The following biography, while centered upon Madeline, discusses both twins, for in publicity they were rarely mentioned separately, and a news item concerning one usually pertained to the other as well. The Fairbanks twins entered films with Biograph, circa 1910, but were not publicized there, for it was Biograph policy at the time not to mention the names of their players.
Reel Life, May 9, 1914, noted: “Before going into pictures, Marion and Madeline were at the New Theatre in New York, and with the Winthrop Ames Company in the Little Theatre. Favorite roles in the legitimate were ‘Claudia in The Prince Chap, ‘Mary Jane in Mary Janes Pa, and ‘Roselis in Snow White. They have been in so many photoplays at the Thanhouser that they have lost count of the number. Sometimes the Thanhouser Twins write poetry. They collaborate, one composing every other stanza. Of course, no one but twins could write a poem in this way. But these two little girls have never been apart; their experiences have been identical; and they have never known an unhappy or jarring moment together in their lives.”
Later, Madeline Fairbanks and her sister Marion joined the Thanhouser Film Corporation, where they were billed as The Thanhouser Twins, beginning with their first film, The Twins, released on June 18, 1912. In the spring and summer of 1913 they were back on the stage, including playing in stock in Syracuse, New York. They soon reappeared in Thanhouser publicity in connection with the release of Lifes Pathway (September 30, 1913).
The Fairbanks twins lived in New York City in 1912 and 1913 and commuted to New Rochelle each day on the train. To pass the time profitably, they studied French enroute. At home they also studied piano and, as time permitted, took ballet lessons, according to an interview with Jean Darnell, published in the October 1913 issue of The Photoplay Magazine. Muriel Ostriche, who played with Thanhouser 1913-1915, recalled that even their fellow players could not tell the Thanhouser Twins apart, except that one twin had a birthmark on her arm.
The Thanhouser Twins were the subject of a notice in the May 9, 1914 issue of Reel Life: “Marion and Madeline Fairbanks are scarcely known by their real names, so long have they been called ‘The Thanhouser Twins. Now that they are 13 years old, however, they are modestly desirous of having their names appear, though not for purposes of differentiation, having long ago given up hope of people ever being able to tell them apart. They are almost identical. Each weighs 74 pounds. Each is just four feet ten inches tall. They have light brown curly hair, dark hazel eyes, and fair complexions.”
Two years later, The New Rochelle Pioneer, June 3, 1916, printed a plea with virtually the same wording: “Now that they have reached their 15th year, the Fairbanks Twins, Marion and Madeline, have modestly requested that in forthcoming releases they are desirous of having their names appear in the casts, although not for the purpose of differentiation, having long ago given up the hope of ever having people tell them apart. ‘We have been known so long as the ‘twins in screen productions, said Marion, speaking for her sister as well as herself to the pioneers studio reporter, ‘that now we have reached our 15th birthday we think it best that we be known as Marion and Madeline. It looks much more important, we think, to be listed by our individual names than it does merely as the ‘Fairbanks Twins.”
The September 12, 1914 issue of Reel Life noted: “Even admiring photoplay fans are not able to tell them apart. Marion and Madeline are dark, with long glossy brown curls and big bewitching eyes. They have been brought up by a mother of unusual refinement and have had every advantage of private teaching at home. Both are very fond of reading, and sometimes they write poetry, collaborating in a kind of antiphonal verse.” The same article stated that their pet collie, Carlo, was usually seen in the studio with them.
The Morning Telegraph, January 17, 1915, printed this item: “Sorry to hear that the little Thanhouser Twins, Marion and Madeline Fairbanks, are ‘always made up by 9 oclock every morning. I should think their mother would begin to worry about the evil influences of the motion pictures if her daughters acquire the make-up habit this early in life.”
A Thanhouser publicity release, circa February 1915, noted: “Director John Harvey, who directed the Thanhouser Twins, Marion and Madeline Fairbanks, in $1,000 Reward, says that the two young leading ladies always are on the job. At 9 oclock promptly they are in readiness with their make-up on, and they are more obedient and quicker witted than most grown-up players. This may be due to their training on the stage and in the studio from time they were very small. Also they have had a very careful bringing-up by their mother and are extremely well-bred young people. Marion and Madeline study with a governess in their leisure time. They enjoy French and German, also history and literature. Mathematics may be necessary, they say, but it seems sometimes as though it was a subject invented for the torture of little girls.”
For Thanhouser, Madeline and Marion Fairbanks appeared in many films. Typically, both twins were featured in a given film. However, a few films were made with just one of the girls. In England they were sometimes billed as “The Fairburn Twins.” The October 1916 Motion Picture News Studio Directory noted that each twin was 5 tall, weighed 75 pounds, and had chestnut-brown hair and hazel eyes. They worked at Thanhouser but lived in New York City at the Hotel Oxford. The 1918 edition of the same directory listed their weight as 85 pounds each (obviously old information; see the November 7, 1914 article reprinted below, which stated that in 1914 they weighed 85 pounds each) and their home address as 245 West 51st Street, New York City.
