Producer Joe Schenck and Mary Maguire at a Los Angeles Turf Club Ball in June 1938. A publicity photograph that also hints at all that could go wrong in Hollywood. There has been plenty of speculation regarding Schenck’s relationship with other young actresses, but the exact nature of this relationship remains unknown.^[1]5 months later, Schenck appeared in a similar photo at the races, squiring Hedy Lamarr Associated Press Photo in the author’s collection.

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The 5 Second version
There are numerous stories of starlets in Hollywood’s Golden Age whose careers were as much the result of parental hopes and dreams as their own, and this is another. Mary Maguire was born Ellen Theresa Maguire in Melbourne Australia in 1919. Her fame as Mary Maguire was extraordinary, and the publicity generated about her has tended to overshadow her indifferent performances in disappointing films in Australia and the US. Today she is also famous for a short-lived marriage to a much older British fascist sympathiser in 1939-1944.
She redeemed herself in several later British films, but by the age of only 23 her career was over. She returned to the US with a new husband after World War II but could not resurrect her career. Deep unhappiness marred her later life and she died aged only 55, a result of a acute alcoholism.

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Born in Melbourne, Australia, on February 22, 1919, Ellen Theresa Maguire was the second of five daughters parented by publicans Michael “Mick” Maguire and Mary Jane “Bina” nee Carrol. But in childhood she was known to all as Peggy, later adopting the name Mary. ^[2]Source: Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages, Document ID 5295/1919. However in many accounts her birth name is incorrectly given as Helene.

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Mick and Bina’s own upbringing is central to the story of their film star daughter, and their four other daughters. Mick Maguire was born and bred in the working class suburb of Richmond.^[3]Born 6 June 1894 – Victorian Birth Certificate 15293/1894 Mick excelled at sports – becoming a very young player for Richmond Football Club at the age of 16, and dabbling in boxing in 1912-1915, with mixed success. In later life, Mick was to claim he was the Australian football code’s youngest ever player, and still later, that he had been Welterweight boxing champion of Australia. Neither claim was true. Mick also later claimed – incorrectly – that he had served in World War One.^[4]A Maguire relative once told the author Mick was known through the extended family as a “blowhard.”

Mary Jane Carroll was four and a half years older than Mick.^[5]Born 20 Dec 1889 – Victorian Birth Certificate 5084/1890 She had been born into a struggling farming family in the Wimmera region of Victoria. Her Irish mother and father gave up the herculean task of trying to make a farm pay and took up work with the Victorian Railways. In time, “Bina”^[6]the origins of her family nickname now being forgotten would suggest she was also of Irish birth – perhaps she felt it preferable to admitting to her new, swell, friends in London that she had once lived a childhood in the remote Australian bush. In the early twentieth century almost all of her extended family had become hoteliers, as did she and Mick – an assured way to make money in the difficult times between the two wars.

Mick and Bina were both great self – promoters; as a few who knew them recalled in later life. On Bina’s passing in 1963, one old friend told a Brisbane paper – “she was a great contact woman and admitted quite frankly that she cultivated the ‘right’ people because that was the thing most likely to advance her daughter’s interests.”^[7]Unidentified newspaper article, dated 24 June 1963. “Five Little Marrying Maguires” by Joyce Stirling. Likely to be The Courier Mail. Courtesy Loreto Convent Brisbane In 1940, one of Mick’s old drinking mates, Truth journalist Jim Donald, recalled Bina as “a sparkling and radiant personality in any class of company.” It was under her direction that “the family fortunes prospered.”^[8]Truth (Syd) 14 July 1940, P18

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In the 1910s and early 1920s, Mick and Bina held the licences to a series of increasingly important central city hotels in Melbourne – the Bull and Mouth, the Melbourne Hotel, the Metropol before moving to Brisbane to run that city’s premier hotel, The Bellevue in 1933. It was Bina who held the licence at the Bellevue^[9]The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 11 Jan 1940, P1 and there that she built her reputation as a society hostess – hosting film-star Jocelyn Howarth at afternoon tea^[10]The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 9 Nov 1933, P18, fussing about the visiting English cricket team^[11]The Courier Mail (Brisbane) Feb 17, 1933 and running charity events attended by the state governor.^[12]The Courier Mail (Brisbane) Nov 2 1933

