – November 22, 1956) was a Russian-born ballet dancer, choreographer, and film and stage actor. He was occasionally credited as Theodor Kosloff. Career Born in Moscow in ...

Professional theatre

Of all of the Eatons, Mary was perhaps the most famous and the most popular. An exceptionally talented dancer, she earned raves in a production of ''Intime'' in Washington, DC in 1917. In 1916, she made her Broadway debut, dancing a ballet specialty in ''Follow Me''. The next year, she performed in the

' ''Over the Top'' with

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

and

Adele Astaire Adele Astaire Douglass (born Adele Marie Austerlitz, later known as Lady Charles Cavendish; September 10, 1896 – January 25, 1981) was an American dancer, stage actress, and singer. After beginning work as a dancer and vaudeville performe ...

. Throughout the 1920s, Eaton was a constant presence on Broadway, appearing in eight different productions. She was featured in three editions of the ''

'', those of 1920, 1921, and 1922. Eaton's trademark dance routine, which she performed in the ''Follies'', involved a complicated sequence of

pirouette In dance and gymnastics, a turn is a rotation of the body about the vertical axis. It is usually a complete rotation of the body, although quarter (90°) and half (180°) turns are possible for some types of turns. Multiple, consecutive turns are ...

s around the stage ''en pointe''. Broadway impresario

Florenz Ziegfeld Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the '' Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He al ...

groomed Mary Eaton as the successor to his star attraction

Marilyn Miller Marilyn Miller (born Mary Ellen Reynolds; September 1, 1898 – April 7, 1936) was one of the most popular Broadway musical stars of the 1920s and early 1930s. She was an accomplished tap dancer, singer and actress, and the combination of thes ...

, but as historian Richard Barrios noted, "Beautiful, blonde, and a dancer, all like Miller, Eaton could not match her predecessor's charisma."

Film career

Eaton also had a brief film career, appearing in two important early sound movies that were filmed at Paramount's New York studios in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

. She was the ingenue in ''

'' (1929), the first film starring the

, and might have gone on to play similar featured roles in early talkies. Instead, Paramount decided to build a major feature film around her. ''

'' (1929) was to be a spectacular, all-talking extravaganza worthy of Ziegfeld (who receives screen credit), with musical pageants filmed in

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

. Paramount gave Eaton the starring role of an ambitious shopgirl who goes into show business and fights her way to the top, with little regard for her friends and colleagues. Eaton's singing and dancing routines, including her signature pirouette sequence, were featured, but they couldn't overcome her limited screen personality. Her speaking voice on film was a carefully affected, high-pitched twitter that enunciated dialogue carefully, probably a remnant of her stage training. Her actual speaking voice, without the affectation and in a lower, more realistic range, can be heard briefly in ''Glorifying the American Girl''. The film was completed in June 1929 but Paramount executives considered it too weak to release, and shot new footage of celebrities

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era. Some of h ...

. Helen Morgan, and

Rudy Vallée Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York Ci ...

to bolster it. After a terrible preview, Paramount actually sneaked the film out in late 1929 to smaller towns, hoping to attract curious audiences with Broadway luster, and avoiding a New York premiere until early 1930. Critics panned it and audiences stayed away. The film's commercial failure abruptly halted Eaton's screen career.

Personal life

Many of the Eaton siblings, including Mary, found their careers waning in the early 1930s. She made her final stage appearance in 1932. Beset by career woes and three consecutive difficult marriages, Eaton struggled with alcoholism. Although her siblings tried to intervene on numerous occasions, and she entered rehabilitation programs several times, she was unable to overcome her alcohol addiction. Eaton married Millard Webb (her director of ''Glorifying the American Girl'') in the summer of 1929. At the time of her death she was married to actor

Eddie Laughton Eddie Laughton (20 June 190321 March 1952) was a British-American film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1952, and is best known for his work with The Three Stooges. Career Laughton's family immigrated to the United Stat ...

. Eaton died at age 47 in Hollywood, California of a heart attack.

Filmography

References

* Travis, Doris Eaton. ''The Days We Danced'', Marquand Books, 2003,

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Mary American vaudeville performers American stage actresses American film actresses American silent film actresses Musicians from Norfolk, Virginia Ziegfeld girls 1901 births 1948 deaths 20th-century American actresses Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Actresses from Norfolk, Virginia Eaton family