Diamond Tooth Lil

Last updated

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 vaudeville entertainer in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, a madam in the American West during the early 1900s, and the titular character of Mae West's Diamond Lil , who embodied these traits and popularized the name in the 1920s. [1]

Contents

Overview

Multiple women of the American West have used the name "Diamond Tooth" and "Diamond Lil". [2] In the case of the two most prominent, historians have often confused the lives of Honora Ornstein and Evelyn Hildegard, who both went by the name Diamond Lil around the turn of the 20th century, both emigrants from Austria, with similar ages, careers in entertainment, and diamond-inset teeth. [3] They did differ, however, in where they lived: Ornstein in the Klondike and Seattle, and Hildegard in California and Nevada. [4] Lil became known as enigmatic figure, and has been variously attributed as a "dance hall girl, gambler, prostitute, or madam who smoked cigars and carried a gun"—a legacy clouded with myth. [2] By the 1920s, Diamond Tooth Lil was a household name. [5]

Klondike Lil

The first Diamond Tooth Lil was a woman named Honora Ornstein, born in 1882. [2] Details about her early years are unclear and sometimes contradictory. The Master File of the Social Security Death Index gives her birthplace as Austria (then Austria-Hungary). [6] The 1920 United States Census gives her birthplace as France. [7] Information about her family's emigration to the United States is also unclear. A 1936 article in The Washington Post stated that she was the daughter of a Jewish family and had formerly been known as Lillian Orinstein. [8] Newspapers in the 1960s reported that she was the daughter of wealthy cattle ranchers from Montana. [9] [10]

Ornstein arrived in the Yukon town of Dawson in 1898 or 1899. [8] She became famous during the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon before the turn of the century on the Pantages vaudeville circuit, where she was a star entertainer for the region's spendthrift "sourdough" gold seekers. [11] [8] A nearby gambling house owner said that Lil spent three or four years there. [8] Her stage name, Diamond Tooth Lil, is based on her several diamond-inset dental fillings, [11] [12] including ones in her front and canine teeth. [13] She also collected and wore other diamond-studded jewelry, including a white gold snake bracelet studded with 125 real diamonds that scaled the length of her arm. [2] [13] Around 1908, she had moved to Seattle and was remembered for ostentatiously spending money during a Klondikers' parade. [8] She married Robert Ernst Snelgrove in 1918. [8] It is unclear if they divorced or he died, or when this occurred; she is reported as having married George Miller "later". [8] Shortly before she divorced her last husband around 1928, she lived in an apartment she had purchased in Seattle and inherited $150,000 from her mother, equivalent to $2.56 million in 2022. [8]

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

1943 photo of Evelyn Fialla, the second Diamond Tooth Lil, with an undated photograph of her from her performing days on the right. Diamond Tooth Lil - Evelyn Fialla 1943.png
1943 photo of Evelyn Fialla, the second Diamond Tooth Lil, with an undated photograph of her from her performing days on the right.

Evelyn Fialla was also born in Austria-Hungary, in approximately 1877. [lower-alpha 1] 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 San Francisco, California. [17] After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake left the city in ruins, Hildegard moved to Goldfield, Nevada, a boomtown of the California Gold Rush. Hildegard was paid handsomely for her exceptionally popular act at the town's Northern Saloon. Though she ultimately spent less than a year in Goldfield, she quickly opened her own dance hall and had a relationship with prospector Diamondfield Jack. Hildegard was said to have won her title of Diamond Tooth Lil in a successful bet with a Reno dentist, who set a diamond in her front tooth. [3]

Lil was said to have entertained and managed multiple profitable brothels across the West, including Death Valley, California, Denver, Colorado, and Boise, Idaho, where her "Star Rooms" in Boise had amenities including steam heating and both hot and cold water. [18] [2] She had reached Boise by the early 1940s. In 1944, she announced that her famous front tooth diamond would be willed to the Idaho Children's Home orphanage upon her death. By 1966, she had sold her jewelry and was penniless in California. She died at the Claremont Sanitarium of Pomona in 1967. [18]

