Volume III: Biographies

 

HASTINGS, Carey L. **

Actress, scenario writer (1909-1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Carey L. Hastings (Carey Tidball), a sister of Mrs. Edwin Thanhouser, was an actress with Thanhouser from its organization until its end and was often featured in publicity.

Biographical Notes: Carey L. Hastings was the stage name of Carey Tidball. Born in New Orleans, she lived there until the age of five, when she moved with her family to Brooklyn, New York, where she was educated in public schools. After graduation she expressed an interest in serving in the Red Cross in the Spanish-American War, but settled for work at the Long Island College Hospital. The first time she gave a patient medicine, he bolted from his bed and jumped headfirst out of the window, killing himself upon impact. This experience motivated her to seek another career, and she turned to the stage, where her sister, Gertrude, had achieved great renown as a child actress in Editha's Burglar, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and other plays.

She joined Edwin Thanhouser's stock company in Milwaukee, with whom she was seen as Mrs. Brown, the unhappy wife in Mrs. Temple's Telegram, in St. Elmo, and in dozens of other productions. In Milwaukee, her name was usually listed as "Lulu Hastings" in credits. Carey L. Hastings traveled with stock companies to New York, Atlanta, Richmond, Norfolk, and other cities. In New York she was in Mrs. Temple's Telegram at the Madison Theatre and was also seen in The Girl From Rector's, among many other plays. Just before her screen career commenced, she was on stage in New Orleans in Parsifal.

Her film career began with the Thanhouser Company, where she was from the organization of the studio in New Rochelle in the autumn of 1909. She made her screen debut in Thanhouser's second release, St. Elmo. Although Carey L. Hastings played many roles, she especially enjoyed comedy. In autumn 1912 it was reported that Thanhouser "loaned" her to the Prospect Theatre, in New York City, where she appeared on the stage in the star role in the production of Mother. Her nickname at the studio and elsewhere was "Caddie," also spelled "Caddy." She was one of the very few silent film actresses who whispered her lines while acting; nearly everyone else spoke in a normal voice or, if they were accustomed to stage work, spoke very loudly.

Over the years Carey L. Hastings played supporting roles in many films. An article in Reel Life, August 7, 1915, told of her versatility in front of the motion picture camera: "Carey L. Hastings - at the studio they call her 'Caddy' - began to study fun when she came to the old Thanhouser Stock Company, in Milwaukee. Miss Hastings was one of the first of the clever actresses to leave the legitimate and devote herself entirely to pictures. She can play a lady of quality, an old hag, a spinster, or just one of those impossible women of whom married men complain, with equal success. A versatile character actress, with an unfailing gift for 'putting over' the humor, Miss Hastings is a strong factor in the popularity of Falstaff comedies."

In 1914 she lived at the Pepperday Inn in New Rochelle. In 1915 she was a resident of Beacon Hall, an apartment building adjacent to the Thanhouser studio. According to an article in The New York Star, August 8, 1914, Hastings had worked in films with seven sets of twins during the preceding year, including the Turner boys, the Williams sisters, the Wilson twins, the Thayer twins, the Leonard twins, the Brownlees, and the Fairbanks twins. In the summer of 1917 she was one of the few remaining players in the Thanhouser stock company; thus she was with the Thanhouser film enterprise from the beginning and stayed until the end. When Thanhouser closed down, she went with the Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation (which leased the Thanhouser studio facilities), for whom she appeared in the release of The Marionettes (January 1918).

Carey L. Hastings was 5'5" tall, weighed 135 pounds in 1916 (140 in 1918), and had brown hair and hazel eyes. Her favorite pastimes included tennis, horseback riding, swimming, automobiling, and other outdoor activities. In 1914 and 1915, her garden in New Rochelle, said to have been the envy of all in the neighborhood, was the subject of several newspaper and magazine articles. In 1916-1918 she lived in New Rochelle in Beacon Hall.

