STORICAL HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: THEDA BARA, VAMPIRE
Theda Bara was the most famous movie star you’ve probably never heard of. One of the first movie stars, America’s first goth, and Hollywood’s first sex symbol, Theda Bara was the epitome of Madame Mystery. Though most of her films have been lost to time, Theda is one of the pioneers of early Hollywood.
More Halloween Episodes:
https://www.immortalperfumes.com/search?q=halloween&f_collectionId=6100b028baebd54735717656
Resources
Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara by Eve Golden: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/741931.Vamp
You Must Remember This Podcast: https://radiopublic.com/you-must-remember-this-G2wdZR/s1!b877a
The Woman with Hungry Eyes: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997110/
TRANSCRIPT
This is the Storical Halloween Special. The veil is thin and the dead walk among us. Before you indulge in some tricks or treats, enjoy this episode on Theda Bara, Hollywood Vampire and madam of mystery.
Welcome dear listeners, it’s Halloween, my favorite day of the year so I had to pop in with a special episode of Storical to send you off into this last spooky night of October.
Now, not all vampires drink blood. Some vampires have only one goal – destroy all men. Such was the case with Theda Bara, one of the most famous Hollywood stars that you’ve never heard of. But odds are if you look up images, you will recognize her right away.
She had long raven black hair, and deep set kohl smudged eyes. She became one of the very first movie stars and a very wealthy woman off her penchant for playing what was known as a vampire. But in the early 1900s and 1920s, a vampire or vamp was another word for femme fatale.
Ok with that in mind, imagine yourself in a stiflingly humid dimly lit hotel room. There are tapestries hung on the walls and amber perfumes wafting in the air. The curtain falls to the floor and in a serpentine throne lounges a hauntingly beautiful woman who looks like the devil incarnate.
Chapter One: Hollywood Legend
Let’s start off with Theda Bara’s biography as originally given to the press. The name Theda Bara was an anagram for Arab Death and the star had been born in the shadow of the sphinx in Egypt. Her father was an arab shiek and her mother was a French actress. The two schooled Theda in the arts from their small tent in Egypt.
Theda then moved to paris and took the town by storm. She was renowned all over Europe but virtually unknown in the United States. That was until Fox Studios director Frank Powell discovered her – right as world war 1 was breaking out and he managed to save her by getting her on the last ship to America!
For press conferences Theda would say things like: You say I have the most wicked face of any woman. You say my hair is like the serpent locks of Medusa, that my eyes have the cruel cunning of Borgia, that my mouth is the mouth of the sinister scheming Delilah, that my hands are like the talons of a Circe or the blood-bathing Elizabeth Bathory. And then you ask me of my soul — you wish to know if it is reflected in my face.
Or when giving interviews she’d talk about her past lives. “I felt the blood of the Ptolemys coursing through my veins,” she emoted. “I know that I am a reincarnation of Cleopatra. It is not a mere theory in my mind. I have positive knowledge that such is the case. I live Cleopatra, I breathe Cleopatra, I am Cleopatra!”
But let’s go back to that dimly lit hotel room that I described a few minutes ago. That scene really happened. Theda was behind a curtain in a hotel room that was decorated to look like something out of a harem. Newspapermen were crammed in and before the curtain fell, Fox PR men really set the scene and waxed poetic about her background.
When the curtain fell, Theda recited a monologue about her idyllic childhood in the shadow of the sphinx. When she finished, all of the press were told to leave save for one woman, Louella Parsons who would go on to become the Queen of Hollywood Gossip. Once they had gone and only Louella remained, Theda dropped the aloof foreign act and ran to the window, threw it open, and exclaimed GIVE ME AIR
Chapter 2: A nice midwestern girl
So in case you weren’t sure, her entire backstory was fake. She was born Theodosia Goodman around 1885 in Cincinatti to a Polish Jewish father and a swiss mother. Theodosia was named after Aaron Burr’s daughter that had gone missing at sea in 1812. She was a voracious reader and overall a really good kid albeit mischievous. At one point she damaged a screen door and her parents had a cage built in the backyard to keep her from getting into trouble. As people apparently did in the 1800s. But no she did not grow up in Egypt and she actually had never been abroad.
Theda had the acting bug and after dropping out of the university of cincinatti, she, like countless other actors, made her way to New York City. Her goal was to make it on the theater circuit. Movies were becoming increasingly popular and at the time were filmed almost entirely along the east coast. Hollywood was not yet a thing.
The first role she landed was in a play called The Devil because of course it was. But For 10 years Theda struggled to get parts and barely scraped by. Part of the issue was that body ideals were changing from the more voluptuous curves of the Victorian era to the slim svelte flapper look. Theda was fleshy and curvy and couldn’t compete with girls that had the trendy look.
