Theda Bara, Queen of Caesars

Theda Bara's name still rings a bell for some people. She was the iconic vamp of the silent era. Also she portrayed iconic characters such as Juliet (from Romeo & Juliet), Camille, Carmen, Madame Du Barry, Salome, all of them still popular and, at each new incarnation, her name is often brought up as a pioneer, even though few have actually seen her films since most of them are lost and those that are preserved are not necessarily the best ones and are usually presented in a very poor shape.

As a matter of fact, she played her most famous role in one of the most sought-after lost film: Cleopatra. Not often is a lost film so well illustrated to this day: tons of production photographs can be found on the internet or in various books. Joseph Mankiewick's version starring Elizabeth Taylor is actually a remake of this film, even though it was already lost by then.

Cleopatra

Since the film (and most of her filmography) was released during WW1, her fame reached Europe a little late, probably one of the reason why her films were not as well preserved as later ones. Theda Bara is not often mentioned in French post war film magazines, for instance. The craving for more details in movie magazines will flourish a little later and magazines like Cinéa or Cinémagazine will only be published from 1921. And most of Theda Bara's films had been released in France by then.

However, for this particular film, I found out that its first European premiere happened in Paris on January 30, 1920 at the Mogador Palace. For the occasion, a 40 piece orchestra played an especially written score by Paul Letombe. It took me a while to realize it since the film was not called Cléopâtre as one could expect. In the magazine "Ciné pour tous" and in every newspaper commenting the event (Le Petit Parisien, Le Figaro, etc.), the film is clearly advertized as La Reine des Césars [Queen of Caesars]. I can only guess what other titles were used throughout Europe. There is still hope to find a copy under some unexpected title after all!

Anyway, the film seems to have been a big success there since by February 3, Le Matin displayed an ad saying that over 3,000 people could not get a seat so the management of the Mogador could not guaranty entrance to anyone without a reservation.
On April 2, the film move to the Demours theater and it took another month (May 3rd, 1920) to reach Algiers.
So far, only a fragment of the film has been recovered, and in very poor shape, too:

Another fragment was thought to be from this film for a time, but it happened to be from another Fox epic with a similar cast and crew called Queen of Sheba. As a matter of fact, this film was supposed to star Theda Bara before she left the studio and she was replaced by Betty Blythe who wore equally revealing costumes.

However, Theda Bara cannot be summed up with Cleopatra alone. She wasn't the first to portrait the Queen, nor was she the first to play all of her famous roles. But she often was the first to play them in luxurious American feature films. At the time, movie studios kept their actors voluntarily anonymous so that they wouldn't demand higher salaries as they grew more famous. The few who reached fame had gained their way progressively as they had been eventually recognized film after film.
Unlike them, Theda became an overnight sensation, the first manufactured star thanks to her association with William Fox, whose studio was nearly going bankrupt and needed a publicity stunt to change his luck.

As most film actors of the time, she started her career on the East coast, at Fort Lee. After a debut under her real name, Theodosia Goodman, as a fake nurse (actually a gangster's moll) in The Stain, she starred in A Fool There Was, and became The Vampire, a bad woman who lured married men to their doom. Amazingly, these films, directed by Frank Powell, are two of the six films (out of 40) that are still extant today (A Fool There Was is even available on DVD).

The term "vamp" was coined for her and she was typecast to cash in the extraordinary publicity around her persona. A whole legend was spread through newspapers and studio publicity about her origins (more specifically when Cleopatra was released, when her named was conveniently revealed to be an anagram for "Arab Death"). In 1917, the Goodman family legally changed their name to Bara.

Carmen

Back to 1915: she made a short film with Raoul Walsh called Siren of Hell and two features: the first was Carmen, an adaptation of Prosper Mérimé's novel. Cecil B. DeMille also released his version starring Geraldine Farrar on the same day.

In The Serpent, she played yet another vamp. With director Herbert Brenon, she did more films with such roles, and also adaptations of classics: The Two Orphans, Alexander Dumas' The Clemenceau Case and Kreutzer Sonata from Tolstoi. That same year, she also stars in an adaptation Emile Zola's Labor called Destruction, which will be released in France 5 years later as La ravageuse.

With The Galley Slave, she started a collaboration with the director that would work on most of her films: J. Gordon Edwards, grand father of director Blake Edwards.

