Silent movies - A Christmas Dream

As mentioned on Monday, I want to give each of my December posts a Christmassy touch, and of course that also goes for my selection of silent movies.
Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote about my "Little Lord Fauntleroy" marathon, whose 1980 version is one of Germany's beloved Christmas classics, and how I didn't have the patience for watching the silent movie version with Mary Pickford (how things have changed), so that would be an obvious first choice, right? Wrong. Like the book, that version doesn't end with a Christmas feast.
But are there any silent Christmas movies at all? Luckily, I found two pages which listed several for me and I just needed to pick.

Let's start with something short by a good old friend - Georges Méliès.
It's "La Rêve de Noël" from 1900, "A Christmas Dream".
Usually I would give you the plot, but there really isn't one.

The children are asleep and dream of
Christmas while the nanny keeps watch.

Dance of the toys - granted, some of them are a little
weird and the jester loses his shoe, but ok.

Angels dropping gifts in the chimney. I guess Santa
needed a little break and they offered to help out?

Kids (and the verger?) ringing the bells while
people come out of the snow into the church.

See the old man with the beard? He and another
beggar had been out in the snow, mostly ignored by
the wealthy people entering the building. When he
comes inside, the servants try to throw him out, but
the Christmas spirit made the host drag him (quite
literally) back to the table to give him food and drink.

The children have woken up, it's time for gifts.
I have no idea what kind of gift that huge cat
head is, but I definitely want that!

Gathering around the Christmas tree.

So this dream consists of vignettes which annoyed some people who missed a plot (you may remember narratives were not yet a big thing back then, so I'm not sure what their problem is).
It actually made me think of a picture book for children showing random Christmas scenes that has come to life.
Méliès even included two scenes with poor people as if he wanted to remind us of what Christmas is about.

I'm not saying that it was a masterpiece and there was a lot of (not that amazing) dancing, but I liked seeing the costumes and the lovely sets that were so typical for Méliès (even if they made me wonder about the time we were in).
So I didn't regret investing those incredible four (!) minutes.


Thank you to Sarah Cook for the post "Old movies: a celebration of Victorian Christmas films" on "Film Stories", December 6, 2022!

O Lego tree, o Lego tree ...

... your candles kept falling ohoff, o Lego tree, o Lego tree, they really drove me nuhuuts."
Actually, this project went rather quickly. Although some of the steps had to repeated for the different branch levels, it wasn't boring at all, maybe because I did it in several rather short sessions.
If you wonder, I let den Dekan join me in two of them, but the first time I forgot to take the camera to the table and he left me when I went to get it, and the second time I had the camera, but the batteries decided to die just that moment when I was about to take a picture of him checking the bags.
As there wasn't a box for him to sit in, he got bored rather quickly and left the room after making my desk chair crash by trying a new wide jump record from its top.

Here's the tree now. I really like it.
At one point, I thought I had make a big mistake and took the single levels apart from one another, but in the end I found that it needed an open ring instead of a plate in one spot (which absolutely made sense if you're not a numpty like me 🤪).
You can make one big tree or a smaller and a really small one, therefore there are pieces left over and I had grabbed the wrong one.
And of course I kept losing the candles until I finally got smart enough to leave them off until the end.
If you make the two trees, one of them has the candles and the other has all the baubles, red and other colors. On the big one, the baubles are all red per the instructions. Not on mine. I put them where I found space. Much better.

When exactly the tradition of the Christmas tree in private homes began isn't known. It was not unusual for different cultures to bring evergreen into the houses in winter.
There are several records for fir trees being put up without them being called Christmas trees explicitly before, but in 1527 the term turns up in an existing document.
Whatever the exact year is, the Christmas tree had been around in German speaking regions for a long time.

Since the mid-18th century, it was mentioned more and more, and in the 19th century, the tradition had already spread to Austria and then went to New England, England, France, Italy, The Netherlands, and Russia.
At first, trees were decorated with sweets, apples and nuts some of which were painted in silver and gold. The children were then allowed to plunder the edible decorations off the tree.
The legend goes that a glassblower in Lauscha, a town which is still known for its glass art and Christmas ornaments - which now come in all kinds of shapes from traditional to very modern - couldn't afford apples and nuts for his tree and made them from glass instead. True or not, the first written record of glass ornaments is in an order book from 1848.

