Editing Merle Oberon (section)

===Youth===
In 1914, when Merle was three, Arthur Thompson joined the [[British Army]] and later died of [[pneumonia]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] during the [[Battle of the Somme]].<ref name=highmos2526>Higham and 1983, pp. 25–26.</ref> Merle and Charlotte led an impoverished existence in shabby flats in Bombay for a few years before moving in 1917 to <!--- name at the time --->[[Kolkata|Calcutta]].<ref name=highmos28>Higham and Moseley 1983, p. 28.</ref> Oberon attended [[La Martinière Calcutta]] for Girls, one of the best private schools in Calcutta, as a charity student.<ref name=highmos28/><ref>Woollacott, 2011, P97</ref> There, she was constantly teased by the majority European students for her mixed ethnicity, which led her to quit school and receive lessons at home.<ref name=highmos30>Higham and Moseley 1983, p. 30.</ref>

Oberon performed with the Calcutta Amateur Dramatic Society. She loved films; she liked going to [[nightclub]]s. Indian journalist [[Sunanda K. Datta-Ray]] said that Merle worked as a telephone operator in Calcutta under the name Queenie Thomson, and won a contest at Firpo's Restaurant there, before the outset of her film career.<ref>Datta-Ray, Sunanda K. "More than skin-deep." ''Business Standard'', New Delhi, 4 July 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.</ref>

At Firpo's in 1928, aged 18, Oberon met a former actor, Colonel Ben Finney, and dated him;<ref name=highmos3334>Higham and Moseley 1983, pp. 33–34.</ref> however, when he saw Charlotte one night at her flat, he realized Oberon was of mixed ancestry and ended the relationship.<ref name=highmos3334/> However, Finney promised to introduce her to [[Rex Ingram (director)|Rex Ingram]] of [[Victorine Studios]] (whom he had known through his relationship with the late [[Barbara La Marr]]), if she were prepared to travel to France, which she readily did.<ref name=highmos3334/> After packing all their belongings and moving to France, Oberon and her mother found that their supposed benefactor avoided them,<ref name=highmos37>Higham and Moseley 1983, p. 37.</ref> although he had left a good word for Oberon with Ingram at the studios in [[Nice]].<ref name=highmos37/> Ingram appreciated Oberon's exotic appearance and quickly hired her to be an extra in a party scene in a film named ''The Three Passions''.<ref name=highmos38>Higham and Moseley 1983, p. 38.</ref>