Years ago, a kind person sent me a photocopy of a clipping from a Cleveland
newspaper from the late 30's with a story about how an unnamed elderly relative
of Olive Thomas was auctioning items including pieces of Ollie's jewelry. My
assumption was this was Ollie's mother but that all of Ollie's property was
previous sold at an estate auction.

While it is known that Ollie and Mabel Normand were friendly, how close they
were is subject to speculation. They certainly attended many of the same social
events and were known to frequent the same places, I have never uncovered how
they met or if they were as close as Ollie was to Anna Daly or Marjorie Cassidy.
There is one story about Ollie leaving flowers for Mabel at the Culver City
studios when Goldwyn took over first renting and then buying the facilities in
the fall of 1918. While this sounds like the kind of gesture that Ollie would
make, I have never been able to track this story and it remains in file with
other stories to be looked upon with a jaundiced eye such as Jack was a closeted
gay man, Ollie was Mabel unrequited love and Ollie's sailor brothers were
actually her pimps!

Once you exit the Twilight Zone, what cannot be denied is that something unusual
happened with Ollie's estate. Examining papers filed with the Surrogate's Court
of New York, it was estimated that the estate was valued at $25,000.00 including
furniture, clothing and both vehicles as well as two Liberty Bonds of $1,000.00
each. Further, this estimate was overstated. (The Selznick papers at UT-Austin
are a little confusing about this but either the vehicle was Selznick property
and they allowed Ollie to use the vehicle for her own use or it was reclaimed
for debts Ollie owed to the Selznicks. Ollie had taken pay advances throughout
her contract amounting to $6,000.00. These advances were never paid back.)
Still, the auction netted more than expected and the final value of the estate
was settled at over $37,000.00.

The reason can be seem in the link from the previous post mentioning Ms.
Normand's vigorous bidding on certain items. Other newspaper accounts from the
period also suggest that Mabel Normand bid vigorously on EVERYTHING driving up
the price. Further, Sam Goldwyn's 1923 biography suggests that Mabel Normand
went out of her way to offer every kindness to Ollie's mother and family
including a cryptic message about somethings that Mabel gave back to Ollie's
mother before she returned home tp Pennsylvania.

When the estate was settled. Jack Pickford as well as both of Ollie's brothers
renounced claims to Ollie's estate in favor of Ollie's mother then residing in
St. Louis, MO. The bulk of the estate worth less taxes and fees were left to her
with a stipend of $2,000.00 to Ollie's baby sister according to the NY Times.

So a question that cannot be answered. Were the cryptic items that Sam Goldwyn
described as "acts of kindness" and given to Mrs. Harry Van Kirk by Mabel
Normand the items that were auctioned off in Cleveland years later? I could be
wrong but I have suspicious that they were and it is one reason that Mabel
Normand, regardless of her demons, was one of the two people that I truly
respect in the debacle that was Ollie's passing.

Your partner in limburger