Madge Skelly
Madeline Esther "Madge" Skelly (May 9, 1903 – May 27, 1993), later Madge Skelly-Hakanson, was an American actress, playwright, director, college professor, speech pathologist and audiologist.
Early life[edit]
Madeline Esther Skelly was born in Hazelwood, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Charles J. Skelly and Julia Purcell Skelly. Her parents were Iroquois-Onandaga performers.[1] She graduated from Seton Hill College in 1924. She earned a master's degree at Duquesne University in 1928, and a second master's degree at the University of Arizona. She completed doctoral studies in speech pathology at Saint Louis University in 1962, in her late fifties.[2][3]
Career[edit]
Theatre and radio[edit]
Skelly began her career in theatre from an early age, and continued through college and afterwards, as an actress, director, and playwright. She worked at KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, as a sound technician, writer, and on-air talent.[2] She appeared on Broadway in several shows.[4] She was director of the Tucson Little Theatre in Arizona,[4] the Brattle Theatre in Massachusetts, the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre in Michigan, and, from 1952 to 1961, managing director of the Manistee Summer Theatre.[5] She wrote at least twenty plays. The Manistee Civic Theatre has a Madge Skelly Tower, named for Skelly in 1974.[5] One of the young actors she mentored at Manistee was James Earl Jones.[5][6][7]
Skelly was dean of drama and dean of women at Duquesne University. She taught speech at the University of Arizona, and speech and drama at Maryville College.[8][9]
![Richard Nixon posed standing and smiling in the Oval Office with five recipients of the 1974 Federal Woman's Award; from left, Brigid Leventhal, Madge Skelly, Nixon, Henriette Avram, Gladys Rogers, and Roselyn P. Epps](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/FederalWomansAwards1974.png/220px-FederalWomansAwards1974.png)
Speech pathology[edit]
After earning degrees in speech pathology, she worked in veterans' hospitals and children's hospitals, with patients who needed speech rehabilitation following an injury or illness.[10][11] She incorporated gestural expression systems from Iroquois tradition into her work,[12][13] and made a video, Compensatory techniques for the glossectomee (1977), about her techniques.[14]
Skelly was chief of audiology and speech pathology services at John J. Cochran Hospital in St. Louis,[1] and taught at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.[5] She also taught at Fontbonne University in Missouri.[15] Her research was published in academic journals, including the Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders,[16] American Journal of Nursing,[17] Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,[18] and The American Journal of Surgery.[19]
Selected publications[edit]
- "Total glossectomy for cancer" (1968, with Robert C. Donaldson and Francis X. Paletta)[19]
- "Compensatory Physiologic Phonetics for the Glossectomee" (1971, with Diane J. Spector, Robert C. Donaldson, Armand Brodeur, and Francis X. Paletta)[20]
- "Dysphonias Associated with Spinal Bracing in Scoliosis" (1971, with Robert C. Donaldson, George E. Scheer, and Margaret R. Guzzardo)[21]
- "Changes in Phonatory Aspects of Glossectomee Intelligibility through Vocal Parameter Manipulation" (1972, with Robert C. Donaldson, Rita Solovitz Fust, and Diana L. Towsend)[16]
- "Visor Flap Reconstruction for a Massive Oropharyngeal Defect" (1973, with John M. Griffin, Robert C. Donaldson, and Francis X. Paletta)[18]
- "American Indian sign (Amerind) as a facilitator of verbalization for the oral verbal apraxic" (1974, with Lorraine Schinsky, Randall W. Smith, and Rita Solovitz Fust)[22]
- "Rethinking stroke: Aphasic patients talk back" (1975)[17]
Personal life[edit]
Skelly married twice. She married her first husband, actor Ray King Foust, in 1928;[23] he died in World War II. Her second husband was Richard Hakanson, a fellow theatre professional.[2] She experienced arthritis, diabetes, and vision impairment later in life.[11] She died in 1993, aged 90 years, in St. Louis.[24]
Awards and recognition[edit]
In 1974, Skelly received the Federal Woman's Award.[25] She was awarded the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Medal from her alma mater, Seton Hill University. She gave an oral history interview to the Schlesinger Library in 1981.[26] She was posthumously inducted into the Association of Veterans Affairs Speech-Language Pathologists (AVASLP) Hall of Fame in 2002.[27]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Native American Veterans Affairs Innovator" (PDF). Office of Tribal Government Relations Newsletter: 15. November 2015.