You may also have heard the idea to hang a Christmas tree from the ceiling - upside down to save space - for example to discourage pets from getting into it.
That's actually not a new idea, but I don't even want to get into the theories who did it first or maybe not or why.
It's not something I'm going to be doing as I have high ceilings and have no interest at all at having someone put a hook up there for me, but mostly I just don't like the look. I want my tree on the ground where der Dekan and Gundel can wreak havoc easily. It's fun for the whole family, and after I made sure they can't get caught in the string of lights, I'm fine with picking up gnomes and "pineapple slices" all the time even if I moan a lot about it!

This picture is from last year,
I'm behind with my tree decorating.

I am not affiliated with Lego in any way, except playing with it every, now and then.

Nostalgia - Advent calendar

I didn't manage to do an advent calendar on the blog last year and there won't be one this year either, but like last year I'll be trying to stick to Christmassy themes in the posts that I will have.
What would be better to start with than the history of the advent calendar?

I already wrote about that in 2010, but I think it won't hurt to go into again.
The idea of an advent calendar first emerged in the 19th century, but not in printed form. People made chalk marks on the door and children cleaned one off every day or they hung a religious picture on the wall every day.
There are other ways to count down, like Wichern's advent wreath which had 24 candles instead of just four like today or advent candles like this one.

There are different opinions on when the first printed calendar came out, 1902 or 1903. 
Anyhow, they didn't look like the ones we know today yet. They were from cardboard on which children glued little pictures.

The ones we know, with the pictures behind little doors, came up after 1920. At first, the calenders often showed a village, town or forest in the snow. My first one, which I used for several years until the cardboard doors had really suffered and didn't want to stay closed anymore, had a forest scene with critters and of course glitter. Glitter was a part of Christmas. The door for the 24th was a double one which I thought was fabulous.
I got such a calendar again as a grown-up and used it for several years, but sadly it got lost or I might still be using it now.

The ever popular chocolate filled calendar came out in 1958 for the first time. I had one or the other of those, such as my Discworld calendars.

Nowadays, advent calendars come in all kinds of shapes, with pralines, toys, vouchers, even jewelry!
They come as puzzle and adventure books, audiobooks with a story for each day, as online calendars or on the radio. I admit not having given up hope yet to win something from my favorite online calendar which has a giveaway for every day.
I also love my Jacquie Lawson online advent calendars and am looking forward to the one for this year which is a Christmas village. I'm not affiliated with them in any way, I just love them for the mood.
And of course I got handmade advent calendars and I made them myself (never a hand sewn one because I was allowed to quit the optional craft class in school before I had to learn how to make one of those).

This year I decided to go classic and vintage inspired by getting this calendar.
I usually avoid buying new things with glitter, but hadn't even noticed it had glitter when I ordered it. Also, for an advent calendar - I admit I was surprised in a good way, and of course I don't plan to throw it away at the end of the year, but keep using it.

My November books

Just one more month until the year is over? What is happening?
Anyhow, here's my list of books for November, just an overview of what I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and what I have read to the cats (marked with 😸)
Again, this is not about numbers. Where do we stop if we rate reading by the number of books? Count pages? And next work out a formula which pages are "worth more" than others because some books are "only" children's books or light reading or scientific or profound ... I could keep going. Just enjoy!
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (the cats also refuse to give ratings 😉). Should you want a personal rating for a book you are interested in, though, or a little more information, just let me know.


1. "Vorsatz und Begierde" = "Devices and Desires" by P.D. James, first published in 1989
(Adam Dalgliesh 8)

Dalgliesh retreats to Norfolk to decide what to do with the converted windmill his late aunt has left to him.
He gets drawn into the case of a serial killer in the area after finding the body of Hilary Roberts who worked at the nearby nuclear power plant.

My neighbor was shocked to hear that I never read a book by P.D. James (as far as I can remember) and lent me two of hers. This is the second one.

