Elaine Hammerstein was an American silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 and stage actress.

Musical lineage

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, she was the daughter of opera producer Arthur Hammerstein

Arthur Hammerstein

Arthur Hammerstein , was the son of Oscar Hammerstein I and uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II, was an opera producer and one of the writers of the song "Because of You," a major hit for Tony Bennett in 1951. Hammerstein wrote the song in 1940. It was used in the film I Was an American Spy...

 and the granddaughter of Oscar Hammerstein

Oscar Hammerstein I

Oscar Hammerstein I was a businessman, theater impresario and composer in New York City. His passion for opera led him to open several opera houses, and he rekindled opera's popularity in America...

. Her father once remarked he was more interested in his daughter's career than in his own. Hammerstein was Arthur's daughter by his first marriage, to Jean Allison Hammerstein. When the couple divorced the mother did not ask for permananent custody of Elaine. Rather she requested that her daughter be allowed to choose for herself when she reached the age of maturity.

Theater

Hammerstein is frequently reported to have graduated from Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....

 in 1913, at the age of 17. In fact, there is no record in the College's Archives of her having ever attended the school. In any case, she appeared in her first Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production that year. This was a musical entitled High Jinks, which featured actor Snitz Edwards

Snitz Edwards

Snitz Edwards was a notable character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s.- Background and career on the stage :...

. After school she was given a position in production work by her father. In 1915 she performed on Broadway a second time, in the The Trap. In the drama she acted opposite actor Holbrook Blinn

Holbrook Blinn

Holbrook Blinn was an American actor, born in San Francisco. He appeared on the legitimate stage as a child, and played throughout the United States and in London. He appeared in silent films, and was the director of popular one-act plays at New York's Princess Theatre.In 1900, he appeared in...

.

Movies

From this work Hammerstein went into motion pictures. She appeared in forty-four movies from 1915 until 1926. Among her film credits are The Girl From Nowhere (1921), The Drums of Jeopardy

The Drums of Jeopardy (1923 film)

The Drums of Jeopardy is a 1923 American film directed by Edward Dillon and featuring Wallace Beery.-Cast:*Elaine Hammerstein as Dorothy Burrows*Jack Mulhall as Jerome Hawksley*Wallace Beery as Gregor Karlov*David Torrence as Cutty...

(1923), Reckless Youth (1922), Broadway Gold (1923), and The Midnight Express

The Midnight Express (film)

The Midnight Express is a romantic film directed by George W. Hill.-Plot:Jack is a young man who has a wild lifestyle. This displeases his father. Jack wants to prove to him he can be a hardworking man as well and decides to find work at a railroad yard as a laborer. Silent Bill Brachley is a...

(1924), opposite William Haines

William Haines

Charles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality...

. With the latter film, the studio tried to promote Hammerstein and Haines as a couple, however, in real life, Haines was a gay man.

Marriage

Hammerstein was married to James W. Kays in 1926. He was a noted Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 insurance broker. Kays was a former finance director of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 in southern California and a former city fire commissioner. In the same year, she made her last film appearance in the drama Ladies of Leisure (no relation to the Frank Capra

Frank Capra

Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...

 film made in 1930 with Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...

).

Death

Hammerstein and Kays were killed in an automobile collision twelve miles south of the Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 border town of Tijuana

Tijuana

Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...

, in August 1948. They were returning from Playas de Rosarito

Playas de Rosarito

Rosarito Beach , is a coastal resort city in the Mexican state of Baja California located approximately 35 minutes south of the U.S. border in Rosarito Beach Municipality. Its beaches and dance clubs are a popular destination for young people from the United States during the Memorial Day and Labor...

 in Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

. The Kays left Los Angeles a few days before on a trip to Tijuana. The crash claimed three more victims. One was Richard Garvey Jr., son of a pioneer southern California family and a retired real estate operator and lawyer. Garvey was thought by officers to have been driving the car. The auto rounded a curve on a hill near the hamlet of La Goria. It struck a car containing six Mexican citizens. None of the Mexicans were killed.

Elaine Hammerstein was 50 years old and her husband was 66. She was interred at Calvary Cemetery

Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles

The Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, located at 4201 Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, California...

 in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

External links

• Elaine Hammerstein at The New York Times Movies