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Peggy,^[13]who at this time was still known by her pet name appeared in her first film in 1933. This was a small bit part in Pat Hanna’s Diggers in Blighty, filmed in Melbourne. It was a background non-speaking role as a clerk, where she giggles at the soldier antics of Hanna, Joe Valli and George Moon. How did a 14 year old get the role? Although she had some experience in pantomime in Melbourne,^[14]The Argus (Melb) 21 June 1930 it’s almost certain that the ever affable Maguires used their connections to get their daughter a break doing something she loved. In 1934, based largely on her looks and an ability to do a Irish accent of sorts – apparently her party piece – pioneer director Charles Chauvel cast Peggy as Biddy O’Shea, an Irish immigrant girl, in his panorama of Australian history Heritage.^[15]The Courier Mail (Qld) 16 June 1934, P10

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Peggy’s breakthrough role came on the heels of Heritage. Miles Mander, a British actor and director was hired by an Australian syndicate to make a movie, based very loosely on the 1934 novel The Flying Doctor, by Robert Waldron. Peggy won the part of Jenny Rutherford, with Hollywood actor Charles Farrell imported for the lead. In January 1935 she announced she was now calling herself Mary – a name more suited to a sophisticated film star. Today, the rarely seen finished product looks unconvincing and old-fashioned. Even in 1936 it attracted mixed reviews – The Sydney Morning Herald tried to be positive, but the reviewer complained about much, including the film’s endless scenes of “local colour… what amounts to tourist propaganda.” ^[17]The Sydney Morning Herald 21 Sep 1936, P4 The cameo appearance of Don Bradman delighted and annoyed reviewers in equal numbers.^[18]Photos and posters from The Flying Doctor can be found here at The Ozmovie site

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Whatever the reviewers said, the Maguires were immensely satisfied and the decision was made to pursue Mary’s acting career. Miles Mander had also been very encouraging – and assured them Hollywood was the place to go. Mick was to accompany Mary to the US as her personal manager, probably intent on bulldozing a path through any obstacles and clearly confident that he could make things happen as successfully as he had in Melbourne and Brisbane. There must have been discussions about the rest of the family following soon after, especially if, as expected, Mary made a go of it in Hollywood. Australian newspapers were delighted to report another young Australian seemed about to succeed in the US. 17 year old Mary was understandably apprehensive.^[19]The Courier Mail (Bris) Aug 17, 1936, P25

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Mary ^[21]or more correctly her father, as she was underage signed a contract with Warner Brothers soon after arriving in the US in August 1936, and over the next year she appeared in four films for the company. One was a small role in a main feature film, Confession, a vehicle for leading star Kay Francis. Her three other films were cinema program fillers, all produced by Brian Foy’s “B-film” unit, all running to less that 60 minutes, and all constructed around scripts that were not particularly original, being churned out in a matter of weeks.

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Even in 1937, these Warner Brothers B-films; That Man’s Here Again, Alcatraz Island and Sergeant Murphy, were underwhelming. Mary’s roles were limited and perhaps, as a few unkind reviewers noted, she just wasn’t as good as some of the others chasing acting careers at the time.^[23]Warner Brothers out-take compilations, which include very short clips from some of these films, can be found here in  Breakdowns of 1937 – see Mary briefly at 4:05 … Continue reading The film she made with Ronald Reagan, Sergeant Murphy, is perhaps the easiest of her B-films to find in specialist collections. Not withstanding the claims made since; there is not a shred of contemporary evidence she had an affair with Reagan during the making of the film.

By July 1937, the whole of the Maguire family were finally reunited in Hollywood. The license of the Bellevue had been sold and Bina had packed up the oldest girls for the voyage across the Pacific. It was timely, because Mary was recovering from a “nervous breakdown” – one of several she suffered while in the US. Older sister Patsy commented, perhaps a little unhelpfully; “You know, I think she was just lonely. When we arrived on Saturday she was so jittery she could scarcely speak. Now she’s a different person… You see, we’ve always been together and although dad has been marvellous, I think Mary has really missed us.” ^[24]The Mail (Adelaide) 10 Jul 1937, P2

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With the assistance of studio public relations, Mary’s star seemed to be on the rise and she was enjoying extraordinary publicity, given her modest film output.^[25]Back home the press described her as “Australia’s Mark Pickford” and “Australia’s Sweetheart.” Bina dutifully passed on everything she said and did to the Australian press, with a smattering of commentary. And at age 18, Mary was meeting all the people she had read about or watched on the screen, only a few years before. Some were extremely powerful figures – including millionaire racehorse owner Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II, newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst and his partner Marion Davies, and the head of Twentieth Century Fox, Joe Schenck. Despite all this exciting socialising, her closest real friend seems to have been fellow Warner’s actress Jane Bryan, who was about the same age and was also being groomed for ingénue parts.

