Margaret Irving
Margaret Irving | |
|---|---|
Margaret Irving in 1923 | |
| Born | January 18, 1898 |
| Died | March 15, 1988 (aged 90) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1922–1955 |
| Spouse | William Frederick James |
Margaret Irving (January 18, 1898 – March 5, 1988) was an American stage and film actress. She is best remembered today for her roles as Aunt Gus in the 1950s sitcom The People's Choice[1] and as Mrs. Whitehead in Animal Crackers (1930) starring the Marx Brothers, a role she originated on the Broadway stage.
Biography
Margaret Irving was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 18, 1898.[2] In 1917 she portrayed Lady of Dreams in the Broadway musical Jack O'Lantern at the Globe Theatre; a work created by Ivan Caryll, Anne Caldwell and R. H. Burnside.[3] After this she worked for Florence Ziegfeld on Broadway in the revues Ziegfeld Follies of 1919[4] and Ziegfeld Follies of 1920[5] before appearing in Irving Berlin's Music Box Revue during the 1921-1922[6] and 1922-1923 seasons at the Music Box Theatre.[7] This was followed by the role of June in William B. Friedlander and Con Conrad's Mercenary Mary (1925, Longacre Theatre); a show which lasted less than four months.[8]
Irving created the role of Clementina in Sigmund Romberg's hit musical The Desert Song which had a long Broadway run at the Casino Theatre in 1926-1927.[9] The production then transferred to first the Century Theatre (1927) and then the Imperial Theatre (1927-1928) for a collective run of 471 performances.[10] This was followed by the role of Mrs. Whitehead in Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby's musical Animal Crackers which had a successful run at the 44th Street Theatre with a cast led by the four Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont.[11] Irving reprised this role in the 1930 sound film adaptation of this show;[12] having previously worked as a silent film actress in the pictures Radio-Mania (1922)[13] and The Broadway Boob (1926).[14]
During the 1930s Irving worked more often in film than on the stage. Some of her film credits during this decade included Sheer Luck (1931), Thanks a Million (1935),[15] San Francisco (1936),[16] Captain Calamity (1936),[17] Follow Your Heart (1936),[18] Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936),[19] and Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939).[20] In 1939 she returned to the stage as Marguerite Worms in the play Where There's a Will at Broadway's John Golden Theatre.[21] This was followed by multiple roles in the musical revue The Streets of Paris which ran at the Broadhurst Theatre in 1939-1940.[22] In the 1940-1941 Broadway season she portrayed Sierra in E. Y. Harburg and Burton Lane's musical Hold On to Your Hats at the Shubert Theatre.[23] Her final Broadway roles were Mrs. Warren in Harold Orlob's Hairpin Harmony (1943)[24] and Gail in Anita Loos's Happy Birthday (1946).[25] She also made a few films in the 1940s, including In Society (1944)[26] and The Beautiful Cheat (1945).[27] Her final film was Ain't Misbehavin' (1955).[28]
She was married to William Frederick James. She died on March 5, 1988 in Westminster, California, at the age of 90.[2]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes and References |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Radio-Mania | Mary Langdon | [13] |
| 1926 | The Broadway Boob | Mabel Golden | [14] |
| 1930 | Animal Crackers | Mrs. Whitehead | [12] |
| 1931 | Sheer Luck | Patsy | |
| 1935 | Thanks a Million | Mrs. Kruger | [15] |
| 1936 | Exclusive Story | Mrs. Higgins | [29] |
| 1936 | Wife vs. Secretary | Edna Wilson | [30] |
| 1936 | Captain Calamity | Mamie Gruen | [17] |
| 1936 | I Married a Doctor | Maude Dyer | [31] |
| 1936 | San Francisco | Della Bailey | [16] |
| 1936 | Women Are Trouble | Frances Blaine | [32] |
| 1936 | Follow Your Heart | Louise Masetti | [18] |
| 1936 | Four Days' Wonder | Aunt Jessica | [33] |
| 1936 | Charlie Chan at the Opera | Mme. Lilli Rochelle | [19] |
| 1937 | Men in Exile | Mother Haines | [34] |
| 1937 | The Outcasts of Poker Flat | The Duchess | [35] |
| 1937 | Wife, Doctor and Nurse | Mrs. Cunningham | [36] |
| 1937 | Under Suspicion | Laura Walters | [37] |
| 1937 | Sh! The Octopus | Polly Crane | [38] |
| 1938 | Little Miss Roughneck | Mrs. Gertrude 'Gert' LaRue | [39] |
| 1938 | The Baroness and the Butler | Countess Olga | [40] |
| 1938 | Love, Honor and Behave | Nan Bowleigh | [41] |
| 1938 | The Toy Wife | Madame DeCambri | [42] |
| 1938 | Sweethearts | Madame | [43] |
| 1938 | Kentucky | Woman with Man at Race Track | [44] |
| 1939 | Mr. Moto's Last Warning | Madame Delacour | [20] |
| 1944 | In Society | Mrs. Winthrop | [26] |
| 1945 | The Beautiful Cheat | Olympia Haven | [27] |
| 1955 | Ain't Misbehavin' | Mrs. Grumbacher | [28] |
References
Citations
- ^ Irvin 2014, p. 85.