In 1916, she did East Lynne (still extant) with director Bertram Bracken, and a steamy version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with Edwards (which had yet again to face a rival production from Metro). For him, she also became Esmeralda in a 1917 adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris called The Darling of Paris and Camille from Alexandre Dumas's novel La dame aux camélias.

French poster for Madame Du Barry

Then came Cleopatra, for which she was asked to move to California, where the new studios were operating, and Madame Du Barry, which were both released in France three years later. By then Pola Negri's later version had reached the French screen and another comparison in critics of the time was inevitable, like Carmen or Romeo And Juliet earlier.

In 1918, she co-wrote the story of The Son of Buddha. She also did Salome. That year, Theda even became the subject of a cartoon short starring Mutt and Jeff called Meeting Theda Bara!

The next year saw the release of 2 films by Charles Brabin, Kathleen Mavourneen and La Belle Russe. Her next film, The Lure of Ambition, was the last one she made for Fox before her contract expired. She was denied a raise and decided to leave the studio. After a trip to Europe, she tried to find work at another studio but was unsuccessful until 1925 when she made a comeback with The Unchastened Woman directed by James Young. This last feature film still exists today.

Her last theatrical film was a comedy short called Madame Mystery co-directed by Stan Laurel in which she shared the screen with Oliver Hardy.

After an attempt on the stage, she retired. She had married Charles Brabin in 1921 and the two stayed together until Theda's death in 1955.

In my research, I found other French titles for her films:
- Un cavalier passa (A horseman went by, I don't know which film that is) was shown from November 7, 1919 at the Aubert Palace.
- Le démon de la jalousie (Demon of Jealousy, a title that could fit too many of her movies), was released on January 1920 in Rouen and on May 23, 1920 in Algiers. (probably in Paris some time in 1919).
- La DuBarry (Madame Du Barry, of course) released in Paris on February 6, 1920, just one week after Cleopatra.
- La ravageuse (Ravenous, which is the French title of Destruction) came out on April 15, 1920.
- La bête à misère (The Misery Beast) came out in Paris on July 30, 1920 and on March 3, 1921 in Algiers.
- Poppéa (French title of When a Woman Sins) came out on September 24, 1920 in Algiers.
- Salomé was released on January 14, 1921 and re-released on March 7, 1924. I even found a trace of the film as late as 1928 (January 25) in Madagascar.
- Apparently, La Reine des Césars (Cleopatra) was reissued on January 21, 1921 in Algiers, a rare occurrence in those days.
- Avant l'heure X (Before Time X, a war movie, possibly When Men Desire) was shown in Arcachon, France on February 18, 1922.

It is very difficult to associate a film with its title considering the French titles are usually completely different from the originals (Cleopatra being a good example). Also, the release dates are no help here considering that most of her films were made during World War I or right after, and were therefore almost all released in France in 1920 within a very short time bracket. Finally, no indication concerning the story, other actors or crew members are usually mentioned in the papers, cinema programs being mostly relegated to a mere column in the theater section of newspapers at the time.

If you wish to know more about this fascinating personality, I suggest you visit this website, and see the documentary The Woman With The Hungry Eyes.

Check out my Facebook page and click "like" for updates.
That's all for today folks!

Read More

June Caprice

In 1915, the movie world was all about Mary Pickford and every studio wanted someone like her. Which is probably why she wanted none of them and built her own studio, United Artists, with her husband Douglas Fairbanks and Charles Chaplin.

So they all looked for their own sugary child impersonator with golden locks and many Mary Pickford look-a-like contests were launched at the time. One winner was blue-eyed fair-haired 20 year old Helen Elizabeth Lawson, who had a little stage experience. In 1916, she moved from Boston to New York and tried to get into films. At the time, a good deal of the production was made at Fort Lee, New Jersey. The first studio she tried offered her no chance to work even though she reported daily to find out about job offers, so she tried a second one and got lucky with a $25 a week contract at Thanhouser Film Corporation.

Only a few months later, she signed with Fox Film for her first starring role Caprice of the Mountain
with Harry Hilliard, her co-star for several films to come. Her stage name was chosen in honor of this film: June Caprice.

With the same director (John G. Adolfi), she appeared in 7 more films over two years, all in roles that could have been tailor-made for Pickford: Little Miss Happiness, The Ragged Princess (with child stars sisters Jane and Katherine Lee) and The Mischief Maker in 1916 and A Modern Cinderella (with Wizard of Oz Frank Morgan), A Child of the Wild, The Small Town Girl, and Patsy in 1917.

