Marjorie Main

Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and 1950s, and for her role as Ma Kettle in 10 Ma and Pa Kettle movies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Main started her career in vaudeville and theatre, and appeared in film classics, such as Dead End (1937), The Women (1939), Dark Command (1940), The Shepherd of the Hills (1941), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and Friendly Persuasion (1956).

Early life

Mary Tomlinson was born on February 24, 1890, near Acton, in rural Marion County, Indiana. She was the second daughter of Reverend Samuel J. Tomlinson, a Disciples of Christ minister, and Jennie L. (McGaughey) Tomlinson. Mary's maternal grandfather, Doctor Samuel McGaughey, was the Acton physician who delivered her.<ref name=Banta111>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>According to author Ray Banta, birth records on file at Franklin, Indiana, indicate that Mary Tomlinson was born in Clark Township, Johnson County, Indiana, on February 28, 1890. See Banta, p. 111. Other sources report that she was born at a home her grandfather owned in Acton. Main also stated in a letter to a fan that she was born in Acton. See: Template:Cite book See also: Template:Cite journal</ref>

At the age of three, Tomlinson moved with her family to Indianapolis, Indiana, where her father was pastor of Hillside Christian Church. Four years later, they moved to Goshen and then Elkhart, Indiana. In the early 1900s, the Tomlinson family settled on a farm near Fairland, Indiana.<ref name=Henricks34>Template:Cite journal p. 34.</ref>

After attending public schools in Fairland and Shelbyville, Tomlinson spent a year (1905–06) at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana, where she was a charter member of what became the present-day Delta Delta Delta sorority, before transferring to the Hamilton School of Dramatic Expression in Lexington, Kentucky. She completed a three-year course of study in 1909 at the age of 19. After graduation, Tomlinson took a job as a dramatics instructor at Bourbon College in Paris, Kentucky, but stayed only a year. Tomlinson later claimed that she was fired from the position after asking for a salary increase.<ref name=Smith167>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Price>Template:Cite book, p. 130.</ref>

After Tomlinson left Kentucky, she spent the next several years studying dramatic arts in Chicago and New York City, despite her father's disapproval of her career choice. Tomlinson adopted the stage name of Marjorie Main during her early acting career to avoid embarrassing her family.<ref>Template:Cite book, pp. 167–68.</ref><ref name=INPerspective>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Marriage

Main married widower Stanley LeFevre Krebs, a psychologist and lecturer, on November 2, 1921.<ref name=Banta111/> They met while she was performing on the Chautauqua circuit. Main accompanied Krebs on the lecture circuit, handling the details of their life on the road. They had no children together, and made their home in New York City.<ref name=Smith168>Smith, p. 168.</ref> Main performed with touring companies and in New York theaters on a part-time basis throughout her marriage. She also began her Hollywood film career in 1931. Main considered this period "the happiest years of her life."<ref name=Henricks34/> She returned to a full-time acting career after Krebs died of cancer on September 26, 1935.<ref name=Smith168/>

The Krebses' marriage was a nontraditional one. By her accounts, the marriage was happy, but not particularly close. Main claimed to be "brokenhearted" following her husband's death,<ref name=Henricks35/> but also explained that his death was "like losing a good friend. Like part of the family."<ref name=Smith168/> Main's biographer, Michelle Vogel, quotes a later interview in which the actress related: "Dr. Krebs wasn't a very practical man. I didn't figure on having to run the show, I kinda tired of it after a few years. We pretty much went our own ways, but we was [sic] still in the eyes of the law, man and wife."<ref name=vogel>Template:Cite book</ref>

Vogel also revealed that Main had a long-term relationship with actress Spring Byington.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

Early years

Main began her professional career as a performer touring in Chautauqua presentations with a Shakespearean repertory company. After performing for five months in a stock company in Fargo, North Dakota, she began working in vaudeville.<ref name=INPerspective/><ref name=Smith168/>

