Olive Thomas Trivia Quiz

Answer: Most Beautiful Girl in New York

After she divorced her first husband in 1913, Olive moved to New York City where she worked in a department store. While in the city, she was approached about entering the Most Beautiful Girl in New York contest, which she subsequently won. This opened her career and she quickly became a well sought-after model with artists begging to paint her.

Answer: Nude

Olive Thomas was painted in a variety of settings, often seductively despite her young age. Scottish artist Penrhyn Stanlaws painted her nude in 1915 and posed as a model changing between poses, hence the painting's title. "Between Poses" is housed at the Delaware Art Museum. Stanlaws, who often used his works to promote liberty bonds, would later become a film director.

Answer: Ziegfeld Follies

Olive Thomas joined the Ziegfeld Follies in 1915 and was instantly popular. She was so well-liked that she was able to join the selective "Midnight Frolic" show which was a risqué rooftop show for men. Thomas was popular amongst those patrons who often showered her with gifts and cash.

She had an affair with Florenz Ziegfeld for some time but broke it off when he refused to leave his wife, Billie Burke who would later find fame as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in "The Wizard of Oz". She continued to work for the Ziegfeld Follies, however, after the affair ended.

Answer: Mary Pickford

Olive Thomas married Jack Pickford in 1916 but kept her marriage a secret because she didn't want the public to think the marriage was purely for professional reasons. She also believed it would be harder for her to land lead roles if she were married considering she often portrayed teenaged girls.

Answer: MGM

MGM was not founded until about four years after Olive Thomas died. She initially signed with International Film Company but only received a minor role in a film serial. She then went on to have a brief career at Paramount before she switched to Triangle Pictures.

At Triangle, she had a lucrative career but remained unhappy with the frivolous roles she received. She ended her career at Selznick Pictures where her husband Jack was also working in the hopes for better options.

Answer: Baby vamp

A baby vamp is a very young femme fatale type character, of which Olive Thomas would play several more times in Selznick films. In "Upstairs and Down", Olive's character Alice is engaged to Tom Carey (David Butler) but Tom is too stiff for Alice's wild likings and she begins seeing other men.

Answer: The Flapper

"The Flapper" was a popular 1920 film that not only introduced the flapper lifestyle to many Americans but also coined the word "flapper". Olive Thomas played Ginger King, a teenage girl who is sent to a boarding school in New York. There, Ginger falls in with the flapper lifestyle, which clashes with the strict atmosphere of her boarding school.

Answer: Mercury bichloride

Olive Thomas and Jack Pickford traveled to Paris in the hopes of reigniting their marriage. Both had been working on films and spent little time together. On September 5, the couple returned to their hotel room when Olive ingested mercury bichloride that Jack was prescribed to treat his syphilis.

She immediately realized she had been poisoned and was rushed to the hospital where she died five days later at the age of 25.

Answer: "Pretty weak, but I'll be all right in a little while. Don't worry, darling."

Olive remained deathly ill in the hospital for five days after she consumed the poison. She was very weak and mostly kept alive by frequent injections from the nurses. She went in and out of consciousness until her final day when she delivered her last words to her husband.

Despite saying she would be all right, Olive Thomas's health had not improved and she succumbed shortly afterward.

Answer: Accident

The police declared Olive Thomas died by accident, specifically from nephritis after accidentally ingesting mercury bichloride. Even before she died, there was wide speculation she attempted suicide after arguing with Jack Pickford and the police ruling did little to stop these rumors. Her death is widely considered one of the first, if not the first, Hollywood scandals.

The police attributed her death as an accident because the label containing the mercury solution was in French, which Olive Thomas could not read, and she never made any mention of suicide or suspecting she had been deliberately poisoned during her lucid moments in the hospital.