Volume III: Biographies

ELINE, Mrs. Grace *

Studio employee, actress (1912-1914)

Mrs. Grace Eline (L) with daughter's Marie Eline (in white coat) and Grace Eline in a studio portrait, circa 1910. Courtesy of Mary Eline Scheet (X-215)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Mrs. Grace Eline was a wardrobe mistress for Thanhouser, who appeared in at least one film.

Biographical Notes: Mrs. Grace Eline (born Grace Yerick), the mother of Grace and Marie Eline, her only children, played the part of Fannie Squeers in the 1912 Thanhouser release of Nicholas Nickleby. New Rochelle directories listed her home address as 301 Huguenot Street in 1912, and 74 Main Street in 1913.

Her lifetime career included designing costumes and attending to wardrobes, which she did for the stage performances of Edwin Thanhouser's stock company in Milwaukee, later going to New Rochelle at the inception of Thanhouser's film business, where she served as a wardrobe mistress for several years. Later in her life she was a valued assistant to director Cecil B. DeMille and designed costumes for many of his pictures, including King of Kings and The Ten Commandments. She also designed for Sid Grauman many of the Chinese costumes used in connection with the opening in 1926 of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

One account states that her husband, Charles L. Eline, was a New York City attorney and was one of seven children. Of his five brothers, three or four became priests, and his one sister became a nun.

Grace's granddaughter, Mary Eline Scheet (daughter of Marie Eline), in 1988 told the author: "One of Charles' brothers was Jerome Eline, father of Dolores Albin. Another brother, Robert Eline, became a well-known attorney. Then there were two other brothers, Alexander and Aloysius, both of whom were ordained as priests at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood, California. One of these brothers was sent to Fairbanks, Alaska and served as a Jesuit priest there for 18 years. The other was sent to India, where he served for an equivalent time."

Members of the Eline family and its branches were well known in Milwaukee and at one time owned the Schlitz Brewery, were prominent in the arts, and were active in polo and other professional sports. Mary Eline Scheet recalled: "When Grace's daughters, Grace and Marie, went into show business in the early 1900s, the Eline cousins in Milwaukee thought it was disgraceful to have actresses in the family. However, over a period of time they became proud of the young Eline sisters and their accomplishments.

"My mother's great grandmother was Mrs. Hull, a name derived from the Von Hull family of Berlin, Germany. Marie's uncle was Baron Von Hull. During World War I he was on the way to America when his ship went down, and his title went with him. Grace Eline's maiden name was Grace Yerick. In the 1920s, after I was born, she became known as Ga-Ga, because I could not pronounce 'grandmother' except in that way. Everyone in show business called her that, once the name became known. I believe that Grace Yerick may have been born in Des Moines. In any event, she lived there for a number of years early in her life.

"In later years, Grace lived in New York City. In the 1920s, my mother [Marie Eline], my aunt [Grace Eline, the younger], my cousin Robert Cosgriff, and I were together continuously. We lived together and traveled together until the time of my grandmother's death in the hotel room where she resided."

Mrs. Grace Eline died at her home in New York on July 24, 1935. At the time she was 61 years old.

Note: Eline is pronounced to rhyme with "beeline."

Thanhouser Filmography:

1912: Nicholas Nickleby (3-19-1912)

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