Christine Mayo (December 25, 1883 – January 9, 1961) was a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

actress.

Biography

Mayo was featured in

vamp The VaMP driverless car was one of the first truly autonomous cars Dynamic Vision for Perc ...

roles produced by

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leased f ...

, World Film Corporation, and Ivan Film Productions, Inc.''Famous Movie Actress Is Coming To The City'',

Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...

Daily Times, April 13, 1917, pg. 13 Mayo's motion picture career was launched when she won a ''New York Telegraph'' contest as the most beautiful girl in New York. In ''The Spell of the Yukon'' (1916), she had the leading female part in a feature starring Edmund Breese, which was adapted from a poem by

Robert W. Service Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". The middle name 'William' was in honour of a rich uncle. When that uncle neglected to provide for hi ...

. Service was known as the "Kipling of the North." Mayo performed the role of Hattie Fenshaw in ''Who's Your Neighbor?'' (1917). 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.''International Spy, In Lima , Is Caught'', Lima Daily News, Friday, August 17, 1917, pg 1.

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. Aside from promoting movies, Mayo utilized her tour to recruit troops for service in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and to sell

Liberty Bonds A liberty bond (or liberty loan) was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the Allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financi ...

. She was assigned to the recruiting department of the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

. 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 The Liberty Legion is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was first created in 1976 and set during World War II. Composed of existing heroes from Marvel's 1940s Golden Age of Comic ...

. Mayo plays the scatterbrained ''Mrs. Chadwick'' in ''The Hottentot'' (1921). One reviewer complimented her acting as a "bright characterization". In the 1923 feature ''The Shock'', starring

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

, Mayo was compared to

Mary Alden Mary Maguire Alden (June 18, 1883 – July 2, 1946) was an American motion picture and stage actress. She was one of the first Broadway actresses to work in Hollywood. Life Alden was born in New York City on June 18, 1883. She performed on Br ...

in her rendition of Ann Cardington, queen of the underworld. The same year, she was also cast as a supporting player in ''Don't Marry For Money'', along with Edith Yorke and Charles Wellesley. Mayo appeared with some of the most popular actors of her era. She made ''For Sale'' (1924) with

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...

Tully Marshall Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...

, and

Vera Reynolds Vera Reynolds (born Vera Nancy Reynolds; November 25, 1899 – April 22, 1962) was an American film actress. Early life and career Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1899, Reynolds first worked in films at age 12. She began as a dancer, worke ...

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reviewed the movie unfavorably, comparing it to a discarded

Daisy Ashford Margaret Mary Julia Devlin (née Ashford; 3 April 1881 – 15 January 1972), known as Daisy Ashford, was an English writer who is most famous for writing '' The Young Visiters'', a novella concerning the upper class society of late 19th century ...

effort. The heroine resides in a mansion of

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

-like dimensions. When her father loses his wealth entirely, he comes up with the idea of having his daughter,

Claire Windsor Claire Windsor (born Clara Viola Cronk; April 14, 1892 – October 24, 1972) was an American film actress of the silent screen era. Early life Windsor was born Clara Viola Cronk (nicknamed "Ola") in 1892 in Marvin, Phillips County, Kansas to ...

, marry a

profligate A spendthrift (also profligate or prodigal) is someone who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful with money, often to a point where the spending climbs well beyond his or her means. "Spendthrift" derives from an obsolete sense of the word "thrift" ...

, a rich one. 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 Edward Everett Horton Jr. (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Early life Horton was born in Kings County ...

in a stage production of ''The Hottentot''. Mayo enjoyed cooking chicken-a-la-king, interior decorating, and reading classic novels by Balzac and Alexandre Dumas.''Miss Mayo, Actress Is A Real Versatile Girl'',

Ironwood, Michigan Ironwood is a city in Gogebic County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, about south of Lake Superior. The city is on US Highway 2 across the Montreal River from Hurley, Wisconsin. It is the westernmost city in Michigan ...

Daily Globe, Wednesday Evening, December 1, 1920, pg. 5.

Selected filmography

* ''

A Mother's Confession ''A Mother's Confession'' is a 1915 silent film written and directed by Ivan Abramson, and starring Christine Mayo and Austin Webb.(21 August 1915)A Mother's Confession ''The Moving Picture World'' Plot and background Typical of Ivan Abramson's ...

'' (1915) * '' The Spell of the Yukon'' (1916) * '' The Iron Woman'' (1916) * ''Two Men and a Woman'' (1917) * '' Who's Your Neighbor?'' (1917) * '' Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman'' (1917) * '' A Successful Adventure'' (1918) * ''

The House of Mirth ''The House of Mirth'' is a 1905 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart, a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York City's high society around the end of the 19th century. Wharton creates a portrait ...

'' (1918) * '' Fair and Warmer'' (1919) * '' A Fugitive from Matrimony'' (1919) * ''

Duds A dud is an ammunition round or explosive that fails to fire or detonate, respectively, on time or on command. Poorly designed devices (for example, improvised explosive devices (IEDs)), and small devices, have higher chances of being duds. Du ...

'' (1920) * '' An Amateur Devil'' (1920) * '' The Girl in the Web'' (1920) * ''

The Palace of Darkened Windows ''The Palace of Darkened Windows'' is a 1920 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Henry Kolker and starring Claire Anderson, Arthur Edmund Carewe and Jay Belasco. It is based on the 1914 novel of the same title by Mary Hastings Bradle ...

'' (1920) * ''

Don't Ever Marry ''Don't Ever Marry'' is a 1920 American comedy film directed by Marshall Neilan and Victor Heerman and written by Marion Fairfax. The film stars Matt Moore, Marjorie Daw, Thomas Jefferson, Mayme Kelso, Betty Bouton and Christine Mayo. The fi ...

'' (1920) * ''

When We Were 21 ''When We Were 21'' is a 1921 American silent comedy drama film directed by Henry King and starring H.B. Warner, Claire Anderson, and James Morrison.''Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema'', p. 166 Cast * H.B. Warner as Richard Car ...

'' (1921) * '' The Understudy'' (1922) * '' A Dangerous Game'' (1922) * '' The Shock'' (1923) * '' Don't Marry for Money'' (1923) * '' For Sale'' (1924)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo, Christine American stage actresses Vaudeville performers American film actresses American silent film actresses 1961 deaths 1883 births 20th-century American actresses