- ^ a b c "Madge Hakanson". Bratenahl Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
- ^ Clark, Jane (1962-06-07). "Ph.D. Behind the Footlights". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. p. 14. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Madge Skelly to Direct TLT Winter Season". Arizona Daily Star. 1955-07-22. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Fedder, Mark (2013-07-12). "Summer Theater Act 2: Enter Madge Skelly". Manistee News Advocate. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
- ^ Jones, James Earl; Niven, Penelope (2002). Voices and Silences: With a New Epilogue. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 85, 145. ISBN 978-0-87910-969-1.
- ^ "James Early Jones to Help Raise Funds for Cultural Center". Lansing State Journal. 2006-09-09. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Jones, Carol (1960-04-13). "All the World's a Stage to Her". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Stock Group Elects Maryville Professor". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 1960-01-01. p. 23. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Skelly, Madge (1973). Glossectomee speech rehabilitation. Springfield, Ill.: Thomas. ISBN 0-398-02706-4. OCLC 632048.
- ^ a b Chorlton, Penny (1982-07-14). "Signs of help for those who have lost their tongues". The Guardian. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Skelly, Madge (1979). Amer-Ind gestural code based on universal American Indian hand talk. Lorraine Schinsky. New York: Elsevier. ISBN 0-444-00333-9. OCLC 5286014.
- ^ Adams, Robert (1977-02-03). "Woman Adapts Indian Sign for Use by Hospital Patients". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 67. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Skelly, Madge; VITV Network (1977). Compensatory techniques for the glossectomee. Washington: Veterans Administration. OCLC 938875953.
- ^ "Madge Skelly Archbishop Noll Award Finalist" (PDF). The Font. April 26, 1965. p. 2. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
- ^ a b Skelly, Madge; Donaldson, Robert C.; Fust, Rita Solovitz; Townsend, Diana L. (1972-08-01). "Changes in Phonatory Aspects of Glossectomee Intelligibility through Vocal Parameter Manipulation". Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. 37 (3): 379–389. doi:10.1044/jshd.3703.379. PMID 5057254.
- ^ a b Skelly, Madge (1975). "Aphasic Patients Talk Back". The American Journal of Nursing. 75 (7): 1140–1142. doi:10.2307/3423493. ISSN 0002-936X. JSTOR 3423493.
- ^ a b Griffin, John M.; Donaldson, Robert C.; Skelly, Madge; Paletta, Francis X. (April 1973). "Visor Flap Reconstruction for a Massive Oropharyngeal Defect". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 51 (4): 457–460. doi:10.1097/00006534-197304000-00026. ISSN 0032-1052. PMID 4689694.
- ^ a b Donaldson, Robert C.; Skelly, Madge; Paletta, Francis X. (October 1968). "Total glossectomy for cancer". The American Journal of Surgery. 116 (4): 585–590. doi:10.1016/0002-9610(68)90397-8. ISSN 0002-9610. PMID 5692132.
- ^ Skelly, Madge; Spector, Diane J.; Donaldson, Robert C.; Brodeur, Armand; Paletta, Francis X. (1971-02-01). "Compensatory Physiologic Phonetics for the Glossectomee". Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. 36 (1): 101–114. doi:10.1044/jshd.3601.101. PMID 5573256.
- ^ Skelly, Madge; Donaldson, Robert C.; Scheer, George E.; Guzzardo, Margaret R. (1971-08-01). "Dysphonias Associated with Spinal Bracing in Scoliosis". Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. 36 (3): 368–376. doi:10.1044/jshd.3603.368. PMID 5566116.
- ^ Skelly, Madge; Schinsky, Lorraine; Smith, Randall W.; Fust, Rita Solovitz (1974-11-01). "American Indian Sign (Amerind) as a Facilitator of Verbalization for the Oral Verbal Apraxic". Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. 39 (4): 445–456. doi:10.1044/jshd.3904.445.
- ^ "Wed in Carrollton". The Daily Times. 1928-12-12. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Madge Skelly, 90; Hospital Audiologist". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1993-05-30. p. 48. Retrieved 2021-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Robey, Marie B. (April–June 1974). "Six Federal Women Win Top Award". Civil Service Journal. 14: 33–36.
- ^ "Madge Skelly. Tape 1". Interviews of the Women in the Federal Government Oral History Project, 1981-1983, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
- ^ "Honors / Awards". AVASLP. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
- 1903 births
- 1993 deaths
- People from Pittsburgh
- Seton Hill University alumni
- American actresses
- American theatre directors
- American dramatists and playwrights
- American women theatre directors
- American women dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American women writers
- Speech and language pathologists
- Saint Louis University alumni
- Saint Louis University faculty
- Onondaga people
- Fontbonne University faculty