Stage actress

In the mid 1910s, Main appeared in several plays, which included touring in Cheating Cheaters with John Barrymore in 1916. She also debuted in the Broadway theatre in Yes or No in 1918. In addition, Main returned to vaudeville to perform at the Palace Theater in a skit called The Family Ford with comedian W. C. Fields. Not all of the early plays in which she appeared were a success. A House Divided closed in 1923 after just one performance, but Main continued to find work on the Broadway stage. In 1927, she played Mae West's mother in The Wicked Age, and in 1928, played opposite Barbara Stanwyck in the long-running stage hit Burlesque. Main also appeared in several other Broadway productions: Salvation in 1928, Scarlet Sister Mary in 1930, Ebb Tide in 1931, Music in the Air in 1932, and Jackson White.<ref name=Henricks34/><ref name=Smith168/>

One of Main's highest-profile stage performances was in 1935's Dead End as Mrs. Martin, the mother of gangster Baby Face Martin. She played the role in 460 performances before leaving the show in 1936 to play Lucy, a hotel-keeper/dude-ranch operator, in The Women. Main recreated these two roles in film versions of the plays in 1937 and 1939, respectively.<ref name=Henricks35>Henricks, p. 35.</ref><ref name=Smith169-70>Smith, pp. 169–70.</ref>

Film career

One of Main's first feature-film appearances was as an extra in A House Divided (1931).<ref name=INPerspective/><ref name=Price/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She also appeared in Take A Chance (1933) and Crime Without Passion (1934), and recreated her stage role as a servant in the film version of Music in the Air (also 1934), but most of her performance was cut from the film. Main also made a few more films in Hollywood in the 1930s before returning to the stage in New York City.<ref name=Smith168/><ref name=Henricks35/>

Samuel Goldwyn signed Main to reprise her stage role as the mother of a gangster for the film version of Dead End (1937). Humphrey Bogart was cast as her son. She transferred another strong stage performance to film as the dude-ranch operator in The Women (1939).<ref name=Henricks35/><ref name=Smith170>Smith, p. 170.</ref>

Main portrayed a diverse set of characters in subsequent films for different studios. These included roles where she was cast as a mother, prison matron, a landlady, aunt, secretary, and a rental agent, among others.<ref name=Henricks35/>

File:Romance of the Limberlost (1938) 1.jpg

George Cleveland, Jean Parker, Sarah Padden, and Marjorie Main in Romance of the Limberlost (1938)

Main was signed to a seven-year Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract in 1940, after starring with Wallace Beery in Wyoming (1940).<ref name=INPerspective/> She also co-starred in Dark Command (1940) with Walter Pidgeon, and appeared in six major films in 1941.<ref name=Smith170/><ref name=Henricks36>Henricks, p. 36.</ref>

During World War II, Main used her stage and film notoriety to help promote the sale of war bonds for the U.S. War Department. In December 1942, she returned for a visit to central Indiana, where she helped in the sale of more than $500,000 in war bonds.<ref name=Smith170/>

File:Marjorie Main in Meet Me in St Louis trailer.jpg

Marjorie Main in the trailer for Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

In the mid-1940s, in an attempt to repeat the great success Wallace Beery had in teaming with Marie Dressler in the early 1930s, MGM cast Main opposite Beery in six more films, including Barnacle Bill (1941), Jackass Mail (1942), and Bad Bascomb (1946). She also played Sonora Cassidy, the chief cook, in The Harvey Girls (1946).<ref name=Henricks38>Henricks, p. 38.</ref>

File:MarjorieMain.jpg

Ma and Pa Kettle On Vacation (1953)

Main's best-known role was Ma Kettle in the Ma and Pa Kettle film series.<ref name=INPerspective/> She had renewed her contract with MGM for another seven years, which continued until the mid-1950s, when the studio lent her to Universal Pictures to play Ma Kettle for the first time in The Egg and I (1947), starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray. Main played opposite Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the film.<ref name=Henricks36/>

The two Kettle characters proved to be so popular among film audiences that Universal decided to do a series. Main portrayed the Ma Kettle character in nine Ma and Pa Kettle films between 1949 and 1957. Kilbride was her co-star in most of the films, but left after Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955), the seventh in the series.<ref name=Henricks36-37>Henricks, pp. 36–37.</ref> Main filmed The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) without Kilbride. Parker Fennelly played the Pa Kettle role opposite Main in the final film of the series, The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm (1957)<ref name=Henricks38>Henricks, p. 38.</ref> Each film grossed Universal about $3 million, which helped save the studio from a financial collapse. In addition to acting in the films, Main wrote some of the dialogue for her character and created her costumes and make-up.<ref name=Smith170/>

