She was “Everbody’s Sweetheart” between 1910-1920, Olive Thomas was America’s popular young actress whose name was featured in big lights promoting her films, her face on the cover of magazines and advertisements.  She also helped kick off the Flapper Era for the “Roaring Twenties”. But before her career was peaked and her popularity was skyrocketing, her life ended too soon at the age of 26. Now, 90 years after her death, her name may be unknown to people of today and many of her silent films are lost but fortunately, “The Olive Thomas Collection” serves as a wonderful memory of one of America’s top actresses from yesteryear. Definitely recommended!
Images courtesy of © 2005 Milestone Film & Video. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The Olive Thomas Collection – The Milestone Collection
RELEASE DATE OF FILM: 1920
DURATION: 145 Minutes (88 Minutes – The Flapper, 57 Minutes – Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart)
DVD INFORMATION: Full Frame (1:33:1), Color/Tinted – The Flapper, Color/B&W – Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart
RATED: UNRATED
COMPANY: Timeline Films/Milestone Film & Video/Image Entertainment
Released Dated: 2005
The Flapper:
Directed by Alan Crosland
Story & Screenplay by Frances Marion
Cinematography by John W. Brown
Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart
Produced by Hugh M. Hefner
Produced and Written by Sarah Baker and Andi Hicks
Directed by Andi Hicks
Edited by Hugh Munro Neely
Narrated by Rosanna Arquette
Starring:
Olive Thomas as Genevieve “Ginger” King
Warren Cook as Sen. King
Theodore Westman Jr. as Bill Forbes
Katherine Johnston as Hortense
Arthur Housman as Tom Morran
Louise Lindroth as Elmina Buttons
Charles Craig as Rev. Cushil
William P. Carleton as Richard Chenning
Marcia Harris as Mrs. Paddles
Bobby Connelly as King Kr.
Norma and Athole Shearer as School Girls
The Flapper is an exceedingly charming comedy about small town girl Ginger King, who attends an East Coast boarding school and dreams of romantic adventures. Ginger feels she has outgrown her young boyfriend and flirts with an older man. In her efforts to become sophisticated she unwittingly gets mixed up with a couple of crooks who entrust her with a batch of stolen jewels. Ginger returns home from school wearing the jewels and playing the ‘jaded vamp.’ When the crooks come after her, she realizes she must overcome her childish dreams and save the day! Norma Shearer and her sister Athole, make their first film appearance in The Flapper.
Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart explores the life and death of one of the first onscreen flappers. By the time she appeared in the movie, she had completed more than seventeen films! But beneath the glitter of success, Olive had her share of tragedy and heartache. Her death under mysterious circumstances in Paris just a month before her 26th birthday shocked the world. It was the very first of the Hollywood scandals soon followed by the deaths of Virginia Rappe, William Desmond Taylor and Wallace Reid. Narrated by Rosanna Arquette, this irresistible dcoumentary features rare clips from Olive’s films and interviews with director Allison Anders, Richard Ziegfeld and Daniel Selznick. The Olive Thomas Collection reveals what a great loss Olive’s death was to cinema, or as producer David O. Selznick said of this tragedy, she was “a dancing sunbeam suddenly snuffed out like a candle.”
Chances are…that many people today have never heard of the silent actress Olive Thomas. If anything, for most people who frequent the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City, her name is known as the ghost that is supposedly haunting the theatre.
Sure, there are many people today who are familiar with Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Norma Shearer, Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow and many female actresses of the era, but Olive Thomas seems to have been forgotten. And perhaps its because many of her silent films are lost (many silent films are lost and unfortunately shot on combustible nitrate film which many have suffered massive acid deterioration or were destroyed in a fire caused by the nitrate film) and have not had the distribution like Pickford, Swanson and Bow.
But Olive Thomas was one of the most popular actresses at the time and earning the nickname “Everybody’s Sweetheart”. Even rivaling Mary Pickford who was dubbed “America’s Sweetheart”. Not only was she Florence Ziegfeld’s #1 go to lady for the Ziegfeld Follies but she was also a favorite of Hollywood’s most popular producers, the Selznick brothers. Her beauty and girl-next-door looks captivated many that knew her and similar to a big star of today, she graced many magazine covers, was on many product advertisements, on film and to everyone’s surprised, Olive Thomas married her screen rival’s brother, Jack Pickford.
And unlike the silent film actresses I named earlier, Olive Thomas, who had a radiant life and career that was skyrocketing but in 1920, after a night of partying hard in France and hoping to strengthen her deteriorating marriage to Jack Pickford, Olive Thomas was dead at the young age of 26.
Her death was reported as accidental as the actress supposedly woke up early in the morning to grab an aspirin but ended up grabbing Jack Pickford’s syphilis medication (mercury bichloride), which was supposed to be used topically but she put it into her drink and by then, the poison started to work in her body and within a few days she was dead.
