Theda Bara Sure was Ugly....
Andrew Hansen 
....someone had to say it...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 248 | July 6, 2019 8:23 PM |
She reminds of a modern day basic white woman. There’s ten Theda’s in every office. Also, the lipstick makes her mouth look tiny (popular look of the era) but it throws off the symmetry of her face.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | May 17, 2019 1:40 AM |
She's got enough mascara around that one eye to look like Petey, the Little Rascals dog.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 17, 2019 1:58 AM |
She looked like a blend of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Mae Whitman (aka basic white women).
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | May 17, 2019 4:20 AM |
Rudy Valley loved her till his dying day.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 17, 2019 6:56 AM |
Didn’t the Cleopatra costume show her breasts in the bodice cups styled as loosely coiled asps?
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 17, 2019 7:19 AM |
She looks like Stevie Nicks
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 17, 2019 7:24 AM |
R6 Yes. I'm an elderlez who uses a photo of her in that costume as my avatar on a site or two.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 17, 2019 7:32 AM |
Bara Theda was her real name.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | May 17, 2019 7:33 AM |
We can't judge people from that era. Photography was so primitive that the actors had to wear gallons of contrasting black and white make-up to be visible.
She could be as plain as Angela Lansbury under all that goop.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | May 17, 2019 7:46 AM |
She’s no great beauty, but this is a more flattering photo
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 11 | May 17, 2019 7:52 AM |
She resembles a slutty Anne Frank.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | May 17, 2019 7:56 AM |
She was a scamp, a camp, and a bit of a tramp.
She was a V - A - M - P vamp!
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | May 17, 2019 8:05 AM |
Who the fuck posts Pinterest links. Are you Diane Keaton, OP?
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | May 17, 2019 8:12 AM |
Theda has zero fucks to give for your opinions.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 17 | May 17, 2019 8:28 AM |
Stevie Nicks meets Betty Boop.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 18 | May 17, 2019 8:31 AM |
Her name is an acronym for ARAB DEATH
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | May 17, 2019 8:37 AM |
Young Stevie Nicks was very pretty. This hag looks like she sells "garments."
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | May 17, 2019 8:46 AM |
Little Theodisia Goodman.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | May 17, 2019 8:49 AM |
[quote]Young Stevie Nicks was very pretty.
So is mature Stevie. Nevertheless, there's a resemblance, even if they aren't twins.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | May 17, 2019 8:49 AM |
Shut the fuck up R22. Old Stevie Nicks is not pretty. She's old and bloated and hard to recognize from fillers and surgery. Young Nicks was pretty, with a very weird nose. She looks nothing like this fat bitch with the bug eyes and no lips from the silent movies of your youth. How many G A Y obsessions do you have going at once? Your assertions are stupid, but your style is easy to recognize.
Discuss Theda Bara's movies, not her looks. She's hideous and looks decades older than she must have been. Tell me about her films R22.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | May 17, 2019 8:57 AM |
If you were a man living a dull gray life somewhere in a flat state Theda Bara was the most exotic thing you could imagine.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | May 17, 2019 8:58 AM |
Calm down, ragey child @r23.
I wasn't even the first one in this thread to note the resemblance.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | May 17, 2019 9:01 AM |
You're not the first one, you're the same one.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | May 17, 2019 9:03 AM |
Um.....no. That's wishful fiction on your part. Please leave.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | May 17, 2019 9:05 AM |
All them silent film actresses look ugly, except maybe Louise Brooks.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | May 17, 2019 9:05 AM |
Louise Brooks and Lillian Gish were attractive. The rest were big eyed beetle mouth creatures no taller than 4 feet 11 inches. Fat by today's standards - like Stevia Nicks. Gloria Swanson was a slinkier midget but with the jawline of a man. One recognizable feature was more important than beauty. Pickford=curls.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | May 17, 2019 9:11 AM |
Nah, Garbo was the beginning of beauty. The homely good girls and ugly vamps had been in silent films for 10 years before Garbo arrived.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | May 17, 2019 9:21 AM |
A “normal” pic of Theda:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 33 | May 17, 2019 9:23 AM |
Theda Bara and Charles Manson went to the same high school.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | May 17, 2019 9:40 AM |
They had some weird preferences in those days. Huge eyes and tiny mouths. I never thought Garbo was the most beautiful woman ever or anything (Guinness literally dubbed her this), but compared to the earlier silent screen stars, well...yeah.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | May 17, 2019 9:51 AM |
looks like an ukrainian peasant. Bara means coffin in italian, btw.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | May 17, 2019 10:40 AM |
Gloria Swanson was attractive
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 37 | May 17, 2019 10:45 AM |
Olive Thomas was very pretty, but died young (in 1920)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 38 | May 17, 2019 10:46 AM |
Huge eyes are tiny mouths are still far more attractive than beady eyes and giant mouths, Helen Keller/r35.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | May 17, 2019 10:49 AM |
[quote]They had some weird preferences in those days. Huge eyes and tiny mouths.
