If you're interested in silent films, then you need to read this. Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2013, A relatively succinct and well written account of one of the most famous, and now all but forgotten, icons of the silent film era. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, 1937 fire at [7], Bara was known for wearing very revealing costumes in her films. In 1949, producer Buddy DeSylva and Columbia Pictures expressed interest in making a movie of Bara's life to star Betty Hutton, but the project never materialized. What's left of that career are a few films (considered even at the time as some of her weak. And, while Gloria Swanson was glorious in "Sunset Boulevard," I can't help but wonder what Theda would have brought to the role of Norma Desmond. Have a question? Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Although Bara took her craft seriously, she was too successful as an exotic "wanton woman" to develop a more versatile career. Bara made more than 40 films between 1914 and 1926, but most were lost in the … After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. the Hays Code) started in 1930, and then was more strongly enforced in 1934. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. With the use of numerous still photographs taken at the time, the author does a good job in describing her career. The only scandal of her career is that the few surviving examples of her work are not representative of her triumphs, and we are left with mostly parodies. A must read for all Old Hollywood lovers! It was popular at that time to promote an actress as mysterious, with an exotic background. However, so little of her filmography exists that it's close to impossible to discuss her as anything more than a name and likeness. She drew some reasonable conclusions but someone writing history has to be careful with making assumptions.

and Vivian quips "She means the one with Theda Bara". I was fascinated to learn how scholarly she was... the quotes attributed to her show a depth of character and intelligence that belied the "vamp" persona that made her so famous. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Her active career as an onscreen sex bomb, the woman for whom the word "vamp" was invented, was also very brief--only from 1914 to 1919. but then again they say that 75% of silent movies have been lost forever and even the ones that exist are typically not in very good shape either. It is like wanting so badly to see Isadora Duncan dance, but she refused to have her dances filmed in her lifetime, so we can only imagine. It went into my to-be-read pile, where it languished for some months while I worked my way down through previous purchases.

[30], Bara is referenced in the 1921 Bert Kalmar/Harry Ruby song "Rebecca Came Back from Mecca"[33] as well as their 1922 "Sheik From Avenue B," sung by Fanny Brice. Although Bara's best movies survive only in fragments, Golden believes she was the latter. Tragically a 1937 fire in the Fox film vault destroyed most of Bara’s films, including "Cleopatra." Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App.

Also taking into consideration that Theda was a very private person and that most of the "facts" of her life were lies from the studio, a legitimate biography about her seems almost impossible. Start by marking “Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara” as Want to Read: Error rating book. She was film's first superstar and sex symbol but unfortunately most of her work has disappeared. Eve Golden does a phenomenal job of separating what was true about Theda's down-to-earth life from what was manufactured by studio publicity to create an exotic illusion. Unfortunately, the jealousy and disapproval of Theda's vamp persona by the authoress could be seen all too often. Awesome pictures, great research, and I love the stories of her in the 50's as a respectable, upstanding society lady. And the public loved it. But when Fox failed to review her contract in 1919, she essentially retired from acting, marrying director Charles Brabin in 1921. Fast paced, full of pictures and interesting information - it's exactly what you want a biography to be.

Bathing Beauty: A Novel of Marie Prevost (Forgotten Actresses Book 3), Tragic Hollywood, Beautiful, Glamorous And Dead, The Forgotten Flapper: A Novel of Olive Thomas (Forgotten Actresses Book 1).