Regarding her career, Mary dutifully wheeled out the same old story about her start to acting that others gave, including Australians like Jocelyn Howarth (now known as Constance Worth). This was that she had been offered work while on a casual visit to a studio, while she was really on her way somewhere else, like New York. It was nonsense of course. This story fitted in very nicely with the fantasy of the easy pathway to stardom regularly peddled in film fan magazines.^[26]Presumably this story was courtesy a studio publicity department Mary went on to acknowledge that she had been acting on the screen in Australia  – “since the age of twelve.”^[27]Mary said this when interviewed by US journalist Harrison Carroll. Forecasting 1938. Broadcast by CBS on 1 Jan,1938. Library of Congress. Call Number RGA 6202 LC control no :00584434.

In late 1937 Mary declined a role in another B picture, Mystery House, and was promptly laid off by Warner Brothers, as the contract allowed. This generated more publicity, as was obviously intended – Mary was “on strike!” Australian papers reported. Her star was at its zenith by this time, and she (and almost certainly her parents) clearly believed she could bargain her way into better roles. In early April 1938 Mary obtained a new contract with Twentieth Century Fox, doubtless through her new friendship with the 62-year-old Joe Schenck – they had attended the 10th Annual Academy awards together. Gossip columnists speculated that a wedding might be imminent. Bina apparently joined in with the gossip.

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Following a role in Fox’s Mysterious Mr Moto,  with Peter Lorre as the Japanese detective ^[31]the absurdity of Lorre, a Jewish émigré from fascist Europe playing a Japanese detective, who often disguises himself as a person of another ethnicity, in this case a German, could not have been … Continue reading she suddenly departed for Britain with her mother. Soon after arrival in London she gave a lengthy interview to journalist Mary St Claire. Her comments suggest she had very consciously taken on Warner Bros over the types of roles she was given. It was easy to “get a part in a film if you take anything given to you”, but she wanted parts where she could “express her own individuality.”^[32]The Australian Women’s Weekly, 28 May 1938, P4

Her assignment was to appear in a Fox musical called Keep Smiling (later changed to Smiling Along) with Gracie Fields in the lead. In mid July, Joe Schenck travelled to London, officially for work, staying at Claridge’s hotel, not far from her apartment. We know nothing of the outcome of any meeting they had, except we do know that Fox dropped Mary’s contract in September 1938 and Schenck took no further interest in her or her career. It suggests a really serious “falling out.” It is easy to speculate that Schenck was expecting more than a friendly relationship with Mary, but there is no evidence – not even hints – to assist us.

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After Smiling Along, Mary settled into British filmmaking, and with Bina’s supportive presence and a comfortable flat in Hayes Mews in Mayfair. Mary’s first film for the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) was The Outsider, a remake. Mary received top billing with leading male player George Sanders, who played the charismatic but self-absorbed medico. Sanders’ role is Anton Ragatzy, a slightly oily foreigner of some sort, the type that inhabited British films for decades. Mary plays Lalage Sturdee, a beautiful “crippled” musician, whom he finally cures with the aid of a device he has invented, a type of stretching machine. By the time this film had been made, the whole family had relocated to London.

Mary’s second film for ABPC was Black Eyes, which was another remake – this one of a 1935 French film. But even for the time, it was a dull story – preoccupied with notions of class and with a predictable storyline. A highlight was playing against Sydney actor John Wood.

The two young Australians in the scene shown above. Audio grab from Author’s copy.