During this time, Main shuttled back and forth between Universal Studios and MGM. She appeared in several MGM musicals during the 1940s and early 1950s, including, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and The Belle of New York (1952). She played Mrs. Wrenley in the studio's all-star film It's a Big Country (1951). Main played her last roles for MGM as Mrs. Hittaway in The Long, Long Trailer (1954) and as Jane Dunstock in Rose Marie (1954). Main portrayed the widow Hudspeth in the hit film Friendly Persuasion (1956). Main's final film appearance was in her best-known role as Ma Kettle in The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm (1957)<ref name=Price/>

Radio and television appearances

On December 15, 1941, she was part of the cast of Norman Corwin's radio program We Hold These Truths.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> She also performed in The Goldbergs.Template:Citation needed

In 1958, Main appeared as a rugged frontierswoman Cassie Tanner in the episodes "The Cassie Tanner Story" and S1 E39 "The Sacramento Story" of the television series Wagon Train.

Later years

After her retirement from acting, Main lived a quiet, secluded life in Los Angeles. She became interested in spiritualism and the Moral Re-Armament movement.<ref name=Henricks38/>

Death and legacy

Main died of lung cancer on April 10, 1975, at the age of 85 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been admitted on April 3.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Main is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California, beside her husband, Doctor Stanley Krebs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Her name is listed on her headstone as Mrs. Mary Tomlinson Krebs, with her stage name of Marjorie Main underneath. Template:Cite book</ref>

Main, who is best known for playing "raucous, rough, and cantankerous women" on-screen, was characterized as "soft-spoken, shy," and "dignified" when she was off-screen.<ref name=Smith167/> Main became a popular character actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She appeared in diverse roles on the stage and in more than 80 films, including some that became classics, such as Dead End (1937), Dark Command (1940), The Shepherd of the Hills (1941), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and Friendly Persuasion (1956), but is best known for her Ma Kettle role in the Ma and Pa Kettle film series. The "cornball humor" of the Kettle films endured in television shows, such as The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, of the 1960s.<ref name=Henricks38/>