Yeah. Things are so different today.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 40 | May 17, 2019 10:56 AM |
Yes, I suppose someone HAD to say it, even though it isn't true.
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | May 17, 2019 10:59 AM |
Christina Ricci should be in silent movies, that's for sure. She's a fright. Theda Barium looks like a 50 year old tenement bubbie. Bow Wow.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | May 17, 2019 11:05 AM |
[quote] your style is easy to recognize.
So is yours, genius. You can't spend years shrieking like a fishwife on DL and expect to not be recognized.
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | May 17, 2019 11:14 AM |
[quote]All them silent film actresses
What demographic is DL attracting, exactly?
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | May 17, 2019 11:15 AM |
What demographic are you attracting anymore you old bitter queen? You probably smell like olives.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | May 17, 2019 11:24 AM |
I'm sure everyone posting on this thread is a 10.
And also they're 62 but pass for 23.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | May 17, 2019 12:01 PM |
Mmmmm........olives......
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 48 | May 17, 2019 12:06 PM |
Is that an oblique Olive Garden reference, or...?
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | May 17, 2019 12:11 PM |
R46 thinks people smell like olives, so......
| by Anonymous | reply 50 | May 17, 2019 12:28 PM |
I wouldn't say ugly. She looked average. The makeup was doing the heavy lifting.
Here's Marilyn Monroe as Theda Bara, by Richard Avedon. Of course, she did it better. She was such a great model.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 51 | May 17, 2019 1:39 PM |
Tastes change, plus her whole persona (including the revealing costumes) were what people responded to.
I mean, we have people like various Kardashians who don't look good (or even human), Paris Hilton, that Osborne daughter whose name I forget, all sorts of ugly people who represent fashion today. How can it be difficult to understand why someone goth-y and melodramatic and half-naked would be popular 100 years ago, even if they weren't beautiful? It's very common.
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | May 17, 2019 2:24 PM |
Barbara Lamarr was considered to be the most beautiful woman in silent films. So much so that Louis Mayer changed Hedy Kieslers Jewish sounding last name to Lamarr, as a tribute to Barbara who died young from a drug overdose.
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | May 17, 2019 2:30 PM |
Theda Bara had a French mother and a Jewish father. Theda was a nickname for Theodosia. In the wake of her fame, her family changed their last name from Goodman to Bara.
| by Anonymous | reply 55 | May 17, 2019 3:01 PM |
you shoooo iz ugly !!!!!!!
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | May 17, 2019 3:09 PM |
r54 Barbara La Marr. She didn't die from a drug overdose.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 57 | May 17, 2019 3:28 PM |
Gladys Cooper was pretty.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 58 | May 17, 2019 5:14 PM |
[quote]basic white women
I don’t know, Theda looks more “white adjacent”
| by Anonymous | reply 60 | May 17, 2019 5:25 PM |
Louise Brooks was beautiful and talented, but too clever and independent for her own good.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 61 | May 17, 2019 5:28 PM |
Dorothy Gish was almost as pretty as her sister.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 64 | May 18, 2019 12:02 AM |
Obviously, I didn't mean to say that Garbo was one of the ugly ones. I was reminding R30 that besides Brooks and Gish there was also Garbo among the pretty ones.
| by Anonymous | reply 65 | May 18, 2019 12:05 AM |
Louise brooks was cute but her signature hairdo really made her beautiful. with a different haircut she looked almost plain
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | May 18, 2019 12:05 AM |
She looks like a dumb twat from Girls.
| by Anonymous | reply 69 | May 18, 2019 12:31 AM |
Mildred Harris was attractive.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 70 | May 18, 2019 12:46 AM |
Stevia Nicks in 1923. Talkies destroyed her career. People thought she sounded like a goat.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 74 | May 18, 2019 1:06 AM |
No, r74, that was Buffy Saint Marie.
| by Anonymous | reply 75 | May 18, 2019 1:08 AM |
She looks like every woman pushing a stroller in Borough Park.
| by Anonymous | reply 76 | May 18, 2019 1:10 AM |
R72
Anna Q. Nilsson looks like Ed Wood Jr.
| by Anonymous | reply 80 | May 18, 2019 1:17 AM |
Is this less Ed Wood, r80?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 82 | May 18, 2019 1:28 AM |
Mae marsh looks like Laura branigan in that pic.
| by Anonymous | reply 83 | May 18, 2019 1:37 AM |
R82
That's a little better....
| by Anonymous | reply 84 | May 18, 2019 1:38 AM |
R81 ""Nitzi," to her many friends!
| by Anonymous | reply 87 | May 18, 2019 2:10 AM |
"All them silent film actresses look ugly, except maybe Louise Brooks."
