Margaret Shelby and Mary Miles Minter — Those Shelby Girls (1919) 🇺🇸
Everybody has been saying, “Isn’t it nice to see Margaret Shelby working with Mary Miles Minter again?”
by Fritzi Remont
For a long time the powers that be had decreed that it was poor business policy to allow sisters to act together. Mary tried out so many “contrasts” that her pretty blonde head refused to register further impressions of feminine supports, and she sighed with relief when Margaret once more entered the cinematographic arena.
Those girls thoroly understand each other. That’s one reason why everything moves so much more smoothly when Mary and Margaret are cast together. They are splendid foils for each other, for Mary closely resembles her handsome, blonde mother, and Margaret has the dark, dashing Southern charm of her father.
Even in their friendships the girls are totally dissimilar. They never like the same people, and each has her pet feminine chums. Of course, that eliminates jealousy and makes the girls keenly interested in each other’s doings. Their gossipy and cosy little chats are not for outsiders to participate in, but if you have ever wandered around a corner of the big stages at Santa Barbara, or back on the lovely pergola where the girls pour tea, giggles and imitations will greet you.
Margaret Shelby had been spending much of her time in Los Angeles, with Grandmother Miles as chaperone, in order to perfect her voice. She had planned to go back to musical comedy — but when Mary begged her sister to return, Margaret came home to Santa Barbara.
The other day, in the projection room, every one was amused at Mary Miles Minter’s remarks anent her latest production. While the picture was being run, Mary said, “Would you look at the little nondescript blonde next to that beautiful dark girl? I wonder why they let her act at all!”
But Mary couldn’t really help acting. There’s a great secret about it. She was destined by fate to become an actress, and here’s how.
Before Mary Miles Minter saw the light o’ day, Mrs. Shelby was compelled to leave her dearly loved Texas home and move to Shreveport, La. She grieved over the loss of friends, the separation from Mrs. Miles, her mother, and couldn’t see anything nice about the new surroundings. She voiced her discontent continually, and really gave way to so much self-pity that when Mary was born showing a birthmark. Mrs. Shelby felt she had been punished for her complainings.
A bright red star showed up on baby Juliet’s forehead, for everybody knows that Mary’s real name is Juliet Shelby, and Juliet she is called by her family and intimates still. Mrs. Shelby felt convinced that her resentment at being compelled to leave Texas, the “Lone Star State,” was responsible for the mark.
About two years ago, Miss Minter subjected her “star” to electrolysis, with the result that only a faint white outline of a perfect five-pointed star remains, “right in the middle of her forehead,” where curls hide it so well that no one has suspected Marv of being a Texas baby.
Some months later, an astrologer called at the American Film Studios and was introduced to the Shelbys. He was shown Mary’s birthmark and said, “You’ve always worried about that mark and blamed yourself for its presence, haven’t you? You ought to be glad your daughter has it. it is the insignia bestowed by Fate to foreshadow your young daughter’s stardom on stage and screen.”
And they do whisper about Los Angeles now that Manilas been seen at the Hotel Alexandria luncheon table very frequently with David W. Griffith and Mrs. Shelby for chaperone. The Shelbys had made plans to tour Europe, but it is said that Mr. Griffith wants Mary to do at least one picture for him before she sails abroad. The passports are already secured, but the date of sailing is indefinitely postponed, for the great man has said “Wait!” and no one dare disobey. So our little Mary is destined to achieve still bigger things by way of her lucky star.
The Shelby girls live on the no-breakfast plan, starting their hard day’s work on boiling water with lemon juice. They partake of a light luncheon, never “piece” between meals, and finish the day with a plain dinner, cutting out sweets and substituting fruits. They believe that food ruins more good constitutions than the incessant grind before the camera, and that not even a make-up box can ruin a complexion kept lovely by restricted diet. Their complexions prove their theories are right-o, too.
“I think tea-drinking is a silly affectation for busy people, dont you?” questioned Mary Miles Minter. “We serve tea for the sake of our guests, but Margaret and I seldom indulge — we sometimes make an exception on Sunday afternoons, for then we ‘put on dog’ — another thing I despise, for anything which is not natural to one should be taboo, I believe.”
Miss Minter has other marked dislikes. She despises “mush letters” and throws them unread into the waste-basket. She dislikes men who stare at her, thinks very young males are usually uninteresting, and wishes she could give up the screen for the stage.
On the other hand, Mary dotes on middle-aged, sensible men, likes cigarets when other people smoke them, and “simply adores” honest criticism, especially suggestions made by fans.
As soon as a production is finished, the Shelby girls pack up their frocks and distribute them to less fortunate girl-friends in Los Angeles and the old South. A complete set of ten-year-old finery and frocks was used by Mary recently and sent to a little girl in Louisiana, the old home state of the Shelbys. There are more requests for these beautiful outfits than the girls can grant.
And, “no foolin’,” April first was Mary Miles Minter’s natal day — a day on which the Shelby girls gave a big house party with a dinner dance and lots of “April Fool’s Day” conceits and jokes. This will be the last opportunity to give a birthday feast in Santa Barbara, it seems, for Mary has definitely refused to sign another contract with the American Film Company. She thinks that three years of hard work in a small town ought to be followed by a lot of travel, with its educational advantages and possibilities for foreign shopping, its freedom from the aggravating Kliegs, and rest from eye-strain.
So this year of peace is destined to be an eventful one for the fascinating Shelby Sisters, and on their return next fall, quien sabe?
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Mary Miles Minter and her sister, Margaret Shelby, are splendid foils for each other. They never like the same people and each has her pet feminine chums. Of course, that eliminates jealousy. They have recently been playing together, altho Margaret had planned to go back to musical comedy. On this page are two studies of Mary Miles Minter
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Below, Mary, Mrs. Shelby and Margaret, and, right, a study of Margaret. The Shelby girls live on the no-breakfast plan, starting the day’s work on boiling water with lemon juice. They partake of a light luncheon, never “piece” between meals, and finish the day with a plain dinner, cutting out sweets and substituting fruits
Photo: Bushnell
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Collection: Motion Picture Classic Magazine, June 1919
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