Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:10 pm**

We have a treat for you!
An updated collection of Nance photos!

Also see MONDO LIZZIE BORDEN at
http://lizzieandrewborden.com/MondoLizzie/

There are more there! Eye Candy! Yay!

From:
Billy Rose Theatre Collection photograph file > Personalities
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts / Billy Rose Theatre Division

Collection Guide:
On Stage and Screen: Photograph File of the Billy Rose Theatre Collection

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:11 pm**

More Nance!

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:13 pm**

Nance More!

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:15 pm**

Nance More!
Isn't she cute!!

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:16 pm**

More More More!

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:18 pm**

Nance O'Neil

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:19 pm**

Nance O'Neil

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:21 pm**

Yay! More Nance!

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:23 pm**

Nance! Nance!

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:25 pm**

Nance O'Neil

And please go to Mondo Lizzie to see MORE!

http://lizzieandrewborden.com/MondoLizzie/

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:21 pm**

WOW, Kat!!! Awesome find. I really love the lace, high collar and form fitting dress in photo #5. I have always thought I was born in the wrong era!

I also checked out the photos of Nance in MondoLizzie - very cool.

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:15 pm**

VERY NICE KAT! I LOVE the new photographs.

Nance was a pretty striking woman at that.

Posted: **Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:24 pm**

A marvelous find, Kat! Thanks! All but one was new to me.

She has an amazing ability to look different in each one. Guess that was the actress in her. In some she is quite attractive, in others, far less so.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:36 am**

Wow! Can you imagine the amount of work it took to make those dresses?

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:32 am**

(awestruck!)

Love them, love them, love them!

She was such a chameleon.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:38 am**

What a double dip of deliciousness! A lady of many faces! She looks great in her "pants part" costume and I love the one with the pit bull. Maybe she and Lizzie shared a love for terriers.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:47 am**

wow! I thought I was over my crush on her.....

kash

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:50 am**

How wonderful! I love the one of her in the dark blouse with the full sleeves and the dark sash tied at her neck - so Edward Gorey!

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:57 pm**

Wow... never seen any of these!

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:51 pm**

I really like the one with the dog!!

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:10 pm**

Here's a link for Nance photos from her Australian tour with Rankin. They are part of the David Elliott theatrical postcard collection at The National Library of Australia.

This link will bring you to the "search" page. Just type in Nance O'Neill. There are just 3 photos (with one in varying sizes).

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/picturescata ... 11E9D6EFCD

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:11 pm**

nbcatlover @ Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:10 pm wrote:Here's a link for Nance photos from her Australian tour with Rankin. They are part of the David Elliott theatrical postcard collection at The National Library of Australia.

This link will bring you to the "search" page. Just type in Nance O'Neill. There are just 3 photos (with one in varying sizes). You can save or print copies for study or research purposes.

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/picturescata ... 11E9D6EFCD

Posted: **Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:39 am**

Kat you are amazing!!

k

Posted: **Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:33 pm**

Every month two friends and I go out for dinner and then attend a silent movie in D.C. On October 17th we wll be seeing a 1924 film called "The Enchanted Cottage". One of the actors in the film is Alfred Hickman, Nance O'Neil's husband. I will be very interested in seeing him.

Posted: **Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:11 pm**

What fantastic photographs. I love the facial expressions. Now really!!! and you imagine having a waist that tiny?

Posted: **Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:35 pm**

Love the clothes but it had to be miserable wearing them!!!

Posted: **Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:50 am**

I love the picture with the dog as well!
And that tiny waist makes my stomach hurt to look at it!

I was in the right place at the right time, Kath!

Nance is so Glorious!

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:08 am**

Thanks for the Nance O'Neil pictures, Kat.
My collection now exceeds one hundred. I wonder how many different pictures exist?

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:30 pm**

Wow! The second photo Kat posted of Nance in that gigantic hat is amazing!!! The hat looks as though it is impossibly balanced on Nance's head... I wonder how much that hat weighed?

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:52 pm**

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2007 5:53 pm**

wow looks like she came from money, wonder why then she needed money from Lizzie

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:09 am**

Nance had no control over her own money during the time she knew Lizzie. Nance had a Manager/Mentor named McKee Rankin. Rankin was an actor/director/producer/self-proclaimed genius. They had a written contract where Rankin looked after the funds. He took her under his wing when she was young & naive---she let him take care of the pesky money details.

