Volume III: Biographies

DAINTRY, Isabelle *

Actress (1910-1911)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Isabelle Daintry appeared in Thanhouser films in 1910 but, like other players of the era, she was rarely mentioned in publicity.

Biographical Notes: Reel Life, April 18, 1914, told of the actress: "A plucky little Englishwoman - just four feet, eleven and a half inches, in height - with an amazing amount of personality, is the star of the Royal comedies. In the few months that she has been with the Mutual, she has played every line of business from a boy of 10 years to an old lady of 70. Isabel Daintry - even the name fits her exquisitely - was born in Denver, Colorado, of English parents. Her father died when she was a month old, and at three months, she was taken by her mother 'home' to England. A year later, Mrs. Daintry married an Irish gentleman of wealth who had a beautiful home on Hyde Park Terrace in London. He brought up the little Isabel as his own daughter, surrounding her with every advantage of culture and travel.

"At eight years, she was sent to the Convent of the Faithful Companion at Skipton, Yorkshire. Four years later, the family went to France, and Isabel continued her education at the Convent of Assumption, near Cannes, on the Riviera. The child was a musician from her soul to her fingertips. She played the organ, the piano and the violin; she also sang sweetly. In England she had been a pupil of Denza, the composer. It was her music which brought about her meeting with Miss Hawkins Dentster, the original owner of Skibo Castle, and led to her romantic intimacy with the three little Bourbon princesses. Miss Dentster, who had recently sold her ancestral home to Andrew Carnegie, took a villa at Cannes. She was a frequent visitor at the convent, where she heard Isabel Daintry's voice and asked her to sing at one of her matinee musicales. Among the guests, on that occasion, were the dethroned Queen of Naples and her three young daughters, the princesses Josepha, Tia and Marie Immaculee.

"The queen requested her hostess to present them to the little singer, then 13 years old. So delighted was she with the piccolo cantatrice that the following day she sent her carriage to the convent with an invitation to Miss Isabel to return to the royal villa for tea. With childlike naturalness and simplicity, the little musician sent back word that she was very sorry, but she was just going to take her violin lesson and must decline the invitation of the queen and the princesses. Instead of being offended, the queen was charmed. Two days later, the royal carriage again drew up before the convent, to the great excitement of all the young pupils. A note was delivered by a servant in the Bourbon livery, for 'Miss Daintry from Her Royal Highness the Princess Tia.'

"'Please name the day,' it ran, almost imploringly, 'when you will come to see my sisters and me.' Miss Daintry wrote back, 'I will come tomorrow.' That was the beginning of an intimate friendship which lasted five years - until at 18, Miss Daintry left the Old World, which had been for her so full of romance and wonderful associations, to win her way among the strangers in the land which had given her birth but had never been her home.

"From a very little girl, Miss Daintry wished to go on the stage. She captured an engagement in the legitimate - and after several successful seasons [as a pantomimist] found herself in motion pictures. In August 1913, the Reliance offered her the part of the Fairy Prince in Once Upon a Time. This dainty role was after her own heart. She played it exquisitely. When the Reliance forces went West, she was permanently engaged for leads in the Komic and then the Royal brands. Miss Daintry abandons herself to comedy roles with remarkable success. She has mastered the secret of the comic art - playing the most ludicrous and fantastic parts with deadly seriousness."

Omitted in the preceding biography was her early work with several film companies, including Thanhouser in 1910 and 1911. For the New Rochelle studio she worked in various films, but at the time Thanhouser did not publish cast names, and the full extent of her work is unknown. After her engagement with Thanhouser, she continued to work in films and on the stage. By early 1913 she joined the Mutual Film Corporation, after which she was seen in films made under the Reliance, Komic, and Royal names. For Royal she acted in comedies, including A Boy for a Day and, on the same reel, I Should Worry (May 16, 1914). In 1917 Miss Daintry was seen in the Sparkle Comedy release of Fresh Air. Although Isabelle Daintry worked extensively in films with several different companies, she received very little publicity.

Note: Her first name also appeared as Isabel in publicity.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1910: Daddy's Double (4-5-1910)

1911: Cinderella (12-22-1911)

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