James Hammerstein James Hammerstein Hammerstein was the son of Oscar Hammerstein II, and his Australian-born second wife, Dorothy Kiaora Blanchard. He had four half-siblings, two through each of his parents' earlier marriages: William and Alice Hammerstein, and Henry and Susan Jacobson. The best known of these was Susan, whose husbands included Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark. Hammerstein attended George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, where he met fellow student Stephen Sondheim. He began his Broadway career as a stage manager, notably for shows such as "South Pacific", "Me and Juliet", and "Flower Drum Song", all co-written by his father Oscar Hammerstein II and
Elaine Hammerstein opposite William Haines. With the latter film, the studio tried to promote Hammerstein and Haines as a couple, however, in real life, Haines was a gay man. Hammerstein wed James Walter Kays in Los Angeles, California, on June 10, 1926. Kays was a Los Angeles fire commissioner and had also served as finance director for the California Democratic Party. Upon her marriage, Hammerstein retired from acting. Her last film appearance is in the Columbia Pictures drama "Ladies of Leisure" (1926). In August 1948, while returning from a trip to the Mexican border town of Tijuana, the Kays and three friends