Like many actresses and young socialites of today who fill the tabloid papers for their hard partying and worries that their lifestyles may lead to their premature death, Olive Thomas was the celebrity in which media took her death and shown to the public and warned them of hard partying, the Hollywood and France life. But the intrigue and public mourning of Olive Thomas led to many theories of her death. From accidental death, to suicide or even a case of murder which people blamed Pickford for Olive’s death.
Olive Thomas, known as “Everybody’s Sweetheart” was so loved by her fans and she was more popular than many of the young silent film actresses at the time and it’s unfortunate that many of her films are lost and that the legacy of this fine young actresses has not stood out compared to other contemporaries due to the fact that people today have had not much access to any of her films unless you attended a silent film festival.
As of today, around 12 of her films (many in bad shape) have been found but only one of her films “The Flapper” (1920) is available on DVD courtesy of Milestone Film & Video/Image Entertainment.
For those not familiar with the term “The Flapper”. The word is meant to describe a new breed of young women in the ’20s who were defiant, independent and liberal. Known for sporting short skirts, bobbed hair, makeup and were into American jazz culture, smoking, drinking and sex was discussed in a casual manner.  And the word was first used in the 1920 silent film which was written by popular screenwriter at the time, Frances Marion.
“The Flapper” is about a young girl named Genevieve “Ginger” King (played by Olive Thomas) who lives in the small town of Orange Springs, Florida. But she likes to drink a soda with her friend (a boy) but during this time and era, such free gallivanting in public was scandalous and her father, Senator King (played by Warren Cook) who has disapproved of her daughter’s actions has had enough. He is sending her to boarding school who will be taught by the strict Mrs. Paddles (played by Marcia Harris).
But when she goes to her new boarding school, it appears that she is joining other girls who like to have fun and live the flapper lifestyle. So, as the girls like to talk and have fun, the girls at the school tell Ginger about this handsome man named Richard Channing (played by William P. Carleton) who is seen riding his horse. All girls think the man is dreamy and Ginger becomes interested.
Of course, her friend (the boy that she drinks soda with) who has always liked her tries to showoff that he has manly skills and says he can ride a horse too. So, she gives him the benefit of the doubt. And when they go riding, his inexperience shows that he doesn’t know how to ride a horse and the two end up flying out into the snow. As the boy goes after the horse, Richard Channing arrives towards the scene to help Ginger back up. And immediately, the lies begin as Ginger tries to convince Richard that she’s a young woman nearly 20-years-old when in actuality, she’s a young teenager. Richard invites her to a party at the club and Ginger looks forward to her date.
As she tells her fellow students about her date, the all quickly help her dress up, put her make up on, get her hair done and prepare Ginger for her date with Richard.
When Ginger arrives for her date, everyone looks at Ginger with delight including Richard. All seems well during the night, that is until the boarding school teacher Mrs. Paddles arrives and embarrassing her in front of Richard and revealing that she is only a young teenager.
As Ginger is embarrassed about her situation, she is taking the situation a bit hard. Meanwhile, another student at the school named Hortense (played by Katherine Johnston) and her thief boyfriend Thomas Morran (played by Arthur Housman) have robbed the boarding school safe and make their getaway. Ginger finds a note that the two would be going to New York and decides to leave the boarding school to follow Hortense in New York.
What will happen when Ginger gets to New York and will her curiosity get the best of her?
As for “Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart”, this is probably the best documentary (maybe the only documentary) on the actress. Featuring narration by Rosanna Arquette and interviews with director Allison Anders (a big fan of Olive Thomas), Richard Ziegfeld and Daniel Selznick, family members and historians. You really get an in-depth look at Olive Thomas and her career.
From being the #1 Ziegfeld girl, her romance with Flo Ziegfeld, working with D.W. Griffith, with the Szelnick brothers and of course her rocky marriage to Jack Pickford and how the Pickford family responded when they found out that Jack and Olive have been married for over a year. And of course, we get details on the night she took the poison, the controversy about her death, her funeral and also her reported ghost sightings at the New Amsterdam Theatre.
VIDEO:
Because Olive Thomas films are difficult to find, “The Flapper” survived in great condition and found nearly complete (it is missing its intro title card). But for the most part, picture quality of “The Flapper” is in very good condition as there are no major film warping, nor are there tremendous amount of dust, speckles, that disturb your viewing. They are existent but for the most part, it’s not disruptive. Some may find the cuts of the editing from scene transitions to be a bit rough but it’s not that bad.
The film is presented in 1:33:1 full screen format. There is color tinting in some areas of the film and some scenes have vignettes. As for film speed, I didn’t notice any scene to be too quick or too slow, so for the most part, I felt the film speed was great.
