The Mary McCarty Centennial

And by this we do NOT mean the nemesis of Lillian Hellman and the author of The Group. That’s Mary McCARTHY.

Mary McCarty (1923-80) was a workhorse of stage and screen for over 50 years — and this was a woman who passed away at the age of 56 years old. This McCarty was born in Winfield, Kansas but moved to Los Angeles as a young child when her parents split up. She was already performing on stage professionally by the time she was five in vaudeville, movie prologues and such, singing, dancing, and otherwise cutting up, being called by Billboard an “Ethel Merman to be”. She is credited as appearing in the Vitaphone short Bubbles (1930) with the Gumm Sisters,Marjorie Kane, and the Vitaphone Kiddies, as well as the 1934 musical Dames. She’s in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) with Shirley Temple, Keep Smiling (1938) with Gracie Fields, The Ice Capades Revue (1942), The Fight Sullivans (1945), and Hit Parade of 1947, among other films.

In 1948 McCarty very intelligently went East to appear on Broadway and in television variety. On stage she was in Sleepy Hollow (1948) featuring Gil Lamb as Ichabod Crane in Irving’s classic tale,Small Wonder (1948) with Jack Cassidy,Miss Liberty (1949-50) with Eddie Albert and Herbert Berghof (she later taught at his HB Studios), and Bless You All (1950) with Pearl Bailey, Jules Munshin, and Gene Barry. Throughout the same period she was a regular on The Admiral Broadway Revue with Sid Caesar, and could also be seen on The Ed Sullivan Show,The Milton Berle Show, The Arthur Murray Party,The Red Skelton Hour,Colgate Comedy Hour, et al.

After this McCarty bounced back and forth among various platforms and media for the next quarter century. She entertained in night clubs. She was in the movies Pillow Talk (1959) and Babes in Toyland (1961, as Mother Goose). She was on Mama Cass’s 1973 TV special Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore. On Broadway she was in the original productions of Follies (1971-72) and Chicago (1975-77). She was nominated for a Tony in the 1977 revival of Anna Christie. She was in the movie Somebody Killer Her Husband (1978). She possibly attained her greatest fame as Nurse “Starch” Willoughy in the first season of Trapper John M.D. (1979-80).

But then tragedy struck. She was found dead at age 56, prior to Trapper John‘s second season. An autopsy conducted at the time was inconclusive as to cause of death; the results of a toxicology report have never been publicly revealed. McCarty was survived by her longtime companion, actress Margaret Lindsay.

For more on show business history past and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,