No. Many of them were gorgeous, NATURALLY beautiful. Those were the days before nose jobs, eyelifts, Botox, implants, lip augmentation. Those were their REAL faces. Here's a list of some beautiful silent film stars:
Greta Garbo
Clara Bow
Maude Fealy
Mary Miles Minter
Olive Thomas
Blanche Sweet
Dorothy Janis
Betty Ross Clarke
| by Anonymous | reply 90 | May 18, 2019 2:28 AM |
Dolores Costello would be more beautiful and compelling than any star today.
| by Anonymous | reply 91 | May 18, 2019 2:48 AM |
"We didnt need words,we had faces"!
| by Anonymous | reply 93 | May 18, 2019 2:50 AM |
For chrissakes, r91, it would kill ya t'link a pic of my mug?!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 95 | May 18, 2019 3:30 AM |
^^^^That's Drew B's grandma.
| by Anonymous | reply 96 | May 18, 2019 4:08 AM |
Frau, this isn't tumblr. Stop picspamming.
| by Anonymous | reply 99 | May 18, 2019 4:20 AM |
I chuckled at r13's "slutty Ann Frank" comment. It's true!
| by Anonymous | reply 100 | May 18, 2019 4:21 AM |
Clara Bow is very pretty in stills but she’s incredibly sexy in her films. Like Edie Sedgwick 40 years later the camera captured something that’s impossible to ignore. She really did have IT.
| by Anonymous | reply 102 | May 18, 2019 6:05 AM |
[R50] Person who smells like olives says what.
| by Anonymous | reply 103 | May 18, 2019 6:41 AM |
Another beauty Miss Billie Dove.
| by Anonymous | reply 104 | May 18, 2019 6:54 AM |
I just fucking [italic]love[/italic] olives.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 105 | May 18, 2019 7:10 AM |
Billie Burke. Hard to believe she was 54 when she played Glinda in the "Wizard of Oz".
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 106 | May 18, 2019 7:17 AM |
Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks were often rivals for roles and men. Here is Evelyn.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 107 | May 18, 2019 7:21 AM |
Can we take a moment to talk about the heritage the studio spun around her?
Born to a French mother and Arab shiekh, born in the shadow of the Sphinx, her name being an anagram of "Arab death" when in reality she was a chunky, homely girl from Cincinnati LMAO.
| by Anonymous | reply 108 | May 18, 2019 8:25 AM |
R106 Billie Burke was gorgeous as Glinda in "The Wizard of Oz".
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 109 | May 18, 2019 8:35 AM |
Does anyone have access to that short colorized video of silent film beauties morphing from one into the other?
If you had any doubt about how pretty they were, this might surely convince you.
| by Anonymous | reply 111 | May 18, 2019 3:08 PM |
Bessie Love in overalls, c. 1923.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 112 | May 18, 2019 3:51 PM |
So I found the youtube clip I was remembering and it's actually a test of early color film processing for Kodak with some actresses of the day. The only notable name was Mae Murray who is the last one to appear. She was a huge star of silent films, a rival to Gloria Swanson and really as popular as one could be then, though her stardom was brief and well over by the end of the decade.
I'm sure many here will find these ladies matronly and not even particularly pretty but I think it really is a great example of how feminine beauty standards have changed over time. This was done in 1922 before the rage of the boyish flapper had really taken over and you can see how the earlier Edwardian ideal of voluptuousness was transitioning into the kewpie doll look that eventually gave way to the reed-thin silhouette of the late 1920s.
And the color film allowed the actresses to maintain a relatively natural look to their makeup, far different from the harsh dark and light contrast we see in b & w films of the same period.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 113 | May 18, 2019 4:29 PM |
Evelyn Nesbit - she wasn't a movie star, but she was gorgeous and had outrageous sexuality.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 114 | May 18, 2019 4:52 PM |
Anna May Wong, considered to be the first Toisonese (Taishanese) Chinese American Hollywood movie star, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her long and varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 116 | May 18, 2019 6:23 PM |
Alla Nazimova, star of stage and screen. She was bisexual, leaning heavily toward women.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 117 | May 18, 2019 6:50 PM |
So what? Who cares? I'm bored by this now. Unwatched.
