499:. Paramount gave Eaton the starring role of an ambitious shopgirl who goes into show business and fights her way to the top, with little regard for her friends and colleagues. Eaton's singing and dancing routines, including her signature pirouette sequence, were featured, but they couldn't overcome her limited screen personality. Her speaking voice on film was a carefully affected, high-pitched twitter that enunciated dialogue carefully, probably a remnant of her stage training. Her actual speaking voice, without the affectation and in a lower, more realistic range, can be heard briefly in
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ended, in 1912, the three Eaton sisters and their younger brother Joe began appearing in various plays and melodramas for the Poli stock company. They quickly gained reputations as professional, reliable, and versatile actors, and were rarely out of work. A 1914 newspaper article described Mary Eaton
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Many of the Eaton siblings, including Mary, found their careers waning in the early 1930s. She made her final stage appearance in 1932. Beset by career woes and three consecutive difficult marriages, Eaton struggled with alcoholism. Although her siblings tried to intervene on numerous occasions, and
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to bolster it. After a terrible preview, Paramount actually sneaked the film out in late 1929 to smaller towns, hoping to attract curious audiences with
Broadway luster, and avoiding a New York premiere until early 1930. Critics panned it and audiences stayed away. The film's commercial failure
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for Poli; Doris and Mary were given the starring roles of Mytyl and Tytyl. The siblings then were invited to reprise their roles for a New York and road tour of the play, produced by the
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309:(January 29, 1901 – October 10, 1948) was an American stage actress, singer, and dancer in the 1910s and 1920s, probably best known today from her appearance in the first
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Of all of the Eatons, Mary was perhaps the most famous and the most popular. An exceptionally talented dancer, she earned raves in a production of
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487:, and might have gone on to play similar featured roles in early talkies. Instead, Paramount decided to build a major feature film around her.
495:(1929) was to be a spectacular, all-talking extravaganza worthy of Ziegfeld (who receives screen credit), with musical pageants filmed in
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in
Washington, D.C. While Eaton had a minor role in the show, it marked the beginning of her career in professional theatre.
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Eaton, a native of
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319:(1929). A professional performer since childhood, she enjoyed success in stage productions such as the
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she entered rehabilitation programs several times, she was unable to overcome her alcohol addiction.
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Eaton also had a brief film career, appearing in two important early sound movies that were filmed at
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as "the newest and littlest member of the company", adding that she had "admirable poise and grace."
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Hollywood
Bohemians: Transgressive Sexuality and the Selling of the Movieland Dream
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532:) in the summer of 1929. At the time of her death she was married to actor
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In 1916, she made her
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910:. Oregon, Roseburg. Associated Press. October 14, 1948. p. 8
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Eaton died at age 47 in
Hollywood, California of a heart attack.
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groomed Mary Eaton as the successor to his star attraction
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In 1915, all three sisters appeared in a new production of
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331:(1929). Her career declined sharply during the 1930s.
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56:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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753:. D.C, Washington. February 17, 1914. p. 7
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731:"Mary Eaton Wed Here to Long-Time Admirer".
528:Eaton married Millard Webb (her director of
325:. She appeared in another early sound film,
819:. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 572.
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904:"Famous Danseuse Of Ziegfeld Follies Dies"
435:She was featured in three editions of the
296: 1944–1948)
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116:Learn how and when to remove this message
850:, Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 189.
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516:abruptly halted Eaton's screen career.
247: 1929; died 1935)
19:For other people named Mary Eaton, see
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790:. The Broadway League. Archived from
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483:(1929), the first film starring the
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692:Charles Eaton (American actor)
663:Uncredited, (final film role)
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636:Glorifying the American Girl
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501:Glorifying the American Girl
492:Glorifying the American Girl
471:Paramount's New York studios
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409:in Washington, DC in 1917.
21:Mary Eaton (disambiguation)
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964:Internet Broadway Database
788:Internet Broadway Database
602:A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic
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875:. McFarland. p. 89.
869:Abrams, Brett L. (2008).
591:Herself, cameo appearance
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1007:American stage actresses
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813:Slide, Anthony (2012).
707:The Seven Little Eatons
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453:. Broadway impresario
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938:Travis, Doris Eaton.
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340:Early life and career
217:1916–1932; 1942
393:Professional theatre
270: 1937;
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846:Barrios, Richard.
586:Broadway After Dark
354:Maurice Maeterlinck
940:The Days We Danced
848:A Song in the Dark
697:Doris Eaton Travis
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188:, California, U.S.
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1057:Eaton family
987:Find a Grave
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830:. Retrieved
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792:the original
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784:"Mary Eaton"
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624:Polly Potter
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48:Please help
43:verification
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1037:1948 deaths
1032:1901 births
702:Pearl Eaton
543:Filmography
513:Rudy Vallée
497:Technicolor
465:Film career
996:Categories
983:Mary Eaton
974:Mary Eaton
960:Mary Eaton
718:References
447:pirouettes
307:Mary Eaton
159:1901-01-29
153:Mary Eaton
134:Mary Eaton
106:April 2015
76:newspapers
914:March 11,
888:March 12,
832:March 12,
798:March 12,
757:March 11,
451:en pointe
414:Follow Me
335:Biography
186:Hollywood
747:"Poli's"
670:See also
574:Mercedes
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661:British
606:Herself
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407:Intime
369:After
313:film,
206:dancer
203:singer
169:, U.S.
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550:Year
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346:Doris
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83:books
978:IMDb
944:ISBN
916:2018
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877:ISBN
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800:2018
759:2018
648:1942
631:1929
614:1929
598:1929
581:1924
564:1923
428:and
426:Fred
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149:Born
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