A 1914 Biographical Sketch: The New Rochelle Pioneer, November 14, 1914, printed a sketch by John William Kellette: "Carey L. Hastings, a genial, charming 'Caddy,' the 'mother' of the Thanhouser studio and the studioites therein, came to the screen with a successful life on the stage as an incentive to urge her on to greater effort. But after her few periods of 'flirting with pictures' she gave the stage the glad good-bye and contented herself with screen life as she found it locally, and she has found it very pleasant. Already 'Caddy' has mothered a population large enough to inhabit Larchmont (in the pictures, of course), and it is a motion picture periodical joke that 'Caddy' has had a dozen sets of twins ranging in ages from three months to eleven years, and singles enough to run a baby show.

"She shines in heart-interest parts, and her best work, probably, was in A Mother's Choice, her own story, a two-reeler, yet she did remarkable work in The Guiding Hand, Mrs. Van Ruyter's Stratagem, and The Diamond of Disaster. To the writer 'Caddy' excels in drama, but she has accomplished fine things in comedy. Her heart is in her work and when it isn't in her scenes it's going out to some poor, unfortunate mortal that needs cheering up. 'Caddy' is the recipient of confidences that keep her tenderness alive. She has cheer to dispense in abundance, and many a homesick girl has 'Caddy' to thank that she received strength and encouragement enough to 'stick' and remain in pictures. Her dressing room is a gallery of motion picture people, but you'll find no face on there that 'Caddy' doesn't love. Her collection, at that, though is complete, and despite the fact that others leave the studio as soon as the day is over, 'Caddy' remains behind to entertain some novice or a studio child that requires it.

"Perhaps 'Caddy's' love for her sister 'Mollie,' Lloyd F. Lonergan's helpmeet, is the greatest thing in Miss Hasting's life. Her heart is filled with love for her fellow-beings, but therein is a throne upon whom none can sit but 'Mollie.' Mrs. Lonergan is the goddess therein, and 'Caddy' is the worshiper. But it is a poor rule that won't work both ways. To Mrs. Lonergan there is none quite so sweet as 'Caddy.' Miss Hastings lives at Pepperday Inn, where the 'brew of Ceylon' is always on, and she delights in starting the percolator to keep up the old English custom of 'havin' a wee drap o' tea at the call o' five o'clock.' Between whiles, however, she's putting the best there is in her into Thanhouser films, and her admirers are regularly awarding merit."

A Family Biography: Her biography was written in 1970 by Lloyd F. Thanhouser, as part of the Thanhouser family history: "My Aunt 'Caddy' was perhaps the jolliest of the Homan girls, despite the tragedies she endured. She married a man named Tidball, a chemist who, I was told, invented the sugar-coated pill. He died before I was born [L.F.T. was born in 1902], as did their only child. Aunt Caddy acted as Gertrude's [Mrs. Edwin Thanhouser's] chaperone when the latter went to Milwaukee in 1899 to play in Edwin Thanhouser's stock company. Later, Aunt Caddy herself went on the stage, and after the New Rochelle studio started making films, she played character parts in a number of Thanhouser films. Following dissolution of the Thanhouser Film Corporation in 1917, Aunt Caddy lived alone in New York, until she married 'Mac' Cain, an aging Brentano's book store salesman. He died some years later, and Aunt Caddy resumed her widow's life. She eventually died in the late 1920s or early 1930s."

Thanhouser Filmography:

1910: St. Elmo (3-22-1910), Mother (9-6-1910)

1912: Cousins (7-28-1912), At the Foot of the Ladder (9-22-1912), But the Greatest of These is Charity (9-27-1912), Miss Taqu of Tokio (11-29-1912)

1913: The Patriot (4-8-1913), The Missing Witness (8-12-1913), An Unromantic Maiden (8-24-1913), When the Worm Turned (9-21-1913), The Old Folks at Home (10-24-1913), Baby's Joy Ride (11-18-1913), The Henpecked Hod Carrier (11-30-1913), The Legend of Provence (12-1-1913), Lawyer, Dog and Baby (12-14-1913), Peggy's Invitation (12-16-1913), An Orphan's Romance (12-23-1913)

