Theda Bara

It all began in 1896, when Philip Burne-Jones published a painting called „The Vampire“ and his uncle, Rudyard Kipling, wrote a poem which was called „A fool there was“. Both were exhibited that year and became part of common cultural knowledge – everybody knew the painting, everybody could recite the poem. The painting shows a dark, beautiful woman with a wicked smile leaning over an unconcious man in bed with. Apparently, it is believed that this woman is Mrs. Patrick Campbell leaning over George Bernard Shaw after having conquered and depleted him. 

We have to dial into what this vampire means in the cultural reception to understand. So, in American society and culture, social Darwinism had found its roots. It was believed that only the fittest would survive. It was also believed that the vital essence of life was stored in the male genitals and that sex would make men dumber and would rot their brain because they would spread their vitality thin and not be left with much. In the cultural context, it was also believed that men as they age would become more focused on the mind and the logic of things, whereas women would have no particular feeling of self, but be faithful and obedient housewives. In the painting and the poem, the woman is the vampire, who uses man’s vital essence up, exhausts them and uses them up. TIhe idea of the predatory female was also becoming more prominent because women were spreading out into the real world and into the workforce. And many a man felt threatened by them. So these trains of thoughts made William Fox decide to make a movie out of this plot. He asked director Frank Powell, who worked for Fox and directed „The Stain“ who he would suggest for the role of the vampire. And he suggested Theda. 

In the movie, Theda Bara as the vampire, seduces a married husband and father and they are just living the good life. It is the story of the weak-willed man who cannot defend himself against this predatory sexual woman, the struggle of civilization, the end of civilization if she wins.

The man gets weaker and weaker, depleted of his vital essence. His dutiful and faithful wife wants to take him back while the vampire is out, but the vampire returns. She kisses him one last time – she essentially draws the last drop of vitality out of the husband. This seductress is threat to masculinity and the male ego. Because if you usually steal and harm, there is retribution, but in this case there isn’t.  

William Fox really was a fox – he was sly and cunning. He turned down many more known actresses and wanted an unknown for this role. He wanted someone he could do great publicity with – and Thedosia Goodman was perfect for this. He put her under contract and some of the clauses in it were: 

1. You cannot marry within three years
2. You must be heavily veiled when in public
3. You cannot use public transport
4. You cannot appear in the theatre
5. You cannot attend Turkish baths
6. You cannot close the windows in your limousine
7. You cannot pose for staff shots
8. You can only go out at night

He hired two journalists who regularly freelanced for him and challenged them to come up with a good name and a good story. Because he knew that he had to do lots of publicity around this movie. It was just the right material for this time and unknown Theodosia was just the perfect fit for the role with her large hungry eyes. 

And, boy, what a story they came up with! 

They shortened her name Theodosia to Theda and used Bara as a surname, apparently because she mentioned that she a relative named Baranger. They also gave her a whole new life story. Gone was Theodosia Burr Goodman from middle-class Ohio, and born was Theda Bara, daughter of an Arabian and a French sculptor that was born in the shadow of the Sphinx in Egypt. Her mother and her had to escape to France where she had learned acting on stage and had become a famous star. During the press conference that announced „A fool there was“ and Theda Bara as the leading lady with a dark and romantic past, Theda did not say anything, but sat there, looking mysterious and romantic. Actually, later on, her whole family changed their name to „Bara“

Film critic and gossip girl Louella Parsons also attended the press conference and later recounted that after the official end, Theda got up, opened the windows and exclaimed in a thick mid-western accent „Give me some air!“ From the beginning it was clear that it was a legend. Everybody knew it was a joke – and that was kind of the allure of it.

That very year, in 1915, „vamp“ got into the dictionary for the first time – as a noun, a verb and an adjective. And that was because of the character, the vampire, the vamp, Theda Bars played on screen. 

Everybody was crazy about this movie, everybody knew it and Theda Bara was an instant star. 

By the end of her first year at Fox, she had starred in 10 movies, in 9 of them versions of the original vamp. Theda Bara became Fox’s most successful star. Although Theda Bara actually was an accomplished actress and had paid her dues on the stage for nine long years to get where she now was. She got tired of being a vamp over and over again. Although the vamp did change – she became the „striving“ woman seeking sexual and intellectual fulfillment. But she is primitive in nature and when betrayed will seek revenge on men

There was again the underlying belief that men would become more and more intellectual with age, and more focused on life of the brain, whereas women would become more and more passive, more focused on simply existing, a household nun. 

This predatory woman, this vamp, was supposed to be a cautionary tale – but people found it absolutely tintillating – roughly 182 million had seen her 11 movies combined. Theda became the international camp vamp – Russian, Mexican, modern American vamp, but this time, driven by fate