Madge Tyrone

Madge Tyrone
Born
Margaret Elizabeth Towle

January 5, 1884
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedApril 13, 1955(1955-04-13) (aged 71)
New York, U.S.
Resting place
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
EducationRadcliffe College
OccupationsScreenwriter, actress, film editor
Years active1907 – 1927
Spouse(s)Edwin Van Heusen Paul
(m. 1916; div. 1919)
RelativesUrsula Parrott

Margaret Elizabeth Towle[1] (January 5, 1884 – April 13, 1955), billed initially as Madge Towle,[2][3] but better known as Madge Tyrone, was an American actress, film editor, and screenwriter active during Hollywood's silent era.[4]

Early life and career

Tyrone was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 5, 1884,[5] the first born and only child of Elizabeth (née Mooney) and Dr. Henry C. Towle.[a] Fifteen days later, Mrs. Towle was dead,[6] having contracted a severe and unrelenting fever just two days after the delivery.[4] She attended Radcliffe College for three years, from 1901 to 1904.

In November 1907, Tyrone began her career as a stage actress, credited—as would remain the case for the next three years—as Madge Towle, making her debut in the stage adaptation of Buster Brown;[2] other appearances, thus credited, included August 1909 at Vancouver's Orpheum, in Pals.[7]

April 1911 marked her stage-named debut at the Baker Theatre in Rochester, New York, in Eugene Walter's Boots and Saddles.[8] Tyron's Broadway debut came later that year in The Wife Decides. She also worked as a newspaperwoman and magazine writer before beginning her career in Hollywood.[9]

By 1914, she was living in Los Angeles, where she appeared in a number of Our Mutual Girl serials produced by Reliance Film Company. She'd appear in a few more films as an actress before taking up writing and editing.

In 1920, Louis B. Mayer added her to First National's story department.[10][11] She worked with director Edwin Carewe on a number of projects—from Rio Grande to The Lady Who Lied—and was considered one of his proteges.[12][13] In 1922, she was involved in a bad car accident in Los Angeles; she made a full recovery after taking some time off.[14]

Personal life

In the fall of 1916, Tyrone married Edwin Van Deusen Paul.[15][16][1] Ending via divorce three years later,[4] the marriage did last long enough to afford her at least one performance—in the self-penned vaudeville sketch entitled "She Writes for the Movies"—credited as Madge Tyrone Paul and "assisted by Miss [Ada] Alford and Mr. E. V. D. Paul".[17]

Little is known about Tyrone's life after 1925, but from what little was published, it is clear that the Boston-based actress had by that time become a full-fledged New Yorker. Albeit slightly misnamed, she is included amongst the three surviving daughters in her father's 1930 obituary, as "Mary Towles of New York";[18] moreover, a real estate item published nine years later in the New York Herald Tribune names Towle as one of the many parties to whom Frances Spencer Inc. is leasing furnished penthouse apartments in New York's West Village.[19] In addition, the 1950 U.S. Census lists a 66-year-old, single, white, Massachusetts-born female named Madge Towle, residing in Manhattan.[20]

On April 13, 1955, Tyrone died, aged 71, in New York City. Her remains are interred at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.[21][22]

Selected filmography

As a writer:

As an editor:

As an actress:

Notes

  1. ↑ Dr. Towle's other children (i.e.Tyrone's half-siblings, Lucy and Katherine–aka Ursula Parrott–were products of Dr. Towle's second marriage.

