May Tully

{{Short description|Canadian actress, writer, director and producer (1880s–1924)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = May Tully

| image = MayTully1912.jpg

| alt = May Tully, from a 1912 newspaper.

| caption = Tully, from a 1912 newspaper

| birth_name = Mary Gertrude Tully

| birth_date = 1880s (sources give various dates)

| birth_place = Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

| death_date = {{death date|1924|3|9}}

| death_place = New York City, United States

| other_names =

| occupation = Actress, writer, producer

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

May Tully (born 1880s – March 9, 1924) was a Canadian actress, writer, director, and producer in theatre and film, and, according to sportswriter Damon Runyon, "perhaps the greatest woman baseball fan that ever lived."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31198669/may_tully_1924/|title=Says Damon Runyon: May Tully Dead, Was a Great 'Fan'|last=Runyon|first=Damon|date=March 14, 1924|work=The Dayton Herald|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=19|via=Newspapers.com}}

Early life

Mary Gertrude Tully was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, the daughter of Frank Tully and Nancy Hague Tully.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31198747/may_tully_1919/|title=Miss May Tully Nanaimo Native Daughter|date=February 6, 1919|work=Nanaimo Daily News|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}} After her father died in the 1887 Nanaimo mine explosion when May was a girl, she and her widowed mother moved to Victoria, British Columbia,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31198628/may_tully_on_baseball_1912/|title=Victoria Comedienne Strong on Baseball|date=June 11, 1912|work=The Victoria Daily Times|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}} where her mother remarried. May Tully attended McGill University, and Mrs. Wheatley's Dramatic School in New York.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&q=May+Tully&pg=PA1132|title=Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America|last1=Cullen|first1=Frank|last2=Hackman|first2=Florence|last3=McNeilly|first3=Donald|date=2007|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415938532|pages=1132–1133|language=en}}

File:Mary's ankle (1916) (14770625131).jpg

Career

Tully was credited as a writer on eight silent films: The Winning of Beatrice (1918), Mary's Ankle (1920), His Wife's Money (1920), Bucking the Tiger (1921), The Old Oaken Bucket (1921), Chivalrous Charley (1921), Kisses (1922), and That Old Gang of Mine (1925). In addition, she directed That Old Gang of Mine and The Old Oaken Bucket, and had producer credit on The Old Oaken Bucket.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12774713/may_tullys_old_oaken_bucket/|title=Old Oaken Bucket is Princess Feature|date=May 8, 1922|work=Hot Springs New Era|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}}

On stage, Tully acted in shows such as The Christian (1900), In the Good Old Summer Time, and The Two Mr. Wetherbys (1906). She wrote the play Mary's Ankle (1916),{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/marysankle00tull|title=Mary's ankle ..|last=Tully|first=May [from old catalog|date=1916|publisher=New York, Samuel French|others=The Library of Congress}} "an improbable but delectable farce"{{Cite journal|last=Richardson|first=Anna Steese|date=December 1917|title=Lady Broadway: How the Woman Playwright Has Captured the Great White Way|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EulMAQAAIAAJ&q=May+Tully&pg=RA1-PA13|journal=McClure's Magazine|volume=50|pages=13}} starring Irene Fenwick, Zelda Sears, and Bert Lytell on Broadway;{{Cite news|title="Mary's Ankle," May Tully's Farce, Lets Irene Fenwick Score A Hit|last=Allen|first=Eugene Kelcey|date=August 7, 1917|work=Women's Wear Daily|page=8|id={{ProQuest| }} }} it was also a success in other cities.{{Cite journal|date=May 11, 1918|title=Mary's Ankle Continues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N_FHAQAAMAAJ&q=May+Tully&pg=RA19-PA17|journal=Town Talk|volume=32|pages=17}}

Tully performed in vaudeville in sketches she wrote, Stop! Look! and Listen! (1907),{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31198839/may_tully_1906/|title=Clever and Winsome May Tully|date=December 8, 1906|work=The Buffalo Times|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}} The Late Mr. Allen (1912), The Battle Cry of Freedom (1912),{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12774657/may_tully_at_orpheum_vaudeville/|title=May Tully at Orpheum|date=June 30, 1912|work=The Oregon Daily Journal|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=36|via=Newspapers.com}} and Mona Lisa (1914). "She has long been recognized as the over-time worker of the vaudeville world," explained another writer in 1917, adding "She is perhaps the most businesslike of all the lady playwrights." She was the sketch writer for the Palace Theatre in New York, and in 1915 produced a fashion show there, with models, expensive gowns, and jewelry;{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31200402/may_tully_1915/|title=Talented Victorian Talks of her Work|date=December 29, 1915|work=The Victoria Daily Times|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=14|via=Newspapers.com}} a popular attraction, The Fashion Show toured the Keith circuit for months, and was refreshed with new fashions in later seasons.{{Cite journal|last=Schweitzer|first=Marlis|date=December 2008|title=Patriotic Acts of Consumption: Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon) and the Vaudeville Fashion Show Craze|journal=Theatre Journal|volume=60|issue=4|pages=585–608|doi=10.1353/tj.0.0111|s2cid=191481377}}

In Curves (1911–1912), a vaudeville sketch she wrote about baseball,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31198017/may_tully_1911/|title=May Tulley is Baseball Fan with Sporting Blood|date=October 6, 1911|work=The Buffalo Times|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=13|via=Newspapers.com}} she co-starred with off-season professional players Christy Mathewson and Chief Meyers,{{Cite news|title=Matty and Meyers Off|date=February 26, 1911|work=The New York Times|page=C5|id={{ProQuest| }} }} bringing sports fans to the theatre.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31197512/may_tully_1912/|title=May Tully at the Big Game|last=Kingsley|first=Grace|date=August 7, 1912|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=32|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12774750/may_tully_teaches_baseball_players/|title=Woman Taught Ball Stars How to Become Actors|date=September 10, 1911|work=Detroit Free Press|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=43|via=Newspapers.com}} Her love of baseball was often noted in reports about the show.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12781841/may_tully_and_baseball/|title=Greatest Woman Fan in Portland|date=July 3, 1912|work=The Oregon Daily Journal|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=12|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31199784/may_tully_1913/|title=May Tully is Real Baseball Fan|date=February 27, 1913|work=Wisconsin State Journal|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}} "She knows more inside baseball than 99 percent of the fans," acknowledged New York Giants coach Muggsy McGraw.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31197512/may_tully_1912/|title=Orpheum Star Sees Game|last=Tully|first=May|date=August 7, 1912|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=32|via=Newspapers.com}}

Personal life

May Tully died from nephritis in 1924, aged about 40 years, in New York City.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/03/11/archives/may-tully.html|title=May Tully|date=1924-03-11|newspaper=The New York Times|url-access=subscription|access-date=2019-05-03|page=19|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Headlines after her death highlighted her love and knowledge of baseball.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12774790/may_tullys_obit/|title=Baseball Loses Arden Fan in Passing of May Tully|date=March 12, 1924|work=The Akron Beacon Journal|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=17|via=Newspapers.com}} "She had a wide acquaintance among baseball men, players, managers, magnates, and writers," noted Damon Runyon, and was accepted into their company "because of her understanding of the game and its atmosphere."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31198347/may_tully_1924/|title=Press Comment Eulogistic of Late May Tully|date=March 21, 1924|work=Nanaimo Daily News|access-date=May 3, 2019|page=4|via=Newspapers.com}}