Silent Era Loss: Three Theda Bara Films Survive 1937 Blaze

Cincinnati screens the three remaining films of silent screen star Theda Bara at the Mariemont Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 24. The event is sold out.

Bara, born Theodosia Goodman in Avondale in 1885, worked in Hollywood from 1914 to 1919. She appeared in 40 films during that period. Studio publicists marketed her as a dangerous foreign exotic, but she described herself as a local Jewish girl. She graduated from Walnut Hills High School and attended the University of Cincinnati before moving to New York.

Her career ended abruptly in 1919 when she was under 35. She returned to the screen in 1925 for The Unchastened Woman and in 1926 for Madame Mystery. A fire at Fox Studios in 1937 destroyed most of her earlier work. Only three of her original films remain today.

The Mariemont program features Theda Bara's Memoirs, an eight-minute documentary produced and directed by Nadya Ellerhorst. Ellerhorst also produces The Art Show on WCET-TV and WPTD-TV. The screening includes the silent film A Fool There Was. A costume contest will also take place that evening.

A panel discussion follows the films. Participants include Dr. Jennifer Glaser, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati; Brian Powers, a historian with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library; and Ellerhorst. Glaser is a specialist in Bara's history.

Theda Bara's Memoirs has gained 50,000 views on YouTube since May 2025. The online version is available to those without tickets for the live event. The documentary cites a 450-page unpublished biography held in the University of Cincinnati Archives.

Bara married director Charles Brabin in 1921. She died in Los Angeles in 1955 at age 69. Xavier University demolished her former home in 2011 after using it as a residence for its Honors College.