{{Short description|American actress (1882–1929)}} {{Infobox person | image = Mae Costello.jpg | caption = Costello, c. 1910 | birth_name = Mae Altschuh | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. | birth_date = {{birth date|1882|8|13}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1929|8|2|1882|8|13}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | resting_place = Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles | occupation = film actress | spouse = {{marriage|Maurice Costello|1902|1927|end=divorced}} | children = Dolores Costello<br>Helene Costello | years_active = 1911–1917 }}
'''Mae Costello''' (born '''Maria Josephina Altschuh'''; August 13, 1882 – August 2, 1929) was an American silent film actress of the early twentieth-century who is best known as the matriarch of the Costello family of actors. Born in Brooklyn, Mae Costello grew up in a conservative upper-middle class Catholic home in New York City and was raised by parents morally opposed to the theatre. At the age of 19 she married itinerant stage actor Maurice Costello in opposition to her parents, a decision which ultimately led to the severing of ties with her family. Her marriage was not a happy one, with problems developing early from financial concerns and from her husband's alcoholism. In their early married life Mae was a wife and mother and had no ambition to become an actress.
Mae and Maurice Costello had two daughters, the actresses Dolores Costello and Helene Costello, who both began performing in films as children for Vitagraph Studios in 1909 where her husband was employed. At that time silent film actors worked anonymously and their identities were kept secret from the public. In 1910, that changed when Vitagraph was the first American studio to develop a star system with credited actors. Vitagraph began this practice with Maurice Costello who was the first American actor in the history of American cinema to have his name placed outside movie theatres on marquises in a coordinated star promoting national campaign, making him arguably the first American movie star.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }} The resulting overnight fame of Maurice Costello had a negative impact on the Costello family that exacerbated pre-existing problems.
As his fame grew, Maurice's alcoholism worsened, and he became physically abusive of Mae. In an attempt to solve the problems in his marriage, Costello asked Vitagraph Studios to hire Mae for work in film. With his clout as the company's big movie star at the time, they gave no opposition to this plan, even though Mae had no experience as an actress. She made 17 pictures with Vitagraph from 1911-1917 using the name Mrs. Maurice Costello. In 1913 the Costello's domestic problems made international headlines when Maurice Costello was arraigned in a Long Island Court for battering his wife. By the end of her film career, her marriage was in worse shape, with her husband's alcoholism causing his career at Vitagraph to temporarily implode. Maurice abandoned his family in 1918, and the Costello women were forced to pawn most of their possessions and ultimately sell the family house in the early 1920s. While Maurice returned and his career rebounded, the relationship to his family was never the same, and ultimately the marriage ended in divorce in 1927 two years before Mae's death in 1929.
==Early life== The daughter of Lewis Altschuh and Catherine Altschuh (''née'' Callender),{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=146}}{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} Maria "Mae" Josephina Altschuh{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} was born in Brooklyn,{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=146}} New York on August 13, 1882.{{sfn|Wilson|2016|page=160}} Her father was from Alsace, France and had immigrated to the United States after German soldiers had destroyed his Alsatian vineyard. He maintained a deep seeded hatred of Germans until his death shortly after Mae was born.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} Her mother re-married, and she grew up in New York City in the conservative home of her step-father, the merchant Vincent Tresham.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=146}} Tresham, like Mae's mother, was originally from England and was a strict devout Catholic who had a strong moral stance against the theatrical world.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}}
==Marriage and mother== In the spring of 1902 Mae was introduced to the actor Maurice Costello by the playwright Augustus McHugh when she was 19 years old.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} They had a whirlwind romance which was kept secret because of her step-father's disapproval of Maurice.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=147}} They married on June 6, 1902 at Holy Innocents Church.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} Both of Mae's parents were unhappy about the marriage as they viewed actors as immoral people.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} A major conflict ensued between Maurice and her step-father, which resulted in a severing of Mae's relationship with her parents.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=147}}
In the early part of their marriage, Mae traveled with Maurice while he was performing on tour with the Boyle Stock Company.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=148}} The struggles of adjusting from her comfortable upper-middle class background into a life as the wife of a poor itinerant performer brought conflicts into the marriage early on; particularly as the realities of what life on the road meant became increasingly harder for Mae to bare in combination with Maurice's alcoholism.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} While on tour in Nashville, Tennessee she discovered she was pregnant. Unable to support Mae and their forthcoming baby, Maurice sent her to live with his mother and step-father in their boarding house in the slums of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 3: Mae}} There she gave birth to her eldest daughter, Dolores Costello, on September 17, 1903.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 4: East to Eden}}