| by Anonymous | reply 118 | May 18, 2019 7:19 PM |
Aida Overton Walker, "The Queen of the Cakewalk" (died 1914) looks strikingly contemporary today. She never made films but her vivacious personality comes across strongly in still photos.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 119 | May 18, 2019 7:21 PM |
That photo at R114 is NOT Evelyn Nesbit. I don't know who it is, but it is definitely not her. As for Nesbit, she was more of a model than anything else. And she was astonishingly beautiful, but she lost her looks fairly early. Her main claim to fame was being the center of a major scandal: the murder of Stanford White. She and the great architect had an affair; I think she wanted to marry him, but he didn't want to commit to her. Instead she married the ugly, batshit crazy, very rich Harry K. Thaw. She told Thaw that she had been "ruined" by Stanford White when he took her virginity while she was still a teenager. Thaw had a fit and shot White to death in broad daylight in front of witnesses. Thaw's defense lawyers said he was suffering from "Dementia Americana", which is a condition where an enraged man is defending the honor of his wife. Totally ludicrous it was, just like the "Twinkie" defense. But Thaw got off easy and spent time in a mental institution instead of a prison. When he got out he continued to act like a madman, attacking people and generally acting like a lunatic. As for Nesbit, she went on to do show business projects, but never became a star, although she did get a lot of publicity. She is generally known today as either a scheming, mercenary tart or a dimwit who got treated badly by the men she was involved with.
| by Anonymous | reply 120 | May 18, 2019 7:58 PM |
I find it interesting that in the silent era you could have Asian film stars in the US, like Anna May Wong or Sessue Hayakawa, but the moment sound moved in they pretty much disappeared from the screen in other than minor or comic roles.
| by Anonymous | reply 121 | May 18, 2019 8:59 PM |
Anna May Wog's first film appearance was in Alla Nazimova's "The Red Lantern".
| by Anonymous | reply 122 | May 18, 2019 9:38 PM |
Anna May Wong and Sessue Hayakawa were big silent screen stars who transitioned over to early talkies and would have had continued success had it not been for the Hays Code, enforced in 1934. The Hays Code had anti-miscegenation rules, which kept Wong and Hayakawa from getting hired in leading roles. Wong, for instance, was heavily considered for the part of O-Lan in The Good Earth, but when MGM hired Caucasian Paul Muni to play her husband, she lost the part to Viennese Teardrop Luise Rainer. Wong would spend the remainder of the decade headlining B-pictures or starring in European films. Hayakawa had already been working in Europe by this time and had a number of successes overseas, so he wasn't really anxious to return to Hollywood to play secondary parts.
| by Anonymous | reply 123 | May 18, 2019 9:41 PM |
R107 I find Brooks to be thin gruel. She was however used well in the German films. And she could wear bangs well.
| by Anonymous | reply 124 | May 18, 2019 10:24 PM |
Nazimova looking very Norma Desmond....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 126 | May 18, 2019 10:52 PM |
DL fave Farley Granger,was in that as murderous Harry Thaw.
| by Anonymous | reply 127 | May 18, 2019 10:52 PM |
this explains the gross beard
" rel="nofollow">Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 128 | May 18, 2019 10:53 PM |
Alla emoting in pearls....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 129 | May 18, 2019 10:53 PM |
That's not Evelyn Nesbitt at r125. It's Joan Collins playing Nesbitt in the 1950's film biography The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.
| by Anonymous | reply 131 | May 18, 2019 10:56 PM |
The following actors were in "Since You Went Away, " entertaining and schmaltzy wartime film that introduced a dazzling Guy Madison: Alla Nazimova, Claudette Colbert, Agnes Moorehead, Hattie McDaniels, Monty Wooley.
Hmmm. What do they all have in common?
| by Anonymous | reply 132 | May 18, 2019 11:04 PM |
R132
What do they all have in common?
They all slept with Monty Wooley.
| by Anonymous | reply 133 | May 18, 2019 11:06 PM |
Well, r131, sure can't fool you!
| by Anonymous | reply 134 | May 18, 2019 11:06 PM |
Colleen Moore, cute as a button.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 135 | May 18, 2019 11:10 PM |
R132 also in the film were Craig Stevens (husband of Alexis Smith...), Keenan Wynn (husband of Van, er..), and John Derek (???).
| by Anonymous | reply 136 | May 18, 2019 11:10 PM |
But also starring in the film were raging heterosexuals Shirley Temple and Jennifer Jones.
| by Anonymous | reply 137 | May 18, 2019 11:14 PM |
Well, R133, they did all (almost) sleep with a woolly mons, teehee.
| by Anonymous | reply 138 | May 18, 2019 11:15 PM |
Oh R137 you never heard about Shirley?
| by Anonymous | reply 139 | May 18, 2019 11:18 PM |
The clip of Theda Bar as Cleopatra shows one hot bod. No wonder she was a sex symbol.
