Today we have another one of my favorites, Madge Evans, one of the most agreeable leading ladies on the MGM lot during the early 1930s. Madge Evans was born on July 1, 1909 in New York City. Although she was a leading lady of talkies, her career started much earlier than that. She worked as a child star where she was the face of Fairy Soap and she also worked on Broadway and in films as a child actress during the silent era. Her films of the time include The Power and the Glory (1918) and a short of Heidi (1920) where she was the title character. Her last silent film was Classmates (1924) with Richard Barthlemess. She built her craft on the stage with plays like “The Marquise” by Noel Coward with Billie Burke and Reginald Owen and “Our Betters” by Somerset Maugham with Ina Claire and Constance Collier. By now, Evans was full-grown and looked appealing. She returned to films with a few shorts, finally making her first feature in seven years with Son of India (1931), this time as the leading lady of a huge star, Ramon Novarro.
MGM took a liking to this former child actress and decided to put her opposite every bankable leading man on the lot in the vein of what they were doing with Leila Hyams. Evans was lucky enough to get some interesting roles mixed in with some average good looking bland leading lady roles. She made Sporting Blood (1931), which is best known as Clark Gable’s first top-billed movie, but it was she who appeared opposite him in what would regrettably be their only pairing. She also made the exciting drama Guilty Hands (1931) with Lionel Barrymore and Kay Francis, who got the showier roles compared to Evans, who was just there to complement them. She also had to take the average role in West of Broadway (1931) where Lois Moran got all the snappy dialogue and scenes and romanced John Gilbert, the lucky girl. Evans also worked away from MGM for Heartbreak (1931) with Charles Farrell and Samuel Goldwyn’s The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932) with Ina Claire, David Manners, and the vivacious Joan Blondell.
By her next year, MGM began handing her more parts with substance although she had to work opposite leading men who the audience came to see. In Lovers Courageous (1932) she made a lovely couple with Robert Montgomery in the first of several films together and in Huddle and Fast Life (1932) she worked with Ramon Novarro and William Haines. In one she wasn’t in much and was there to be pretty with a handsome leading man while in the other she got to have some spats and pre-code moments with Haines. Evans and Haines appeared together again in a more serious picture Are You Listening? (1932), but the film was stolen by Anita Page in a supporting role.
Evans got to work with living legend Al Jolson in the smart, delightful picture Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (1933) where she plays a socialite who has amnesia and falls for Jolson, playing a bum. There’s quite a risqué moment where Jolson saves Evans from drowning and suggests that she remove her wet clothes, to which she responds by parading around naked in front of him (but not the camera). She had casual leading lady roles in such pictures as Hell Below, Made on Broadway (both with Robert Montgomery), The Mayor of Hell, and Broadway to Hollywood (all 1933). She was Lee Tracy’s leading lady in The Nuisance (1933) where the two shared some charming intimate moments, but she didn’t get to participate in his scene-stealing fast talking. She made the rarely seen Beauty for Sale (1933) that was a Madge Evans film through-and-through with an impressive cast that unfortunately doesn’t get properly released. She finally got a chance to branch out and play a bitch for Day of Reckoning (1933) and she proved to do a fine job. She plays the wife of Richard Dix, who has an affair while he’s away in prison for something he didn’t do. That same year she made what is probably her best known picture, Dinner at Eight (1933), but her role wasn’t as showy as Harlow or Barrymore or, again, Tracy’s and her character can come off as spoiled rather than compelling, but always lovely to see.
Evans had thrived in the pre-code genre, but by 1934 her films began to dwindle in their content and her parts grew more average. For the next few years it was really only standard leading lady roles and an occasional great picture. She worked with Warner Baxter in Stand Up and Cheer (1934) where the film is really remembered for James Dunn and Shirley Temple performing ‘Baby Take a Bow’. She had a more showy role in a prestigious film What Every Woman Knows (1934) with Helen Hayes and Brian Aherne where she got to be glamorous but Hayes got all the good scenes. There was the outstanding David Copperfield (1935) where Evans was perfectly cast as Agnes, but it’s in Agnes’s blood to be complimentary and not intrusive like so many Evans roles before. Evans and Robert Montgomery worked together again for the funny comedy Piccadilly Jim (1936) where Evans got to participate in some of the comedy and appeared in more of the film than the average leading lady would. She also made the memorable Pennies from Heaven (1936) with Bing Crosby, but the female role to be envied went to young Edith Fellows. Evans finished her film career with some pleasant ordinary pictures before retiring in 1938, only appearing in television in the ‘50s and one play in the ‘40s. The play, “The Patriots” was written by her husband, playwright Sidney Kingsley of “Dead End” fame, who she married in 1939. The marriage lasted until her death on April 26, 1981. Like other leading ladies of the agreeable breed, she only made films for a short period of time and most of them were average star vehicles, but she always managed to give the leading lady part more charm and merit than intended.
~Bianca
The Tinseltown Twins 