2. "House of Horror : The Complete Hammer Films Story" edited by Jack Hunter, 2nd edition first published in 1995

The subtitle says it all. This is the story of the British film studio Hammer Film Productions which is (in)famous for their Gothic horror series and for example gave us Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.

I grew up on some of the Hammer Films and found the book after having watched a British three part documentary on horror movies.
In order to tone the cover down a bit for the blog (in this movie Dracula had very red eyes), I converted the center image to black and white.

3. "Died in the Wool" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1945
(Roderick Alleyn 13)

 

A New Zealand parliament member is murdered on the remote sheep farm belonging to her husband and her.
Over a year later, Alleyn is called in the matter which may have to do with espionage.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham (I just got a bunch of new ones).

4. "Carbonel and Calidor" by Barbara Sleigh, first published in 1978 😸
(Carbonel 3)

Once again, Carbonel, King of the Fallowhithe cats, is asking his human friends Rosemary and John for help when his son Calidor refuses to follow in his footsteps and wants to become a witch's cat instead.
Rosemary and John have to deal with a mysterious magic ring and with the magic of a powerful witch.

This is the third and last book in the Carbonel series whose first one was recommended by book blogger Nicole from Momlit.
I really enjoyed this series.

5. "The Camomile : an invention" by Catherine Carswell, first published in 1922

Ellen from Glasgow studies music in Frankfurt/Main, but when she comes home, she finds that her true passion is in writing.
Her engagement to a young doctor working in India makes her think about what others want and expect from her and what she really wants.

Liz from Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home has introduced me to the "British Library Women Writers" series (I found she had reviewed this book here after I had read it). I had a look which of the novels I could find rather easily, this was one of them.

6. "The Christmas Bookshop" by Jenny Colgan, first published in 2021
(Happy Ever After series 4)

Carmen has been laid off when the department store where she worked had to close down. As job offers in her little town are rare, her mother calls on Sofia, Carmen's older sister, a successful lawyer in Edinburgh who's pregnant with her fourth child. Although the sisters aren't very close, Sofia thinks Carmen may be the right person to help one of her clients with his bookshop ...

This is the fourth book in the Happy Ever After series (with cameos by characters from the first few books). Just the right cozy read for the season.

7. "Miss Bellamy stirbt" = "False Scent" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1959
(Roderick Alleyn 21)

West End actress Mary Bellamy is celebrating her 50th birthday, surrounded by family, colleagues and friends.
It will be her last one. Alleyn has to find out who didn't have such friendly feelings for the selfish Mary.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.

8. "Small Things Like These" by Claire Keegan, first published in 2021

An Irish town in December 1985.
It's the busy season for Bill Furlong, a timber and coal merchant. During his rounds, he makes a disturbing discovery at the convent and has to decide how he wants to cope with the silence of the community.

A short story collection by Keegan has been the latest entry on OverDrive and while I'm on the waitlist, I'm checking out her other short stories on there. This is the third one.

9. "Donnerstag Premiere" = "Opening Night" (or "Night at the Vulcan") by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1951
(Roderick Alleyn 16)

Young actress Martyn Tarne has just arrived from New Zealand and finds a job as a costumer at the Vulcan Theatre in Lonon, but then also becomes the understudy for a small role.
On opening night, surprising things happen ... and in the end there's a body for Roderick Alleyn.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.

10. "The Girl on the 88 Bus" by Freya Sampson, first published in 2022

1962 - Frank meets a young girl on the 88 bus, that encounter changes his life, but unfortunately he loses her number.
60 years later, Libby, a young woman who has come to London after being dumped by her boyfriend, meets Frank on the bus and he tells her how he has been looking for the girl on the 88 bus ever since. Libby is determined to help him in his search which will also change her life.

This was another random find on OverDrive.

11. "Skinner Makes It Fashionable" by Henry Irving Dodge, first published in 1920 😸

The fourth and last book in the Skinner series looked quite modern to me in some regards as it's about Skinner tackling the problem of the high cost of living after the war in his town. Some of it you could take right of the book and wouldn't know it was that old.
Only Skinner's solution was to encourage his "war-rich" friends to go back to a simpler life. In Meadeville, he made it work, but I'm afraid even Skinner would fail with his plans today!

I read the first book after watching one of the silent movie versions of it and added the others to my list for quick reading.

