Miles McCarthy: The Race Tout’s Dream

Toronto born Miles McCarthy (1874-1928) divided his time between the legit theatre, vaudeville and silent film.

Educated at McGill University, McCarthy’s one Broadway credit is The Goddess of Liberty (1909-10). He also appeared in productions of The Pearl of Pekin, The Hole in the Ground, and Dream House of Ireland. In vaudeville he was best known for a sketch called “The Race Tout’s Dream”, which he had appeared in at Tony Pastor’s as early as 1907. He eventually became a headliner on the big time Orpheum circuit.  After 1911 Mccarthy continued to tour vaudeville in between movie roles. In films he was sometimes billed with the spelling “Myles McCarthy”. Selig’sThe Warrant (1911) was his screen debut. Other studios he worked for included Vitagraph, Thanhouser,Gaumont and Eagle. Of his two dozen other screen appearances, the best known films may be The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln and the first screen adaptation of Captain Blood, both 1924. His last film was The Racing Fool (1927). A heart attack took him at the young age of 54 a year later.

To learn more about vaudeville, please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and for more on silent film, please read Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube