{{short description|American actress and scriptwriter }} {{Infobox person | name = Marion Mack | image = Elinor Lynn, silent film actress (SAYRE 5033).jpg | alt = | caption = Mack in 1922 | birth_name = Joey Marion McCreery | birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|04|8|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Mammoth, Utah, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|05|1|1902|04|08|mf=yes}} | death_place = Costa Mesa, California, U.S. | resting_place = Pacific View Memorial Park | notable_works = Annabelle in ''The General'' (1926) | occupation = Actress, screenwriter, real estate broker | spouse = {{marriage|Louis Lewyn|1924|1969|reason=died}} | children = 1 | other_names = Elinor Lynn }}
'''Joey Marion McCreery Lewyn''' (April 8, 1902 – May 1, 1989), known professionally as '''Marion Mack''', was an American film actress and screenwriter. Mack is best known for co-starring with Buster Keaton in the 1926 silent comedy film ''The General''. After retiring from acting in 1928, she wrote several short screenplays and took up a career in real estate.
==Film career== Mack was born Joey Marion McCreery in Mammoth, Utah. After graduating from high school, she sent a letter and a photograph to director Mack Sennett expressing her desire to be an actress. Sennett's manager wrote back informing McCreery that they would give her an interview if she ever came to Hollywood. McCreery, her father and her stepmother traveled to Hollywood shortly thereafter and sneaked into Sennett's Keystone Studios. Much to her father's disapproval, Mack was hired by Sennett as a "bathing beauty" for $25 a week.<ref name=milwaukee8>{{cite news|title=Fans rediscover star of early films|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19790926&id=PIRRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BBIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2625,4809535|newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=September 26, 1979|page=8}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019}}</ref> Her film debut was in ''On a Summer Day'' (1921).{{Citation needed |date=August 2023}}
thumb|left|Mack and Keaton in ''The General'' In films, McCreery initially used her own name. Between 1921 and 1922 she used the name Elinor Lynn in several short films directed by Jack White, co-starring with Lige Conley and Jimmie Adams.<ref name="Massa">{{cite book|first=Steve|last= Massa|title=Slapstick Divas: The Women of Silent Comedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtCKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1653|publisher=BearManor Media|pages=1653–1654}}</ref> By 1923 she had adopted the stage name Marion Mack.<ref name="Massa" />
[[File:Director Jack White and the Mermaid Players in Educational-Mermaid Comedies.jpg|thumb|Promotion from 1922 with photos of Jack White (center) and Mermaid Comedies "Players" Don Barclay, Jack Lloyd, Lige Conley, Jimmie Adams and Elinor Lynn]] After appearing in several short films for Sennett, she left Keystone and signed on to make Mermaid Comedies for $100 a week. While at Mermaid, she appeared in various comedy shorts. She also worked at Universal where she had roles in several Westerns. She returned to Mermaid after a year.
In 1923, she co-wrote and appeared in a semi-autobiographical film, ''Mary of the Movies''. ''Mary of the Movies'' was a box office success and Mack went on to leading roles in the action/crime-drama ''One of the Bravest'' (1925) and the drama ''Carnival Girl'' (1926). In 1926 she was cast in her best known role as Annabelle Lee, the estranged girlfriend of Buster Keaton's character, Johnnie Gray, in the American Civil War comedy film ''The General''.<ref name="NYT-obit">{{cite news |title=Marion Mack, 87, Silent-Film Actress, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/15/obituaries/marion-mack-87-silent-film-actress-dies.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 15, 1989 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617023031/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/15/obituaries/marion-mack-87-silent-film-actress-dies.html |archive-date=June 17, 2011}}</ref> The film was a moderate success but failed to make a profit because the budget was high. Mack appeared in her final film ''Alice in Movieland'', in 1928.<ref name=latimes2>{{cite news|last=Vanderknyff|first=Rick|title=Marion Mack—the Girl in Buster Keaton's Epic|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-11-15-ca-20962-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|page=2|date=November 15, 1987}}</ref>
