Silent Film Star Olive Borden 1927 Charles Sheldon Negative Photograph Joy Girl
Item History & Price
Olive Borden was beautiful and talented but she became one of Hollywood's most tragic tales. She came to Hollywood in 1922 with her widowed mother. Olive started her career as a Mack Sennett bathing beauty and was named a Wampas baby star in 1925. She made eleven films at Fox studios where she earned $1500 a week. Olive became a popular on screen vamp and her jet black hair was her trademark. She hired Jimmie Fiddler as her agent and was nicknamed "The Joy Girl". Olive lived a lavish lifestyle with limos, mansions, servants, and a dozen fur coats. In 1927 she left Fox after a salary dispute. She later worked for Columbia and RKO studios. Like many other silent stars she had a hard time making the transition to talkies. Her last film was made in 1934. There were two failed marriages and a broken engagement to actor George O'Brien. During World War 2 she worked as a nurse. By the age of 41 she was a penniless alcoholic. Her final years were spent in a Los Angeles mission. Sadly many of Olive Borden's silent films have been lost and this lovely star has been forgotten.
Charles Gates Sheldon was one of the premiere illustrators of the 1920s and 1930s. He created advertising for lingerie companies, Fox Shoes, Breck Shampoo (he originated the “Breck Girl” campaign), and movie magazine cover portraits. Sheldon maintained a studio at Carnegie Hall in New York City during the twenties and thirties and photographed the glamorous Hollywood film stars of the era for his cover portrait work. Stars who sat for Sheldon include: Jean Harlow, Clara Bow, Marion Davies, Gloria Swanson, Pola Negri, Olive Borden, Mary Pickford, and dozens more. These stills were never meant for public consumption. They were taken to be used for his pastel portraiture work. Many are unscripted - Sheldon was an amateur photographer and it is unique to see such glamorous stars posed often times so informally. Part of Sheldon’s talent was a knack for convincing his artist’s models and leading ladies to pose for him partially undressed or fully nude — emulating the spirit of NYC’s Ziegfeld Follies and other burlesque revues which had taken Manhattan by storm during the Roaring 20s. This still comes from the collection of Charles Sheldon. Measures 5" x 7" Guaranteed to be 100% vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
00420