Christine Mayo

Christine Mayo (1883–1961)[1] was a silent film actress.

Christine Mayo
Motion Picture Classic, 1920
BornDecember 25, 1883
Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedJanuary 9, 1961 (aged 77)
New York City, U.s.
OccupationActress
Years active1915–1924

Biography

Mayo was featured in vamp roles produced by Fox Film Corporation, Metro Pictures, World Film Corporation, and Ivan Film Productions, Inc.[2] Mayo's motion picture career was launched when she won a New York Telegraph contest as the most beautiful girl in New York.[3]

In The Spell of the Yukon (1916) she has the leading female part in a feature starring Edmund Breese, which is adapted from a poem by Robert W. Service. Service is known as the Kipling of the North.[4] Mayo performs the role of Hattie Fenshaw in Who's Your Neighbor? (1917).[5]

James Cooley kisses Mayo's hand behind the back of Joseph Burke in a still from A Fool's Paradise (1916)

International spy, Dr. Karl Graves, was arrested in Lima, Ohio, where he traveled after watching Mayo perform at the Empire Theater in New York City. Graves authored Revelations of the Kaiser's Personal Spy. Mayo was in Lima with her manager, Phil Selznik, when Graves was apprehended, stopping first in Bucyrus, Ohio, when she left New York.[6]

Portsmouth, Ohio was one of the thirty American cities Mayo toured in 1917. After the screening of one of her feature films, she discussed her movie career with the audience. A reception was held in the lobby of the Columbia Theater in Portsmouth.[2] Aside from promoting movies, Mayo utilized her tour to recruit troops for service in World War I and to sell Liberty Bonds. She was assigned to the recruiting department of the U.S. Navy. She received a solid gold medal representing the American flag from the hospital corps in recognition of her service to the government. Mayo was one of the first women of the stage to be awarded the right to wear the button of the Liberty Legion.[7]

Mayo plays the scatterbrained Mrs. Chadwick in The Hottentot (1921). One reviewer complimented her acting as a "bright characterization".[8] In the 1923 feature The Shock, starring Lon Chaney, Mayo was compared to Mary Alden in her rendition of Ann Cardington, queen of the underworld; and the same year was also cast as a supporting player in Don't Marry For Money, along with Edith Yorke and Charles Wellesley.[9][10]

Mayo appeared with some of the most popular actors of her era. She made For Sale (1924) with Adolphe Menjou, Tully Marshall, and Vera Reynolds. The New York Times reviewed the movie unfavorably, comparing it to a discarded Daisy Ashford effort. The heroine resides in a mansion of Louvre-like dimensions. When her father loses his wealth entirely, he comes up with the idea of having his daughter, Claire Windsor, marry a profligate, a rich one.[11]

Mayo was in the troupe of the Wilkes Stock Company in April 1929 at the Majestic Theater in Los Angeles, California. She joined Edward Everett Horton in a stage production of The Hottentot.[12]

Mayo enjoyed cooking chicken-a-la-king, interior decorating, and reading classic novels by Balzac and Alexandre Dumas.[13]

Selected filmography

References
  1. www.findagrave.com Christine Mayo (1884 - 1963) lesser famous section
  2. Famous Movie Actress Is Coming To The City, Portsmouth, Ohio Daily Times, April 13, 1917, pg. 13
  3. Amusements, Newark, Ohio Daily Advocate, Saturday, September 30, 1916, pg. 3.
  4. Christine Mayo, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Wednesday Morning, June 7, 1916, pg. 15.
  5. Week's News And Views Of The Stage And Pictures, Los Angeles Times, December 2, 1917, pg. III1.
  6. International Spy, In Lima , Is Caught, Lima Daily News, Friday, August 17, 1917, pg 1.
  7. Player Gives Valuable Aid to Government, Bridgeport, Connecticut Telegram, Saturday, April 20, 1918, pg. 22.
  8. Flashes, Los Angeles Times, December 5, 1921, Page II7.
  9. Chaney Plays Pulse Teaser At Kinema, Los Angeles Times, June 11, 1923, Page II7.
  10. Aimless Plot In Cameo Photoplay, Los Angeles Times, December 23, 1924, Page A11.
  11. The Screen, The New York Times, July 11, 1924, pg 11.
  12. Spectator Is Now Player, Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1929, Page C10.
  13. Miss Mayo, Actress Is A Real Versatile Girl, Ironwood, Michigan Daily Globe, Wednesday Evening, December 1, 1920, pg. 5.
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