References

  1. 1 2 Radcliffe College Student Directories, 1879-1919. Cambridge, MA: Racliiffe College. 1919. p. 151.
  2. 1 2 "AMUSEMENTS Last Night at the PLAYHOUSES: Lyric Theatre – Buster Brown". The Buffalo Enquirer. November 19, 1907. p. 3. Retrieved August 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. THE cartoon comedy, "Buster T Brown," by R. F. Outcault, was given a hearty welcome at the Lyric Theater last evening. [...] Master Reed, who plays the role of Buster, is all that could desired. [...] Others on the cast who do good work are John E. Gorman, Ray Myers, Geogre Gorman and Madge Towle.
  3. ↑ "Fiske O'Hara". The Irish Standard. April 23, 1910. p. 3. Retrieved August 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Irrepressible, fun-loving and ever popular Fiske O'Hara and a well chosen company will appear at the Bijou next week in 'The Wearing of the Green,' a new production by Theodore Burt Sayre, in which the wit and humor of the sons and daughters of Ireland play an important part. [...] Among other members of the company are: J. P. Sullivan, Wm. Sheehan, W. J. Walsh, J. J. Hyland, W. E. Stevens, James R. Miller, Fred Larter, Lisle Bloodgood, Madge Towle and Phyllis Ralston.
  4. 1 2 3 Gordon, Marsha (2023). Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott. Oakland, California: University of California Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-520-39155-0.
  5. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DCBX-5TZM : Sat Mar 09 00:04:48 UTC 2024), Entry for Margaret Towle and Henry C. Towle, 5 January 1884.
  6. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHH1-W54 : Sat Mar 09 22:40:27 UTC 2024), Entry for Elizabeth T. Mooney Towle and John Mooney Towle, 20 January 1884.
  7. ↑ "TWO HEADLINERS AT THE ORPHEUM". Vancouver Daily World. August 14, 1909. p. 39. Retrieved August 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Miss Madge Towle, Who Will Appear in 'Pals,' Sketch. and April 1910 at the Bijou in Minneapolis,
  8. ↑ "In Local Theaters: Boots and Saddles". Rochester Journal. April 29, 1911. p. 11. Retrieved August 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. The play is presented by a capable company, which includes Madge Tyrone, Erma Earle, Marie Walker, Frederic Summer, Francis Herblin, Louis La Bey, Charles Trowbridge and George E. Brown.
  9. ↑ "7 Aug 1920, 16 - Saskatoon Daily Star at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  10. ↑ "7 Aug 1920, 16 - Saskatoon Daily Star at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  11. ↑ "Los Angeles Herald 6 December 1920 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  12. ↑ "29 Oct 1922, Page 47 - The Oregon Daily Journal at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  13. ↑ "26 Nov 1925, 10 - The Morning Call at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  14. ↑ "23 Aug 1922, 8 - The Interior News at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  15. ↑ "Spokane News: Marriage Licenses". The Spokesman-Review. September 26, 1916. p. 10. Retrieved August 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. H. R. Smith (legal), Gibbs, Idaho and Mary A. Beedham (legal), Gibbs, Idaho. Edwin Paul (legal), Trout Lake, Wash, and Margaret Towle (legal) New York City.
  16. ↑ "Washington, County Marriages, 1855-2008", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPM1-KJWF : Sat Mar 09 20:39:16 UTC 2024), Entry for Edwin Paul and Margaret E Towle, 21 September 1916.
  17. ↑ "Trout Lake Valley Items (Continued from page 1)". White Salmon Enterprise. May 31, 1918. p. 2. Retrieved August 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Madge Tyrone Paul in sketch she played on the Orpheum Circuit, entitled, 'She writes For the Movies.' She will be assisted by Miss Alford and Mr. E. V. D. Paul.
  18. ↑ "Deaths: Dr. Henry C. Towle". The Herald News. September 6, 1930. p. 2. Retrieved August 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Dr. Henry C. Towle, 78, for 50 years a physician in the Fields Corner section and a leading figure among medical men of Boston, died at his home, 1428 Dorchester avenue, Fields Corner, yesterday morning. [...] Towle is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Ursula Parrott of New York, Miss Mary Towle of New York and Miss Louise Towle of Dorchester.
  19. ↑ "Consul General From Finland Leases a Suite: Takes Six-Room Apartment in the Normandy, Being Built on Riverside Drive". New York Herald Tribune. July 11, 1939. p. 33. ProQuest 1252095448. Frances Spencer, Inc. has rented a furnished penthouse at 299 West Twelfth Street to Roger Briggs, H.L. Leamans, Peter Cocks, Dorothy Craville [...] at 144 West Twelfth Street to P.C. Scott and Chase Herendeen; at 23 West Twelfth Street to Eloise Davis; at 52 Barrow Street to Harold Forbes, Fred Zanetti and Madge Towle.
  20. ↑ "United States, Census, 1950", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XTY-3FYF : Fri Oct 06 22:37:46 UTC 2023), Entry for Madge Towle, 10 April 1950.
  21. ↑ "Deaths". New York Times. April 14, 1955. p. 29. ProQuest 113466275. TOWLE—Madge Tyrone, on April 13, 1955. Reposing at the House of Cavalry, 1600 Macombs Road, Bronx. Requiem Mass Friday 9 A. M., at the House of Cavalry Chapel. Internment Gate of Heaven Cemetery.
  22. ↑ Gordon, op. cit., pp. 20–21. "In the fall of 1930, [...] Dr. Towle passed away following a cerebral hemorrhage at age seventy-seven. His obituary — which bore the subheading 'Father of Ursula Parrott, Author of Ex Wife, Dies in Boston" — explained that he 'died before his authoress daughter and her sister, Lucy, could reach home from New York. Another daughter, Margaret was at his bedside.' Although her younger half-sister would steal the headline, it was Margaret who was with Dr. Towle in his final hours. When Margaret died on April 13, 1955, the New York Times obituary [announced] her requiem mass and interment at the Catholic Gate of Heaven Cemetery in New York. For reasons unknown, Dr. Towle's first born was not interred in the Towle family plot at the Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts, where her mother, father and stepmother had been laid to rest and her half-sisters, Lucy and Katherine, would eventually be buried."

1955 deaths

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