Aileen McLellan Hunter (January 4, 1902 – June 6, 1993), known professionally as Aileen Hamilton, was an English and American screenwriter, dancer, actress, singer and costume designer, credited for writing the story behind the film Christmas in Connecticut (1945). Starting out as a professional dancer as a child in England, Hunter went on to appear on London's West End. After relocating to the US, she starred in a series of Broadway revues throughout the 1920s. She was described in 1927 as "one of Ziegfeld's protégés."
Early life and family Aileen Hunter was born on January 4, 1902 in Bristol, England to Elsie Emily Hunter (née Stevenson) and William McLellan Hunter, a steamship captain, all hailing from Bristol's Clifton area. Aileen was christened on February 2, 1902 at Kingsdown St. Matthew's Church in Cotham, Bristol."England, Bristol, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1777–1936", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2Z7-N2QP : Thu Mar 07 23:53:12 UTC 2024), Entry for Aileen Mclellan Hunter and William McLellan Hunter, 02 Feb 1902. She had a younger sister, Alison (born 1905 in Bristol), a child actress and later costume designer, and younger brother Ian McLellan Hunter (born August 8, 1915 in London), a well known English screenwriter of over 20 films and series and credited for Roman Holiday, the story and screenplay which he fronted for blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo.
Aileen's parents William and Elsie Hunter were married in 1900 at Clifton Holy Trinity Church and in 1901 lived at 28 Ravenswood Rd, Clifton, Bristol, where Aileen was born the following year. In 1909 at age 7, Aileen reportedly did a tour of China, Japan, India and Arabia, and was greatly inspired by the rhythmic motions of the native dancers of India.(New York) Daily News, p.25, September 25, 1920. Retrieved September 13, 2024. She and her sister Alison were listed in the 1911 census among six girl boarders aged 5 to 11( Alison being the youngest) at a private school in nearby Cotham, Bristol, run by joint principals Ethel May and Constance May Gittins. In her autobiography the prima ballerina Phyllis Bedells, also from Bristol, lists Hunter as a pupil."My Dancing Days" by Phyllis Bedells, published 1954, Phoenix House, London, p.60: "Well into 1913 I was taking on more and more pupils, among whom were... Eileen (sic) Hunter." By 1912 at age 10, she was performing in a charity dancing program at Bristol's Victoria Rooms as one of 40 or so pupils of the Misses Edythe and Muriel Parnall of Clifton. Two years later Aileen and 150 other children performed there again under the same tutelage, where it was reported, "Aileen Hunter delighted the audience with Valse Bluette, a charming example of toe-dancing, of which this clever child, who is only twelve years old, is a skilful exponent."Western Daily Press, Bristol, p.3, Mon, March 23, 1914. Retrieved September 13, 2024. The latter was her first reported public solo performance. Five months later she was one of 45 artists dancing and performing twice a night in a revue at the Derby Grand Theatre in aid of the War Relief Fund where as a principal artist, it was reported she "delights her audience with her graceful tip-toe dancing."The Derby Daily Telegraph, p.3, Wed. August 19, 1914. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
Details in his 1922 passport application indicate her father, born in Bristol, had become a naturalized US citizen on June 11, 1896 with an address in the US since 1890 at Sea Bright, NJ. It also stated that from 1896 to 1919, he lived in London, though his permanent domicile remained as 320 W. 83rd St, NYC. During this time as steamship captain, he lived largely on board various ships, maintaining residences both sides of the Atlantic between voyages and returning periodically to his family in Bristol.
Professional dance career
In 1917 at age 15 and still a minor, she was performing professionally at London's Alhambra Theatre, still using the name Aileen Hunter, having already danced alongside the Danish-British ballerina Adeline Genée and Serge Morosov, a dancer with the Russian ballet and a leading teacher in London. At that time, Aileen's father was a prisoner of war in Germany,The Sporting Times, p.3, November 24, 1917. Retrieved September 14, 2024. and after his release found employment in New York.