Maurice did not meet his baby daughter until the spring of 1904. He went back on the road, but returned in mid 1904 to move Mae and Dolores into nicer premises in Harlem, New York City to be near where he was currently employed. Mae became pregnant with their second daughter, Helene Costello, not long after she moved into her Harlem home. By this time, Maurice's stage career was on an upward trajectory and his prospects both financially and professionally were improved as he began to get traction as a successful actor on the New York stage.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 4: East to Eden}} Simultaneously he began working part time in films as an uncredited actor as was standard at that point in film history when film actors were not given billing.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=151}} Maurice's identity as the leading actor in his early films was carefully hidden until 1910 when the anonymous film actor system was replaced with the cultivated movie star model.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 5: Chewing the Scenery}}
The Costello's second daughter, Helene (originally spelled Helen), was born in New York on June 21, 1906 in what was a difficult breech birth lasting approximately sixteen hours and requiring attentions from a medical team of nurses and three doctors.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=151}}{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 4: East to Eden}} Maurice, who had wanted boys and not girls, was doubly upset that not only was his second child a girl but that the complications from the pregnancy made it impossible for Mae to have more children, ending the hopes of having a son.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 4: East to Eden}} The year after Helene's birth Maurice transitioned into working full time as a film actor for Vitagraph Studios bringing much needed financial stability to the Costello family as well as consistent employment without the difficulties of life as a gig actor.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 5: Chewing the Scenery}} This enabled the family to purchase their first home in Brooklyn at 1769 E. 14th St.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }} Both of their daughters began working in films as well in 1909 when Delores was six and Helene a toddler.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }}
==Film and fame== On October 5, 1910 the Costello family's life forever changed when the ''New York Dramatic Mirror'' was the first to reveal to the world the identity of Maurice Costello, the film star. This was followed by the first coordinated campaign to promote a film actor in the history of cinema in the United States, making Maurice Costello arguably America's first movie star.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }} This impacted the entire Costello family in a way they never anticipated, as Maurice's name was suddenly being put up on marquises outside of movie theater's all across America, something that had never been done before. The rapid fame resulted in continuous deluges of fan mail, and turned Maurice into a household name across the country almost over night. Maurice's fame spread even further with the international success of ''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1911) in which he was the lead actor; making him a household name in Europe.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }}
Her husband's rising fame led to increasing pressures on the Costello's marriage that led to a worsening relationship between Mae and Maurice. This was compounded by worsening behaviors related to Maurice's alcoholism including incidents of domestic violence in which Mae was assaulted.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }} In an effort to please his wife and improve their marriage, Maurice advocated to Vitagraph Studios that they hire Mae to appear as an actress in films. His position as the company's big star had significant weight at Vitagraph, and they agreed to his proposal without opposition even though Mae had no experience as an actress.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }} Her first film was ''Her Crowning Glory'' (1911) in which she portrayed the nurse.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=152}}
In December 1912 the entire Costello family embarked upon a global trip around the world with Vitagraph Studios.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=154}} They would not arrive back in the United States until the following June, and spent almost six months either making or supporting the making of silent films in countries around the world. A large group of actors and supporting film crew went on this trip, which included films made in China, India, Egypt, France, England, Italy, and Hawaii among other locations. At this point, Maurice was both directing and acting in films for Vitagraph and worked in both capacities on this trip. The pressures of the travel and the filming schedule further worsened the problems in the Costello's marriage,{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 6: A Lusty, Growing Thing }} and by the time the tour reached Cairo, the couple were barely speaking to one another.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=157}}
As an actress, Mae was billed as Mrs. Maurice Costello. She only worked for Vitagraph Studios during her career; making pictures through 1917.{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=157}} Films she made for the company included ''When a Woman Loves'' (1915, as Mrs. King), ''Her Right to Live'' (1917, as Mrs. Biggs), and ''The Money Mill'' (1917, as Mrs. King).{{sfn|Hoffman|2001|page=157}} She appeared opposite such actors as John Bunny, Flora Finch, Wallace Reid, Florence Turner, Antonio Moreno, Bobby Connelly and Clara Kimball Young, as well as her husband and daughters.