However, Rankin was notoriously inept at dealing with money. He was an alcoholic and borderline con man. When money was around, he spent it with abandon. Nance often had to survive by selling and/or pawning expensive gifts given her by admirers (such as Lizzie). She was almost constantly in trouble financially & legally due to Rankin's misuse & mismanagement of funds.

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:42 am**

Allen,

Do you have a reference / source for the great pic of Nance's house? I'd like to read more about it. I grew up not far from Tyngsboro. My high school used to compete against Tyngsboro in sports, and when we traveled there, it seemed like we were going to the North Pole.

Tyngsboro seems a strange place for an actress to use as a Summer retreat. Or perhaps not so strange - if you don't want to be recognized. It is a small, very rural community on the New Hampshire border. The nearest cities are Lowell, MA and Nashua, NH. In Nance's day, there would have been no direct way of getting there.

I also thought I read somewhere that Nance entertained Lizzie at a house in Tyngsboro (probably the house pictured).

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:40 am**

Nance, Rankin & Co. were planning to settle in as a base in New England for a comparative long stretch. Nance 1st started out closer to Boston, but found life uncomfortable as the general population were gossipy, watching her comings & goings, etc. She wanted somewhere more rural & out of the way. The place at Tyngsboro with various outbuildings was also great for her menagerie of animals.

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:52 am**

Go to http://www.imdb.com and look up "The Fall of the Romanoffs". There will be a picture of Nance O'Neil with her husband Alfred Hickman. The site won't let me copy the picture.

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:58 am**

kfactor @ Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:42 am wrote:Allen,

Do you have a reference / source for the great pic of Nance's house? I'd like to read more about it. I grew up not far from Tyngsboro. My high school used to compete against Tyngsboro in sports, and when we traveled there, it seemed like we were going to the North Pole.

Tyngsboro seems a strange place for an actress to use as a Summer retreat. Or perhaps not so strange - if you don't want to be recognized. It is a small, very rural community on the New Hampshire border. The nearest cities are Lowell, MA and Nashua, NH. In Nance's day, there would have been no direct way of getting there.

I also thought I read somewhere that Nance entertained Lizzie at a house in Tyngsboro (probably the house pictured).

I found that particular picture in a book I was reading online entitled:

Lowell: The River City - Page 125 -by The Lowell Historical Society - 2006 - 144 pages

http://books.google.com/books?id=jOUDmF ... blRgeXiVus

There was one other book I found which included a picture which I unfortunately didn't get to see. All I could see were "snippets". But I could see the caption "Nance O' Neil, Miss Snell, and Tolo having afternoon Tea on the veranda at Tyngsboro." I also found the pictures which I posted in the "Pictures Of Key Players" thread in a few of these books. I've been a reading fool.

I love to read, and to research.

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:04 am**

"Leslie's Monthly Magazine" - By Ellery Sedgwick - Published 1905 - Frank Leslie Pub. House - Original from Harvard University- page 565

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:11 am**

BTW the pictures included on the Mondo Lizzie Borden site are well, I have one word; BRAVO!

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:40 pm**

Those are some cool pictures.

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:11 pm**

The picture of the place at Tyngsboro was shown in The Hatchet in an article by our Mary Naugle:
"92 Seconds: Lizzie Borden Slept Here" by Mary Elizabeth Naugle June/July 2004

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:53 am**

"Nance O' Neil Her Travels and Her Art" by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, published in Overland Monthly an Illustrated Magazine of the West in the August -December Issue of 1906. The article on Nance begins on page 212 and runs on until page 220 with many interesting pictures. Here is the link that should take you to the article.

http://books.google.com/books?id=51k4AA ... 1-PA212,M1

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:31 am**

Another great find by Allen! Thank you for sharing it.

Haven't had a chance to read the article yet but the photos are wonderful.

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:03 pm**

YES:

.........I have always been perplexed by the interest taken in Nance O'Neil on behalf of Lizzie Borden.

There is ample evidence that the two women were acquainted and perhaps good friends.

But Lizzie Borden and Nance O'Neil were never Lovers.

Lizzie Borden was never Gay.

And, Lizzie World should get over it.

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:07 pm**

Wonderful photographs!

mb, never say never...