- ^ a b Wilson 2016, p. 367.
- ^ Dietz 2021, pp. 397–398.
- ^ Baral 1970, p. 268.
- ^ Emmet & Kimball 2005, p. 189.
- ^ Sears 2012, p. 68.
- ^ Mantle 1923, p. 477.
- ^ Dietz 2019, p. 254.
- ^ Dietz 2019, pp. 341–342.
- ^ Dietz 2019, p. 341.
- ^ Dietz 2019, p. 486.
- ^ a b Crafton 1999, p. 458.
- ^ a b Soister, Nicolella & Joyce 2014, p. 385.
- ^ a b American Film Institute 1997, p. 88.
- ^ a b Fetrow 1992, p. 666.
- ^ a b Neibaur 2021, p. 129.
- ^ a b Fetrow 1992, p. 85.
- ^ a b Fetrow 1992, p. 203.
- ^ a b Fetrow 1992, p. 97.
- ^ a b Andrews 2023, p. 73.
- ^ "From Paris". Brooklyn Eagle. January 15, 1939. p. 38.
- ^ Dietz 2018, p. 579.
- ^ Dietz 2015, p. 35.
- ^ Dietz 2015, p. 190.
- ^ "Miss Hayes Does Her Fine Best In Underserving Happy Birthday". New York Daily News. November 1, 1946. p. 53.
- ^ a b Coniam & Santa Maria 2023, p. 159.
- ^ a b Thompson 1985, p. 285.
- ^ a b Lowe 2016, p. 79.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 180.
- ^ Harris 2010, p. 393.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 300.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 762.
- ^ "Four Days' Wonder is A. A. Milne Mystery". The Toronto Telegram. September 12, 1936. p. 16.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 415.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 487.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 749.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 713.
- ^ Senn 2015, p. 476.
- ^ "Little Miss Roughneck". Sulphur Times-Democrat. February 24, 1938. p. 5.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 35.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 380.
- ^ Fetrow 1992, p. 697.
- ^ "Icy Model". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. November 6, 1938. p. 31.
- ^ "Reel Reviews: Kentucky". The Brooklyn Citizen. December 24, 1938. p. 8.
Bibliography
- American Film Institute (1997). Munden, Kenneth W. (ed.). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. Feature Films, 1921-1930. Vol. F2. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20969-9.
- Andrews, Graham (2023). American Rivals of James Bond. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476673684.
- Baral, Robert (1970). Revue: A Nostalgic Reprise of the Great Broadway Period. Fleet Publishing Corporation. ISBN 9780830300914.
- Coniam, Matthew; Santa Maria, Nick (2023). The Annotated Abbott and Costello: A Complete Viewer's Guide to the Comedy Team and Their 38 Films. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476647760.
- Crafton, Donald (1999). The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926-1931. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22128-4.
- Dietz, Dan (2021). The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781538150283.
- Dietz, Dan (2019). The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781442245280.
- Dietz, Dan (2018). The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781538102770.
- Dietz, Dan (2015). The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781442245280.
- Emmet, Linda; Kimball, Robert, eds. (2005). The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781557836816.
- Fetrow, Alan G. (1992). Sound films, 1927-1939: A United States Filmography. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0899505466.
- Harris, Warren G. (2010). Clark Gable: A Biography. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307555175.
- Irvin, Richard (2014). George Burns Television Productions: The Series and Pilots, 1950-1981. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-9486-6.
- Lowe, Barry (2016). Atomic Blonde: The Films of Mamie Van Doren. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786482733.
- Mantle, Burns, ed. (1923). The Best Plays of 1922-1923. Dodd, Mead & Co.
- Neibaur, James L. (2021). Clark Gable in the 1930s: The Films That Made Him King of Hollywood. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476680446.
- Sears, Benjamin, ed. (2012). The Irving Berlin Reader. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199913503.
- Senn, Bryan (2015). Golden Horrors: An Illustrated Critical Filmography of Terror Cinema, 1931-1939. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476610894.
- Soister, John T.; Nicolella, Henry; Joyce, Steve (2014). American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913–1929. Vol. II. McFarland Publishing. ISBN 9780786487905.
- Thompson, Frank T., ed. (1985). Between Action and Cut: Five American Directors. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810817449.
- Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, Third Edition. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786479924.