As for “Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart”, because the documentary was filmed in 2004, film quality varies with footage from Olive Thomas films that exist or partially in bad shape. Modern interviews are in color and are fine and there are really nice old photos of Olive Thomas in her early years especially while she was a Zeigfeld girl.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“The Flapper” is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. The film is presented with a piano score by Robert Israel which matches the film quite well. The documentary “Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart” is presented in Dolby Digital and dialogue and music are clear and I found no problems with the audio.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Olive Thomas Collection” comes with the following special features:
- Stills Gallery – Featuring still galleries of Olive Thomas which can be viewed via remote.
- Re-Enactments of anecdotes about Olive Thomas s told by Billy Blitzer and Lenore Coffee – (4:23) Re-enactments featuring actors about Olive working with Billy Blitzer (D.W. Griffith’s cinematographer) and Lenore Coffee (writer) that were not used in the documentary.
- Illustrated Interview with Bernard Krug Thomas, Olive’s first husband, found in “The Pittsburgh Press (May 4, 1931) – (11:10) Featuring a narrated featurette from a 1931 interview as Bernard Krug Thomas reminisces his marriage with Olive Thomas and how things were during their marriage and the divorce. How Olive Thomas wanted to become a Ziegfeld girl and that was her dream and thus her divorce to Bernard. Also, what transpired between the two after their divorce.
- Two songs written especially for Olive Thomas – “The Glorious Lady” and “The More I See of Somebody Else, The More I Think About You” – Of the three songs about Olive Thomas that were found, Milestone presents two of the songs.
One night, I discovered Olive Thomas by mistake. I was going through various sites reading about Louise Brooks and more on the Flapper trend of the “Roaring Twenties” and when it came to women that people looked at being the quintessential Flapper, I noticed Olive Thomas listed. I asked myself, who is Olive Thomas? As I was familiar with the other women on the list except her.
As I started to do my research on Olive, I was shocked but what I found. Here is one of America’s top actresses, who worked hard and played hard and lived a short life. Married the brother of Mary Pickford (an actress that she did not want to be like) and created a career for herself and was loved and adored by many. I asked myself, “how can I not know Olive Thomas?” and it’s simple. Similar to how Harold Lloyd is not easily remembered because of his lack of film distribution on television for nearly 80 years, the same can be said about Olive Thomas but worst.
Where Harold Lloyd have creative control over his films and literally took great care of them and fortunately had sibling that would carry the torch for him and many to rediscover his work many decades later, the same can’t be said for Olive Thomas as her films are either lost and those that were found are in terrible shape. A few that have been screened at film festivals but nothing released on DVD but one film.
So, we have one film, “The Flapper” included in “The Olive Thomas Collection” and an awesome documentary detailing Olive’s career and personal life and bits and pieces of her work from other films and that is it.
“The Flapper” was a good film and I can imagine by Thomas playing this wild character in the film, in the ’20s – teenage girls probably loved it while conservative parents more than likely scoffed by such a character. But this film was a the kickoff to the flapper trend and has its place in American pop culture history.
But was “The Flapper” one her best films? I’m not sure if this question will ever be answered because of the lack of release of her films on the video market and there are many films that are lost. Obviously, from watching “Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart”, we learn how popular of an actress she was back then. We see clips of her playing a variety of roles and again, its rather unfortunate that these are not available, so people of today and audiences of tomorrow would know who she is aside from a ghost haunting the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York.
“The Flapper” was a good film that seemed a bit disjointed and farfetched at times. It’s hard to believe that she comes from this quaint but small upper class area in Florida, moves to a boarding house where it’s all snow and wherever she goes, the boy that likes her and the man she meets is there and also at home. There are some hilarious moments and also scenes that show us New York and its crowded streets ala early 1920, we get to see Olive Thomas playing the innocent school girl to becoming a wannabe vamp and also, we get to see Norma Shearer and her sister in one of their earlier roles as extras.
But the real gem in “The Olive Thomas Collection” is the documentary “Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart”. It is a well-made, well-researched documentary that really goes into depth of Olive Thomas, her career and personal life.
The special features are also quite entertaining but the illustrated featurette with the interview with Olive’s first husband Bernard Krug Thomas was very interesting and also gives us another perspective of Olive Thomas not shown in the documentary.
Overall, Olive Thomas may be one of the forgotten actresses from the silent era and a name that may not be recognized by people today but she was the actress who was known for working hard, playing hard. She was determined, passionate and wanted to be the best actress in Hollywood. Her career was ended before she could win any Academy Awards, lay a handprint or her signature on wet cement on Hollywood’s Walk-of-Fame and before her career could be ever, fully recognized.
But for those who are silent film fans, especially the new generation of fans who are discovering the films right now and are researching various DVD’s to purchase for their collection, “The Olive Thomas Collection” is a must-own DVD.
Definitely recommended!