Mae Madison

Biography

Born Mariska Megyzsi to Hungarian parents (her father was a violin maker who played in the San Francisco Symphony), Mae was one of those gals destined to be forever cast in the chorus line of lightweight musicals without ever attracting much notice. The exception was, in this case, the attention of numerous potential suitors, who included such luminaries as D.W. Griffith, Errol Flynn and Gary Cooper. A stunning blue-eyed blonde, Mae initially trained as a singer but began her career at the age of nine as a hoofer with 'The Megland Kiddies'. Someone once described her voice" as sounding like Betty Boop after one too many Martinis". Mae graduated from there to become a mainstay of the many lavish Busby Berkeley musicals made at Warner Brothers. She later recalled "When you worked for Bus, you always had a job!". Her movie highlights included dancing the "Breakaway" (a derivation of the Charleston which had originated in 1920s New York) in the Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 (1929). After landing a contract with Warner Brothers, she was given the female lead in John Wayne's second starring film The Big Stampede (1932) (although she lied to the producer about being able to ride a horse!), ended up being billed above then-newcomer Bette Davis in Edna Ferber's So Big! (1932) and the following year mixed it up with Warren William in The Mouthpiece (1932). Her career was pretty much washed up by 1935, but Mae left acting for other ventures, getting married, raising a family and eventually becoming a realtor in Covina and Claremont, California. After 75 years away from the screen, she was interviewed, along with many other actresses from the Golden Years, in a TV documentary entitled I Used to Be in Pictures (2000). Mae died four years later at the age of 89.