LEST WE FORGET HELEN HAYES
(October 10, 1900 - March 17, 1993)

THE FIRST LADY OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE

She saw her first play, The Merry Widow, from the balcony of the National Theatre in Washington D.C. and has written that following the performance she clung to the seat and refused to leave, hoping that it would start over again.   For 80 years audiences clung to theirs after witnessing her brilliance on stage.

She made her first stage appearance impersonating "The Gibson Girl" at Washington's Belasco Theatre in a matinee of Jack the Giant Killer. She then joined the Columbian Players, a stock company at the Columbia Theatre where she portrayed Prince Charles in A Royal Family and later starred as  Little Lord Fauntleroy.

With her mother as chaperone she went to New York for producer Lew Fields. She made an immediate success appearing with him as "Little Mime" in Old Dutch, a musical which opened in 1909 at the Herald Square Theatre. A highlight was when she appeared with John Drew in The Prodigal Husband (Empire Theatre, 1914). She completed her schooling at the Sacred Heart Academy in D.C. and later toured for two years as Pollyanna. 

Between 1918 and 1928 she would act on Broadway.  Penrod and
J. M. Barrie's Dear Brutus were successful. Acting with Alfred Lunt in Clarence had to be a thrill but most of the roles were the sweet if impish darling in light romantic comedies, some tailored to her ability. She embodied the carefree "twenties" vivacious spirit and impressed reviewers and the public for the gallery of "cute" sweethearts and charming flappers she created.

Some friends and critics began to question whether she could play characters with more substance. Urged by popular actresses Ina Claire and Ruth Chatterton, she studied voice and technique with Frances Robinson Duff and later
Constance Collier. She added grace to her movement with interpretive dance, fencing and boxing lessons. She was then far more prepared to tackle Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (1924) and Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1925). She starred as Maggie Wylie in J. M. Barrie's What Every Woman Knows (later she was also in the film version).  She began a three year run in 1927 as Norma Besant, the doomed flapper in Coquette on Broadway and on tour.

CHARLES MACARTHUR
"Charlie" MacArthur was established as a well-known newspaperman, playwright and screenwriter, popular in Manhattan literary and artistic circles. He was the great love, challenge and inspiration of her life. Surviving the stresses of their careers (hers, continually successful; his erratic and sometimes unstable) their marriage lasted until his death in 1956.  An apocryphal tale about his courtship was that at a party he offered her some peanuts and said 'I wish they were emeralds."

Victoria Regina cover

This picture (left) is Helen and Charles eating a 'birthday' breakfast  in Hollywood.
It was chosen as the invitation cover for her Birthday Gala, celebrating her 92nd birthday in 1992 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington  D.C.

They had two children, Mary, an aspiring actress, who died suddenly of polio in 1949, a loss from which Helen never fully recovered. They adopted James Gordon MacArthur in 1937 who had a successful career in TV and film.
After a season of portraying Mary Stuart in
Mary of Scotland in New York and on tour,
she starred as Queen Victoria in Victoria Regina at the Broadhurst Theatre in 1935, which proved to be the greatest triumph of her stage career.  The Drama League of New York awarded her the medal for the most distinguished performance of the season. She dazzled Broadway for two seasons and toured for two more.  Producer Gilbert Miller estimated that two million people saw her in the play.

In 1946 she starred as Addie in Anita Loos's comedy, Happy Birthday, directed by Joshua Logan at the Broadhurst Theatre. For her role, she won her first Tony Award.  She then appeared in Joshua Logan's adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, set in the American south and called
The Wisteria Trees.   

In 1955 she was on the cover of the playbill for the National Theatre's production of Inherit the Wind starring Paul Muni with a special Hirschfeld cover celebrating her Golden Anniversary.

After her roles in Mrs. McThing, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Glass Menagerie, Time Remembered (her second Tony award) and
A Touch of the Poet with Kim Stanley, she was invited to appear at the White House where in 1964 she gave a program of First Ladies. She also established a Helen Hayes Repertory Company with which she toured for several season and under Department of State auspices.
     She announced her stage farewell in 1969 but was persuaded to continue acting which she did in Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht's  play The Front Page as Mrs.Grant.  She starred as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night at the Hartke Theatre on the Catholic University campus in Washington, D.C. Her allergic reaction to stage dust caused her to leave the stage forever.
       However, she had appeared in many films since 1910 and won an Oscar as best actress for her performance in the screenplay The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1934) written by MacArthur. Her second Oscar for supporting actress in Airport (1970) and other films and TV programs kept her away from the dust.
     So many honors were bestowed on her including honorary doctorates, the Medal of the City of New York, the Medal of Arts of Finland, the Sarah Siddons Award. The Helen Hayes Theatre, named in her honor in 1955, was demolished in 1982 to build a hotel complex, but another New York theatre now on W. 44th St. next door to Sardi's was quickly rechristened with her name.
  In 1988 she presented the Helen Hayes Awards honoring outstanding achievement in the professional theatre in Washington D.C.    She also was one of twelve recipients of the annual National Medal of Arts award presented by President Ronald Reagan for artistic excellence.

 GOOD MORNING , MISS DOVE A PLAY AT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY TO RAISE MONEY FOR A NEW THEATRE
JANUARY, 1964.  

I had the privilege as a first year graduate student at C.U.A. to be cast as the younger Miss Dove and perform with Ms. Hayes.  She was the kindest, most generous, professional, honest and spiritual person. As a devout Catholic she had met Father Gilbert V. Hartke and she had a huge "crush" on him as we all did. He was charismatic and unforgettable.  She stayed at a girls dorm on campus and all the bouquets of flowers sent to her were soon forwarded to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to adorn the altars.  All of us were in awe of her but her personality and humility and humor engaged us.

This production still from the play shows her warmth and beauty and helped the novice behind her.

Father Hartke in his Dominican robes with the playwright and Ms. Hayes

She wrote me a few letters after we appeared in the play and in one of them she wrote what I consider the essence of her beliefs: "I am a firm believer in people who have reached a position of leadership being trusted!"  Talent she defined as "an instinct for understanding the human heart. We have either been given this gift or developed the gift of much more understanding than is good for us.  Acting in the theatre is the most direct and effective approach to emotions that has ever been devised."

Reference:  Notable Women in American Theatre 1989    Donn B. Murphy
Playbill covers, Henry Collection