==Later life== The problem's in the Costello's marriage made global headlines after the ''Brooklyn Eagle'' published a news report on November 25, 1913 detailing Maurice's arraignment in a Long Island Court for beating his wife and reporting the testimony from the court room of his punching his wife, knocking her down, and kicking her in the head while under the influence of alcohol. Mae pled for a reduced sentence for her husband, and expressed her desire that all she wanted was that her husband stop drinking. The charge was suspended, and he was placed on probation. The ensuing years were increasingly unhappy ones as Maurice's alcoholism worsened, marital fights in the home increased, and eventually Maurice's career imploded.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 8: Smashing Things }} By 1918 the Costello's were destitute, Maurice had abandoned his family, and Mae and his girls had pawn most of what they had to make ends meet. They ultimately were forced to sell the family home in the early 1920s.{{sfn|Shulman|2019|loc=Chapter 9: Desperation}}
Mae and Maurice Costello divorced in 1927. In 1929, Mae died of heart disease and was interred at the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California.<ref>{{cite web | title=MRS. MAE COSTELLO DEAD.; Mother of Two Film Stars Dies Suddenly of Heart Disease. (Published 1929) | website=The New York Times | date=3 August 1929 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/08/03/archives/mrs-mae-costello-dead-mother-of-two-film-stars-dies-suddenly-of.html }}</ref>
==Partial filmography== *''The Money Mill'' - Mrs. King (1917) *''Her Right to Live'' - Mrs. Biggs (1917) *''When a Woman Loves'' - Mrs. King (1915) *''The Taming of Betty'' - Mrs. Cutler (1913) *''The Spirit of the Orient'' (1913){{sfn|Braff|2002|page=473}} *''The One Good Turn'' (1913) *''The Mills of the Gods'' - The Nurse (1912) *''Diamond Cut Diamond'' - The Telephone Operator (1912) *''Her Crowning Glory'' - The Nurse (1911)
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}} ===Bibliography=== *{{cite book|title=The Braff Silent Short Film Working Papers: Over 25,000 Films, 1903–1929, Alphabetized and Indexed|first=Richard E.|last= Braff|year= 2002|publisher=McFarland & Co.|isbn=9780786410316}} *{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vitagraph/PhX2DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Altschuh+Mae+Costello&pg=RA1-PA10&printsec=frontcover|title= Vitagraph: America's First Great Motion Picture Studio|first=Andrew A.|last=Erish|year= 2021|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=9780813181219}} *{{cite book|title=The Barrymores: Hollywood's First Family|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|last=Hoffman|first= Carol Stein|year=2001|isbn=0-8131-2213-9|url=https://archive.org/details/barrymoreshollyw00hoff/mode/2up?q=%22Mae+Costello%22}} *{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Film_s_First_Family/SvSyDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=inauthor:%22Terry+Chester+Shulman%22&printsec=frontcover|title=Film's First Family: The Untold Story of the Costellos|first= Terry Chester|last= Shulman|year= 2019|publisher= University Press of Kentucky|isbn= 9780813178103}} *{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Resting_Places/7-DgDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=August+13,+1882+Mae+Costello&pg=PA160&printsec=frontcover|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d Ed.|first=Scott|last= Wilson|year=2016|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0786479924}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|182597}} * {{Find a Grave|8994}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Costello, Mae}} Category:1882 births Category:1929 deaths Category:19th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Brooklyn Category:American film actresses Category:American people of German descent Category:American silent film actresses Category:Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles) Category:Catholics from New York (state)