Olive Borden in the early 1930s
For decades the 1933 musical drama Hotel Variety, starring silent screen actress Olive Borden, was considered a lost film from the Pre-Code era. Recently a print of this movie was discovered and thanks to the efforts of author David Stenn and the Packard Humanities Institute it has been fully restored!
Olive Borden in the newly restored Hotel Variety
Hotel Variety was a low-budget drama produced by Screencraft Pictures, one of many independent studios that operated during the Depression. Filmed in New York City during the Summer of 1932 it was promoted as "Grand Hotel in a actor's boarding house." The story unfolds within a fading hotel that once hosted vaudeville greats of another era. Many actual vaudeville performers appear in the film. Olive Borden stars as a jaded nightclub performer who witnesses a murder and takes refuge in the hotel. Although Olive wasn't known as a singer, she gets the chance to belt out a couple of tunes. The rest of the cast includes Hal Kelly (in one of his final movies), burlesque superstar Sally Rand, and Charlotte Gray. It was directed by Raymond Cannon.
Olive Borden was a radiant star of the silent film era, known for her striking beauty and vivacious screen presence. She was nicknamed "The Joy Girl" after one of her most successful films. After her contract with Fox ended in 1927 due to a salary dispute, she had trouble making the transition to sound films. Hotel Variety would be one of her final movies. She struggled with alcoholism and ended up living in obscurity in a Los Angeles women's shelter. Tragically in 1947 Olive died from cirrhosis of the liver at the young age of forty-one. The newly restored Hotel Variety will give classic film fans a new chance to discover her.
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