Author’s
Introduction
Maureen O'Sullivan: No Average Jane
One glorious summer day in June of 1992 my telephone rang and I was delighted to discover that
Maureen O’Sullivan, one of the great actresses of yesteryear, was calling for me. I had written Maureen a letter a few weeks prior,
concerning the possibility of her authoring a foreword for a new Tarzan history and filmography that I was researching for McFarland
publishers.
“Good afternoon Mr. Fury. My name is Jim Cushing — I’m Maureen’s husband. She would like to speak with
you about your request.” My heart was racing euphorically when, moments later, our conversation began:
“Hello David,
this is Maureen O’Sullivan. I’m flattered that you would consider me to write a foreword for your book. I’m not quite sure where I
would begin?” she mused. “I still clearly remember my early beginnings with MGM, and meeting Johnny Weissmuller and the great fun
we had making the Tarzan pictures. I was also making dozens of other films for Metro in those years, and many of them went on to be
classic films as well.”
Her voice was as I remembered — lyrical, gentle and with her inimitable Irish accent.
This was the voice that immediately connected me with the beautiful actress I had seen in so many motion pictures.
Over the next several minutes Maureen and I amiably discussed my ideas about the foreword. I asked her to recall her memories of the
Tarzan films, and working with Johnny Weissmuller and little John Sheffield over the period of ten years when she filmed six Tarzan
adventures. I suggested that she compose a page or two, and to feel free to talk about her career in general. Of course the Tarzan
pictures were just a small percentage of her body of work during an amazing 60-year career in the entertainment business.
When the conversation ended, I was exuberant with the results: Maureen had agreed to write the foreword, pending her review of my
manuscript. I was filled with pride that my name would be linked with the illustrious name of Maureen O’Sullivan, if only by this
small matter of a literary work.
True to her word, the foreword authored by Maureen arrived a few weeks later.
Eventually, I sent her a lengthy written interview which she dutifully answered, each and every one of her replies handwritten in
her very clear script. She answered questions about her early life in Ireland and her career with MGM, and fondly recalled some of
her favorite films, actors, and actresses.
During the ten-year period of 1932 to 1942, Maureen starred in a total
of 41 motion pictures for MGM, many of them classics. The six Tarzan films from this era and her role of Jane made her an international
sex symbol and a household name. However, Maureen was also Louis B. Mayer’s favorite “second lead” female star, and the studio kept
her working in one picture after another. Many of her motion pictures were romances where she assumed the female lead opposite several
of the Hollywood greats of the Golden Age.
In the ensuing decades, she became a bonafide star. She added radio
to her repertoire in the mid-1930s and proceeded to television drama around 1950. Maureen then graduated to the legitimate stage beginning
in 1962 with the Broadway hit, Never Too Late. After a thirty-year career as a film star, she was a top-drawer stage actress for another
twenty-five years from 1961 to 1986.