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In May 1939 she began work on An Englishman’s Home (later titled Madmen of Europe in the US) for Aldwych films. The plot concerned an invasion of Britain (the threatening power is un-named, but clearly meant to be Germany) and starred Austrian-born Paul von Hernried, another refugee to Britain from fascism. It again featured John Wood, in what was to be his last film before returning to Australia.^[33]After his return to Australia in 1939, Wood joined the Army and was posted to Singapore. He was captured in early 1942. He spent the next four years working tirelessly to maintain morale through … Continue reading

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In early 1939, Mick and Bina took a lease on Villa Esterel near Cannes in the south of France, apparently oblivious to the rising political tensions in Europe. Explaining the Cannes sojourn in an interview in 1957, Bina said they had chosen it because “you simply have to meet the right people and at the right places.” As with the move from Melbourne to Brisbane, the motivation for travelling to Cannes appears to have been to advance opportunities for the girls, in this case, to find suitable husbands for them.^[35]The Courier Mail (Bris) July 11, 1957, P11

In one of the few publicly released photos of the Maguires in Cannes, Lupe and Carmel laze about on the Villa’s sunny front steps, while Bina, wearing sunglasses, stands ominously and proprietorially behind two of her girls.

About the time she was filming An Englishman’s Home, Mary became engaged to Robert Gordon Canning, a wealthy and decorated British World War One veteran. It was, she later admitted, a whirlwind romance. Known to his close friends as “Bobbie”, he was a former Captain in the 10^th Hussars and had earned the Military Cross for bravery in action at Arras in 1916. They were introduced to each other by Miles Mander, during a visit to England. At almost fifty-two, Bobbie was over thirty years Mary’s senior.

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What did Mary see in this man who was older than her father? At the time, Mary said, “Bobbie conforms to my idea of the ideal man … when I met Bobbie, nothing else mattered.” ^[37]The Australian Women’s Weekly 26 Aug 1939, P33 There was however, another dimension to Bobbie that would have made him less attractive to some, although it did not discourage the Maguires. Bobbie was an opinionated, active and influential fascist. From 1934 until mid-1938, he was a senior figure in the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and was close to BUF leader, Oswald Mosley, although he had split from the movement in 1938.

At the time of the engagement, Bobbie was quoted as saying that she was the first actor he met who “didn’t talk shop.” He apparently also disliked “bridge and golf-playing women.” “I am neither,” Mary pointed out.^[38]The Australian Women’s Weekly 26 Aug 1939, P33 The impending marriage was celebrated with a portrait of Mary by popular artist Vasco Lazzolo.

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Mary was wise enough to publicly disassociate herself from Gordon Canning’s political extremism and virulent anti-Semitism. “I was given my big chance in Hollywood, where there are many Jews. It would be both ungrateful and unkind of me to ally myself because of marriage with the Fascist Party… I have no fascist sympathies and do not intend to take part in my fiancee’s political life.”^[40]The Australian Women’s Weekly 29 Jul 1939, P28 She maintained the argument that she was not involved in his political activities, or at least, was largely ignorant of them, all her life. But looking back on the marriage in late 1944, she said of fascism; “I didn’t understand what it was all about.”^[41]Truth (Brisbane) 26 Nov 1944 P12

In July 1939, towards the end of filming An Englishman’s Home, Mary became ill again. What seemed to start as another cold ended up very seriously. Maxwell Chance, a highly regarded Mayfair doctor, diagnosed her with acute pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and immediately sent her to an exclusive nursing home to rest and “dry out.”  It was a shock, an embarrassment, and it put an end to her acting for the time being, as well as her social life. Of course, the family did not publicly report her condition as TB, but rather as fatigue from “overwork” or “lung trouble” from working in the cold. The condition explains why she was carried to her wedding in an invalid chair. Her treatment for TB included “collapse therapy” a revolutionary procedure designed to deflate and rest the infected lung, using oxygen introduced by a pneumothorax needle. Mary lay on her side to have the needle inserted between her ribs, a treatment that was repeated every few weeks. Antibiotic treatment for TB was still years away.

Only a few weeks after the wedding, Britain found itself at war again. Unfortunately, nothing had changed Bobbie’s anti-Semitic opinions or his admiration for aspects of the German model of National Socialism. As a former member of the BUF, he was already under close observation and MI5 had developed a significant file on him and all those he associated with. 

On Saturday 13 July, 1940, Bobbie was arrested and interned under the British government’s Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, Defence Regulation 18B.  Understandably, Mary, now at home, was shocked when police arrived at their London flat to arrest Bobbie (although she should have had some warning, as others like Mosley and his friend retired Admiral Barry Domvile had already been arrested). She was later to indignantly complain that the Police suspected her of being disloyal; with allegations made that she had “flashed signals to submarines lurking off (her home at) Sandwich.”^[42]Truth (Brisbane) 26 Nov 1944 P12

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Mary was well enough to escort Bobbie to the gates of Brixton prison, announcing that he had long since given up membership of “certain organisations.” A couple of weeks before he was interned, Mary had given Bobbie some good news. She was pregnant and was expecting early the following year. However, she was still continuing with her TB treatments. Her doctors feared the birth would be hazardous. On 3 February 1941, in the midst of the London Blitz, Mary gave birth to an eight-pound son. It was a difficult cesarean birth, aggravated by her weakness from the TB treatment and her petite size. Bobbie was briefly released from Brixton to attend to Mary and his new son.

