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Margaret Mayo was born under the name Lillian Elizabeth Slatten on November 19, 1882 to Warren Slatten and Elizabeth Slatten. She died on February 25, 1951. She was raised on a midwestern farm near Brownsville, Illinois. Later she was educated at the Girl’s College in Fox Lake, Wisconsin, the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Salem, Oregon, and Standford University. In her teen years she traveled to New York City to pursue her acting career and that is where she got her stage name Margaret Mayo. She worked as many things, an adapter, film actress, and film company founding partner, playwright, theatre actress, and a writer. In 1901, she married her husband Edgar Selwyn who was a fellow actor. Until about 1917 Margaret averages about a play per year.

Early life

When she moved to New York City in her early teens she won a small part in a play named Thoroughbred at the Garrick Theatre in, 1896. Mayo continued her acting career until 1903. She ended up meeting her husband a few years prior to this in 1896. They were both acting in William Gillette’s play Secret Service. The same year she married is when she began her writing career. She began her writing with, Ouida's novel Under Two Flags. She then wrote adaptations of The Marriage of William Ashe in 1905 and The Jungle in 1907. Regardless, Margaret is best known as the author of more original plays such as Polly of the Circus also in 1907, Baby Mine in 1910 and Twin Beds 1914.

Career

From 1903 Margaret had a variety of jobs that she was in charge of. To her credit she won a commonly publicized contest by writing a four –act play in only twenty-four hours entitled, the Mart. One of her most famous plays is named Baby Mine. She wrote this in 1910 about a wife who was trying to win back her late husband by pretending her orphan baby was her own. This play was produced at a place named Daly's Theatre. It ran for up to 287 performances. Not only was it done in English, but it was also translated in four other languages and performed around the world. A few of her other plays are entitled, Commencement Days, Crippled Hearts, and Twin Beds. Her work utilized parody and satire to talk about social issues. She believed in her writing that a way to keep the audience is to startle them. In 1917, Margaret became head of the scenario department of Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. She did not stay at in this position for very long. After a year she left to go over seas and entertain the troops. Her work there was finished when the war ended, but recreations of it took place later on.

A shock to the entertainment industry happened in 1919 when Mayo and Selwyn divorced one another. This was a major shock to the entertainment industry because they had collaborated on so many things together. After her divorce she legally changed her name to Elizabeth Mayo and moved to New York and lived with her mother. In 1926, she signed the Agreement of American Dramatists. This was a document that led to the foundation of the Dramatists Guild. Aside from this Mayo became very active in the community and selling real estate with Hudson valley real estate. During this time she sometimes wrote and sent in plays. As she got older she began to write about the spiritual world. Mayo wrote a play named, Women’s World in which she credited it to the spirit world. Furthermore, she invented products, prototypes, and was interested in animal welfare.

Place of death

Margaret Mayo the American actress and playwright and screenwriter died in Ossining, New York. She is buried in St. Francis of Assisi Cemetery, Mt. Kisko, New York.