The Fox publicity department dubbed her "The Sunshine Maid" (possibly from the working title of

The Ragged Princess

one of her films) which stuck in the public mind so much that nowadays, her filmography still often lists a film by that title when there very likely never has been.

That same year, she met her new director Harry F. Millarde, who not only married her, but also made some of her biggest successes: Every Girl's Dream, Miss U.S.A., Unknown 274, The Heart of Romance, The Camouflage Kiss, Blue-eyed Mary, and Miss Innocence.

At the peek of her success, the reviews were quite good: "Miss Caprice never appears to better advantage than she does in "Miss U.S.A." (The Reading Times; November 5, 1917).
Her fame got her a deal with the Coca Cola company to appear in their ads.

After two years with Fox, she ended her contract and signed with Pathé representative Albert Capellani (at Alice Guy Blaché's Solax studios) who directed her in Oh Boy!.
It starred Creighton Hale, who, at the time, was famous for his work opposite the famous Pearl White in many of her trademark films (The Exploits of Elaine, The Iron Claw, etc.). He also was the Prince of Snow White with another Mary Pickford clone: Marguerite Clark.

Yet, these films had moderate success. On June 13, 1919, Variety's critic of "Oh Boy!" was: "six reels of farce is a bit too much. This story is neither farce nor comedy, neither a convincing picture nor a roar of laughter. It is moderately interesting and clean - that’s all".

She then kept teaming up with Creighton Hale, but the following films she made with this studio were directed by George Archainbaud (The Love Cheat, A Damsel in Distress, In Walked Mary).

The August 9, 1919 critic for "The love Cheat" in Harrison’s Reports was: "This is a sweet little offering suitable mostly for young folks who are contented even if the hero does nothing else throughout the picture but kiss the heroine. The picture is good for Sunday crowds." The October 18 critic of "A Damsel in Distress" in Harrison’s Reports that same year was even worse: "This is a very badly padded comedy-drama. At times it is so padded, that it becomes tiresome. There are some good comedy spots in it, it is true, but they are about a mile apart, they do not hold the interest."

June without the wig

In a 1919 interview, June Caprice stated that she had liked only one role among all of her films and that one she did without her trademark golden curls. Maybe she referred to The Ragged Princess, where June swam in the nude in one scene.
Anyway, the public did not like it and when she received a thousand letters begging her to remain an ingénue, she decided to remain typecast for her own good. However,she did try different things at the end of her career. In "In Walked Mary", she becomes a vamp for a time, even though it's just to reveal the real nature of her friend's bride-to-be.
 Also, after the Spanish-themed Rogues and Romance, directed, written and played by George B. Seitz, she tried her hand at a serial, a popular genre at the time, with that same director. The 15 episode film was called The Sky Ranger and was released in 1921. This was to be her final film.

The following year, she gave birth to her only daughter and she
called her June in honor of her stage name. Her husband kept on directing films until 1927. He died of a heart attack in 1931. Unfortunately, June Caprice also died of cancer in 1936, leaving orphan girl June Millard to be raised by June Caprice's parent. When she grew up, she also appeared in a few films in the early 1940s, but her main career was modeling under the name Toni Seven.

June Caprice's misfortune is that her most successful films were made at Fox and most of that studio's silent film catalog is lost due to a fire in 1937. However, none of her films are currently available in any format.

Click "like" on the Facebook page for more!
That's all for today folks!

Read More

Pearl White and The Perils of Pauline

You may not remember Pearl White or her most famous film: The Perils of Pauline. She and French director Louis Gasnier popularized a then-new formula that proved vastly successful: the serial. And, in effect, Pearl became known as the Queen of serial. Audiences would flock to the theaters every week to find out how she had escaped from each deadly peril.
The term “Cliffhanger” was apparently coined specifically for that film since hanging from a cliff was one of the dangers she had to face.

Behind-the-scene shot of Pearl "up in the air".

Louis Gasnier even appears as himself in the film, auditioning Pauline when she wants to be in the movies.

Originally scheduled for 14 episodes (one or two reelers), the film was extended to 20 due to its immense popularity.

Consequently, Pearl White became more famous that Mary Pickford or Lilian Gish at the time. She even got to meet Sarah Bernhardt during the shoot of Pearl of the Army because the French actress was such a fan of her films. She had started in the movies with a blonde wig because she felt it photographed better, and only had to remove the wig to go unnoticed among the fans.

She even wrote one of (if not) the first film star autobiography in 1919, “Just Me” in which she admits she had to learn to swim, play tennis or fly a plane for Pauline.

