Jack and Olive Picture

A new photo of Jack and Olive has been released!

If I'm not mistaken, this was taken while Jack was one his way to shoot Tom Sawyer; hence the clothing. This must have been circa 1916.

June Marlowe.

Today, I'm talking about my favorite teacher, June Marlowe aka Ms. Crabtree. (I'm on a Little Rascals obsession lately..)

June was born as Gisela Goetten in St. Could Minnesota (Whoop whoop!!) November 6th, 1903, to mother Hedwig and father John. She was the oldest of five children.

As a child, June loved the movies, she would even imitate Theda Bara. When June was in her teens the family moved to the "big city" Minneapolis. June stated once that Minneapolis was "the most beautiful city in the world". 

June got a role in a film called, "Kitty Reid", when she became June Marlowe, the lady of Hollywood.

Harry Carr recommended June to Jack Warner, of The Warner Brothers. Jack was very impressed with June, offering her a contract with his studio. It wasn't long before June started making plenty of more films.

Even though June starred in a number of films, she is mostly remembered as Ms. Crabtree from Our Gang, aka, The Little Rascals. When I was a child, I remember my mom buying a VHS tape of Our Gang, containing three different episodes, one with June in it. I would rewind the tape over and over again just to watch her, I was so fascinated with her.  I'm surprised the tape never broke on me..

What wasn't to love about June as Ms. Crabtree?? She was the nicest teacher and the prettiest girl. I also loved Jackie Coopers crush on her-SO adorable.

June was a natural brunette, but Hal Roach decided she would be better blonde, so she wore a wig everyday on set.

June passed away on March 10th, 1984, when she was eighty years old. June rests in a family plot in San Fernado Mission Cemetery.

Even though June's not a huge part of cinema history, she is kept alive by many generations who love the Rascals series, and will be kept alive for many more.

Mary Kornman

Today, I'm going to talk about the lovely Mary Kornman!

I've been a fan of hers since I was just a little girl, I would actually dress up and act like her!  Who didn't wan't to be a Little Rascal when they were young?

Mary was born December 27th, 1915 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Her father Gene Kornman was a photographer, he shot Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, and many others!

Mary started acting when she was eight years old, she was best known for playing the darling little Mary in Hal Roaches Our Gang shorts, today commonly known as The Little Rascals. Mary and the other's in The Gang where replaced by younger children as soon as talkies came along. 

She then played a similar role in Hal Roaches, The Boyfriends, a comedy series. Her boyfriend on screen was the same guy whom she starred with in the Gang, Mickey Daniels. 

I remember watching a whole marathon of The Boyfriends a few years ago on TCM. I thought the show was very funny, I've always loved the chemistry that Mary and Mickey had. In my opinion, I think their one of the greatest comedic couple's that has ever graced the screen. Mickey was not afraid to look goofy or weird (hence, the photo above) he was very funny. Getting off topic, I loved his little cameo in The Great Ziegfeld, where he played a telegraph boy. He was and still is one of the most under-rated actors, he deserves SO much more credit! 

What worked great about this "couple" was that Mary was the natural, sweet, caring girlfriend to a goofy, awkward boy. 

I love the clip of Mary and Mickey in The Voice of Hollywood, where they are doing an interview on the radio. Mickey wants to sing but Mary wants to tap dance. They fight over who's going to perform as the camera pans over to the radio show host, and all you hear is Mickey yelling and noises of someone getting hit. It pans back to them and Mickey's on the ground with his hands up, his shirt and hair all messy, Mary's holding the microphone-like shes about to hit him. Mickey agrees to let Mary perform, Mary gladly puts the microphone away and starts dancing like nothing happened.

Mary, Mickey and other former Gang members with the new Gang. 

Mary starred in countless films, with many great actors and actresses. One of them being John Wayne, in The Desert Trail. I've seen that film a looonngg time ago, but from what I remember, I enjoyed it very much. I've always been interested in Mary as an adult, I've always thought she was beautiful and very talented, I've always wished she had done more movies. But Mary wasn't very interested in making films-she stopped making them in her mid-twenties, she even started her own salon at some point. 

