From that she followed the familiar path of model, Follies girl, silent film actress, and tragic infamous death at 25. There's almost something comforting that she's still around and the book is narrated by this ghost, sick of enduring countless Lion Kings and Mary Poppins, but given the choice of going on or hanging out for a bit by a form filling heavenly civil servant, she decides to hang around a bit and reminisce on her life.įrom a hardscrabble, Pennsylvania town, she dodges a dull early marriage, and runs to New York, where she wins "The Most Beautiful Girl in New York City" contest. Her ghost still reputedly haunts New Amsterdam Theater where she was a Follies chorus girl, still in her famous green dress and headdress.
Her eyes were even purple like Liz Taylor's. You have to get the background details correct but not let that overwhelm the story or take an artificial main stage, which a lot fall prey to-and this book neatly avoids all of that.Ī perfect choice-Olive Thomas. There's got to be the hook to get the story going, especially in the case of first person narrators. Historical fiction I think is a tough to get right. Ollie's mysterious death in Paris’ Ritz Hotel in 1920 was one of Hollywood’s first scandals, ensuring that her legend lived on. Together they developed a reputation for drinking, club-going, wrecking cars, and fighting, along with giving each other expensive make-up gifts. When Hollywood beckoned, Ollie signed first with Triangle Pictures, and then with Myron Selznick’s new production company, becoming most well known for her work as a “baby vamp,” the precursor to the flappers of the 1920s.Īfter a stormy courtship, she married playboy Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford’s wastrel brother. From her longtime home at the theater, Ollie’s ghost tells her story from her early life in Pittsburgh to her tragic death at twenty-five.Īfter winning a contest for “The Most Beautiful Girl in New York,” shopgirl Ollie modeled for the most famous artists in New York, and then went on to become the toast of Broadway. They say she’s the ghost of Olive Thomas, one of the loveliest girls who ever lit up the Ziegfeld Follies and the silent screen. A presence lurks in New York City’s New Amsterdam Theatre when the lights go down and the audience goes home.
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