It was Bina who passed on details of baby Michael’s birth, as she had after the wedding – for example that the birth had cost Bobbie £2,000. She then gave enthusiastic interviews to the press about the arrangements for the christening. “The baby will wear a christening robe made …from a beautiful old point lace robe which has been worn by his father’s mother, and has been in the Gordon Canning family for a hundred years.”^[44]The Sydney Morning Herald 6 Feb 1941, P14

The reality for Mary was very different. With her husband interned, treatment for TB still ongoing and a new baby to care for, Maxwell Chance wrote to Bobbie’s lawyer in August 1941. It was a medical opinion that might be used to support an appeal for Bobbie’s release. Chance was clearly concerned about Mary’s health and state of mind, and it is worth quoting in full:

“Dear Mr Rollo,
…I am glad… to send you an informal opinion about Mrs Gordon-Canning, because there is no doubt at all that her health is being severely and sadly affected both by the confiscation of her home at Sandwich and…by the prolonged separation from her husband.

Her nervous stability and mental balance were disturbed by the severity of her confinement six months ago. It involved, as you know, owing the the active lung trouble for which she still has to submit to regular and irksome treatments, a hazardous caesarean section followed by major surgical complications, which for a time endangered her life.

There is considerable disparity between their ages and though she is bound to her husband by ties of the strongest affection, she is an impressionable and impulsive young woman of great attraction with many acquaintances, eager to console her and lighten her loneliness.

I do not hold any brief for Captain Gordon Canning, but if this woman’s reason is to be preserved, and at the same time a happy marriage safeguarded, then on ordinary humanitarian grounds alone, I believe it is urgently necessary to rearrange his further detention under conditions whereby husband and wife may enjoy some measure at least of ordinary normal companionship…
Maxwell Chance”

WHC Rollo was Bobbie’s lawyer, and also the father of Primula Rollo, the first wife of David Niven. The Committee reading this letter was reviewing Bobbie’s detention. It recommended release, but this was not to be. The Home Secretary, again acting on the advice of M15, decided to keep Bobbie in detention. ^[45]Source British National Archives. File KV 2-877/8 Maxwell Chance to WHC Rollo, 12 August 1941

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Mary did return to work in the second half of 1941, although, as she was later to point out, it was difficult to get film work with a husband in gaol on suspicion of treason. The film she worked on was the 70-minute comedy-drama This was Paris. Ironically, the plot revolved around three or four key characters who are participants battling the activities of fifth columnists in France in 1940. Several of the players in the film, including Mary, would have been very well known to US audiences. Ben Lyon, a US actor, played Butch, a perpetually drunken reporter for an Australian newspaper called “The Sidney Chronicle.” ^[46]Despite the incorrect spelling, it is clearly meant to be a newspaper in Sydney, Australia he works for Mary played his girlfriend with a degree of ability and confidence not seen in many of her earlier films.

Mary Maguire’s first line as Blossum Leroy in her final film This Was Paris. Her boyfriend, Butch, a reporter for “The Sidney Chronicle” (sic) has come home drunk, with British spy Bill Hamilton in tow. Listen to that accent! Is she meant to be Australian? It’s worth noting that by the time she was in England, her accent was usually a refined one. Audio clip from copy in the author’s collection.

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In wartime England, the joy of parenthood and the pleasure of working in film again was not to last for long. Over Christmas 1941 little Michael became ill. In February 1942, he succumbed to  pneumonia – an operation failed. Even Bina was unable to put a positive spin on this awful event and could find little to say.

With the best medical support the Maguires could find, Mary slowly regained something of her former self, although distractions were difficult to find in the very desperate days of 1942. The war was not going well for the Allies.

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Finally, in the middle of 1942 she felt strong enough to take up some acting again – this time in the theatre – a production of Bedtime Story, a “light comedy in 3 acts”, touring through southern England for a month. Based on the Cinderella story, it was well received by war weary audiences. Although looking thinner and wearing her black hair shorter, Mary was still a glamorous film star and the provincial English press were thrilled when she hit town. But Mary didn’t stay with the play – by the end of the year she had left and the production moved on to Glasgow. She did not return to the stage.