After 1919,  she decided to try her luck at features and signed with Fox films. Despite good reviews, the films did not meet with the same success and she went back to serials with Plunder in 1923.

Producers hired stunt doubles to perform the stunts that Pearl White used to do herself. One of that stunt double, John Stevenson, died on the set during a particular dangerous stunt.

Pearl in her last role

That and the suicide of her former husband who had never recovered from the divorce made her disappear from the public eye. She retired in France where she made only one more film in 1925, Terreur.

Unfortunately, most films she appeared in are, for the most part, either completely or partially lost, or at least unavailable. The Perils of Pauline only remains as a 28mm reduction and in the European condensed version of 9 episodes. It is available on DVD though.

Another big hit of hers that survives is The Exploits of Elaine, which was selected for the National Film Registry in 1994.

Pearl White died in France, addicted to alcohol and medicine, forgotten by all in 1938.

Her connection to that country was due to the fact that she started her career with Pathé, a French company. As a matter of fact, since their studios were on the east cost at Fort Lee, she never set foot in Hollywood.

Ironically, in 1947 her life was fictionalized in the film The Perils of Pauline played by Betty Hutton, another star who later fell from grace, as I already wrote in that article.

Don't forget to click like on the Facebook page if you like this blog!
That's all for today folks!

Read More

Queen of Sheba

Queen of Sheba, like many early Fox successes, has been lost for ages in a fire of the Fox vaults. Originally released in 1921, it starred Betty Blythe. When you come across her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, chances are you won't remember who she was. She achieved stardom thanks to this film and her willingness to appear semi-nude in front of the camera.
As a matter of fact, she used to joke that all of her 28 costumes for the film could fit in a shoe box. And the remaining stills of the film tend to prove her right. When her star faded, she went on working, mostly uncredited, as a character actress until 1964, where she appears quite briefly in My Fair Lady.

The script of the film apparently was rather different than the later films dealing with the Queen. It seems closer to the story of Ben Hur with its theme of rivalry (there's even a chariot race!).
In this film, The Queen's name is Balkis and her throne has been stolen by evil Armud (George Siegmann from Birth of a Nation) so Balkis, her sister Nomis and her people lived by the red sea, away from her kingdom. There she finds the crown of the Kingdom washed away by the waves. Armud abducts Nomis who drowns herself to avoid the shame of his assaults. When the crowd hears of her suicide, a revolution occurs and Armud has to make a concession. He offers marriage to Balkis (even though he was bethrothed to lovely Princess Vashti) to appease the tensions. Balkis tricks him into thinking she accepts and stabs him on their wedding day. Now the Queen of Sheba again, she leaves to the court of King Solomon (Fritz Leiber from Romeo and Juliet) to seek his advice on ruling her Kingdom. Unfortunately, Princess Vashti has taken refuge there and, helped by Solomon's brother Adonijah, she plots against Balkis and King Solomon who fall in love for each other.

The Queen's caravan

Betty Blythe

One day, a chariot race is organized in honor of the Queen. And while Adonijah poisons Solomon's horses, Vashti challenges Balkis to race them against her. Balkis accepts, but with a different set of horses, and wins the race. Adonijah tries to molest her but Solomon comes to the rescue and bans his brother out of the Kingdom. Solomon and Balkis confess their love. But Solomon is already married and his wife, Pharaoh's daughter, warns her father that she may be repudiated. Fearing a war with Egypt, Balkis decides to leave Solomon after she has spent a last night with him and he has given her a ring and a son that she names David (played by child actor Pat Moore who was the son of Pharaoh in The Ten Commandments and who later worked with its director Cecil B. DeMille on the remake as a sound editor).

David at his father's court

Solomon and David

Five years later, she sends little David to meet his father and recognizing the ring attached on a golden chain around his neck, Solomon is overjoyed and proceeds to spend all his time with him. Vashti and Adonijah (who came back to the court) kidnap the child and hold him hostage in the Kings' tomb. Warned by Solomon, Balkis raises an army and kills Adonijah. She thinks she arrives too late to save her son when she finds his lifeless body but Solomon's prayers bring a miracle and the boy awakes. Balkis and her son safely return to the Kingdom of Sheba while King Solomon watches them from his castle.

The following film clip (mislabeled "Cleopatra") is apparently all that remains of this lavish production, originally intended for Fox's star Theda Bara.

Don't forget to like the Facebook page to receive updates!
That's all for today folks!

Read More