Born Theodosia Goodman in Cincinnati, OH on July 29th, 1885, Theda Bara was the first monumental “man-eating”, femme fatale sex symbol in American cinema. Theda chose – or was assigned – her screen name because it was an anagram for “Arab Death” but the supposed appeal of that has always eluded me.
Bara at first sought success on the stage but managed few roles beyond a brief appearance in Act Two of Ferenc Molnar’s play The Devil on Broadway in 1908. Like many failed stage thespians, she turned to the comparatively new film industry, which in those days was centered on the east coast of the United States.
The future superstar had a walk-on role as a gangster’s moll in Pathe’s production The Stain (1914) and was then signed to a contract by William Fox of iconic Fox Studios. The fact that most of her movies are among the many lost silent films adds to Bara’s enduring mystique.
A FOOL THERE WAS (1915) – Theda Bara embodied “the Vamp” character as surely as Douglas Fairbanks would later embody the swashbuckler. In this film based on Rudyard Kipling’s 1876 poem The Vampire, Bara portrayed a metaphorical vampire whose erotic appeal drove men wild.
In A Fool There Was, the vamping woman has already left in her wake a long line of ruined men who lost everything in their mad desire to keep her in their lives. The story depicts our starlet luring another wealthy man away from his wife and children, exhausting his money, then moving on to her next conquest.
This film had a Dialogue Board with Bara’s character saying “Kiss me, my fool” to her latest male victim, a line which was mistakenly quoted as “Kiss me, you fool” for decades. Because this movie was made before the 1930 Hays Code, Theda’s seductive and spiteful character was allowed to go unpunished for her actions in the storyline. Continue reading
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