The Expressions of Olive Thomas (1919) 🇬🇧

Little Miss Happiness who will always remain a child at heart.

Olive Thomas ought to be called “Miss Happiness,” because she never worries. She says so herself, and she ought to know. She bases her contented frame of mind upon the assumption that you can’t change anything that is going to happen to you any more than you can change anything that has already befallen you.

“That’s why I never worry,” explains Olive, “and that is why I don’t think people should get conceited and think themselves better than others.”

Her Unselfishness

Maybe another reason for her unruffled state lies in the fact that she is always thinking of other people — a state of affairs which is supposed to bring more happiness than anything else. Anyway, her two brothers are her especial care and pride. The elder one — aged twenty-five — she wishes to help realise his ambition — that of setting up an electrical shop in New York; while the younger she has already started on the road to good fortune by a nice little banking account. The rest of Olive’s family — almost the important part! — is composed of her mother and a little sister, and, of course, husband Jack [Jack Pickford]. Oh, and we mustn’t forget her adored small niece, Mary Pickford Rupp [Mary Pickford].

How She Started

Now for some biographical bits about Olive. At present, a star in her own right, and Mrs. Pickford Junior into the bargain, Olive started out in life as a shopgirl — a prosaic fact she cheerfully owns. (“I am a good judge of ginghams to this day,” she will tell you.) Next she posed for photographers, and later for artists — some of the most famous in America — graduating still later to the Ziegfeld Follies, and then of— pictures, her first engagement being with Triangle. Since then, to use a familiar expression, she has “never looked back.”

“Miss Inquisitive”

There is nothing “up stage” about Olive, and when she entered the motion picture field she realised that she had a lot to learn, and set about learning it — from A to Z — in her characteristically breezy and impetuous fashion, earning before very long the sobriquet of “Miss Inquisitive.” In fact, it has been said that this scintillating twinkler of the silver sheet learnt to act and direct and turn a camera, and all the rest of it, by merely using the question mark. And you see where she is to-day, and what she is — a beauty with brains.

A Real Child

Olive Thomas is a real child at heart, without any foolish and unnecessary dignity, and still takes delight in “kidding” folks, and winning their hearts. She’s a dainty little thing, not much more than five feet tall, with beautiful blue eyes and brown hair that has the most fascinating lights in it imaginable. And her maiden name, which was really Olivetta Duffy, conveys one of the most important things about her. She is Irish — all through.

A Regular Family Girl

Olive is a regular family girl, and she loves home life better than the smartest of the smart restaurants on Broadway. If you call on her at any time, there is sure to be a large party of relatives around her.

Her mother frequently travels all the way from Pittsburg to Los Angeles to see her “little girl,” as she still loves to call Olive.

Then there is usually in attendance on her her big brother, who, while duly impressed with his sister’s importance, is determined not to let it run away with him.

He wants Olive to know that after all she is only a sister, and in order that she won’t forget, he slaps her on the back and pulls her hair and calls her “sis,” to make her feel at home.

Wants to Play on the Stage

“Some day,” says Olive, “I am going to play in a stage production, but that some day must be a long way off. I know my wish is a common one among motion picture stars, but I am going to be assured that I will be successful before I try it. I don’t want to play any heavy drama, but just a plain, everyday, human character.”

The Marriage Question

Talking of marriage, Olive remarked that in the early days of motion pictures, they used to keep the marriage of a star a deep, dark secret, and even to this day some of them seem to believe that if their matrimonial connections are made public they will lose some of their following.

“I don’t believe that being married makes any differences at all, do you?” she inquires.

Perhaps the safest answer to make to this inquiry is “It all depends.”

—

Photo caption:

• So serious.
• I feel so cross.
• A trifle shy.
• Are you serious?
• Full of fun.

Collection: Picture Show Magazine, October 1919