And we know about Nesbit, we read Ragtime.
| by Anonymous | reply 141 | May 18, 2019 11:25 PM |
R132 - I love that movie. At one point they show a picture of her dead husband who was Neil Hamiton who was Commissioner Gordon on the 60's Batman series.
| by Anonymous | reply 142 | May 18, 2019 11:28 PM |
R140 she died of pneumonia at 34 after being hospitalized for removal of a chicken bone stuck in her throat.
| by Anonymous | reply 144 | May 19, 2019 12:16 AM |
R142 the romance between the Jones and Walker characters is strange to watch because the two actors where married in real life, but about to divorce (Jones was having an affair with Selznick). So the fevered scenes take on an additional resonance. Also, when his character dies in the war, one knows that the actor will be dead at 32 in less than 10 years.
At the end, doesn't the family get a telegram that the husband/father is alive?
| by Anonymous | reply 145 | May 19, 2019 12:26 AM |
R106 That is not Billie Burke. That is Lily Elsie. Here is a picture of her in drag.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 146 | May 19, 2019 12:36 AM |
Purty. A bit Drew Barrymore. Love the shirt!
| by Anonymous | reply 147 | May 19, 2019 12:43 AM |
A very young Ethel Barrymore, on casual Friday.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 148 | May 19, 2019 1:07 AM |
I'm loving being reminded of all these long-ago actresses.
I've been looking for recommendations of books about the very early days of Hollywood, especially about the glamorous and often strange social lives of silent filmmakers. Preferably one with pictures of Los Angeles and the stars' homes in those days. At this point, I'm not really interested in gossip, which I'm probably pretty well up on already, but more of a social history with personal glimpses. Can anyone recommend such a book to me, or perhaps a few books that cover those interests?
| by Anonymous | reply 149 | May 19, 2019 1:11 AM |
Charming photo of Hattie McDaniel, circa 1910.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 150 | May 19, 2019 1:12 AM |
For a time in the late 1920s, early 1930s, Anita Page was the most popular star at MGM, even eclipsing rival Joan Crawford. When her contract expired in 1933, she surprised everyone by announcing her retirement at the age of 23. Decades later, she revealed in an interview that her refusal to meet Irving Thalberg's sexual demands led to her expulsion from MGM.
Of her frequent flapper costar, La Crawford, she salaciously revealed: "I ended up loathing Joan. For one thing she tried to hit on me several times. Let me tell you, when my mother saw the sex aids in various shapes and colors that Joan kept in her medicine cabinet, she refused my ever seeing Joan again -- apart from on a film set."
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 151 | May 19, 2019 2:32 AM |
And now, Miss Eagels on.....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 153 | May 19, 2019 2:46 AM |
Cary Grant's first wife...broke up his home with Randy, IIRC.
| by Anonymous | reply 154 | May 19, 2019 2:47 AM |
You sho is ugLEEEE - HAHAHAHA
| by Anonymous | reply 161 | May 19, 2019 3:14 AM |
[quote]She's got enough mascara around that one eye to look like Petey, the Little Rascals dog.
You don't wear mascara around your eyes! What she had on was likely kohl. Mascara is eye makeup a woman puts on her eyelashes, mascara is applied with a brush. Makeup for the lids is called eyeshadow. Kohl is still used as shadow too, Kohl is also in pencil form, it's also used as an eye lid liner.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 162 | May 19, 2019 3:20 AM |
"Evelyn Nesbitt...."
Really? That's JOAN COLLINS!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 163 | May 19, 2019 3:24 AM |
Gavin Lambert's biography "Nazimova" is a good read, r149.
| by Anonymous | reply 164 | May 19, 2019 3:28 AM |
Which one of you bitches killed me?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 165 | May 19, 2019 3:38 AM |
My mom, r165? It's been so long I really don't remember!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 167 | May 19, 2019 3:42 AM |
R162
She still looks like the Little Rascals dog.
| by Anonymous | reply 169 | May 19, 2019 3:57 AM |
"Olive Thomas was very pretty, but died young (in 1920)."
Hers was one of the first big Hollywood scandals. She was in Paris with her husband, the awful Jack Pickford, when she went into a bathroom and took poison. The stuff she took was mercury bichloride, a drug used to treat syphilis sores (the boyish Jack Pickford was syphilitic). Was it a suicide? An accident? It was never definitively determined. Her death was horrible; it took her three days for her to die and went blind before the end. Anyway, after her death it came out that she and Pickford were heavy into drugs and loved to party and raise hell. It was quite a shock to her fans; her image was that of the "All American Kid Sister" but in real life she was a druggie slut. Anyway, her funeral was a spectacle, police escorts were needed at the event because of the crowds and women fainted in their extravagant grief. Olive's ghost is said the haunt the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway. People who've seen her say she wears a sash and carries a bottle of pills. She would sometimes speak, and when asked how she sounded, people would imitate her voice in exactly the same way.
| by Anonymous | reply 170 | May 19, 2019 3:59 AM |
Theodosia Goodman was a nice Jewish girl from the Midwest, who got cast in the movie adaptation of the scandalous novel "The Vamp". Her name was changed to Theda Bara and an exotic background was invented for her, and when "The Vamp" was a huge hit she was forever typecast.