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:30 pm**

mbhenty @ Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:03 pm wrote:

YES:
But Lizzie Borden and Nance O'Neil were never Lovers.
Lizzie Borden was never Gay.
And, Lizzie World should get over it.

How would you know that?

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:24 pm**

mbhenty @ Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:03 pm wrote:

YES:

.........I have always been perplexed by the interest taken in Nance O'Neil on behalf of Lizzie Borden.

There is ample evidence that the two women were acquainted and perhaps good friends.

But Lizzie Borden and Nance O'Neil were never Lovers.

Lizzie Borden was never Gay.

And, Lizzie World should get over it.

I would be interested in Nance even if there was no speculation about whether or not the two were lovers. I've always believed you can tell a lot about a person by who their friends are. For instance, Lizzie seemed to adore going to the theatre later in life. Nance was of course an actress. Both were animal lovers. Nance owned many exotic and rare animals during her life time. What similarities between the two women lead them to be friends? What were their common interests? I am not at all sure I would write off some sort of love interest either. Even if it was on Lizzie's part and Nance never reciprocated. What would lead one world renowned actress and one infamous suspected murderess to become good friends?

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:57 pm**

Yes Allen: What you say carries much weight. What a person does for a living, or for fun, or for passion says a lot about someone. I would not argue that Lizzie and Nance were friends. Enough has been written or known to assess that their interests were beyond topical acquaintances.

And I can understand that because Nance had a dubious and homogenized sexual preference does not necessarily mean the same is true for Lizzie.

It is also true that one may use the same slide rule for someone's friends to measure another's interests or someone's interests to measure someone's friends. But there are exceptions.

If I was to be measured in the same light............. then that would make me a Sailor, murder, drug dealer, wife beater, school teacher, Repo man, and yes Gay.

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:33 pm**

YES ANGEL:

The truth is we don't know the truth.

Though the odds are against it, to make a hard stance on the "sexual Lizzie" issue would be wholly speculation.

Was Lizzie Gay(?).........I don't believe so

Was Lizzie Straight(?)........I don't believe so.

Is it any of our business(?).......... I don't believe so.

Good question ANGEL. No, I don't know, we don't know.

Today, average surveys place the Gay population as low as 6 per-cent to as High as 10.

There are tons of variables here when surveys like this are taken, anything from who is taking the survey, church groups, government, which may be irresponsible in their approach, to the many, like myself, who think it is none of your business.

But let us go with the 10 percent number, that this is the number of Gay people living in the US. Pretty substantial......(?) That would mean that there are 30 million Gay people in this country. Sounds like a big number until you figure in that 270 million are straight.

So, what am I getting at here

Numbers, pure and simple. Oh should I say pure, but not simple.

That is to say:

Since we have no proof Lizzie was gay, and if we use the 10 percent equation, it is highly unlikely Lizzie was gay. And having gay friends does not make you Gay.

But you must not disregard the fact that living in FAll River, I may know something you do not.

What is the chance of that? More than you know.

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:48 pm**

Oh my Gud BOB

DON'T TELL ME YOU ARE ALSO GAY.

BOB, NEVER, NEVER...........

...................................................................................................

Just joking Mr. BG.

The Gay issue is one that molds one's character more so then the Straight one does.

I for one find someone's sexuality none of anyone's business.

If I were famous and had books written about me I would be lived if I knew others were writing about my sexuality. Of course sex sells. And uncommon sex sells marvelously. And if I had a lover (or sexer, as I call it) it would leave me little choice, especially if they were to profit from it. None the less I would be pissed.

But, that is because I am a private person, Gay or otherwise.

I would like to believe Lizzie felt the same way.

So, it's all fun talk and who can stop us.

The important thing is that we all respect the rights, opinions and life style of others.

With that being said...........

Was Lizzie GAy....................... No

Am I right when I say "NEVER"...........No

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:07 pm**

If someone were to write a book about me, I wouldn't have any problems with them writing about my sexuality whether I was gay or otherwise. It's a part of who I am and a fact of my life. It shapes who I will fall in love with and have relationships with. I wouldn't want gory details printed, but my basic orientation I wouldn't find any problems being discussed. I do not think anyone's sexuality is anything to be ashamed of so I see no reason to find fault in discussing it.

Lizzie Borden Society Forum

"New" Nance O'Neil!

"New" Nance O'Neil!