Some years after Mary's first marriage, she married Ralph B. McCutcheon, who she devoted her life to, since she never had any children. Mary's sister and actress Mildred Kornman tells people that they where very much in love. Mary never went back to films, but she kept in touch with Hollywood friends and former co stars. 

After a long time illness, Mary passed away on June 1st, 1973 at age 57, with her husband and sister Mildred by her side. Her husband Ralph soon followed in 1975. Their both buried at the Lin Grove Cemetery in Greely, Weld County, Colorado. 

Even though theres only a little group of people in the world who knows Mary Kornman, she is remember by fans of The Little Rascals, and is remembered for being a sweet, caring girl. She did surprisingly well after leaving the Gang, most of the kids never made it in Hollywood, if Mary would have continued being in films, she would have gained the popularity that she deserves so much. 

Rest in Peace Mary, I've always enjoy watching all of your films!

Happy Birthday Jack Pickford!

Taking some time to acknowledge the fact that today marks Jack Pickford's birthday!

Lets celebrate the way Jack would, with a party and all of our friends along!

1916 Tom Sawyer. 

1926 The Bat.

Picture Frame.

When I'm not working or researching, I make things! 

I recently took my love for Jack and Olive to the next level and created this picture frame! Hopefully I'll be able to make more and sell them! 

Jack and his Women.

Jack is remembered today for being a womanizer and for having relationships that were violent on his part. But whats said about Jack and his Women are mostly rumor's nowadays. No one really knows what went on except for Jack and his wives. 

Rumor's are said about Jack being a cheater, abuser, and possibly even a murderer. 

It all started with Olive Thomas. Both Jack and Olive loved to party and occasionally drink. They had a "strange" relationship and fought a lot. When Olive mysteriously died, people automatically assumed it was a fight between Jack and Olive that led to Olive's tragic demise(To read more on Olive's death go to my Tragic Night in Paris post). Which over years and years of exaggerating stories on what happened that night, people believe that it was Jack that killed Olive. Even though it was by Olive's own hands. People rule out what actually happened, it was an accident! People always find ways to blame Jack because they don't want to believe that someone could make a mistake like that. Excuses like, Jack had syphilis and he used mercury to treat it, that's why they had the pills in the first place. Mercury was the most common way to treat syphilis back then, but it was a very common household item. It was used as a cleaning product, so having this product in a hotel bathroom doesn't seem so suspicious when you think about it. It was never proven whether or not Jack even had syphilis. People believe it, Olive Thomas' biographer said he contracted it in 1917, how she got that information, I have no idea. There is not a validated document that says he ever had it. Not a medical record, nothing. So everyone, stop jumping to conclusions about why they had Mercury, everyone had it back then, a lot of people made the deadly mistake of taking mercury pills. Olive was just one of the famous ones to actually die from taking them. It's been reported that hundreds and hundreds of people have died from ingesting Mercury in those days.

Jack and Olive before fatal trip.

It's no doubt that Jack felt responsible for Olive's death, even though she made that deadly mistake on her own. After her death, that's when Jack's bad boy reputation really began. No one really noticed it back in those days but when we look back, we can see a broken man. He didn't make many films after that night and his marriages seemed to have gotten worse.

In his second marriage to actress and Ziegfeld dancer, Marilyn Miller he was allegedly abusive towards her. Whether he hit her or not is unknown but he was not kind to her. Marilyn decided that she had enough and sought a divorce. Their divorce was finalized in 1927, on the grounds of desertion and neglect.

Jack and Marilyn Miller.

His third and final marriage to Ziegfeld dancer, Mary Mulhern, was just as bad as his second, if not worse. Within three months of marrying Jack, Mary grew afraid. Allegedly he spent days being abusive towards her and other days being off somewhere drunk. Jack was hospitalized in late 1932, with years of not taking care of himself caught up with him, and Mary sought out a divorce. Mary said in court that Jack once tried to break her door down, and chased her outside where she hid in the bushes. "He was a very nasty man," said Jack and Mary's maid. Eileen Witfield, who wrote the biography on Mary Pickford (Jack's very famous sister), The Woman Who Made Hollywood, wrote "He was a very hard man to get along with."

Their divorce was finalized in 1932.

