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The first Hollywood scandal to attract international intentional was the death-by-poison of Olive Thomas, the twenty-five year old star of au courant Hollywood hit The Flapper. According to Hollywood Babylon, Thomas’s death was the suicide of a woman desperate over her failure to score dope for her junkie husband. What’s the real story—and what role was played by Jack Pickford, Olive’s husband and the brother of the actress then considered “America’s Sweetheart”?
Olive Thomas and Jack Pickford, c. 1920
SHOW NOTES:
Sources:
This episode is a response to, and includes a brief excerpt from, Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger.
Mary Pickford: America's Sweetheart by Scott Eyman
Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood by Eileen Whitfield
The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks by Tracey Goessel
Olive Thomas: The Life and Death of a Silent Film Beauty by Michelle Vogel
“You Don’t Know Jack – A Second Take on Jack Pickford” (Parts One, Two and Three) by Steve Vaught
“Cleanup of Paris Cafes May Follow Movie Stars Death” Daily News, September 44, 1920
“The Final Years of Jack Pickford” by Amy Marie, September 29, 2016
“Beautiful Dead Girl: On Early Hollywood Casualty Olive Thomas (Oct. 20, 1894 - Sept. 10, 1920) and The Olive Thomas Collection on DVD” by Gordon Thomas, September 10, 2015
“The Man Who Had Everything: The Curious Case of Jack Pickford and the New York Times” by Shane Brown, January 28, 2014
Special thanks to Allison Anders, who provided this image of Pickford and Thomas from her personal collection.
Music:
Original music was composed for this episode by Evan Viola. Most of the rest of music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca. The outro song this week is "The Upper Classes" by The Auteurs.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
The Smoke Room - Gunnar Johnsén
Mississippi Ramble 1 - Martin Gauffin
Sophisticated Gentlemen 3 - Magnus Ringblom
One Two Three 1 - Peter Sandberg
Black and White Memories 3 - Martin Hall
Speakeasy 2
1920s Chicago 3 - Magnus Ringblom
Time To Tango - Håkan Eriksson
Pesado Manouche 3 - John Ahlin
Widow’s Dance - Håkan Eriksson
Paris Waltz - Håkan Eriksson
Say It Is So -Magnus Ringblom
Victoria’s Vintage Pearls 2 - Peter Sandberg
Jazz and Blue Piano 1 - Jonaton Jarpehag
Credits:
Our special guest this week is Gideon Yago.
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editors: Sam Dingman and Jacob Smith.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.