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SPEAKER_03: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. This month, we're talking about mischief makers, oddballs, chameleons, and nonconformists, queens of quick wit. Today, we're talking about one of film's first sex symbols. This actress created the vamp, a dark-haired, sultry woman who sucked the life out of the men unlucky enough to fall into her orbit. Let's talk about Theda Bara. Theda Bara was born Theodosia Goodman in 1885. She grew up in a small Jewish immigrant family in Cincinnati, Ohio. But Theodosia wanted to be an actress, so when she turned 18, she dyed her blonde hair black and moved to New York to pursue a career in theater. In New York, she found a few roles on the stage and briefly joined a touring theater company, which was a big deal. Theodosia was a very famous actress, and she joined a touring theater company. This was in the early 1900s. The movie industry was just beginning, and New York stage actors started taking roles in silent films as a way to make consistent money on the side. Theodosia was one of those actors. After landing a small role in a movie called The Stain, she caught the eye of the director Frank Powell. He offered Theodosia the lead role in his 1915 movie, A Fool There Was. The movie was about a wealthy man who meets a vampire woman. The vampire woman is beautiful, seductive, charming, yet undoubtedly evil, and Theodosia played her perfectly. The movie opens with the leading man smelling a rose. The next shot is Theodosia, her large eyes lined in black, and her lips smeared with dark lipstick. She picks up one of the roses and crumples it, watching the petals fall to the floor with a gleeful smile. The scene hints at what's to come. For the remainder of the movie, the vampire woman lures the leading man and then destroys his life. Theodosia's pale face and bewitching expressions made her the ideal vampire woman. Remember, this was the era of silent films. Her acting had to be purely physical. But film executives were worried about selling a movie with an unknown female lead. So to generate more buzz, they cooked up a sensationalized publicity campaign. Overnight, Theodosia Goodman, Ohio native, became Theda Bara, a witch born in the Sahara Desert. Tabloids pointed out that the name Theda Bara was an anagram for Arab death. Theda played along. She signed a contract saying she would only go outside at night and would always wear a veil in public. Suddenly, Theda Bara wasn't just playing the vampire woman in a movie. She had become the vampire woman, the very first vamp. A fool there was was a box office smash. And over the next four years, Theodosia appeared in 40 more movies. In most of them, she played her own iconic trope, reeling men in and then demoralizing them. Her screen presence was magnetic and seductive. Theda would stretch out on tiger rugs, twirl golden cigarette holders between her fingers, and wear gold hoops and elaborate veils. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Theda's films scandalized some members of the American public. But she also had her fair share of adoring fans. At one point, she was receiving 200 letters a day. Over the course of her career, she reportedly racked up over 1,000 marriage proposals. One of Theda's most iconic performances was in Salome, where she played the devious biblical heroine who seduces a king. The movie was a huge production with over-the-top sets and daring costumes. In some scenes, Theda's nearly naked. The movie was Theda's highest-grossing feature film and generated a lot of uproar. The state of Kansas wouldn't even show it in theaters until their censorship requests were made by the film's editors. Theda, meanwhile, was growing tired of being typecast and frustrated that audiences couldn't tell the difference between her characters and her actual life. For Theda, playing the vamp was just that, playing. It was a job, it paid the bills. But her fans didn't want to hear that she lived in a modest apartment on the Upper West Side and liked to read. She even told one audience, "'Whenever I try to be a nice, good little thing, you all stay away from my pictures.'" In 1919, Fox terminated Theda's contract, and she left the vamp behind, or at least she tried to. In 1920, Theda briefly returned to her roots as a stage actress after being cast in the play The Blue Flame. A year later, she married the director, Charles Braben. She starred in two more movies, one in 1925 and one in 1926, and then officially retired from films at the age of 41. She was never in a talking picture. Theda Barra died in 1955 at the age of 65. Five years after her death, she got a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her pioneering performance. All month, we're talking about Mischief Makers. For more information, check us out on Facebook and Instagram at Womanica Podcast. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow.
