hi, julie.  welcome to the group.  i
stumbled across the name "olive thomas" when i was perusing the
"taylorology" site a few years ago (yes, i'm one of those unflagging
optimists who figured i had a good shot at solving the ancient, unsolvable
murder of W.D. Taylor in my spare time; my labors have yielded no posthumous
indictments yet), and i've been voraciously
consuming any information i can find on her ever since.  i'm by no means
the most knowledgeable person in this group, but i'll offer my opinion for
whatever it's worth.  i got michelle vogel's book for christmas.  it
was a quick read and a little light on juicy facts, but it's a good place to
start if you're just beginning to learn about Olive.  there's very little
in the book that you couldn't pick up from your own research, but it's nice
that it's all in one place and saves you the trouble of having to troll around
for information on your own.  i will say it's full of beautiful
photographs -- many i had seen before and a few i had not.  it's a small
volume and fairly expensive for a paperback, so it might not seem like a very
good value unless you're a diehard fan of either Olive, her era or silent films
(i love all three, so even if i hadn't gotten it as a gift i would have been
happy to fork over the forty bucks for it myself).  i was hoping for more
historical information to establish a real context and ambience for Olive's
life story, but it seems like the author stayed pretty focused and didn't get
bogged down in a mire of esoteric facts that might bore or perplex a lay
person.  all in all, i think it's a good place to start, and definitely a
nice little addition to the library of any ardent silent film fan.  my
favorite era in film history is the 'teens (i think the films are fascinating
as historical artifacts), and it just doesn’t seem like i can ever find enough
information about that era.  in that sense, this book was a treat. 
this doesn't feel like a "definitive" biography of Olive Thomas, but
perhaps there isn't more substantive information to be gleaned (my educational
background is classical languages and law, not film history, so i could very
well be wrong in my impressions!).  so, anyway, my assessment is
definitely one of a lay person, but even still i didn't really learn anything
new from the book.  if you're just starting to learn about Ollie, however,
i think it would be an excellent place to start.  it's a fun, quick read,
and the photos are fantastic.  a little heavy on the details surrounding
Olive's death, I suppose, but that might simply be a matter of taste.


watch her films if you can find them.  "Love's Prisoner" is easily
accessible.  there's even a clip of "Beatrice Fairfax: Play Ball!" on youtube
(with Olive looking incredibly beautiful).  there's a box DVD set that includes
Olive's 1920 film "The Flapper" and a short biographical documentary that's also
very accessible (caveat: the documentary's narration is monotone and sometimes
dreadful, and i've heard there are some inaccuracies).  past messages on this
site are fun to troll through if you have time to kill, and often informative. 
you can also indirectly learn a lot about Olive by reading and researching the
amazing times in which she lived and the colorful people who inhabited the inner
sanctum
(so to speak) and the periphery of her life.   anything about Flo
Ziegfeld or the Ziegfeld Follies, the Pickfords, the great Mabel Normand,
Alberto Vargas and early
cinema in general are seldom boring reads. 



have fun!



kat







--- On Thu, 6/4/09, Julie <juliea0102@...> wrote:

From: Julie <juliea0102@...>
Subject: [TheNewCovenOfOliveThomas] Olive Thomas Book
To: thenewcovenofolivethomas@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, June 4, 2009, 7:43 PM

















Hi all,

I am interested in this book on Olive Thomas, "Olive Thomas The Life and Death
of a Silent Film Beauty" by Michelle Vogel, and wonder if any of you have it,
and if you recommend it or not.

Thank you!

Julie



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