Theda Bara, My Mentor
Under the Wing of Hollywood’s First Femme Fatale
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About the Book
As movie patrons sat in darkened theaters in January 1914, they were mesmerized by an alluring temptress with long sable hair and kohl-rimmed eyes. Theda Bara—“the vamp,” as she would come to be known—would soon be one of the highest paid film stars of the 1910s, earning an unheard of $4,000 per week, before retiring from the screen in 1926.
In 1946, at age five, the author met Bara—then 61—at her Beverly Hills home and the actress became her mentor. This memoir is the story of their friendship.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Joan Craig with Beverly F. Stout
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 224
Bibliographic Info: 107 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2016
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6283-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2287-3
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Preface 1
1. Theda, the Early Years
Future Woman 5
Omens of Luck 13
2. Joan, the Early Years
California, Land of Dreams 17
3. First Meeting
The Lady in the House 21
Magical Move and Spirits 27
4. Settling In
The Brown Derby 30
Flying Tigers 30
The Afterlife 32
Open House 36
A Croquet Garden Party 38
The Shadow of the Sphinx 38
Mansion on West Adams 42
Edendale and Cleopatra 45
Theda Shops at Home 46
The Brabins, Mae, and Sid 46
Invite a Friend 48
Audition 50
5. Remembering
Fortune 51
Gable, Fleming and Bergman 51
Bergman as Joan of Arc 56
A Masquerade Party 57
Easter in Beverly Hills Hotel 58
Communism in Hollywood 59
A Night to Remember 61
A Crashed Flying Disc 63
Finishing the Script 64
September 66
Joan of Arc at the Stake 66
A Television Party 67
158th Infantry Regiment 68
6. Friends for Life
1948 69
Marionettes 69
The Metropolitan Opera 70
Adoption 71
Canasta 73
The Premiere of Joan of Arc 75
Hollywood Loses Fleming 76
You Have the Best Part 76
Finding Montgomery Clift 78
The Pageant of the Masters 81
Theda’s Life Story 81
On Location with Cleopatra 82
Contract Signed 85
Stock Market on the Rise 85
Ambassador to Luxembourg 87
7. Traveling Abroad
The Coronation 89
St. Donat’s Castle, Wales 92
Kissing the Blarney Stone 96
8. Back Home in Los Angeles
The Disney Dream 98
At Home 100
The Last Party 103
9. My Theda
Be True to Yourself 105
The Following Years 106
10. The Stage Plays
1908: The Devil 109
1912: The Quaker Girl 110
1920: The Blue Flame 111
11. The Films
1914: The Stain 114
A Fool There Was 114
1915: The Kreutzer Sonata 118
The Clemenceau Case 118
The Devil’s Daughter 120
Lady Audley’s Secret 121
The Two Orphans 121
Sin 122
Carmen 123
The Galley Slave 125
Destruction 125
1916: The Serpent 125
Gold and the Woman 127
Theda Talks to the Public 128
The Eternal Sapho 131
East Lynne 132
Under Two Flags 134
Her Double Life 134
Romeo and Juliet 135
The Vixen 137
1917: The Darling of Paris 138
The Tiger Woman 140
Her Greatest Love 141
Heart and Soul 141
Camille 142
Cleopatra 143
The Rose of Blood 147
Du Barry 147
1918: The Forbidden Path 148
The Soul of Buddha 150
Under the Yoke 152
Salome 152
When a Woman Sins 153
The She-Devil 154
1919: The Light 156
When Men Desire 158
The Siren’s Song 160
A Woman There Was 162
Kathleen Mavourneen 162
La Belle Russe 166
The Lure of Ambition 167
1925: The Unchastened Woman 168
1926: Madame Mystery 168
12. Charles Brabin
Uncle Charlie and Me 171
The Early Years 177
Brabin Filmography 189
Index 201
