Origins: Songs about Theda Bara

Subject: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: M'Grath of Altcar
Date: 29 Aug 04 - 07:48 PM

My Dad reminded me the other day of the old tale in our family that we are related to the silent movie star Theda Bara. This has long been seen as a bit of a myth in the family.

So I tapped the blood relatives name into Google (Charles Braben) and got hundreds of hits. It turns out he worked for Edison in 1904 as an actor then became an director. Moved to Beverly Hills after getting involved with William (20th Century) Fox. He met Theda Bara in 1919 and they married. So I am related to her albeit distantly. She's my Aunty Theda!!

I've just read the biography of this extraordinary woman and I was just wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of any of the 26 songs that were published about her.

Braben ( My grandads cousin) went on to direct the 1926 version of Ben Hur (11 academy awards) and some of the Fu- Manchu films! Ms Bara virtually retired in 1919 but made a film with Stan Laurel in the twenties.

As I'm sure you can imagine, it would be great to sing a song about her.

MofA

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: pdq
Date: 29 Aug 04 - 08:12 PM

Don't see any songs about her but here is a good biography. Born Theodosia Goodman near Cincinati, Ohio...

                                                            Theda Bara

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Aug 04 - 08:53 PM

refresh!

There's a whole lot more to this tale!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: mack/misophist
Date: 29 Aug 04 - 10:39 PM

Please post any you may find. I'd like to see them too!

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: JJ
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 08:48 AM

With all due respect to your ancestor, it was the 1959 version of BEN-HUR that won eleven Academy Awards. The 1926 version couldn't have won any because the Oscars didn't start until 1927.

The name "THEDA BARA" is an acronym of "ARAB DEATH."

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: Abby Sale
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 09:42 AM

THe Levy site offers two songs sung by her and one incidentaly about her (one line.)

I've come across that "Arab Death" thing before. It's a fact but making anything of it seems a bit silly to me. It may be that it was an anti-Semitic note about her back in the days when it was felt Jews weren't "supposed" to be in movies and most Jewish actors and movies avoided Jewish-sounding names & themes. (Ethnicity & minority [and New Yawk accents] in general, have only been allowed in movies very recently.)

'Theda' is an obvious familiarization of her real name. Per IMDb, her early publicists sent out press releases that she was born in the Sahara to a French artiste and his Egyptian concubine and possessed supernatural powers.

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: s&r
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 12:56 PM

Theda Bara is an anagram of Arab death. (Acronym is initials)

Stu

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 01:09 PM

Also an anagram for "A bad hater"

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: M'Grath of Altcar
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 10:25 AM

JJ - I stand corrected about the Academy awards.
Interesting account of Brabin Production of Ben Hur.

Thanks for your help Abby. Your links to the sheet music site were great. I've printed all 3 songs out. Two of songs are indexed with Theda Bara as a performer. The sheet music itself does not mention her as such. Neither does Golden mention that Theda sang at all professionally.
They may just have plonked a picture of Bara on the cover as a sales gimmick. I can't be sure.

The most relevant of these songs is called "At the Moving Picture Ball (A Photo-Play In 2 Reels.)" by Santly & Johnson. 1920. It Includes the line " And Theda Bara was a terror She vamped the little lady. It includes the intriguing tempo instruction "Tempo di Movie." The Chorus, however, should be played "Without a flicker." It's a ragtime thing and I've put it in my sequencer. I could send a MIDI file to anyone who's interested. If nothing more intriguing crops up, I'll probably learn this one.

She can be seen as partly responsible for putting a new word in to the english language - Vamp. In 1916 She appeared in a film called A Fool There Was. It was based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling . This poem was, in turn, based on a
painting by Philip Burne-Jones called "The Vampire." The model for this painting was Mrs. Patrick Campbell and they met decades later.

She made an appearance on the Groucho Marx Radio Show I'm trying to dig that up.

Lots of Pictures of my Ms.Bara-Brabin Theda

Rarer Images

Nieuport Biplane named Theda Bara

Theda Waxwork

IMDb Biography

1930 Census Form

She was divinely, hysterically, insanely malevolent.
- - - Bette Davis (about Theda Bara)

Men of the early 20 th century soon realized that a seemingly compliant house-hold nun could be deadly, a memory of Theda Bara's kohl-eyed appetites.
-Bram Dijkstra 1996 Evil Sisters

There is a range of Handbags called a Theda.

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: M'Grath of Altcar
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 03:08 PM

Also an anagram of brat ahead

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: Nerd
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 04:01 PM

Actually, New York accents have been tolerated in the movies for a long time, even if Jewish identity was often hidden. The classic case was bronx-born Jew Bernard Schwartz, aka Tony Curtis, who is forever ridiculed for "yondah lies da castle of my fadda." He got his start in the 1940s.

Since Theda Barra mostly acted in silent movies, presumably her accent did not matter. Her married name would have done away with the obvious Jewishness of her original name, but I guess Bara sounded more mysterious than Braben, and she had already adopted Bara by the time she married. She did make one film using her original name, according to the IMDB.

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs about Theda Bara
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:49 PM

It's the time of year to remember that Theda Bara was born July 29, 1885. You'll find some good information about Theda Bara here:
https://jwa.org/thisweek/jul/29/1890/theda-bara

Theda Bara starred in a 1915 film titled A Fool There Was. The movie inspired the Rudyard Kipling poem titled The Vampire.

So, now you know more than you used to know, whether you wanted to or not.

-Joe-