Olive Thomas

Olive Thomas is an interesting (and sad) chapter in silent film. Lillian Gish was the consummate actress. Mary Pickford was the eternal, annoying little girl. Louise Brooks was a sex symbol. Garbo was the lady of mystery.

Olive was the tomboyish character, yet with style and class. Her film career was woefully short - only four years - but by the time she had made her final film, The Flapper, she was a confirmed star.

Olive had one of those rags-to-riches backgrounds. She married her first husband when she was only sixteen, divorcing him a few years later. She moved to New York City and won a beauty contest; this led to her being offered a job in the Ziegfeld Follies. (At late-night parties, Olive would appear wearing only balloons, which the rich men would pop, one by one, with their cigars.)

The film world wasn't far away in those days, with as many films being shot on the East Coast as on the West. Olive made her first film in 1916, and in October of that year, she married Mary Pickford's younger brother Jack. Jack was also in film, though he would never achieve the heights that his sister did. With Olive now a member of the industry, they often found themselves shooting on opposite coasts, putting a strain on their marriage; another problem was caused by Jack's frequent philandering.

In 1920, Olive and Jack sailed for Europe to give their marriage another try. Olive had confided to a friend, not long before this, that she didn't know if she could take being married to Jack any longer.

In the dead of night, in Paris, Olive went into the bathroom and swallowed a solution of mercury bichloride. She woke Jack to tell him what she had done; he administered first aid, and called for help. It was too late; after several days of agony, Olive died in a Paris hospital. She had been blinded by the solution, which had also burned through her vocal cords.

Jack, with Olive's body, sailed for New York. His boat was met by his sister Mary; Jack burst into tears and said, "I've never had to see anyone die before." Olive was buried in the Pickford family plot, but her name wasn't put on the stone.

Her last film, The Flapper, was a perfect showcase for her talent. She played Ginger King, a teenager from Florida who is sent to a boarding school in New York State. The character of Ginger has a real talent for getting into dramatic situations, which she milks for all that they're worth. Olive truly shines in this role, and the film gives us views of a long-gone New York City.

Much has been made of Olive's death, especially in light of the fact that her marriage was on the rocks. Was it suicide? I doubt it. Olive had thought nothing of divorcing her first husband, who, to all accounts, didn't cause her any of the problems that the irresponsible playboy Jack Pickford had. She may have felt that it was her duty to try to make things worth; this is plausible. Yet suicide by means of mercury bichloride is a rash step. (On the other hand, the "Biograph Girl", Florence Lawrence, committed suicide by eating ant paste.)

My feeling is that she got up late one night, thirsty, went into the bathroom, and drank what she thought was water. As for the solution itself, mercury bichloride was used in those days for acne; it was mixed with water and applied to the skin.

It was also used for syphilis, which, evidently, Jack had - and had passed on to Olive.

I think Olive deserves much better than to be relegated to the status of a Pickford in-law. She was very talented, certainly far more talented than the grungy-looking Jack, and I'm sure she would have been one of the greats. Timeline Films has made a very good documentary about Olive; click on the link at the bottom of this page to find out more. (One of the fascinating things about the documentary is that it contains film footage of Olive with two other actresses, sitting on some steps. One actress is Chaplin's one-time leading lady, Edna Purviance. The other is Virginia Rappe, who would die so dramatically the year after Olive did.)