12. "Tod im Pub" = "Death at the Bar" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1940
(Roderick Alleyn 9)

Barrister Luke Watchman travels to South Devon to meet his cousin and a friend at a pub where they have already stayed the year before.
It's a very mixed group at the pub, villagers, members of the Coombe Left Movement, an Irish aristocrat.
When Watchman dies after being injured by a dart in a challenge, suspicion is cast on each of them.
Alleyn and Fox are called to help the local police out.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.
You can tell I got another pile of Marsh this month 😉

The big hug - part 2

If you don't know part 1 of the big hug yet, you can find it here.

We left off at the cliffhanger of my dropping my boro lampwork shark on the kitchen floor. The nose and tail broke off, but I could only find part of the tail.
Then something unexpected happened that I can honestly not explain. At least a week later, I found the other piece of the tail, but have no idea where it suddenly came from because I had searched the whole kitchen floor. My best bet is that it had flown even further and the cats found it and knocked it back into the kitchen.
Anyhow, I suddenly had a bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, I would be able to do something with it. Not what I had planned, not what I really wanted which would make me 100% happy, but something that was still good.

Now how to achieve that?
Obviously I had to glue the shark first. My complicated relationship with glue has long been a running joke among my friends. Much longer than my jewelry-making journey. It's a miracle I don't still have things glued to my fingers from years ago (that's actually a thing for me). I'm terrible with glue and my experience told me that the shark would not be perfect.
Surprise! Not. Of course it wasn't perfect.
So I would have to find a way to hide the scars the best I could. Distracting from them with gold as I had done for my friend's broken dolphin wasn't an option for me because the octopus is copper. Leaving the tail off completely and disguising it - unlike that of my shark the dolphin's tail never turned up again - wasn't an option either because I had the tail and love that long fin.

The tough part about hiding the scars would be that the one through the nose is very close to the eye and that there's a quite massive glass loop on the tail (it is a pendant after all). Had the shark been like a cab, all the way flat on the back, I might have been able to glue it completely onto some backing.
Even before starting I knew I wouldn't be all that happy with the nose part. Oh well.

What exactly should I do, though?
It was obvious that bead embroidery was the only way to go. As I said, this shark is much smaller than the other ones and was even more fragile now (haha). Just wrapping the octopus to it wouldn't make for a very sturdy construction.

So instead I would glue the shark onto the backing where possible, then sew the loop to it and hide it under beads. I would also glue the octopus's head as well as possible (there are wires from the wrapping in the back which lift it up a bit) just to make it hold safely enough while arranging the tentacles around the shark.

Please excuse this bad picture. It's one of my infamous
night time WIP pics and is usually just intended
 for friends. Actually, I had to retrieve it from an old
Facebook message. I hardly ever take real WIP pictures.

This, my friends, sounds a lot easier than it actually is. I first sewed the tentacles on in a few spots. Copper is pliable and can still very stubbornly refuse to do what you want, especially in thick wire wrapped like this, even more so if you go wild with tentacle loops. I would have loved to preserve more of the flow from the WIP pic, but that would have been very wide for a focal for myself.
Of course I would have to sew down the tentacles some more after deciding on bead placement.

So I did all of that and then I had a lot of space for beads. I didn't want to buy new beads at the time. I had a load of seed and cube beads in different sizes and a variety of blue, clear, green, purple, and who has been following my jewelry making for a while knows I can't resist pearls in water scenes.
I started in what I consider (my) classic bead embroidery meaning going in bead rows lying next to each other. Very organized looking, I thought it would make a nice calm background for the hug.
One corner in, I had to admit to myself that I hated it. Because of the thick wire, those tentacles aren't laying flat. So there are not only beads around them, but also quite a few over and  under them. There are also beads under the shark and over the scars (I'm indeed not all that happy with the nose part, but couldn't manage any better without concealing the eye) and under the octopus's head - and getting in these spaces in nice organized rows? Yeah, it didn't work.
I can't tell you how long it took me to embroider that background, one or two beads at a time.

A slightly better WIP picture, still meant for
friends. It doesn't do the sparkle in the
goldstone or the shark justice.