Jack and Mary Mulhern. Note that Jack was only 33 years old here, you can see how ill he was becoming. 

In a sad and cruel twist of fate, Jack was all alone and ill in Paris, staying in the same hospital Olive was at 13 years earlier. His last wish was to see his second wife, Marilyn Miller, saying "I'd like to see Marilyn one more time, if she isn't mad at me." Marilyn agreed to see Jack but passport problems halted her journey to Paris. Marilyn never made it to his bedside.

Jack's last words where, "After all, I've lived more at thirty-six than most people have in a lifetime."

Tragic Night In Paris.

In my book I explain and rule out many theories on Olive Thomas's final hours before making a deadly mistake and meeting her untimely demise.

Here I will explain some things about Jack and Olive's time in Paris.

Olive's Boarding pass from August 6, 1920. 

One thing that was published was that Olive told friends that Jack didn't want her to come to Paris with him, and that when they arrived in Paris, Jack left Olive alone for many weeks. Jack originally planned the trip to Paris with his former brother in-law Owen Moore, to get fitting's for new outfits. It was later that Jack decided that Olive should come with, and when they first arrived Jack had to go to London to get fittings, it was all planned. Jack didn't leave Olive to be mean, he left to do his original plans. Jack and Olive planned it to be a second honeymoon, they had marriage troubles and rarely got to see each other, this was so they could spend some time together.

An unknown "intimate" friend of Olive's told the papers after Olive died that Olive wrote a letter to her saying that she couldn't live any longer with Jack. Stating that further marriage and living together would be impossible. That was published in the Los Angeles Examiner, September 11 1920, just one day after Olive died.

On the evening of September 5, 1920 after a night of partying, Olive and Jack went back to their room at Hotel Ritz. Jack said they arrived at 3 O' clock in the morning, although some employee's at the Ritz hotel said that they saw Olive arrive alone at 1 am and Jack arrived at 3 am. Jack told papers that he went straight to bed and that Olive fussed around for a little bit and wrote a letter to her mother. The letter read: 

"'Mamma dear:  

Well and having a nice time. Leaving here September 11. I will cable you from the boat and will tell you all the news when I arrive.

Olive.

Love to all.'"

Jack then stated that Olive went to the bathroom and then she suddenly shrieked, "My God!"  Jack jumped out of bed, and caught Olive in his arms. He read the label on the medicine bottle she just took pills from, and it read "Poison". He called for a doctor and then forced eggs and water down Olive's throat in order to make her vomit. When the doctor arrived, he pumped Olive's stomach 3 times and then brought her to the hospital. From vomiting the Mercury Bichloride tablets, it burned Olive's vocal chords and stomach. She soon lost sight and hearing. Olive suffered for four days before finally dying on September 10, 1920. 

From Jacks first instinct on making Olive vomit, it caused Olive to live longer only to die with more pain.  On his trip back to America, he planned to jump off the ship and kill himself. But everyone talked him out of it, saying he was a coward if he killed himself.

Many people blame Jack for Olive's death. But in my personal opinion, it was merely just a terrible accident. I think that swallowing mercury was more common than we think. More than five years before Olive's death, another actress swallowed this mercury solution. Actress Nellie Esling swallowed half a bottle of Mercury after a night of partying with friends. That sounds eerily similar to Olive's situation. Now, two actresses make that deadly mistake on accident? That's very suspicious. 

No one knows in today's world if Nellie lived or died, all we have is just a little newspaper clipping of her. Not even a picture of her has surfaced. All we know is that she was unconscious when people found her and when she was some what conscious, she said she swallowed half a bottle of pills on accident. What I don't get is that why would you swallow half a bottle of pills in the first place? Olive thought she took aspirin, why take so much? That would be just as deadly. 

Mercury Bichloride was an extremely common household item. People used it as a cleaning solution. Anyone could buy these pills at local drug stores, sometimes you had to get permission from a doctor. depending on the state you lived in. People either inhaled, injected, or applied it topically. What I don't get is that Olive died from it. Many other people swallowed this and they where fine. Why did she die? 

Perhaps, she died from throwing it up?

Olive and Jack on the ship, just before their trip to Paris. This is one of the last pictures of Olive.