La Gamine

Olive Thomas was a terrific actress. Too bad she died so young (see her IMDb biography for more on this). This is one of her last films as she died later in 1920--at only age 25. And, it's the most accessible as it can be downloaded for free from the link on IMDb or you can get it from Netflix (which also includes a documentary about her).

The film is a parody of the 'flapper' attitude of the post-WWI years. Many women were becoming more liberated--socially and even sexually. In the film, Olive plays a 16 year-old who desperately wants to become one of these worldly flappers. She throws herself at an older man and pretends to be a lot older and MUCH more experienced girl to impress him--all the while ignoring a nice young man who is interested in her. Towards the end, she accidentally drifts into a robbery--and is implicated although she is innocent. But, as the worldly and wicked woman she's been pretending to be, the authorities are more than willing to believe she is involved.

This film would make a terrific double-feature along with Clara Bow's "It". Both show a similar sort of character but from different perspectives. Plus, both are quite enjoyable and well written. Worth seeing and a must-see if you are a fan of silents (like me).

By the way, the bad guy in the film is played by Arthur Housman. Housman was a VERY prolific guy in silents and talking pictures and mostly played silly and affable drunks. Here he plays a very, very different sort of man.

In "Orange Springs" (a small town in Florida), "Girls who hobnobbed at the soda fountain were talked about." Perhaps this is why beautiful young Olive Thomas (as Genevieve "Ginger" King) sips soda with boastful boyfriend Theodore Westman Jr. (as William "Bill" E. Forbes) on her estate. They must part company as Ms. Thomas is sent to a boarding school in a snowy town near New York. Coincidently, Mr. Westman has enrolled in a military academy next to the girls' boarding school. If you've seen movies like this, you already know all-girl schools and orphanages are often built next to all-male institutions.

Thomas makes friends easily, including moth-like Katherine Johnson (as Hortense) and social butterfly Norma Shearer (as an extra with a lot of screen time). The young women like to watch men. Their favorite is mysterious and romantic Wm. P. Carlton Jr. (as Richard Channing), an older guy who rides by on a horse regularly. Thomas and her friends fantasize the horseman is a professional gambler, actor or wife-beater. Thomas thinks she's falling in love with Mr. Carlton. She puts on fun clothes to become a "flapper" and is mistaken for a bad woman. The 1920s would be known for "flappers" like Colleen Moore and Clara Bow.

"The Flapper" was written by Frances Marion, who was then writing scenarios for Mary Pickford. This film may have, in some level of development, been considered a Pickford vehicle; and, it's easy to imagine her in the lead. For whatever reasons, Thomas got the assignment. It was kept in the family, as Olive Thomas was then Mrs. Pickford (married to Jack Pickford, Mary's brother). The film is fairly routine for the time, but has been elevated due to appearing with the title "The Flapper". Thomas could be considered more a proto-type than a real flapper. Later, Cyndi Lauper (see "Girls Just Want to Have Fun") was more of a flapper.

One of the best things about watching Alan Crosland adeptly direct this film is that the picture is so well preserved. Apparently the beginning and ending title/credits are damaged or missing, but the bulk of the film looks very pleasing. It's also worth noting that Thomas, who is charming throughout, died in September 1920, the same week as Robert Harron; the young stars' shocking and mysterious deaths shook what were arguably the two biggest film families in Hollywood at the time (actress Mary Pickford and director D.W. Griffith). Young co-stars Theodore Westman Jr. and Bobby Connelly also died tragically young.

****** The Flapper (5/10/20) Alan Crosland ~ Olive Thomas, Theodore Westman Jr., William P. Carleton, Norma Shearer

The first film to feature an actress as a flapper and the first film to portray the flapper lifestyle, "The Flapper" is a modest romantic comedy on the craze that would soon take over a nation and the world. Olive Thomas is a young girl from palmy and breezy Florida whose irreverent, "flapper" attitude sends her into quite the whirl of travel, romance, intrigue and redemption. With her round drooping peepers, porcelain skin and mop of red hair Thomas' looks transcend her time with her fine acting and natural charm enhancing her appeal. The excellent restoration work gives the film a clarity highlighting its age while making it viewable. The marvel of seeing a film over a century old with the clothing, cars, acting and people of the time is a plus. Nice scenes of New York too. Viewing the film has a calm and soothing effect. Lightweight and common "The Flapper" is nonetheless a charming and watchable flick from the dawn of the Jazz Age.

