September 10, 1920: The Death of Olive Thomas

September 10, 1920: The American film industry suffers its 1st true scandal, with the death of Olive Thomas, the actress known as "Everybody's Sweetheart."

Oliva Rena Duffy ("Oliva," not "Olive" or "Olivia") was born on October 20, 1894, outside Pittsburgh in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. In 1914, using the name Olive Thomas, she went to New York, hoping to become a Broadway dancer in Florenz Ziegfeld's Ziegfeld Follies. She did, and also won a contest to determine "The Most Beautiful Girl In New York City." She also did some modeling, including some nude poses.

In 1916, she went to the new Hollywood, and began making movies. She married actor Jack Pickford, brother of the biggest leading lady of the time, Mary Pickford. In 1920, she starred in The Flapper, and the title became a term that would be used to describe the "liberated woman" of the Roaring Twenties.

She would not get to be a part of it for very long. She and her husband sailed to Europe in October 1920, thinking that a second honeymoon would help their marriage. On September 5, in their room at the famed Hotel Ritz in Paris after a night of partying, she found a bottle belonging to him. Not able to read French, she drank out of it.

It contained mercury dichloride -- which her husband had been taking as a treatment for syphilis. Instead of a single teaspoon, she chugged it like whiskey, and it ruined her kidneys. She died 5 days later, not quite 26 years old. It became a scandal, as suspicion fell on Jack. But the Paris coroner ruled her death an accident, and no one was ever charged with any crime in connection with her death.

He final film, Everybody's Sweetheart, was released on October 10. Jack Pickford was twice more married and divorced, each time to another Ziegfeld Girl. His acting career and his health in ruins, he returned to Paris, and died there in 1933, at age 36. For each of them, most of their films have been lost: Most film was then made on highly flammable nitrate.

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September 10, 1920 was a Friday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-1 at League Park in Cleveland. Babe Ruth hit his 48th home run of the season, in support of Bob Shawkey. Indians center fielder and manager Tris Speaker went 1-for-4. The Indians edged the Yankees and the Chicago White Sox for the Pennant, and won the World Series.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known under manager Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931) beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-8 at Ebbets Field. Zack Wheat went 1-for-5. Rogers Hornsby went 2-for-5 with a home run for the Cardinals. The Cards scored 3 runs in the top of the 11th inning, but the Dodgers struck back with 4 in the bottom of the 11th, finishing it off with an RBI single by Henry "Hi" Myers.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-3 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-0 and 5-2 at Navin Field in Detroit. (It was renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938 and Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Ty Cobb went 4-for-8 with 5 RBIs over the 2 games.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Shoeless Joe Jackson went 1-for-4, in support of pitcher Red Faber. Faber would make the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jackson wouldn't, for reasons that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

* The St. Louis Browns and the Washington Senators were rained out at Sportsman's Park in ST. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day, and the Browns, swept, 13-6 and 17-2. Over the 2 games, the Browns' George Sisler went 3-for-8 with 3 walks and 4 RBIs.

* And the New York Giants, the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Braves and the Cincinnati Reds were not scheduled.