Volume III: Biographies

PARKE, William, Jr. *

Actor, director (1916-1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: William Parke, Jr. was an actor with Thanhouser in 1916 and 1917.

Biographical Notes: Born in Philadelphia, William Parke, Jr. was educated in public schools there and by private tutors. He spent two years in dramatic stock and was associated with such luminaries as William A. Brady, A.H. Woods, and Arnold Daly. The actor's screen career included juvenile leads with Famous Players, Pathé, and Thanhouser. For the latter he was seen in several releases in 1916 and 1917. After this work, he followed the footsteps of his father, a Thanhouser director, and went to Astra. The October 1916 edition of the Motion Picture News Studio Directory noted that the player was 5'8" tall, weighed 130 pounds, and had brown hair and hazel eyes. At the time he lived at 15 Church Street, New Rochelle, and in his spare time enjoyed swimming and reading.

The Photoplay Magazine, November 1917, carried this caption to a photograph: "The young man so ardently holding his own hands is William Parke, Jr. Why should he hold his own hand when there is at least one hand of Gladys Hulette not otherwise engaged calls for explanation. For though Miss Hulette's hand is not engaged, she herself is, and it is to young Mr. Parke that she gave her promise true. So the only possible reason why Mr. Parke holdeth not the hand of fair Gladys is that there is an old hen of a chaperone right on the job. The young folks met on the Thanhouser lot at New Rochelle, where Jr.'s Sr. was directing Miss Hulette, and that was more than a year ago, so you see they have been very deliberate about the affair."

On August 21, 1917, William Parke, Jr. married former Thanhouser actress Gladys Hulette, who was working with him at the Astra studio. The couple made their home on Washington Square in New York City. In 1918 the actor was an aviator with the American forces in France. The 1920 edition of the Motion Picture Studio Directory gave his home address as 514 West 184th Street, New York City, and noted that he had been an R.F.C. captain in France. Gladys Hulette and William Parke, Jr. were divorced in 1924.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1916: Prudence the Pirate (10-22-1916)

1917: Her New York (1-7-1917, The Vicar of Wakefield (2-25-1917), Pots and Pans Peggie (3-18-1917), The Candy Girl (5-20-1917)

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