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But there was some good news. Sometime, early in 1943, Mary met an up-and-coming US aeronautical engineer, Phillip Legarra. Four years her senior, Phil worked in England for North American Aviation on the highly successful P-51 Mustang fighter project. The Mustang, in its final form, was one of the finest US offensive fighters of the war. At the time they met, Phil was the company’s English representative. They fell in love.

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Bobbie was amongst the internees released in August 1943. He stated at the time that he was determined to put his marriage “in order.” ^[50]Following a post-imprisonment interview conducted in late August 1943, two MI5 officers wondered if Bobbie was suffering “some form of mild mental derangement.” His eccentric behaviour … Continue reading Soon after, in a courageous step, Mary decided that honesty was the best policy, and she bared all to journalists, publicly making reference to her bout of TB for the first time. Phil and Mary’s plan was to marry and return to the US, where Mary could settle down and restart her Hollywood career and Phil could return to the aviation industry. Aware that not all her relatives in Australia would approve of a divorce, she tried to pre-empt their reactions. “Apart from the shock this is going to be to my grandparents in Melbourne, and also to many other of my Australian friends, I am unashamed of what I have done … It’s distressing, but that’s the way it is. I’m sure there are lots of people who won’t forgive me, but most women would do the same in similar circumstances.”  To force Bobbie’s hand and give him no choice but to agree to a divorce, Mary took the unusual step of moving in with Phil, to a comfortable flat in Kensington.  Mary said; “I am not apologising for falling in love with someone my own age. That is natural.”^[51]Truth (Syd) 26 Nov 1944, P18 Uncharacteristically, Mick and Bina could find nothing to say publicly about the matter. They were obviously conflicted between their Catholic faith, the embarrassment of a looming divorce and their loyalty to a daughter whose marriage they had encouraged.

Phil and Mary married in March 1945 and left for California just as soon as they could. As newspapers of the time reported, Mary hoped to get a role in “Forever Amber”, a major “Gone With the Wind” style production based on a popular novel by Kathleen Winsor. But in Hollywood, things had changed. Her great mentor and family friend Miles Mander suffered a heart attack and died suddenly after dinner at one of Hollywood’s Brown Derby restaurants in February 1946, only a few months after she returned. Richard Monter, her former agent, died in 1947. Many of Mary’s friends, like Marion Davies, had moved on. Tastes in filmmaking had also changed while she was away, and her hopes of returning to acting on the screen came to nothing. It is difficult to know whether Mary had simply lost her currency as an actress, or whether her reputation was so severely damaged by her past association with Bobbie Gordon-Canning that no one would consider employing her.

Mary and Phil were also denied the joy of parenthood. The female reproductive system is particularly vulnerable to TB – the damage the disease can do to the fallopian tubes can be irreparable and successful conception extremely difficult. While new post-war medicines probably cured her of the disease, it is highly likely her TB was the reason there were no successful pregnancies from their marriage. This would have been a bitter blow.

Mary and Phil must have been reassured though – the US aircraft industry, largely based in Southern California – employed hundreds of thousands of people at the war’s end, and the couple’s security and prosperity must have seemed assured by Phil’s connections and ability as an engineer.

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Mick Maguire died suddenly in England in June 1950. In 1957, Bina returned to Australia for a holiday. It was at this time she made her “you simply HAVE to meet the right people and at the right places” statement to explain her girls’ successful marriages. She was also reported to have said “if you want marry money, you have to go where money is.”  When she died in 1963, there was another flurry of newspaper accounts. She was, said friends, a woman of “great personal charm and very clear purpose… a motivating force in the whole operation” said another friend. The article was correct in identifying Bina’s actions as driven by a fierce desire to give her daughters the things she had missed out on in her childhood.^[53]Unidentified newspaper article, dated 24 June 1963. “Five Little Marrying Maguires” by Joyce Stirling. Likely to be The Courier Mail. Courtesy Loreto Convent Brisbane

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Mary and Phil settled into a comfortable home in the trendy beachside suburban development at Surfridge, near the airport. The houses in this development faced westwards and had views of the Pacific Ocean, a suburb in the rolling sand dunes popular with former Hollywood stars and the modestly wealthy. Unfortunately the suburb was reclaimed in the 1960s for Los Angeles airport redevelopment. Today, this area is a ghost-suburb; footpaths and streets without houses and palm trees shading what were once verdant gardens and green back yards, while runways are extended and more aircraft arrive.

