Melville Ellis  (1878-1917) 268 Maple

This talented young man is buried in the plot owned by Elsie DeWolfe aka Lady Mendl, one of the most talked about ladies of the Victorian era. She started out as an actress and became known as one of the most stylish of women, authoring a 1913 book entitled, "The House in Good Taste". She took the Victorian era out of the dark ages as far as color schemes and encouraged beige and ecru in decorating. Elsie herself is not buried  in Maple Grove. She owned the plot. Melville was one of her dearest friends. Her father Stephen and brothers are buried in this plot.

 Melville Ellis was a renaissance man when it came to the theatre.

He was born in Phoenix, Arizona around 1878. He spent the earlier years of his life in San Francisco and was very talented on the piano. When he arrived in New York, he quickly established himself as a musical comedy favorite. His specialty was the pianologue. He was well known for carting his piano around for film locations, Playing his piano as filming was done for inspiration.  He played piano for the filming of the 1915 Cecil B. DeMille's  "Carmen". This type of piano playing was called "music off stage" and created the tempo for the actors to move with as well as extra inspiration for emotions they needed to create.

 He acted in many plays, along with Eddie Foy, The Dolly Sisters and many other performers of the times. He was also credited as designer of the costumes for many theatrical and silent movie productions. Melville Ellis has a repertoire of songs he had written and Maple Grove Archive has a great collection of these in the form of song sheets.

In 1911, he claimed bankruptcy with $ 7,000 in liabilities contracted between 1907 and 1910. Most of the 22 creditors listed clothing, jewelry and music as the main items purchased by Mr. Ellis.

At the time of his death, April 4, 1917, he resided at the Rector Hotel in New York City. He contracted typhoid fever and died after a brief illness at New York Hospital.  He had taken ill while appearing with Irene Bodoni at the Palace Theatre and had to leave after one of the performances. He was only 39 years old.