Educational Media Reviews Online

Reviews claimed she was as sparkling as champagne. She was called the Most Beautiful Girl in the World; she was featured in the Ziegfield Follies; she was married to the brother of America’s Sweetheart, Mary Pickford; but, if remembered at all, it is only for causing the first celebrity scandal in Hollywood by dying mysteriously in Paris after ingesting mercury bichloride. We know Olive Thomas today not by her accomplishments on the screen and stage, but by providing the content to an early chapter in Kenneth Anger’s book Hollywood Babylon. The Olive Thomas Collection DVD sets out to re-acquaint us with an actress through a video biography as well as one of the last films she made before she died, and the only complete one available on video.

Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart takes its title from Thomas’ last film, released posthumously. I had seen an earlier version of this documentary as a work in progress when it contained numerous re-enactments of events in Olive Thomas’ life with her great niece portraying her. This last version on the DVD has rightfully relegated the re-enactments to the Bonus Section and included many more clips from her extant films thus providing us with a better view of Thomas’ screen persona. Her life was a rags-to-riches tale from a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania to becoming a sensation in the Ziegfield Follies and the racier Midnight Frolics before the age of 20. Then she went on to a film career and marriage to Jack Pickford, the talented actor but misguided brother of one of the most beloved movie stars in the world, Mary Pickford. Olive Thomas made 22 films in her 4-year film career, of which 10 currently survive in archives. Her death caused much speculation about whether it was suicide or an accident (or even murder), but the fact remains that she was an incredibly popular entertainment celebrity in the late teens and her untimely death contributed greatly to her myth, completely overshadowing her career.

There is a certain level of expectation involved in finally seeing Olive Thomas in The Flapper. The title alone evokes possibilities about early characterizations of the jazz age with the added benefit of seeing a complete film starring Olive Thomas. With a script by Frances Marion (Anna Christie, Dinner at Eight) and directed by Alan Crosland (Don Juan, The Jazz Singer), the anticipation mounts even further. The film is not so much about a flapper, but about a 16-year-old boarding school girl’s romantic notions and somewhat unsuccessful attempts at vamping towards the end of the film. The film should rightfully been titled, “The Adventures of Ginger King at Boarding School.” It is a beautifully photographed comedy in which Olive Thomas, in the first half of the film, attempts to get involved with a much older sophisticated man she sees riding everyday, and in the second half, she unwittingly gets mixed up with thieves and stolen jewelry. It could easily have been made as two shorter films. Thomas is charming and, at 25, is able to pull off wearing a sailor suit. In this film she is also considerably rounder and shorter than any of her portraits or publicity stills depict. Given all the talent represented in the credits, The Flapper could have been more cohesive narratively, but it is an interesting film in that it does show Thomas’ range against location shooting in upstate New York and Manhattan. The film also features Norma Shearer’s first appearance in film as Olive’s schoolmate who helps her get ready for her evening out.

This DVD is important in providing insight into an area of film history that was lacking video accessibility. We had heard about Olive Thomas, now we can finally see her. Recommended for silent film enthusiasts and academic areas of film studies and musical theater.