Olive Borden is just be a shadow of a name today, a briefly popular young actress given one of her era's ridiculous nicknames (she was "The Joy Girl" of 1927 just as Ann Sheridan a decade or so later was "The Oomph Girl."). She lived hard, married badly, and drifted out of the public eye. Hers is story that doesn't end well (death on skid row in 1947) and that didn't leave much behind - but, for a moment, in her gold lace wrap she was just about perfect, and it looks like she knew it.
Also, her final film has, I think, a marvelous title: Chloe, Love is Calling You. It ought to be a romantic screwball about a feckless heiress, with maybe a fun part for Helen Westley or Edna May Oliver as her aunt/chaperone. Instead, because by that point nothing was going right for Borden, it was in fact a lurid 1934 cheapie filmed in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Still - that photo, that moment...
How fabulous, an ensemble meant to be stood perfectly still in.
ReplyDeleteolive worked hard for her money
ReplyDeleteso hard for it honey
Those tassles!
ReplyDeleteShe had quite a lovely little figure. I'd never heard of her but found a webiste devoted to her and learned a bit. Some wonderful photos of her. Nice career for a while. But a sad story.
I kind of love that she's distantly related to Lizze B.
And how nice that, even for just a moment or two, we're thinking and talking about her today!
ReplyDeleteThanks Olive.
Thank you Muscato.