Volume III: Biographies

PARKE, William

Director (1915-1916)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: William Parke arrived at the Thanhouser studio in the summer of 1915 and was a director there through 1916.

Biographical Notes: William Parke was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1873. Early in his career, he spent two years in dramatic stock. One of his early appearances was with Creston Clarke, nephew of Edwin Booth, with the Holland Stock Company in 1896 at Philadelphia's Girard Avenue Theatre, where he later became assistant stage manager. He then went to New York City, where he staged a revival of The Sporting Duchess and took the production on tour. For a time he was also in stock in Salt Lake City. In 1900 Parke joined E.H. Sothern's company as advance stage manager for a road tour of Hamlet. In 1901 he was seen in If I Were King, followed by a role in The Proud Prince at the Lyceum Theatre, New York City. At one time he was a member of Richard Mansfield's company, where he served as stage manager for Peer Gynt. Around the same time he appeared in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Beau Brummel. He was associated with Arnold Daly in the capacity of stage manager and also as an actor in several one-act plays. William Parke served as stage manager for the stock company of John Craig and Mary Young at Boston's Castle Square Theatre from 1908 to 1912. During summers he had his own company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Wallace Worsley, in a communication to the author, noted: "William Parke was a partner with my father in a summer stock company for two or three seasons, circa 1911-1915, at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. My mother [Julia Taylor, who also acted in Thanhouser films] played most of the leading parts in their programs. I remember that at three years of age I was greatly impressed with the storm at sea in East Lynne - especially the lightning, waves (billowing canvas), and the thunder (probably cymbals clashing)."

Publicity for The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Director William Parke would later be associated with the Thanhouser Film Corporation. Miss Julia Taylor was one of Thanhouser's most prominent actresses in 1910 and 1911, including her role in the VIOLET GRAY, DETECTIVE series.

Courtesy of Wallace Worsley, son of Julia Taylor and Wallace Worsley (M-31)

In the last half of 1913 he directed the rehearsals of seven road companies of Potash and Perlmutter and was also with the same production at the Cohan Theatre in New York City. Parke joined Thanhouser in 1915 and remained there through most of 1916. He directed several well-publicized 1916 releases. After his stint with Thanhouser, Parke went to Astra, for whom he directed such films as The Cigarette Girl, The Last of the Carnabys, The Streets of Illusion, The Mystery of the Double Cross (serial), Over the Hill and A Crooked Romance.

Later, William Parke was with Educational Films and Goldwyn. He directed Pauline Frederick in a 1920 film, The Paliser Case. In the same year the Motion Picture Studio Directory gave his address as 1815 LaBrea Avenue, Hollywood, California. He did not find life in the California movie colony to be to his liking, and shortly thereafter he went back to the East. He invented a safety device for ovens, and spent much of the next 15 years promoting it. At the same time he kept in touch with the stage and was said to have been an almost daily visitor to the Players Club in New York City, of which he had been a member since 1904.

He was married twice. His second wife was the former Alice Harrington. By his first marriage he had two children: William Parke, Jr., who acted in Thanhouser films, and George Parke. By his second wife he was the father of Richard Harrington Parke. William Parke's death of a heart attack occurred on July 28, 1941 at his home at 333 West 56th Street in New York City. A trouper to the end, several weeks earlier he had appeared on Broadway in the role of Mr. Witherspoon in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1916: The Burglar's Picnic (1-26-1916), The Reunion (2-23-1916), The Whispered Word (3-15-1916), The Fifth Ace (3-22-1916), Other People's Money (6-1-1916), The Shine Girl (8-27-1916), Prudence the Pirate (10-22-1916)

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