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Mary died on 18 May, 1974 – aged only fifty-five.^[55]In Australia, a general election was held on this day. Perhaps this explains why not a single Australian paper noted the passing of “Australia’s sweetheart.” Phil had died in 1971 – alcohol played a part in both their deaths. In her last years Mary lived in a small apartment on Pasadena Avenue in Long Beach. Built in 1922, it still stands and is one of the older apartment blocks in the area. In appearance it could be straight out of Nathaniel West’s classic expose of life of the margins of Hollywood – Day of the Locust.

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Nick Murphy
August 2018, revised February 2024

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References

Special Thanks
I met with Mary Maguire’s cousin Norm Archibald many times over a period of about 8 years. Norm was extremely generous with his family archive and I sincerely thank him.

Thanks also to

Writer Robert Gott, Editors Jane Cussen and Ingrid Purnell. Joe Henderson (National Archives, Kew, England), Dan Gulino (Radio was Better), Sandra Joy Aguilar (Director of Archives, Warner Bros Archive, University of Southern California), Dorothy Weekes (Academy of Mary Immaculate Melbourne), Sister Helen Salter (Loreto Convent Brisbane), Roland Week (Richmond Football Club), The Earl of Kimberley, Simone Cubbin. And Jo Mostyn nee Gardiner – Peggy Maguire’s school friend from Melbourne.

Archives

• Warner Brothers Archives, School of Cinematic Studies, University of Southern California
• National Library of Australia – Trove – Digitised Newspapers collection.
• Lantern, Digital Media Project
• Newspapers.com
• The British Newspaper Archive
• British National Archives.  Particularly see Files KV 2-877/8 , HO 283/29.
• National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
• Ancestry
• Family search
• Victoria, Births Deaths & Marriages
• State of California, County of Los Angeles, Vital Records.

Digital

• Ozmovies
• Australian Screen

Documentary films

• Don’t Call Me Girlie (1985) A film by Stewart Young and Andree Wright. Director Stewart Young, Script and Research by Andree Wright. Producer Hilary Furlong. Narrator: Penne Hackworth-Jones. Ronin Films
• A History of Australian Film 1896-1940: Film Australia
  – The Pictures that Moved 1896-1920 (1968) Director Alan Anderson. Writer Joan Long
  – The Passionate Industry 1920-1930 (1973) Director Joan Long. Writer Joan Long
  – Now You’re Talking 1930-1940. (1979) Director Keith Gow. Script Keith Gow.

Books

• Michael Adams (2019) Australia’s Sweetheart: The amazing story of forgotten Hollywood star Mary Maguire. Hachette Australia.
• Olga Abrahams, (2007). 88 Nicholson Street; The Academy of Mary Immaculate 1857 – 2007, Academy of Mary Immaculate. ISBN 978 0 9589817 1 2.
• Christopher Andrew (2009) Defend the Realm. The Authorized History of MI5. Alfred Knopf, New York. ISBN 978 0 307 26363 6
• Daniel Bubbeo (2002) The Women of Warner Brothers: the lives and careers of 15 leading ladies. McFarland and Company, North Carolina. ISBN 0 7864 1137 6
• John Roy Carlson (Avedis Derounian) From Cairo to Damascus. Alfred Knopf, New York, 1951. (http://spitfirelist.com/books/cairo-to-damascus/)
• Elsa Chauvel, (1973). My Life with Charles Chauvel. Shakespeare Head Press.
• Diane Collins, (1987). Hollywood Down under. Australians at the Movies: 1896 to the present day. Angus and Robertson, Sydney. ISBN 0 207 15267 5
• Ronald L. Davis (1993) The Glamour Factory; Inside Hollywood’s Big Studio System. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas. ISBN: 0 87074 358 9
• Ray Edmondson and Andrew Pike (1982) Australia’s Lost Films. National Library of Australia. ISBN 0 642 99251 7
• Ken Hall, (1980) Australian film: The Inside Story. Summit Books. ISBN 0 7271 0452 7
• Julie V. Gottlieb & Thomas P. Linehan (Eds): The Culture of Fascism; Visions of the far right in Britain. I.B.Tauris
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