Diamond Tooth Lil
Diamond Tooth Lil was an American cultural figure popular in the early 20th century as an icon of wealth and libertine burlesque. Several individuals called themselves "Diamond Lil" or "Diamond Tooth", creating an amalgamated legacy clouded by myth. These individuals include a
Overview
Multiple women of the
Klondike Lil
The first Diamond Tooth Lil was a woman named Honora Ornstein, born in 1882.
Ornstein arrived in the
Lil made newspaper headlines in 1936[2] when she was committed to Western State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Washington,[11] and reported as near-death.[8] By this time, she had sold the diamonds from her teeth but was thought to still have considerable wealth—only she was unable to speak and her relatives were not in contact.[8] Her reputation limited the market for her jewelry collection, which she struggled to sell in the 1950s.[2] Lil's lawyer reported that her assets had been exhausted by 1961.[13] After spending the remainder of her life in state institutions, Lil died in a Yakima, Washington, nursing home on June 18, 1975.[13] She was buried in a simple grave[11] and had no known relatives.[13] The New York Times remembered Lil as a "dance hall queen" and "the toast of the North".[11]
Sierra Nevada Lil
Evelyn Fialla was also born in Austria-Hungary, in approximately 1877.[a] Her family emigrated to the United States and settled in Youngstown, Ohio.[5] She met Percy Hildegard when she was fourteen and eloped with him to Chicago, where she became a saloon singer. She divorced him on an unspecified date, and went on to marry several more times over the course of her life. Sources such as Ripley's Believe It Or Not! reported thirteen marriages.[15][3] Hildegard herself put the number at eight.[16]
As a traveling dancer, she worked her way from Ohio across the West to
Lil was said to have entertained and managed multiple profitable brothels across the West, including
Mae West
Notes
References
- OCLC 907885654.
- ^ OCLC 699260779.
- ^ a b c d Oberding 2015, p. 121.
- ^ Oberding 2015, pp. 121–122.
- ^ a b Oberding 2015, p. 120.
- ^ MacKell 2009, p. 163, 416.
- ^ MacKell 2009, p. 416.
- ^ ProQuest 150783217.
- ^ Barrett, Eldon (April 30, 1961). "'Diamond Lil' of Yukon Now 90, Broke, and Ill". Arizona Republic. p. 4. Retrieved February 20, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Saloon Girl of Gold Days Seriously Ill". The Capital Journal. July 9, 1936. p. 14. Retrieved February 20, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331.
- ISSN 0362-4331.
- ^ ]
- ^ "Diamond Tooth Lil Dies at 89". The San Bernardino County Sun. Associated Press. September 8, 1967. p. 9. Retrieved May 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!". The News-Item. Shamokin, Pennsylvania. March 4, 1974. p. 14. Retrieved May 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hood, Ernie (December 8, 1943). ""Diamond-Tooth Lil" Recalls Gay Days of Era When She Was Toast of Dance Halls of the West". The Idaho Daily Statesman (Wednesday Morning ed.). p. 6 – via Boise Public Library Infoweb Newsbank.
- ^ MacKell 2009, p. 163.
- ^ a b c d Oberding 2015, p. 122.
- ISBN 978-1-4165-7913-7.
- ^ Chandler 2009, p. 158.
- ^ Atkinson, Brooks (February 7, 1949). "Mae West Back in Town as 'Diamond Lil'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 15, 2017.