Olivebelle Hamon, also known professionally as Loma Worth (September 2, 1909 – August 20, 1987), was a child musical prodigy, heiress, vaudeville performer, and licensed pilot, with a headline-making personal life in adulthood.
Early life Olivebelle (or Olive Belle) Hamon was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, the daughter of Jacob Louis "Jake" Hamon and Georgia W. Perkins Hamon. Her mother was a cousin to Warren G. Harding."Olive Belle Proudly Shows 'Apology' by Leonard Wood Jr." Boston Daily Globe (March 16, 1924): 48. Her father, an oil millionaire charged with bribing Senator Thomas P. Gore,Ron J. Jackson Jr., "Deadly Affair" NewsOK (December 2013). was killed in 1920 by his nephew's wife Clara Smith Hamon, who was acquitted in the ensuing high-profile trial.Laton McCartney, The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country (Random House 2009): 57-59. Her only sibling was Jake L. Hamon, Jr., who followed his father into the oil business.
Career and personal life Olivebelle Hamon was famous from a very early age as a violinist in Chicago,Mary Carver Williams, "Important Event at the Blackstone" Music News (March 19, 1920): 35. a standout student of Rudolph Reiners.Agnes Beldon, "Chicago Musical College" Music News (April 7, 1922): 25. In 1922 she gave a stunt recital, playing her violin while walking up and down 33 floors of external stairs at the Wrigley Building,"Olivebelle Hamon, stunt violinist--outtakes" Filmed on October 13, 1922, Moving Image Research Collections, Digital Video Repository). as a benefit for Camp Algonquin, a YMCA "fresh-air" camp on the Fox River."Will Play Violin All Way Up Wrigley Stairs and Back" Chicago Tribune (August 29, 1922): 17.
She also began flying very young, with lessons well underway by age 10."Young Girl Flies High" Maywood Herald (August 27, 1920). In 1930, she was denied permission to make a stunt flight from London to Cape Town."British Ban Hop by Woman" The New York Times (November 25, 1930): 18. In 1930 she participated in the National Women's Air Derby, flying from Long Beach, California to Chicago."In Air Race" Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune (August 20, 1930): 16. via Newspapers.com She earned her federal flying license in 1932, after the death of pilot Robert Short, a man she planned to marry."Short Death Ends Romance" Los Angeles Times (February 27, 1932): A1."Short's Pupil Wins Wings" Los Angeles Times (March 9, 1932): A2.
As an adult, she used the names "Freddy Worth""Why Jake Hamon's 'Baby Gal' Shunned Notoriety and Millions to 'Go it Alone'" The Times (February 28, 1926): 54. via Newspapers.com and "Loma Worth" for a show business career as an actress and "one-woman band". Any inheritance from Jake Hamon had been long since lost to extravagance and mismanagement,Terrel de Lapp, "Jake Hamon's Women" Los Angeles Times (April 17, 1932): J16. but not before she acquired a personal airplane"Flies to her Work" Record-Argus (March 24, 1933): 7. via Newspapers.com to fly between performing engagements."Tale of Oil King's Daughter Who Saw his 13 Millions Dwindle to Pittance" The Philadelphia Inquirer (November 2, 1930): 108. via Newspapers.com
Much of her fame was derived from her eventful personal life rather than her stage work.Warren Hall, "Olivebelle's Evil Star" Atlanta Constitution (June 29, 1947): SM10. Olivebelle Hamon was reported to have a busy roster of suitors, including Pete Llanuza, a newspaper cartoonist in his fifties."New Faces Complicate Race to the Altar with Olive Hamon" Seattle Daily Times (September 18, 1932). She was engaged in 1930,"Daughter of Hamon to Marry" Los Angeles Times (September 17, 1930): 4. but insisted it was only a lark, because "the stage and aviation have got me.""Daughter of 'Jake' Hamon Prefers Acting to Wedding" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 25, 1930): 2. via Newspapers.com She sought at least three more marriage licenses in 1932,"Olive Hamon Gets Marriage License--3rd" Star Tribune (December 3, 1932): 1. via Newspapers.com before marrying J. Lawrence Waters of Valdosta, Georgia that year."Native Valdostan Latest Aspirant for Husband of Olive Belle Hamon" Atlanta Constitution (December 3, 1932): 4. Her marriage to Waters did not last. In 1938 she married Chicago musician Leo Cooper; they divorced in 1946. She soon married a third time, to Chicago businessman William Augsburger, in 1947; they divorced within a year.Alma Lind, "The Hamon Harvest of Unhappiness" Atlanta Constitution (August 8, 1948): SM4."Wealthy Woman Asks Divorce in Chicago" Lubbock Evening Journal (May 12, 1948): 2. via Newspapers.com
Olivebelle Hamon died in 1987, aged 78 years in Portland, Oregon. Her remains were buried in the same plot as her father, mother, and brother, in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
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