(No, you are correct,
Noir_Noir - you've got a sharp eye!)
Since we've been discussing the 1919 Mack Sennett feature,
Hearts and Flowers, I may as well continue!
One of the most famous Bathing Beauties,
Phyllis Haver, is the girl in front; the green arrow points at my grandma Elva.
Elva encircled, the only Beauty who dives, and way ahead of the pack, chasing the girl with the ball:
Elva was quite an athlete, particularly as a swimmer and diver. Her unfulfilled dream was to compete in the Olympics - she was apparently
that good.
At one point while still living in Colorado, Elva jumped into a lake and saved a drowning boy. My family always said that the story made the papers, but I'm not sure which one...
does anyone know how I might find a copy of this article? Of course, she would have still been Elva
Taylor at the time, which would be sometime between her birth (10-13-1901) and before she landed in Hollywood (some time before 1919).
Elva on the left, in front of Haystack Rock:
The extant Haystack Rock on the right, the long-gone Castle Rock in the middle:
USC
Charlie Chaplin at Haystack Rock:
LINK
Haystack Rock on Google Street View
As the story goes, Elva actually got her start in the movies because of her diving ability. Her sister Olive (who was D.W. Griffith's secretary) asked Elva if she wanted to go see a movie being filmed. Elva said yes, so the two of them drove down to the beach.
Some kind of seafaring movie was being shot. The director wanted a girl to jump from the crow's nest of a ship and land in the water. Unfortunately, the sea was rough, making the jump dangerous - if you didn't time your jump perfectly, you would crash into the deck of the ship. Understandably, all of the female actors refused to do it, and the production was stalled. This next image shows how the scene was described to me:
Elva, who by all accounts was quite fearless, marched over to the director and said "Let ME do it! I can do it easy!"
Elva made the jump, the director got his shot, and the rest, as they say, is history. I'd give my right leg to actually see this movie - or to even know its name!
Later there was a scene where the crew abandons ship. There was supposed to have been a rip current, and two male stuntmen drowned. But Elva, with all of her swimming training, survived.
The final Bathing Beauties shot from
Hearts and Flowers, on the south side of the Playa Del Rey Pavilion:
Playa Del Rey Pavilion, ca.1908,
USC
Boardwalk in front of Playa Del Rey Pavilion, Del Rey Hotel in the background, right (
USC):
What remains of the Playa Del Rey lagoon, current day,
on Google Maps.