Mack gave up acting after appearing in ''Alice in Movieland'' because she found the strain of filming for such long periods to be too taxing (''The General'' was shot over a six-month period in Oregon). After her retirement from acting, she began a career as a screenwriter and penned scripts for short films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. Mack's husband, producer Louis Lewyn, produced the films.<ref name="NYT-obit"/><ref>{{cite news|last=O'Brien|first=Mike|title=Leading Lady Recalls Buster|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19730816&id=h-ZVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6659,3980054|newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard|date=August 16, 1973|page=6C}}</ref> One of the films she scripted was directed by Keaton, the 1938 short ''Streamlined Swing''.{{sfn|Sweeney|2007|p=xxxii}}
==Later years== By the 1940s, short films began to fall out of favor and Mack's husband's health was declining.<ref name=latimes2/> In 1949, she took up yet another career as a real estate broker in Orange County, California.<ref name=latimes2/> Mack and her husband settled in Costa Mesa, California.<ref name=bangor>{{cite news|title=Silent-movie Actress Marion Mack Dead at 87|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19890515&id=BaxJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dw4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3744,5429181|newspaper=Bangor Daily News|date=May 15, 1989|page=7}}</ref> The couple also owned an estate in Beverly Hills and continued to socialize with people whom they met when they worked in the film industry, including Rudy Vallee and Clara Bow.<ref name=latimes2/>
In 1970, due to renewed interest in ''The General'', film historian Raymond Rohauer tracked Mack down at her Costa Mesa home.<ref name=milwaukee6>{{cite news|title=Fans rediscover star of early films|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19790926&id=PIRRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BBIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2625,4809535|newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=September 26, 1979|page=6}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019}}</ref> While the film was not a commercial or critical success when it was first released, it later found an audience and has since become cited as one of Buster Keaton's greatest films.<ref name=latimes2/> To support the film, Mack attended screenings of ''The General'' at various film festivals until heart problems prevented her from traveling. In 1978, Mack suffered two heart attacks.<ref name=milwaukee6/> She appeared in the documentary series ''Hollywood'' (1980), in which she discussed her experience filming ''The General''.<ref name=latimes2/>
==Personal life== Mack met producer Lewis Lewyn after winning a beauty contest at the Thomas H. Ince Studios. They married in 1923 and had one child, a son named Lannie.<ref name=milwaukee8/><ref>{{cite news|last=Vanderknyff|first=Rick|title=Marion Mack; Keaton Co-Star in 'The General'|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-14-mn-441-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 14, 1989}}</ref> Mack and Lewyn remained married until Lewyn's death in 1969.<ref name=latimes2/>
On May 1, 1989, Mack died of heart failure in Costa Mesa, California at the age of 87.<ref name=bangor/> After a private funeral, Mack was buried in Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach.{{Citation needed |date=August 2023}}
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! class="unsortable" | Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | rowspan=3|1921 | ''On a Summer Day'' | Farmerette | Short subject<br>Credited as Joey McCreery |- | ''Reputation'' | Ingenue (stage sequence) | Credited as Joey McCreery <br /> '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Cowpuncher's Comeback'' | Betty Thompson | Short subject<br>Credited as Joey McCreery |- | 1923 | ''Mary of the Movies'' | Mary | Scenario |- | 1925 | ''One of the Bravest'' | Sarah Levine | |- | rowspan=2|1926 | ''The Carnival Girl'' | Nannette | |- | ''The General'' | Annabelle Lee | |- | 1928 | ''Alice in Movieland'' | Alice | |- | 1938 | ''Streamlined Swing'' | {{center|{{Spaced ndash}}}} | Short subject<br>Screenwriter |- | rowspan=2|1940 | ''Alice in Movieland'' | Well-Wisher at Train Station | Uncredited |- | ''Rodeo Dough'' | {{center|{{Spaced ndash}}}} | Short subject<br>Screenwriter |- | 1942 | ''Soaring Stars'' | {{center|{{Spaced ndash}}}} | Short subject<br>Screenwriter |- |}
==References== '''Notes''' {{reflist}}
'''Sources''' * {{cite book |editor-first= Kevin W.|editor-last=Sweeney |title=Buster Keaton: Interviews |year=2007 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn= 978-1-57806-962-0 }}
==External links== {{commons category|Marion Mack}} * {{IMDb name|0533045}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, Marion}} Category:1902 births Category:1989 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Utah Category:American film actresses Category:Screenwriters from Utah Category:American silent film actresses Category:Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park Category:People from Juab County, Utah Category:American real estate brokers Category:American women screenwriters Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century American screenwriters