Jack Pickford

Olive Thomas (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 2) by Karina Longworth

olive_thomas c 1916.jpg

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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

Olive Thomas and Jack Pickford, c. 1920

Special thanks to Allison Anders, who provided this image of Pickford and Thomas from her personal collection.

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.