author
Margaret Mayo
1882–1951
An early 20th-century American playwright, actress, and screenwriter, she made her mark with lively stage comedies and later worked in the film world as movies were finding their voice. Her career moved easily between Broadway, Hollywood, and wartime entertainment work.
2 Audiobooks
Baby Mine
by Margaret Mayo
Polly of the Circus
by Margaret Mayo
About the author
Born Lillian Elizabeth Slatten in Illinois in 1882, she became known professionally as Margaret Mayo. She first worked as an actress, then built a strong reputation as a playwright, especially for light comedies and popular stage pieces that reached wide audiences.
Her writing career connected closely with the changing entertainment world of the early 1900s. In addition to her success in the theater, she wrote for film and was associated with Goldwyn Pictures, showing how comfortably she moved between stage and screen at a time when both industries were rapidly growing.
She died in Ossining, New York, in 1951. Today she is remembered as a versatile figure in American entertainment history: an actor, dramatist, and screenwriter whose work reflects the fast-moving, ambitious spirit of the era.