Madge Evans

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 childrens 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 FtLee 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 Cowards 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 Agrade productions notably as Lionel Barrymores daughter in MGMs Dinner at Eight 1933 and as the dependable Agnes Wickfield in one of the bestever filmed versions of David Copperfield 1935 She costarred opposite James Cagney in the gangster movie The Mayor of Hell 1933 Spencer Tracy in The ShowOff 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 Hayesstarrer What Every Woman Knows 1934 audiences found her character difficult to believe and disassociate from her allround 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