Helen Mack
Encyclopedia
Helen Mack was an American actress. Mack started her career as a child actress in silent film
s, moving on to Broadway
plays, and touring the vaudeville
circuit. Her greater success as an actress was as a leading lady in the 1930s. Eventually Mack transitioned into performing on radio, and then into writing, directing, and producing some of the best known radio shows during the Golden Age of Radio. Later in life, Mack billed herself as a professional writer, writing for Broadway, stage, and television
. Her career spanned the infancy of the motion picture industry, the beginnings of Broadway, the final days of Vaudeville, the transition to "talking pictures", the Golden Age of Radio, and the rise of television.
. Vera Gordon was a friend who helped her along as a child actress. She appeared on Broadway
, in vaudeville (1926–28) and in stock, as well as in silent films. Mack debuted on stage in The Idle Inn with Jacob Benami. She performed with Roland Young
in The Idle Inn and toured America (1928–29) with William Hodge in Straight Through The Door.
, and Mary Astor
. In Zaza, Mack worked with Gloria Swanson
. She also had a small role in D. W. Griffith
's last film The Struggle
(1931).
She made her debut as a leading lady opposite Victor McLaglen
in While Paris Sleeps (1932) and was cast with John Boles
in his initial Fox Film venture, Scotch Valley. Mack played in several westerns in the early 1930s. Among these are Fargo Express (1933) with Ken Maynard
and The California Trail with Buck Jones
.
Reviewer Norbert Lusk commented favorably regarding Mack's performance in the 1933 motion picture, Sweepings (1933). He said "she has a lively personality, appreciated all the more in a heavy, loomy picture, and she plays her shopgirl role with understanding and finesse." Prior to this film Mack's career had declined for three years. Three of her productions failed. One reason for this career downturn is that she was usually a character star. Her employers had used Mack as an ingenue
. RKO Radio Pictures Inc. offered her a second chance as Mamie Donahue in Sweepings.
She may be best remembered for the 1933 movie sequel The Son of Kong
, as Harold Lloyd
's sister in The Milky Way
(1936) and as the suicidal Molly Malloy in His Girl Friday
(1940). She also played an important role as Tanya in Merian C. Cooper
's production of H. Rider Haggard
's She
(1935) opposite Randolph Scott
, Nigel Bruce
, and Helen Gahagan
(who did the title role as She, who must be obeyed). Other roles for Mack included the bank-robbing ingenue opposite Richard Cromwell
and Lionel Atwill
in 1937's The Wrong Road for RKO.
missed by one vote and Mack was a bit farther down the list of those omitted. In response Fox named Mack, Watkins, and Conchita Montenegro
as rival debutantes or budding stars. Fox proposed to name baby stars for each year after, by a vote of its executives.
, in February 1935 at age 21. Irwin was a bankruptcy trustee for Fox Film West Coast Theaters. By this time Mack was under contract to Paramount Pictures
. They had a son in 1936 and divorced in 1938.
In 1940 she married Thomas McAvity in Santa Barbara, California. McAvity later became Vice President in Charge of Television Network for NBC. They had one son. McAvity died in 1974.
In 1986, Mack died after a battle with cancer
.
and The Saint
. As TV succeeded radio as the prevalent entertainment medium, she continued to write plays and TV episodes until her death.
In 1949, she collaborated with Roger Price
in writing the children's record Gossamer Wump
, narrated by Frank Morgan
and released by Capitol Records
.
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s, moving on to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
plays, and touring the vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit. Her greater success as an actress was as a leading lady in the 1930s. Eventually Mack transitioned into performing on radio, and then into writing, directing, and producing some of the best known radio shows during the Golden Age of Radio. Later in life, Mack billed herself as a professional writer, writing for Broadway, stage, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Her career spanned the infancy of the motion picture industry, the beginnings of Broadway, the final days of Vaudeville, the transition to "talking pictures", the Golden Age of Radio, and the rise of television.
Youth and stage
Helen Mack, born Helen McDougall was the daughter of William George McDougall, a barber, and Regina (née Lenzer) McDougall, who had a repressed desire to become an actress. She obtained her education (1921–29) as a youth at the Professional Children's School of New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Vera Gordon was a friend who helped her along as a child actress. She appeared on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, in vaudeville (1926–28) and in stock, as well as in silent films. Mack debuted on stage in The Idle Inn with Jacob Benami. She performed with Roland Young
Roland Young
Roland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
in The Idle Inn and toured America (1928–29) with William Hodge in Straight Through The Door.
Film actress
Her Fox Film screen test came in March 1931 and within three weeks she was on the studio lot. Mack began her film career, first billed as Helen Macks, in Success. The motion picture featured Brandon Tynan, Naomi ChildersNaomi Childers
Naomi Childers was a silent film actress whose career lasted until the mid-20th century.-English ancestry, child actress:...
, and Mary Astor
Mary Astor
Mary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
. In Zaza, Mack worked with Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
. She also had a small role in D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
's last film The Struggle
The Struggle (film)
The Struggle is a sound feature film directed by D. W. Griffith, and was his only other full-sound film besides Abraham Lincoln . After several films directed by Griffith failed at the box office, this was Griffith's last film...
(1931).