Next up - my old enemy, finishing jewelry.
Two months and still no chain.
Then, however, I remembered my mermaid (this is one big piece of jewelry, but luckily went to a customer who loves it big).

I still had some copper crimps and the faux leather ribbon whose colors worked well with the background.
When I tried it out, though, I didn't like the look of it after all. Somehow the focal seemed to call for a copper chain to go with the octopus.
Rummaging through my supply drawers, however, I only found chain in the wrong size and I really, really didn't want to make my own chain. So I went online shopping instead, but again the chains were either too small or didn't have the right look.
In the end, I found infinity links, which seem to mimic the loops of the tentacles, and used them with jump rings to make a chain. Luckily, I bought just the right amount!

Is this my vision? Heck no, it couldn't be much further from it. I wanted the octopus and the shark all by themselves, maybe with a few beads to hint at the ocean. Had the breaks be in different spots, I might have managed to do it.

Did I save the shark, though? I think so. Another broken piece that didn't go into the trash, but will be shining on. (The urge to get philosophical about broken beauty is big, but I'll spare you!)

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot - Week 132

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

If you live in the US, can you move again already or are you still full from yesterday's feast? I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!
And to all of those who don't live in the US, I hope you had a wonderful Thursday!
There's not much to say about mine except that it was the first day of my Christmas vacation which made it a very good day!

Picture via pxhere

How about you? Are you ready for the weekend?

As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week, our spotlight is on My Inspired Home.

Anam from "My Inspired Home" says "I like to believe that there's always new, exciting opportunities for me around the corner so I keep a look out for them. Through this blog, I wanna share my experiences and the extraordinary lessons I learn from my ordinary life. I want this blog to expand and mature. But it can go crazy and then stay crazy if it wants. It can even go missing and then rediscover itself. I'll share a whole bunch of stuff - my home decor, lifestyle, travel tales, impromptu singing sessions, or even my random observations as a bystander on the street. As a matter of fact, I was originally going to call it "The Everything Blog" until my sister told me that it would be really "lame". I believe her.
Anyway, I'm excited to have you join me. Please don't be afraid to comment and say hi! :)
Welcome to my blog!"

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Cat from Cat's Wire has what she calls a jumping spider brain. She has many interests and will blog about whatever catches her attention - crafts, books, old movies, collectibles or random things.

Rena from Fine Whatever Blog writes about style, midlife, and the "fine whatever" moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she's been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.


Here are some of my picks from last week's link up.

Barbara reminds us that we should never forget the small pleasures by sharing those in her week.

Do you struggle to separate art you love - books, movies, music, paintings, etc. - from its creator who has done something terrible? Do we draw a line somewhere, if so where? You are not the only one. Olivia talks about reading "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma".

Kellyann urges us to wear the good stuff while we can and have fun with it!

Still need gift ideas for children? See what Erin's son Wyatt loved!

Decoration, gift tag, tree ornament - just look at Linda's cute idea for candy canes!


Let's link up!

You can add links to specific blog posts of yours, but not just to your blog itself. The posts can be new or older and cover any topic you can think of - books, movies, fashion, crafting, thrifting, travel, art ... but only family friendly, please!
Have a look around, visit some of the other blogs and leave a few comments. You might discover something new and exciting!
Thank you for linking up with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Silent movies - The Flapper

Flappers - the independent and adventurous young women of the 1920s.
Let me invite you to "The Flapper" from 1920, a silent film which is said to have made the term really popular.

As usual, here's the plot first (spoiler alert!).

Sixteen year old Genevieve "Ginger" King, daughter of wealthy and strict Senator King, is living in Orange Springs and she's bored because that is the kind of town where "girls who hobnobbed at the soda fountain were talked about", especially if they go there at the invitation of a young man - Billy in this case - without taking along a chaperone!

Thanks to the "scandal", Ginger finds herself in a boarding school near New York very quickly. As luck has it, though, the military academy that Billy just joined is in the neighborhood and although the headmistress is very strict, the girls get to go outside. Ginger doesn't just meet Billy there, though, the girls are also fascinated by the stranger riding by every day and whom they find incredibly romantic.

