R.I.P. Mari Lyn Henry

I was so sad to learn just now that my new friend Mari Lyn Henrypassed away last month. It was just about a year ago that I spent the loveliest time at Mari Lyn’s apartment listening to her stories and looking through all of her treasures, of which she was so proud. By treasures of course I refer to theatrical memorabilia: playbills, posters, books, signed photos, caricatures etc etc. I wrote up my account of our day together in this post. Subsequently her memories and materials enhanced (and in some cases inspired) my posts on Max Gordon, Marian Spitzer, George Middleton and Fola La Follette, Lillian Burkhart, Florence Walton, John Barrymore, Fred Niblo, and Chico Marx. When she was young, Mari Lyn was the assistant to Chico’s daughter Maxine, much as I was an assistant to Tony Bennett and his son Danny when I was younger, so we had that in common, an old school show biz apprenticeship. Mari Lyn’s materials will continue to enhance the blog over the coming months as I add them to my existing posts on Keenan Wynn, Fred Stone, Sarah Bernhardt, Will Rogers, and a new one on Maxine.

I should mention here that she was best known as co-author of the indispensable tome How To Be a Working Actor, which is undoubtedly on the shelves of many a Travalanche reader:

Mari Lyn had other numerous books in the works that she had been picking away at for decades, and had done some really valuable interviews with old time theatre greats as long ago as the 1970s. She acted on stage with Helen Hayes! We last corresponded about one of her book proposals in February. I was chomping at the bit to get her as a guest on the Marx Brothers Council Podcast to talk about Maxine, and was very much hoping to include her (along with others) on a panel discussion about melodrama and vaudeville, for few knew more than she about these topics. I knew she was in ill health — I wish I had done more to help her with her projects over this past year. I realize in retrospect that she must have had her own mortality on her mind. She was clearly eager to get her stuff out there, and I didn’t dance fast enough.

My thoughts today are with friend Romy Nordlinger who (re) introduced me to Mari Lyn (I met her the first time many years ago). It was Mari Lyn who suggested Alla Nazimova as a subject for Romy’s one woman show. I hope to God some worthy institution will take Mari Lyn’s materials — and that those books of hers get published, perhaps with a smart editor to close whatever gaps were left.

Alexis Greene’s obit for the League of Professional Theatre Women can be found here. And again, my account of my day with Mari Lyn and her treasure trove last July is here. Fare thee well to a generous, funny, smart, and caring lady.