She made her debut as a leading lady opposite Victor McLaglen
Victor McLaglen
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...
in While Paris Sleeps (1932) and was cast with John Boles
John Boles (actor)
-Early life:Boles was born in Greenville, Texas, into a middle-class family. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas in 1917 and married Marielite Dobbs in that same year. His parents wanted him to be a doctor and Boles studied and finally got his B.A. degree, but the stage called...
in his initial Fox Film venture, Scotch Valley. Mack played in several westerns in the early 1930s. Among these are Fargo Express (1933) with Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard was an American motion picture stuntman and actor.-Biography:Born Kenneth Olin Maynard in Vevay, Indiana, he was one of five children. His younger brother, Kermit Maynard, also became a stuntman and actor....
and The California Trail with Buck Jones
Buck Jones
Buck Jones was an American motion picture star of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, best known for his work starring in many popular western movies...
.
Reviewer Norbert Lusk commented favorably regarding Mack's performance in the 1933 motion picture, Sweepings (1933). He said "she has a lively personality, appreciated all the more in a heavy, loomy picture, and she plays her shopgirl role with understanding and finesse." Prior to this film Mack's career had declined for three years. Three of her productions failed. One reason for this career downturn is that she was usually a character star. Her employers had used Mack as an ingenue
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...
. RKO Radio Pictures Inc. offered her a second chance as Mamie Donahue in Sweepings.
She may be best remembered for the 1933 movie sequel The Son of Kong
The Son of Kong
The Son of Kong is a 1933 American adventure film/monster movie produced by RKO Pictures. Directed by Ernest Schoedsack and featuring special effects by Buzz Gibson and Willis O'Brien, the film starred Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack and Frank Reicher...
, as Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American film actor and producer, most famous for his silent comedies....
's sister in The Milky Way
The Milky Way (1936 film)
The Milky Way is a 1936 comedy film starring Harold Lloyd. Directed by comedy veteran Leo McCarey, the film was written by Grover Jones, Frank Butler and Richard Connell based on a play of the same name by Lynn Root and Harry Clork which was presented on Broadway in 1934.An example of the popular...
(1936) and as the suicidal Molly Malloy in His Girl Friday
His Girl Friday
His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of the play The Front Page by Hecht and MacArthur...
(1940). She also played an important role as Tanya in Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper
Merian Caldwell Cooper was an American aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer, adventurer, screenwriter, and film director and producer. His most famous film was the 1933 movie King Kong.-Early life:...
's production of H. Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...
's She
She (1935 film)
She is a 1935 film produced by Merian C. Cooper. The film is based on H. Rider Haggard's novel of the same name. It stars Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott and Nigel Bruce, with music by Max Steiner...
(1935) opposite Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
, Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce
William Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
, and Helen Gahagan
Helen Gahagan
Helen Gahagan was an American actress and politician. She was the third woman and first Democratic woman elected to Congress from California; her election made California one of the first two states to have elected female members of the House from both parties.-Early life and acting...
(who did the title role as She, who must be obeyed). Other roles for Mack included the bank-robbing ingenue opposite Richard Cromwell
Richard Cromwell (actor)
Richard Cromwell, born LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh , was an American actor. His family and friends called him Roy, though he was also professionally known and signed autographs as Dick Cromwell. Cromwell's career was at its pinnacle with his work in Jezebel with Bette Davis and Henry Fonda and again...
and Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most...
in 1937's The Wrong Road for RKO.
WAMPAS wrangle
In 1931, thirteen members of the Fox Film Company publicity department resigned in protest of WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) failure to name a Fox starlet on their annual list of baby stars. Linda WatkinsLinda Watkins
Linda Watkins was an actress in theater, motion pictures, and television. She was born Linda Mathews Watkins in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Gardiner and Elizabeth R. Watkins.-Theatrical actress:...
missed by one vote and Mack was a bit farther down the list of those omitted. In response Fox named Mack, Watkins, and Conchita Montenegro
Conchita Montenegro
Conchita Montenegro was a Spanish model, dancer, stage and screen actress. She was educated in a convent in Madrid, Spain. Montenegro had browneyes, wavy black hair, and an olive complexion...
as rival debutantes or budding stars. Fox proposed to name baby stars for each year after, by a vote of its executives.
Private life
She married lawyer Charles Irwin in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, in February 1935 at age 21. Irwin was a bankruptcy trustee for Fox Film West Coast Theaters. By this time Mack was under contract to Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. They had a son in 1936 and divorced in 1938.
In 1940 she married Thomas McAvity in Santa Barbara, California. McAvity later became Vice President in Charge of Television Network for NBC. They had one son. McAvity died in 1974.
In 1986, Mack died after a battle with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
Late career
In the 1940s and 1950s, Mack worked as a producer and director of radio programs including such series as Richard Diamond, Private DetectiveRichard Diamond, Private Detective
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.-Radio:...
and The Saint
Leslie Charteris
Leslie Charteris , born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, was a half-Chinese, half English author of primarily mystery fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint."-Early life:Charteris was born to a Chinese father...
. As TV succeeded radio as the prevalent entertainment medium, she continued to write plays and TV episodes until her death.
In 1949, she collaborated with Roger Price
Roger Price (comedy)
Roger Price was an American humorist, author and publisher, who created Droodles in the 1950s, followed by his collaborations with Leonard Stern on the Mad Libs series...
in writing the children's record Gossamer Wump
Gossamer Wump
Gossamer Wump is a children's record, published in 1949 by Capitol Records, about a boy who learns to play the triangle. The story is narrated by Frank Morgan, Hollywood actor best known for his role as the Wizard in the classic film The Wizard of Oz, with music by Billy May, and written by...
, narrated by Frank Morgan
Frank Morgan
Frank Morgan was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of the title character in the film The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
and released by Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
.
External links
- The Unofficial Helen Mack Tribute Site
- Download His Girl Friday at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...