'The Flapper' is a charming girl power movie. It is obvious that it was aimed at teenage girls and young women who dreamed about more adventurous life like its protagonist. Chick-flick of the 1920s. Olive Thomas stars as sixteen-year-old Genevieve who is sent into a boarding school by his strict senator father. Life in school is dull and she longs for adventures. Her life gets even more exciting for her than she first could have hoped for. Olive Thomas is adorable and her performance as a naive girl is a perfect balance between seriousness and comedy.

The writing is good, especially the first hour of the movie. The conclusion is a little bit disappointing, it felt rushed. It is kinda feel-good fantasy, although there are quite dark undertones - a young girl charms an older good looking man. And then there is the heist. In this case, also you have to notice that the thief, Tom 'The Eel' Morran (sinister portrayal by Arthur Housman) is paired with a schoolgirl, Genevieve's schoolmate, Hortense (Katherine Johnston). But mostly, it is an amusing movie.

It was the first major movie that depicted the flapper lifestyle. Besides being entertaining, this movie also carries a historical value.

One of several meanings of the term 'flapper' is a teenage girl. Less flattering definitions include young prostitutes and female dancers. Most likely, a combination of the varying interpretations of 'flapper' resulted in the look and lifestyle of a segment of the female population during the 1920's which symbolized the departure from the traditional matronly ethos of generations past.

The development of 'flappers' emerged after the trauma of World War One. Their iconic image received a huge boast in Selznick Pictures' May 1920 "The Flapper." Young actress Olive Thomas plays cinema's first epitome of the Jazz Age's independent women, beginning with her scene midway in the movie. As a schoolgirl traveling on break, she's invited by an another schoolmate and her boyfried to a nightclub. She tries on the 'flapper' outfit contained in the luggage the couple demands she transport back to her father's home in Florida, where they secretly plan to pick up the stolen goods. Seeing an older man she admired back in school at the club, Thomas, wanting to impress him, exhibits all the mannerisms of future flappers by smoking a cigarette in public and acting cool.

The Frances Marion script was capitalizing on an emerging trend just in its early stages. But seeing the rebellious and confident Thomas as a young woman adopting a flapper image solidified the movement going forward.

"The Flapper" was Thomas' last viewable surviving movie she made (She acted in a later lost film, 'Darling Mine,' and a posthumously-released film, 'Everybody's Sweetheart," which is currently unavailable for public viewing.). At 25, Thomas and her husband Jack Pickford, Mary's brother, took what they called their second honeymoon in France. Their marriage, a tempestuous one at best, was filled with fights and tender make-ups ever since they had been married in October 1916. During their stay in Paris, the two returned to the hotel room on the night of September 5, 1920, after an evening of heavy drinking. According to Pickford, who was prescribed a topical medication for syphilis sores, Thomas mistook the French label on the container for water or as a sleeping liquid, despite its gooey substance, and swallowed some. The poisonous mercury bichloride solution was fatal, killing her five days later in a Paris hospital.

The media had a field day on the cause of her death. Sensational headlines screamed accusations from suicide to her being murdered by Pickford in order to claim her life insurance. The French police investigated all the circumstances behind the incident and, with the autopsy report, confirmed her death was accidental. "Olive and I were the greatest pals on Earth," lamented Pickford. "Her death is a ghastly mistake."

On the way back to the States with her body, Pickford had been rumored to have attempted suicide, so distraught was he. In an emotionally crowded funeral service in New York City, women fainted and several onlookers were crushed rushing to view her casket. Thomas is buried in a crypt at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.