The following year, Aileen went to work in post-war France at the Casino de Paris. The revue was Pa-Ri-Ki-Ri, with headliner Maurice Chevalier and a cast of 400.New York Times, July 5, 1920, p12 (Amusements section). Retrieved from archive.org Sep.22, 2024. According to an addendum to the ship's manifest in 1919, when Aileen's siblings and mother emigrated aboard the S.S. Lapland from Southampton to New York to join their father (October 22, 1919 – November 3, 1919), both she and her mother had previously visited the US in November 1912 for unspecified work. The 1919 manifest lists the occupation of both girls, aged 17 and 14 respectively, as "domestic" and their father as living at 141 Broadway, New York. The 1920 census lists the family reunited in a Manhattan apartment at 324 W. 83rd Street, with Aileen's occupation as waged "Actor" in the "stage" industry, age 18. Between August 16 and November 1920 after a run-in Atlantic City, Aileen performed in The Lady of the Lamp (111 performances, August 17 – November 20, 1920) as one of the Seven Little Princesses,Billboard, Aug.6, 1921, p71. Retrieved from archive.org sep.23, 2024. at the Republic Theatre under her new stage name Aileen Hamilton.(New York) Times Union, p.4, August 6, 1920. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
In 1922, her father required a passport to travel on September 23 aboard the S.S. Vestris to Buenos Aires to inspect steamers on behalf of his employer, Lloyd Royal Belge Steamship Co S.A. of 10 Pearl St, New York. While including most of his family his passport photo omitted her; by this time she was a working adult living in New York under her stage name Aileen Hamilton, having performed in The Lady of the Lamp and just finished as one of Sixteen Sunshine Girls in Good Morning Dearie, a musical comedy at Broadway's Globe Theatre (347 performances: November 1, 1921, to August 26, 1922).A Chronology of American Musical Theater by Norton, Richard C., Vol.2, 1912–52 2002 Oxford University Press Inc. ISBN 0-19-508888-3. Retrieved from archive.org Sep.23, 2024. She was also already rehearsing as a "specialty dancer" or "loose toe artist", according to Variety,Variety, Nov.17, 1922, p.17. Retrieved Sep.19, 2024. in a musical number called "The Flirting Salesmen" with Joseph Niemeyer in George M. Cohan's Little Nellie Kelly, another musical comedy at the Liberty Theatre, also on Broadway (November 13, 1922 to July 7, 1923, 276 performances).Dietz, D. (2019) The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals retrieved from Google Books February 1, 2023. In November 1924, she became a member of the Actors' Equity Association.The Billboard, Nov.15, 1924, p.38. Retrieved Sep.18, 2024 from worldradiohistory.com. Later that year, Hamilton played Señorita, a Spanish dancer, in the revue The Grab Bag back at the Globe Theatre (October 6, 1924, to March 14, 1925), which subsequently went on tour to venues including Werba's Brooklyn Theatre, the Lyceum Theater in Rochester in 1926, two theaters named Majestic: Cedar Rapids, IA, and Buffalo, NY, as well as Philadelphia and Boston.Washington Post, March 11, 1926. Retrieved from archive.com Sep.19, 2024.
The following year, Hamilton traveled back to Europe to appear in two consecutive revues at the Palace Theatre in Montmartre, Paris. For the first, in March, she was summoned by telegram to appear in Women's Palace as a replacement for Jenny Golder (aka Rosie Sloman), as described in a letter by the English painter Edward Burra.He wrote to his friend Barbara Ker-Seymer: "On Sunday afternoon we went to Palace aux Femmes at the palace music hall. We saw a creature called Aileen Hamilton... she was so snappy she leapt on a piano and sang 'Sweet Child y'our driving me wild' accompanied by Spadaro... But for Spadaro it was so awful I enjoyed it... In the last grand outburst 3 creatures appeared with nothing on in a sort of fountain so voluptuous that chains were passed round to keep everyone in their places, especially when they had a jolly mauve lime put on them. I hope the water was warm otherwise it will be Palace aux pneumonia for someone shortly." – Extract from "Well Dearie! The Letters of Edward Burra". Letters Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd. 1985. ISBN 0 86092 076 3. Pgs. 32–33 retrieved from archive.org Sep.19, 2024. Golder had ruptured a leg muscle and committed suicide the following year.San Francisco Examiner, Sep.16, 1928, p.114. Retrieved from Newspapers.com Oct.11, 2024 The second, in April, was a highly popular and somewhat risqué revue entitled Women and Sport. Here her co-star and dancing partner was the much celebrated French prize fighter and World War 1 hero Georges Carpentier, who made his stage debut as both singer and dancer. It was reported that many thousands of British people went over to Paris for Easter and tried in vain to get seats. Over 6,000 were turned away from the first five performances.The Daily Mirror (London), p.9, April 22, 1927. Retrieved Sep.14, 2024. Femmes et Sport, as it was billed locally, was described elsewhere as, "typically Parisian, with the chorus conventionally nude in some of the scenes."Daily News (New York), Apr.10, 1927. Retrieved Sep.14, 2024.
In 1928, Hamilton was promoted as "an international artist of repute, having appeared in England, France and South America", set to be a featured player in J.P. McEvoy's forthcoming Broadway musical "Americana", and in January 1929 she appeared in a short-lived Vaudeville style revue at the Fox Theater in Washington D.C. called Dr. Jazz, in which she "steps around in weird contortionist fashion in her eccentric dance", while others performed songs and comedy acrobatics.Evening Star (Washington D.C.), p.32, January 7, 1929. Retrieved Sep.14, 2024. At this time Hamilton is also credited for off-stage work as Costume Designer for the 1930 Ginger Rogers film The Sap from Syracuse, filmed in New York.
Writing associates
Later in 1929, Hamilton went to Mexico, accompanying her good friends Ben Hecht, his wife Rose Caylor, and Charles MacArthur, a group of journalists, authors, playwrights and Hollywood screenwriters. They were there to collect material on the revolutionary fighting for their new play The Moon-Shooter, eventually released in 1935 as the film Once in a Blue Moon. Hamilton's group were among many Americans, including Charles Lindbergh and his soon-to-be wife Anne Morrow, trapped at this time in Mexico due to the revolution.The Miami News, p.18, Tue. March 29, 1929. Retrieved Sep.14,2024 via Newspapers.com. Finally railroad communication was re-established and Hamilton was able to return to New York to begin rehearsals for a new musical comedy set to open that Spring.
Return to New York On June 20, 1934, after Women and Sport closed, Hamilton returned from France on the steamship S.S. Paris from Le Havre back to New York, arriving June 26, traveling on "father's papers" as "Aileen Hunter (Hamilton)" with an address at 36 W.59th St, NYC. The 1940 census finds her rooming in rented accommodation with Helen Salter at 35 Underhill Road, Ossinning Town, West Chester, New York. Salter later witnesses Aileen's marriage in Los Angeles.
Hollywood career