Billy is trying his best to impress Ginger by boasting about his skills and invites her to a sleigh ride which is rather brave for a boy whose only experience has been with a rocking horse so far.

Unfortunately, the sleigh topples over and the horse runs off with it, Billy chasing after it and leaving Ginger lying in the snow. She gets picked up by the romantic stranger, Richard Channing, who gives her a ride back in his sleigh and whose question about her age she answers with "about 20", so he invites her to a dance at the Country Club.
Ginger is about to decline when she notices her schoolmates watching them. She can't resist, agrees and sneaks out that night.
Her schoolmate Hortense, however, informs the headmistress who doesn't lose a minute to bring Ginger back and reprimand Channing for inviting her in the first place. He complains to his friends by saying something mean about young girls which hits Ginger hard.
Hortense has different plans, she uses the headmistress's absence to get to the safe which is full of jewels (a bit weird for a school, don't you think?) to meet her accomplice Thomas later.

Hortense and Thomas escape to a New York hotel and send Ginger an anonymous telegram from there to make her come there once the school vacation begins. They want to use her to transport the jewels for them by threatening her, but they don't expect Ginger to open the suitcases and use the jewels for a plan of her own. She wants to pretend to have become a vamp in order to pay it back to Channing. Once she has shocked everyone at home with her new look, she sends the suitcases to the New York Police.

Then her father comes home and doesn't believe when she tells him that it was all just a joke, and it sure isn't helpful that the New York Police turns up as well and wants to know where her "pals" are hiding!
Luckily, that's when Hortense and Thomas arrive to get their loot back. They try to escape again, but get arrested.

Last but not least Channing comes to Ginger's rescue again explaining everything and even convincing the senator to let her go to the soda fountain with Billy.
Happy ending achieved!

There's a lot going on in these 85 minutes and some of the jumps between locations were a bit confusing, but really this is just about a young girl who wants to be an adult, who wants freedom, independence - and of course some fun! Can you remember what you were like at the age of sixteen? Maybe just as impetuous as Ginger and maybe as lucky regarding the consequences?
After all, W. P. Carleton, who played the "romantic stranger", was 22 years older than Olive Thomas (Ginger), not that something like that seems to be that unusual for older movies. I really didn't like Channing at the beginning, but he redeemed himself by helping Ginger out later.

I really liked Olive Thomas's acting, both as the young school girl (despite being 25 at the time) and as the vamp (she looked amazing in that stunning black outfit, by the way). She was cute, she was feisty, she was funny and very much the center of the film.
I also liked Billy as the young boy trying hard to impress his first love and his fellows at the military academy even if he wasn't that successful. Maybe you have met boys like him as well? (Theodore Westman Jr. died at 24, but I couldn't find any more info about him.)
 

Even the intertitles are cute!

It's sad that Olive Thomas's promising career was cut short and this was one of her last films.
Olive was married to Mary Pickford's brother Jack. Young as they were - both in their mid-20s - they led a rather wild life and in case of Olive also a very short one.
Although her death at 25 was officially ruled to be an accident, it caused a scandal in Hollywood, and there are still theories about what really happened. Olive and Jack, trying to save their marriage, had gone to Paris for a second honeymoon. Thanks to his infidelity, Jack suffered from syphilis (he died at 37, by the way) and was treated with mercury bichloride. Why Olive ingested this medication which was meant to be applied topically, isn't clear, but it was a tragic and ugly death.
Let me add that I didn't pick the film for this story, I only found out about this afterwards.

From what I read, most of Olive's films are lost, but I'm definitely going to see which ones I can find.
"The Flapper" was a cute comedy and it goes on my re-watch list.


Sources:

1. Jossalyn Holbert: The Illustrious Life and Mysterious Death of Olive Thomas. On: In Their Own League, March 15, 2020
2. Gordon Thomas: Beautiful Dead Girl: On Early Hollywood Casualty Olive Thomas (Oct. 20, 1894 - Sept. 10, 1920) and "The Olive Thomas Collection" on DVD. On: Bright Lights Film Journal, September 10, 2015
3. James L. Neibaur: The Olive Thomas Collection (Milestone Film and Video). On: Senses of Cinema, May 2006