Mae West

Diamond Lil , the successful Broadway play written and acted by Mae West in 1928, is assumed but not confirmed to be based on the Lils' lives. [3] The show was later adapted into the 1933 film She Done Him Wrong . [18] West said that her inspiration for the name likely came from her father's nickname for her mother, "Til", short for "Matilda", and sometimes with her drink of choice, "Champagne Til". [19] West based the character on herself and viewed Lil as an alter ego. [20] "The femme fatale of the Bowery", declared The New York Times of West's Lil in the play's 1949 revival, "bowling her leading men over one by one with her classical impersonation of a storybook strumpet", dressed in "some of the gaudiest finery of the century" with a "snaky walk, torso wriggle, stealthy eyes, frozen smile, flat, condescending voice, [and] queenly gestures"—in all, "a triumph of nostalgic vulgarity". [21] West won a lawsuit in 1966 against a Los Angeles performer for infringement of the name "Diamond Lil". [18]

Notes

  1. Based on her reported age of 89 at her death in 1967. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skagway, Alaska</span> Consolidated city-borough in Alaska, United States

The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with more than 1,000,000 visitors each year. Incorporated as a borough on June 25, 2007, it was previously a city in the Skagway-Yakutat-Angoon Census Area. The most populated community is the census-designated place of Skagway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold rush</span> Gold discovery triggering an onrush of miners seeking fortune

A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Greece, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, California, the United States, and Canada while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klondike Gold Rush</span> 1896–1899 migration to Yukon, Canada

The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899. Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawson City</span> City in Yukon, Canada

Dawson City, officially the City of Dawson, is a city in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest city in Yukon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilkoot Trail</span> Long-distance hiking trail in Canada and the United States

The Chilkoot Trail is a 33-mile (53 km) trail through the Coast Mountains that leads from Dyea, Alaska, in the United States, to Bennett, British Columbia, in Canada. It was a major access route from the coast to Yukon goldfields in the late 1890s. The trail became obsolete in 1899 when a railway was built from Dyea's neighbor port Skagway along the parallel White Pass trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park</span> Four US sites commemorate prospector migrant routes to Yukon Territory, Canada, 1896–99

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is a national historical park operated by the National Park Service that seeks to commemorate the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. Though the gold fields that were the ultimate goal of the stampeders lay in the Yukon Territory, the park comprises staging areas for the trek there and the routes leading in its direction. There are four units, including three in Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska and a fourth in the Pioneer Square National Historic District in Seattle, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Carmack</span> Prospector who discovered gold which led to the Klondike Gold Rush

George Washington Carmack was an American prospector in the Yukon. He was originally credited with registering Discovery Claim, the discovery of gold that set off the Klondike Gold Rush on August 16, 1896. Today, historians usually give the credit to his Tagish brother-in-law, Skookum Jim Mason.

Martin Itjen is most famous for being the unofficial premier tour director of Skagway, Alaska in the early 1900s. He held many distinct titles, including that of miner, railroad employee, hotel operator, hack service, the town's undertaker, Ford motor car dealer, and a tour guide. Much of Skagway's early history was saved from destruction because of his interest in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Rockwell</span> American dancer and vaudeville star

Kathleen Eloise Rockwell, known as "Klondike Kate" and later known as Kate Rockwell Warner Matson Van Duren, was an American dancer and vaudeville star during the Klondike Gold Rush, where she met Alexander Pantages who later became a very successful vaudeville/motion picture mogul. She garnered notoriety for her flirtatious dancing and ability to keep hard-working miners happy if not inebriated. Before her death she appeared on the television show You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx December 23, 1954, at the age of 74. She died in obscurity after some minor success training Hollywood starlets in the 1940s.

Katherine Caroline Wilkins was a horse breeder around the start of the 20th century known as the "Horse Queen of Idaho." She was the only American woman at that time whose livelihood was based solely on the trade. The Wilkins Horse Company at Bruneau's Diamond Ranch supplied thousands of horses for customers all over North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boomtown</span> Community with sudden economic & population growth

A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons, such as a proximity to a major metropolitan area, huge construction project, or attractive climate.

<i>A. J. Goddard</i> Klondike Gold Rush era sternwheeler that sank in a storm on Lake Laberge

A. J. Goddard was a Klondike Gold Rush era sternwheeler owned by Seattle businessman Albert J. Goddard and built for transport of men and supplies on the Upper Yukon River in Canada. She was assembled from pieces which were manufactured in San Francisco, shipped up to Skagway, Alaska, hauled over the Coast Mountains, and finally assembled at Lake Bennett. She made one trip to Dawson during the gold rush, was sold and sank in a storm on Lake Laberge in 1901. Her wreck was discovered in 2008 by Doug Davidge and was designated as a Yukon Historic Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nome Gold Rush</span> Gold rush in Nome, Alaska, approximately 1899–1909

The Klondike Gold Rush is commemorated through film, literature, historical parks etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel Berry</span>

Ethel Bush Berry (1873-1948) was a successful Yukon gold miner and prominent female figure of the Klondike Gold Rush. Ethel and her husband Clarence Berry became millionaires from their mining claims on Eldorado Creek, and she was known throughout North America as "the Bride of the Klondike."

