Volume III: Biographies

HAYES, E.J. *

Actor (1912)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Edmund J. Hayes appeared in Thanhouser films in 1912.

Biographical Notes: Edmund (or Edmond) Hayes spent his childhood in San Francisco, and was to be a priest, according to the wishes of his parents. However, at college, while studying for a position in the clergy, he was in amateur theatricals and became bitten by the acting "bug." The Hayes family relocated to New York City. His father became ill, which forced Edmond to leave school and earn needed funds by bricklaying. In the evenings he was in a neighborhood theatre company in Sheepshead Bay, near his home. He was seen by Margaret Mather, an accomplished actress, who engaged him to play in a Shakespearean role. After a season with Mather and four seasons in serious dramatic roles back in his home town of San Francisco, the actor's interests turned to comedy, and he performed in A Wise Guy, a musical written by George M. Cohan. Later, Hayes wrote his own sketches, including A Piano Mover. In comedy vaudeville roles, he appeared in many skits and sketches over the years and was seen in most major cities in the Eastern United States.

While he may have been a success on the stage, he does not seem to have been lucky in love. His marital troubles were widely chronicled in the press and made sensational reading in their day. For example, a detailed story, complete with alleged quotes from conversations of those involved, appeared in the New York Morning Telegraph on February 12, 1911, and told of the actor, who at the time was staying at the Grand Hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey, during his engagement in The Wise Guy at the Bon Ton Theatre. According to the account, detectives dispatched by Mrs. Catherine Hayes, a "burlesque queen" from whom he had been estranged for two years, caught the amorous Edmond flagrante delicto in Room 19 of the hostelry. On June 15, 1912 the couple were divorced, and the wife was awarded $100 per month alimony. Payments were tardy, and Edmund was arrested several times for non-payment. He petitioned the courts several times for a reduction, and in a plea in Brooklyn in June 1916 stated that he had earned only $1,650 since the preceding year, and on this income had to support four small nieces and nephews.

In the spring and part of the summer of 1912 he was in New Rochelle, New York, in front of the Thanhouser Film Corporation's cameras, acting in supporting roles for the screen. His name often appeared in credits as E.J. Hayes. In the winter of 1913-1914 Edmund Hayes was with the Percy Haswell stock company in Cleveland, and in April 1914 he joined Keith's stock company in the same city, with whom he was seen on stage at the Auditorium. In March 1915 Hayes announced that he was going to become a motion picture producer and had hired Frank P. Donovan, a trade paper writer, to prepare advertising for his first film, The Wise Guy, a five-reel feature based upon his vaudeville vehicle. This was to be followed by film versions of two more of his vaudeville skits, The Piano Movers (a.k.a. A Piano Mover) and The Coal Shovelers. Apparently the venture was not commercially successful, for by the end of the same year he had forsaken the motion picture camera and was back on the vaudeville stage. In December 1916 he was in Albany at the Gaiety Theatre with the Jolly Girls burlesque company.

Edmund J. Hayes died of dropsy at St. Vincent's Hospital, Los Angeles, California on June 12, 1921, following two weeks of hospitalization. Burial was in the Calvary Cemetery in that city. His obituary appeared in Variety, June 17, 1921.

Note: His first name appeared several ways in credits, including, in addition to Edmund, such variations as Edmond, Ernest, and Edward.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1912: Vengeance is Mine (7-16-1912), Cousins (7-28-1912), Treasure Trove (7-30-1912), Old Dr. Judd (8-9-1912), The Voice of Conscience (9-3-1912).

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