"The Vamp" was absolutely the first time a sexually aggressive woman was portrayed in an American film, and viewers who were used to watching virginal ingenues and saintly mother characters went wild for her. Of course the sexually aggressive woman was portrayed as thoroughly evil and a destroyer of men, but both male and female viewers thought she was fabulous. I'd really like to know what Theodosia thought of all the hoo-haw when she was older, and I'd also like to know if the gays of her day thought she was camp, or worthy of diva-worship.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 172 | May 19, 2019 4:43 AM |
It should also be noted, if it's not clear already, A Fool There Was, the first film Theda Bara made as The Vamp premiered in 1915. Her phenomenal career was not during the 1920s and, in fact, her career was long over by 1919, even though she tried a couple of unsuccessful comebacks in the next decade. The Vamp was considered a rather comical and old-fashioned idea by the 1920s.
Bara made over 40 films in just a few years. She died in 1955 at the age of 69.
| by Anonymous | reply 174 | May 19, 2019 3:04 PM |
Leave Theda Bara alone!!!
| by Anonymous | reply 175 | May 19, 2019 3:52 PM |
Falconetti has to be the greatest silent film performer ever.
| by Anonymous | reply 176 | May 19, 2019 3:58 PM |
She still seems contemporary.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 177 | May 19, 2019 5:12 PM |
Vilma Banky had a thick Hungarian accent, and her career was over when sound came in.
Same for a lot of stars with accents, and a lot of the 1920s silent stars did. Silent film removed all language barriers, a person didn't even need to speak English to make a Hollywood silent film, so Hollywood recruited actors from Europe and Mexico. Most of them folded their tents and faded into the night when sound came in, the only ones who kept her stardom into the sound era was Greta Garbo. Okay, a couple of the Latin Lover types like Ramon Navarro kept working, but they slid from the A list to the B list. Garbo stayed a top star through the mid 1930s.
| by Anonymous | reply 179 | May 19, 2019 6:47 PM |
I love this thread. YouTube has old movies and I've been watching the old silent ones. Just great
| by Anonymous | reply 182 | May 19, 2019 7:01 PM |
I'm afraid to ask the median age of the posters in this thread.
| by Anonymous | reply 183 | May 19, 2019 8:05 PM |
R183
Well, since you asked, it's 87, a very spry 87.
| by Anonymous | reply 185 | May 19, 2019 8:27 PM |
An 87 that can pass for 74!
| by Anonymous | reply 186 | May 19, 2019 8:31 PM |
Theda's eyes are one third of the iconic logo for the Chicago International Film Festival. The other two are Mae Murray and Pola Negri.
Chaplin thought those were his eyes, and amazingly, so did Liza Minnelli! As IF!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 187 | May 19, 2019 8:47 PM |
Here's another picture of Gladys Cooper. She started acting in 1913 and continued working steadily all the way up to 1971.
She was naturally beautiful.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 188 | May 19, 2019 9:09 PM |
Of all the silent movie beauties posted so far, Bessie Love stands out the most to me.
There's something in the eyes....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 189 | May 19, 2019 9:17 PM |
R188 as everyone knows, Bette Davis thought very highly of her.
| by Anonymous | reply 190 | May 19, 2019 10:03 PM |
What gorgeous hair on Gladys Cooper!
| by Anonymous | reply 191 | May 19, 2019 10:04 PM |
[quote]An 87 that can pass for 74!
More like, an 87 that can pass for 25!
| by Anonymous | reply 192 | May 19, 2019 10:05 PM |
Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford are two more stars who made the transition into sound effortlessly, so that's 3 from MGM.
I really think heavy accents were more of an excuse to fire stars whose careers were on the wane, anyway. Sound films quickly developed an acting style and energy that was very different from the demands of Silents and it was a transitional time in Hollywood that welcomed a lot of new blood into the business.
And a heavy foreign accent certainly didn't deter Marlene Dietrich or Charles Boyer's careers in the Talkies.
| by Anonymous | reply 193 | May 19, 2019 10:09 PM |
As every old film buff knows, an aged Gladys Cooper played Bette Davis' crusty, domineering mother in "Now Voyager."