Theatre performances

Year	Play	Character	Notes
1916	Cheating Cheaters<ref name=Smith168/>		A touring show
1918	Yes or No <ref name=Smith168/>
1923	A House Divided <ref name=Smith168/>		Closed after one show
1927	The Wicked Age<ref name=Henricks35/>
1928	Salvation<ref name=Smith168/>
1928	Burlesque<ref name=Smith168/>
1930	Scarlet Sister Mary<ref name=Smith168/>
1931	Ebb Tide<ref name=Smith168/>
1932	Music in the Air<ref name=Smith168/>
1935	Jackson White<ref name=Smith168/>
1935	Dead End<ref name=Henricks35/>
1936	The Women<ref name=Smith169-70/>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1929	Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties	Statler Hotel Beauty	Short, Uncredited
1931	A House Divided<ref name=INPerspective/>	Woman at wedding	Uncredited
1932	Broken Lullaby	Frau Schmidt	Uncredited
1932	Hot Saturday	Gossip in Window	Uncredited
1933	New Deal Rhythm	Delegate from Arizona	Short, Uncredited
1933	Close Relations	Woman in Depot	Short, Uncredited
1934	Art Trouble	Woman Who Sits on Painting	Short, Uncredited
1934	Crime Without Passion<ref name=Smith168/>	Backstage Wardrobe Woman	Uncredited
1934	Music in the Air<ref name=Henricks35/>	Anna
1935	Naughty Marietta	Casquette Girl	Uncredited
1937	Love in a Bungalow	Miss Emma Bisbee
1937	Stella Dallas	Mrs. Martin
1937	Dead End<ref name=Henricks35/>	Mrs. Martin
1937	The Man Who Cried Wolf	Amelia Bradley
1937	The Wrong Road	Martha Foster
1937	Boy of the Streets	Mrs. Mary Brennan
1937	The Shadow	Hannah Gillespie
1938	City Girl	Mrs. Ward	Uncredited
1938	Penitentiary	Katie Matthews	Uncredited
1938	King of the Newsboys	Mrs. Stephens	Uncredited
1938	Test Pilot	Landlady
1938	Three Comrades	Old Woman by Phone	Uncredited
1938	Romance of the Limberlost	Nora
1938	Prison Farm	Matron Brand
1938	Little Tough Guy	Mrs. Boylan
1938	Under the Big Top	Sara Post
1938	Too Hot to Handle	Miss Kitty Wayne	Alternative title: Let 'Em All Talk
1938	Girls' School	Miss Honore Armstrong
1938	There Goes My Heart	Fireless Cooker Customer	Uncredited
1939	Lucky Night	Mrs. Briggs
1939	They Shall Have Music	Mrs. Miller
1939	The Angels Wash Their Faces	Mrs. Arkelian
1939	The Women<ref name=Smith170/>	Lucy, Dude Ranch Owner
1939	Another Thin Man	Mrs. Dolley, Landlady Chestevere Apartments
1939	Two Thoroughbreds	Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey
1940	I Take This Woman	Gertie
1940	Women Without Names	Matron Lowery
1940	Dark Command<ref name=Henricks38/>	Mrs. Cantrell, aka Mrs. Adams
1940	Turnabout	Nora, the cook
1940	Susan and God	Mary Maloney	Alternative title: The Gay Mrs. Trexel
1940	The Captain Is a Lady	Sarah May Willett
1940	Wyoming<ref name=INPerspective/>	Mehitabel
1941	The Wild Man of Borneo	Irma
1941	The Trial of Mary Dugan	Mrs. Collins
1941	Barnacle Bill	Marge Cavendish
1941	A Woman's Face	Emma Kristiansdotter
1941	The Shepherd of the Hills<ref name=Henricks38/>	Granny Becky
1941	Honky Tonk	Mrs. Varner
1942	The Bugle Sounds	Susie "Suz"
1942	We Were Dancing	Judge Sidney Hawkes
1942	The Affairs of Martha	Mrs. McKessic
1942	Jackass Mail	Clementine 'Tina' Tucker
1942	Tish	Letitia "Tish" Carberry
1942	Tennessee Johnson	Mrs. Maude Fisher	Alternative title: The Man on America's Conscience
1943	Heaven Can Wait	Mrs. Strable
1943	Johnny Come Lately	"Gashouse" Mary
1944	Rationing	Iris Tuttle
1944	Meet Me in St. Louis<ref name=Henricks38/>	Katie
1944	Gentle Annie	Annie Goss
1945	Murder, He Says	Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson
1946	The Harvey Girls<ref name=Henricks39>Henricks, p. 39.</ref>	Sonora Cassidy
1946	Bad Bascomb	Abbey Hanks
1946	Undercurrent	Lucy
1946	The Show-Off	Mrs. Fisher
1947	The Egg and I<ref name=Henricks36/>	Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle	Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress<ref name=Price/>
1947	The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap	Widow Hawkins	Alternative title: The Wistful Widow (An Abbott & Costello film)Template:Citation needed
1948	Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin''	Maribel Mathews
1949	Ma and Pa Kettle	Ma Kettle
1949	Big Jack	Flapjack Kate
1950	Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town	Ma Kettle
1950	Summer Stock	Esme	Alternative title: If You Feel Like Singing
1950	Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone	Harriet "Hattie" O'Malley	Alternative title: The Loco Motion
1951	Mr. Imperium	Mrs. Cabot	Alternative title: You Belong to My Heart
1951	Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm	Ma Kettle
1951	The Law and the Lady	Julia Wortin
1951	It's a Big Country	Mrs. Wrenley
1951	A Letter from a Soldier	Mrs. Wrenley	Short
1952	The Belle of New York	Mrs. Phineas Hill
1952	Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair	Ma Kettle
1953	Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation
1953	Fast Company	Ma Parkson
1954	The Long, Long Trailer	Mrs. Hittaway
1954	Rose Marie	Lady Jane Dunstock
1954	Ma and Pa Kettle at Home	Ma Kettle
1954	Ricochet Romance	Pansy Jones	Alternative title: The Matchmakers
1955	Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki<ref name=Henricks36-37/>	Ma Kettle
1956	The Kettles in the Ozarks<ref name=Henricks38/>
1956	Friendly Persuasion<ref name=Henricks38/>	The Widow Hudspeth	Nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
1957	The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm<ref name=Henricks38/>	Ma Kettle	final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	December Bride	Herself	Episode: "The Marjorie Main Show"
1958	Wagon Train	Cassie Tanner	2 episodes, (final appearance)

Further reading

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External links

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