Madge Evans

Biography

Lovely Madge Evans was the perennial nice girl in films of the 1930s. By then, she had been in front of the camera for many years, starting with Fairy Soap commercials at the age of two (she sat on a bar of soap holding a bunch of violets with the tag line reading "have you a little fairy in your home?"). 'Baby Madge' also lent her name to a children's hat company. In 1914, aged five, she was picked out by talent scouts to appear in the William Farnum movie The Sign of the Cross (1914), followed by The Seven Sisters (1915) with Marguerite Clark. By the end of the following year, she had amassed some twenty film credits, appearing with such noted contemporary stars as Pauline Frederick or Alice Brady. All of her early films were made on the East Coast, at studios in Ft.Lee, New Jersey. In 1917 (aged eight), Madge made her Broadway debut in 'Peter Ibbetson' with John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore. She resumed her stage career in 1926 as an ingenue with 'Daisy Mayme' and the following year appeared with Billie Burke in Noel Coward's costume drama 'The Marquise' (1927). Her pleasing looks and personality soon attracted the attention of Hollywood and she was eventually signed by MGM in 1931. During the next decade, she appeared in several A-grade productions, notably as Lionel Barrymore's daughter in MGM's Dinner at Eight (1933) and as the dependable Agnes Wickfield in one of the best-ever filmed versions of David Copperfield (1935). She co-starred opposite James Cagney in the gangster movie The Mayor of Hell (1933), Spencer Tracy in The Show-Off (1934) and listened to Bing Crosby crooning the title song in Pennies from Heaven (1936). Madge received praise for her performance as the star of Beauty for Sale (1933) and The New York Times review of January 13 1934 described her acting in Fugitive Lovers (1934) (opposite Robert Montgomery ) as 'spontaneous and captivating'. Many of her 'typical American girl' roles did not allow her to express aspects of the greater acting range she undoubtedly possessed. Too often she was cast as the 'nice girl' - and those rarely make much of a dramatic impact. On the few occasions she was assigned the role of 'other woman' , such as the Helen Hayes-starrer What Every Woman Knows (1934), audiences found her character difficult to believe and disassociate from her all-round wholesome image. When her contract with MGM expired in 1937, Madge wound down her film career and, following her 1939 marriage, concentrated on being the wife of celebrated playwright Sidney Kingsley. She last appeared on stage in one of his plays, "The Patriots", in 1943.

Known For

Self

The Volunteer

The Bard of Broadway

Ruth McAllan

The Tunnel

Polaire

The Greeks Had a Word for Them

Agnes Wickfield as a Woman

The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger

Paula Jordan

Dinner at Eight

Ruth, as a Child

True Blue

Glenda Wynant

Helldorado

Countess Vima Walden

Heartbreak

Anne Ainsley

Broadway to Hollywood

Dorothy Griffith

The Mayor of Hell

Patty Barnes

The Love Net

Frances Clark

Death on the Diamond

Georgia Gwynne, as a girl

The New South

June Marcher

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

Dorothy Mason

The Nuisance

Ann Chester

Piccadilly Jim

Barbara 'Babs' Grant

Guilty Hands

Anne Wesson

Sinners in Paradise

Laura O'Neil

Are You Listening?

Ann Devlin

Exclusive Story

Janice

Son of India

Dorothy Day

Day of Reckoning

Nell O'Neill

The Thirteenth Chair

Anne

West of Broadway

Eileen Homer

Wanted, A Mother

Mary Blayne

Lovers Courageous

Claire

Made on Broadway

Letty Lawson

Beauty for Sale

Susan Sprague

Pennies from Heaven

Julie Armstrong

Army Girl

Rosalie

Huddle

Toni Adams

Moonlight Murder

Patricia Booth

Espionage

Letty Morris

Fugitive Lovers

Joan

Hell Below

Maxine Bennett

Age of Indiscretion

Lady Sybil Tenterden

What Every Woman Knows

Lisbeth

On the Banks of the Wabash

Amy Fisher Piper

The Show-Off

Miss 'Missy' Ruby

Sporting Blood

Shirley

Fast Life

Rosalind Rockwell

Calm Yourself

Ruth Le Page - as a child

Stolen Orders

Deanie Consadine

The Power and the Glory

Julie

Paris Interlude

Marjorie

The Web of Desire

Helen Sherwood

Men Without Names

Dot

The Hidden Scar

Nannie Stevens

The Revolt

Bessie

Husband and Wife

Sylvia

Classmates

Betty

The Devil's Toy

Lady Mary Fielding

Grand Canary

Self (archive footage)

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Mary Adams

Stand Up and Cheer!

Helen

Envy

Jane Baxter

Seventeen

Clara

The Seven Sisters

Child

Three Green Eyes

Madge Lathrop

The Golden Wall

Editha

The Burglar

Mary Brian, age 8

The Corner Grocer

Francine - Age 7

Beloved Adventuress

Little Emily

Sudden Riches

Constance

Maternity

Jean as a Child

The Master Hand

Clarissa Leigh

Neighbors