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 194 | May 19, 2019 10:11 PM |
R189 Bessie Love was also a good comedienne, I've seen a few of her early talkies and enjoyed them. Here is a nice interview with her in England where she talks about her time at the Griffith studios. Unfortunately, they cut off the end so you don't get to see her play the ukulele.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 196 | May 19, 2019 10:17 PM |
I once dated a guy who was a descendant of Mabel Normand. His family gave him the surname of Normand. He had a beautiful full length portrait of her in his house. Didn't know who she was til much later.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 199 | May 20, 2019 2:49 AM |
Not to derail, but for those of you who may have seen it, what was wrong with MACK & MABEL? Why didn't it catch on? Peters was born to play (and sing) the part of a silent movie siren.
| by Anonymous | reply 202 | May 21, 2019 11:06 PM |
r164 I've read that Nazimova book as well and it was ery good.
| by Anonymous | reply 203 | May 21, 2019 11:34 PM |
Alla pulling a train.....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 204 | May 21, 2019 11:37 PM |
The talmadge sisters were huge. But talkies did them in. Norma was said to be the basis for Lina Lamont
| by Anonymous | reply 205 | May 22, 2019 12:05 AM |
Mercedes D'Acosta's "Here Lies the Heart" is an interesting read, if you can overlook the author's self-aggrandizement. Though not an actress herself, D'Acosta bedded just about every actress who was the least bit "fluid" back in the day. Her conquests include Nazimova, Dietrich, Garbo (her one great love), Jeanne Eagles, and possibly even Eleanor Roosevelt!
| by Anonymous | reply 206 | May 22, 2019 12:05 AM |
I saw Mack and Mabel in LA where it tried out before coming to Broadway and loved everything about it. Peters and Robert Preston were perfection. It had a sad (though incredibly poignant) ending but so what?
Supposedly, there were lots of ill-advised re-writes on its way to New York that only hurt it. I can't imagine what went wrong but what I saw in LA was 1000s of times better than most anything produced on Broadway in the last 30 years.
| by Anonymous | reply 207 | May 22, 2019 12:12 AM |
I have a friend who was in that show. Said Preston was very nice.
R199 I don't think know how to break this to you, but Mabel didn't have any children, so., as far as descendants...
| by Anonymous | reply 208 | May 22, 2019 12:32 AM |
[quote] Vilma Banky had a thick Hungarian accent, and her career was over when sound came in.
Vat a shame!
| by Anonymous | reply 209 | May 22, 2019 1:15 AM |
R206 one of her pals, commenting about the book and its title, said "And lies and lies..."
| by Anonymous | reply 210 | May 22, 2019 2:33 AM |
r207: Ken Mandelbaum adores MACK & MABEL, and thinks the beautiful downbeat ending seriously hurt the show - it was not what folks expected from a sparking Jerry Herman musical. The original ending would play much better today. The subsequent revisal with its new "Keystone Cops wedding" finale sound very mundane.
| by Anonymous | reply 211 | May 22, 2019 3:42 AM |
R205 - I think it was Norma Talmadge who, in the '30s, refused to give an autograph to a fan saying something like "sorry, but I don't need you anymore".
| by Anonymous | reply 212 | May 22, 2019 7:17 AM |
One had to have been there.
| by Anonymous | reply 213 | May 22, 2019 7:27 AM |
Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand evidently fucked around for awhile but never had a serious long term relationship. She didn't die in drug ridden squalor but from long-term TB in 1930.
Everyone I've ever talked to who saw M&M in LA has told me that it was a much, much better show before the Broadway changes were put in.
I've also always heard over the years that two of the shows Encores most wanted to do were Herman's Mack and Mabel and Dear World but that Herman wouldn't release the rights, holding out for full scale revivals rather than concerts.
Very open to correction on any and all of this.
| by Anonymous | reply 214 | May 22, 2019 8:50 AM |
^ Sorry I was posting in the Theater thread and it popped up here.
| by Anonymous | reply 215 | May 22, 2019 8:54 AM |
I thought they had faces back then.
| by Anonymous | reply 216 | May 22, 2019 8:57 AM |
My introduction to the history of Hollywood was a wonderful coffee table book my parents had, called something simple like The Movies but now I can't remember the exact title or who the authors were. It was written around 1960 before the beginning of the nostalgia craze a decade later. Does anyone know/remember this book?
The book had lots of funny info about the perils of the Silent to Talkies transition and the collapse of several big careers.
There was a publicity photo of Norma Talmadge with an early sound microphone and the caption said that when the photo first appeared in a movie magazine, they painted an unlucky number 13 on it. IIRC the caption also had that quote of Norma shooing away an eager fan: "Get away, dear, I don't need you any more" and also a quote from a telegram her sister Constance sent her, saying something like: "Get out while the getting's good and thank god for the trust funds Momma set up."