By the time she hit 29, she had completed various bit parts but had not been a leading lady in anything. However, she landed a bit part in the film The Stain which was directed by Frank Powell. Powell was soon hired away to fox studios and they needed a leading lady.
A few things to note for context. In the early 1900s and 1910s, Europe was where all the film advancements were being made. America was very behind. But with Europe engaged in world war 1 prior to America joining later, that gave the United States a chance to build up its film industry.
Another thing to note is that by 1914 when she met Powell, other silent era actors were starting to become very famous which meant they wanted more money.
Theda had the look and she was an unknown so he didn’t have to pay her much money. He approached her to star in his first Fox Studio Film, A Fool There Was.
Chapter 3: Hollywood Hustle
A fool there was was based on a play of the same name. And the play was based on a Rudyard Kipling poem called The Vampire. I mentioned that vampires or vamps in the 1910s and 1920s referred to mysterious, sexual women who would lure a man in, ruin his life, and then move on to the next man. And that’s basically what happened in a Fool there was. The film was novel in that there wasn’t a happy ending. Theda Bara’s vamp just steamrolled the man in that movie which GOOD.
Anyway a few things to note on this first role. First off contrary to her dark evil persona, Theda was scandalized that she had to appear in a bathing suit for this film. She also struggled during filming because there was a crowd of about 2000 people that gathered to watch them film and she was embarrassed because the makeup they had to use for stage and screen was just a horror show.
Then when setting off for England to film, they were on a boat that didn’t have an American flag. It got stopped by the British who asked questions about if there were germans on board. Edward Jose her costar was from Belgium and fluent in german so he started speaking in german which got them in all sorts of trouble because remember world war 1. Soon after the film was finished Edward Jose also had a contract dispute with fox and went on strike and refused to help promote the movie.
That left unknown actress Theda Bara to promote this film. And this is why that insane backstory was created. In order to drum up publicity they had to create a spectacle. And it worked only too well because she quite literally became an overnight sensation.
When I said she was famous before, I really mean like mega star. It was her and Charlie Chaplin. From 1915 to 1919 she starred in more than 40 films. Women emulated her style and the term for them was baby vamps…which if you’re one of my perfume customers, yes my perfume Baby Vamp was inspired by Theda! She was also paid $4000 a week which in today’s money is close to $55k! Super wealthy!
So with all this stardom I’m sure you’re wondering why you haven’t heard much about her. That’s because all but a handful of her films have been completely lost to time either by the 20th century fox vault fire of 1937 which housed nitrate film, or by the fact that in the early days of film, a movie would only run for a few days and that was it. They weren’t seen as high art so they would literally reuse the film and film over them.
You can still watch her first film a Fool There Was but films like Sin, The Devils Daughter, and her biggest hit Cleopatra are all gone which is just incredibly sad to me that an entire legacy can just disappear.
Now to us this is a tale as old as time but for Theda this was one of the first times this scenario happened but she was tired of playing the vampire. She wanted to take on more meaty roles and she wanted to play a good girl. She played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and had a few other non vampire roles but they frankly didn’t do very well. When her contract with fox was up she basically said she wouldn’t renew if she didn’t get more roles she wanted and fox was like ok fine bye. She then struggled to get hired by other studios and instead turned back to the theater.
Monetarily her theater run was successful because as a huge movie star she packed the houses. But unfortunately her acting was roundly dismissed by critics.
After marrying director Charles Brabin in 1921 she effectively retired. Partially because she was over it and partially because he didn’t love her working. They remained married until her death in 1955 due to stomach cancer. They had no children and in the years between her stardom and death she was honestly a lady who lunched with other famous Hollywood types such as Gloria Swanson.
Theda has had a huge pop culture presence even though you likely didn’t know her name. During the golden age of Hollywood, stars looked down on the silent era actors and honestly made fun of them for overacting. But as Theda herself said, it was pantomime without words you have to do that to convey what is happening in the film. To that end, for a while Theda Bara was a punchline. One notable instance was in I Love Lucy – lucy wants to play cleopatra and says shes seen the movie 12 times and ethel says sarcastically she means the one with theda bara insinuating that her acting was bad.
With the internet her fame has grown again because her striking images are endlessly shareable. If you’re interested in doing a deeper dive on her life check out the book Vamp The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara by Eve Golden. The podcast You Must Remember This is also a great listen if you want to have more context for early Hollywood.
And then if you’re interested in a documentary, the 2006 film The Woman With Hungry Eyes gives her life story.
Alright dear listeners I hope you enjoyed learning about Theda Bara. If you’re in the mood for more spooky, check out the rest of my Halloween specials. I’ve done Edgar Allan Poe, The Blood Countess, Houdini, and the New England Vampire Panic. All are on my website or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Have the happiest of Halloweens!