Mayo, Margaret

(1882-1951)

   Born Lilian Slatten on a farm near Brownsville, Illinois, she left home at 16 to escape an unwelcome suitor. In New York City, she drifted into acting, taking her stage name and performing mostly on tour. In 1901, the petite blond character actress married the tall, handsome actor Edgar Selwyn, with whom she appeared in Arizona. After 1903, she devoted herself entirely to playwriting and won considerable success with Polly of the Circus (1907), Baby Mine (1911), and Twin Beds (1914). She and Selwyn collaborated on the book for a musical, The Wall Street Girl (1912). During World War I, she headed a unit of the Over There League to entertain American troops in France. She and Sel-wyn divorced in 1919. Mayo retired to Harmon-on-the-Hudson, New York, and became active in social causes.