I wish I still had that book. I learned so much from it.
| by Anonymous | reply 217 | May 22, 2019 3:28 PM |
Her face in this photo brings to mind Zero Mostel in The Producers.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 219 | May 24, 2019 3:05 AM |
She did have those flaring nostrils. But then so did Rudolph Valentino. It was prevalent in Silent Film acting.
| by Anonymous | reply 221 | May 24, 2019 3:24 AM |
Josephine Baker adopted 12 children with her fourth husband.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 222 | May 24, 2019 3:30 AM |
No pic of Norma Shearer yet? Not sure if this is from her silent film career, but whatever.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 223 | May 24, 2019 3:32 AM |
Actually, it was hard to tell WHAT Theda Bara looked like, she was plastered under so much heavy makeup. There are photos of Jean Harlow looking the same way; harsh, painted. It was supposed to be sexy. In Harlow's case it really hid her natural attractiveness. As early photos of her show, she had a pretty face. But the shaved, drawn on eyebrows, white hair, heavy dark eye makeup and lipstick made her look hard and slutty.
| by Anonymous | reply 224 | May 24, 2019 3:34 AM |
[quote]Guy Madison, Alla Nazimova, Claudette Colbert, Agnes Moorehead, Hattie McDaniels, Monty Woolley.
Hmmm. What do they all have in common?
They were all fond of Shirley Temple?
| by Anonymous | reply 226 | May 24, 2019 4:09 AM |
So who is that at r225 above? We've discussed Bara, Shearer, Garbo, and so, so many others. I'm not a mind reader, please identify the aging actress out of make up at r225 above.
| by Anonymous | reply 227 | May 24, 2019 5:58 AM |
I think it is Pola Negri.
| by Anonymous | reply 228 | May 24, 2019 6:14 AM |
I bought the treadmill that was used in Stevie Nick's video for Stand Back on eBaby. I do not keep it in the middle of my room.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 231 | May 24, 2019 6:40 AM |
I wonder, in the 1910s when Theda Bara, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. were the reigning movie stars, did the public even want to know much about their personal lives?
I imagine it was an innocent time when the public really believed their favorite stars were just like the characters they portrayed on screen and there was little curiosity about what they were really like. And with the lack of television, 24 hour news cycles and social media, it was not difficult for the early studios to keep images just as they wanted them.
| by Anonymous | reply 233 | May 24, 2019 2:23 PM |
Gladys Cooper was only 54 when she played Bette's mother in NOW, VOYAGER. Bette was 34.
| by Anonymous | reply 235 | May 24, 2019 3:55 PM |
R164 Just finished the Nazimova bio: thanks for the recommendation. What a great career and wild life she had.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 236 | May 24, 2019 11:39 PM |
Who here wouldn't jump at the chance to be "Theda Bara the Vamp" for a while.
From being an mildly pretty girl with nice eyes...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 237 | May 25, 2019 12:09 AM |
… to wearing fabulous camp shit like this!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 238 | May 25, 2019 12:10 AM |
Alla had some get-ups, as well.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 239 | May 25, 2019 2:25 AM |
Fashion trendsetter Clara Bow
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 240 | May 25, 2019 2:59 AM |
The sets for Nazimova's famous silent film version of Oscar Wilde's Salome (which survives only in a highly cut version) were meant to recreate the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for the original printed edition of the play.
| by Anonymous | reply 241 | May 25, 2019 3:06 AM |
^ Sets AND COSTUMES. And Weirdly, not Weirdsly.
| by Anonymous | reply 242 | May 25, 2019 3:11 AM |
Before it became the symbol of the Nazis the swastika was considered a good luck charm by some, which I guess is the reason why Clara Bow has one on her hat and lapel. But I don't think it was ever much of a good luck charm. Alexandra, the last Czarina of Russia, used the swastika as a lucky charm. It sure didn't bring her and her family any luck.
| by Anonymous | reply 243 | May 25, 2019 3:33 AM |
Eve Golden wrote a wonderful bio on Theda Bara titled "Vamp." Theda was not "ugly" or "plain" and there are flattering pictures of her after she left movies. It's just a shame so few of her films survive. At any rate, TB had a happy marriage and life in retirement. Not all of her peers did.
| by Anonymous | reply 245 | June 21, 2019 8:28 AM |
Wasn't Theda Bara the sapphic mentor of Amy Camus, of Brooklyn?
| by Anonymous | reply 246 | June 21, 2019 11:31 AM |
Gawd, Renee Adoree was gorgeous. She could have played Scarlett O'Hara.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 248 | July 6, 2019 8:23 PM |