1914: Mrs. Pinkhurst's Proxy (1-4-1914), An Elusive Diamond (1-23-1914), The Vacant Chair (Princess 1-23-1914), The Woman Pays (1-27-1914), The Dancer (2-10-1914), The Tangled Cat (Princess 2-13-1914), A Can of Baked Beans (2-22-1914), The Desert Tribesman (3-3-1914), Kathleen, the Irish Rose (3-10-1914), Beautiful Snow (Princess 3-27-1914), When Algy Froze Up (4-24-1914), His Reward (Princess 4-24-1914), From the Flames (4-28-1914), Lost - A Union Suit (5-10-1914), The Dog of Flanders (5-19-1914), Was She Right in Forgiving Him? (5-26-1914), The Legend of Snow White (5-29-1914), A Telephone Strategy (Princess 5-29-1914), The Scrub Lady (6-7-1914), The Widow's Mite (6-28-1914), The Substitute (7-14-1914), From Wash to Washington (7-26-1914), The Guiding Hand (8-4-1914), In Peril's Path (8-14-1914), A Mother's Choice (9-1-1914), Little Mischief (9-6-1914), In Danger's Hour (9-11-1914), The Varsity Race (9-22-1914), The Diamond of Disaster (10-13-1914), A Madonna of the Poor (10-27-1914), The Turning of the Road (11-3-1914), Keeping a Husband (11-8-1914), A Messenger of Gladness (11-22-1914), Mrs. Van Ruyter's Stratagem (11-24-1914), Naidra, the Dream Woman (12-4-1914), The Amateur Detective (12-6-1914), The Reader of Minds (12-8-1914), The Barrier of Flames (12-15-1914)

1915: The Speed King (1-12-1915), Helen Intervenes (1-31-1915), In the Jury Room (2-2-1915), A Man of Iron (2-16-1915), $1,000 Reward (2-26-1915), On the Brink of the Abyss (3-2-1915), The Stolen Jewels (3-21-1915), The Duel in the Dark (3-23-1915), The Skinflint (Princess 3-26-1915), The Cycle of Hatred (4-6-1915), A Double Exposure (4-11-1915), The Handicap of Beauty (Falstaff 4-23-1915), Fashion and the Simple Life (4-25-1915), Through Edith's Looking Glass (6-13-1915), Bud Blossom (6-13-1915), The Country Girl (6-15-1915), Mercy on a Crutch (7-13-1915), The Revenge of the Steeple-Jack (8-8-1915), A Message Through Flames (8-10-1915), Gussie, the Graceful Life Guard (Falstaff 8-13-1915), Help! Help! (Falstaff 8-20-1915), The Vagabonds (8-29-1915), Simon's Swimming Soul Mate (Falstaff 9-20-1915), The Soap Suds Star (Falstaff 10-28-1915), In Baby's Garden (11-14-1915), Hannah's Henpecked Husband (Falstaff 11-15-1915), Inspiration (11-18-1915), Her Confession (12-12-1915)

1916: Reforming Rubbering Rosie (Falstaff 1-13-1916), Booming the Boxing Business (Falstaff 2-8-1916), A Bird of Prey (3-16-1916), Pedro, the Punk Poet (Falstaff 3-23-1916), The Answer (5-16-1916), John Brewster's Wife (6-6-1916), Where Wives Win (Falstaff 6-10-1916), The Window of Dreams (6-15-1916), The World and the Woman (11-19-1916)

1917: Her New York (1-7-1917), The Vicar of Wakefield (2-25-1917), Her Beloved Enemy (3-4-1917), The Candy Girl (5-20-1917), An Amateur Orphan (6-3-1917), Fires of Youth (6-17-1917), It Happened to Adele (7-15-1917), The Man Without a Country (Jewel 9-9-1917), Under False Colors (9-23-1917), The Heart of Ezra Greer (10-7-1917)

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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.