Anton Stander, was a pioneer and the prospector from the great Klondike Gold Rush. He was one of the six wealthiest prospectors in Klondike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall</span> Casino in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada

Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall is a Casino in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. It was first opened in 1971 by the Klondike Visitors Association, making it Canada's Oldest Casino. Gerties, as it is popularly known, as well as most of Dawson City is reminiscent of the area's Klondike Gold Rush History. Patrons are treated to a daily Vaudeville Show inspired by one of Dawson's most Famous Dance Hall Stars from the Gold Rush Era, Gertie Lovejoy, who had a Diamond between her two front teeth.

Portus B. Weare 19th c. American steamship

Portus B. Weare was a wooden sternwheel steamship built in 1892 for service on the Yukon River. She played a notable role in the Klondike gold rush, being the second ship to bring news of the Klondike gold strike and an estimated $1 million in gold down the river in 1897. This set off the gold rush. The vessel carried freight and passengers up the Yukon to Dawson City and later Fairbanks. She was abandoned in 1926 or 1927, after the need for steamboat transport to the interior declined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John J. Manning</span>

John J. Manning was an Irish American frontiersman, lawman, gold prospector, rancher and saloon owner in the American West during the latter part of the 19th century. He was a prominent citizen in Deadwood, South Dakota from his arrival in 1876 to his death. Manning was the first elected sheriff of Lawrence County, Dakota Territory which included Deadwood. He served several terms as sheriff, as well as operated saloons, several livery stables, and a cattle & horse ranch in nearby Belle Fourche in South Dakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hattie Noble</span> American politician

Harriet "Hattie" Fitch Noble was an American educator and politician. She represented Boise County in the Idaho House of Representatives from 1898 to 1899. She was an advocate for women's suffrage and education.

References

  1. Oberding, Janice (2015). "Diamond Tooth Lil and the Red-Light Ghosts". Ghosts of Goldfield and Tonopah. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 119–123. ISBN   978-1-62585-478-0. OCLC   907885654.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MacKell, Jan (2009). "Illicit Ladies of Idaho". Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp. 163–165. ISBN   978-0-8263-4610-0. OCLC   699260779.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Oberding 2015, p. 121.
  4. Oberding 2015, pp. 121–122.
  5. 1 2 Oberding 2015, p. 120.
  6. MacKell 2009, p. 163, 416.
  7. MacKell 2009, p. 416.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "'Diamond Lil' Is Near Death; Once Was Toast of Klondike". The Washington Post . Associated Press. July 1, 1936. p. X3. ProQuest   150783217.
  9. 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.
  10. "Saloon Girl of Gold Days Seriously Ill". The Capital Journal. July 9, 1936. p. 14. Retrieved February 20, 2019 via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Diamond Tooth Lil, 92, Gold Rush Queen, Dead". The New York Times . United Press International. June 21, 1975. ISSN   0362-4331.
  12. "Diamond Tooth Lil' Dying: Seattle Hunts Relatives of Beauty of Alaska Gold Rush". The New York Times . Associated Press. July 1, 1936. ISSN   0362-4331.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Diamond Tooth Lil, Toast of Sourdoughs" . The Washington Post . Associated Press. June 21, 1975. p. B6. ISSN   0190-8286 via ProQuest.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. "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.
  15. "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!". The News-Item. Shamokin, Pennsylvania. March 4, 1974. p. 14. Retrieved May 3, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  16. 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.
  17. MacKell 2009, p. 163.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Oberding 2015, p. 122.
  19. Chandler, Charlotte (2009). She Always Knew How: Mae West, a Personal Biography . Simon and Schuster. pp.  119–120. ISBN   978-1-4165-7913-7.
  20. Chandler 2009, p. 158.
  21. Atkinson, Brooks (February 7, 1949). "Mae West Back in Town as 'Diamond Lil'". The New York Times . Retrieved October 15, 2017.