Elaine Hammerstein

Elaine Hammerstein (June 16, 1894 – August 13, 1948) was an American actress who worked in both stage and silent film. Born in Manhattan, she was the daughter of opera producer Arthur Hammerstein and Jean Allison Hammerstein, and came from one of the most prominent families in American theatrical history. Her grandfather was Oscar Hammerstein I, her uncle was William Hammerstein, and her cousin was Oscar Hammerstein II. On her father's side, Hammerstein was of German-Jewish descent. Following her parents' divorce, Jean Allison declined to seek permanent custody of her daughter, instead requesting that Elaine be permitted to make her own choice upon reaching adulthood. In 1924, Arthur Hammerstein married actress Dorothy Dalton, who was one year older than his daughter, making Dalton Elaine's stepmother. Arthur Hammerstein reportedly expressed greater investment in his daughter's career than in his own.

Hammerstein made her Broadway debut in 1913 at the age of seventeen in the musical High Jinks, which also featured actor Snitz Edwards. Her second Broadway appearance came in 1915 in the drama The Trap, in which she performed opposite actor Holbrook Blinn. Between her stage appearances, her father arranged for her to gain experience in production work. Her Broadway career, which ran from 1913 to 1915, served as the foundation for a transition into motion pictures, and she had originally been based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

From 1915 to 1926, Hammerstein appeared in 44 films, establishing herself as a recognizable presence in silent cinema. Her screen credits include The Girl from Nowhere (1921), Reckless Youth (1922), Broadway Gold (1923), The Drums of Jeopardy (1923), and The Midnight Express (1924), the last of which co-starred William Haines. The studio behind that film attempted to market Hammerstein and Haines as a romantic pairing, though Haines was gay. Her final screen appearance was in the Columbia Pictures drama Ladies of Leisure (1926). More than half of her films are considered lost.

On June 10, 1926, Hammerstein married James Walter Kays in Los Angeles, California. Kays had served as finance director for the California Democratic Party and held the position of Los Angeles fire commissioner. Upon their marriage, Hammerstein retired from acting entirely.

Hammerstein died on August 13, 1948, at the age of 54, in a car accident near Tijuana, Mexico. She, her husband Kays, who was 66, and three companions — Los Angeles residents Jane Shafer Richards, Gladys Goldie Hall, and Richard Garvey Jr. — were killed when their vehicle, traveling at high speed along a curving hillside road, struck an oncoming car and skidded off an embankment. The six occupants of the other vehicle sustained only minor injuries. Hammerstein and Kays are interred at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.