Three prints remain of silent star Theda Bara as Cincinnati screens sold-out tribute

The Mariemont Theatre will host a sold-out tribute to Theda Bara on Saturday, Oct. 24, marking the legacy of a Cincinnati native who became a global icon during the silent era.

Bara, born Theodosia Goodman in Avondale in 1885, worked in Hollywood for five years starting in 1914. She appeared in 40 films, including A Fool There Was and Cleopatra. Studio publicists crafted a fictional identity for her, describing her as an Arab princess and an anagram of Arab Death. In her own writing, she identified as a nice Jewish girl from Cincinnati, the daughter of a tailor and a Swiss mother who attended Walnut Hills High School.

Nadya Ellerhorst, producer of the eight-minute documentary Theda Bara's Memoirs, described Bara as a fascinating local figure. The Saturday program will feature the documentary alongside A Fool There Was. A panel discussion will follow, with participants including Dr. Jennifer Glaser, a University of Cincinnati associate professor, and Brian Powers, a historian with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library. The event also includes a costume contest, timed for the week before Halloween.

The state of Bara's surviving work is stark. Only three of her 40 films remain. The rest were lost in a 1937 fire at Fox Studios. Her initial film career ended in 1919, before her 35th birthday. She returned to the screen in 1925 for The Unchastened Woman and in 1926 for Madame Mystery.

The documentary Theda Bara's Memoirs has drawn 50,000 views on YouTube since May 2025. It includes excerpts from A Fool There Was, East Lynne, The Unchastened Woman, and Cleopatra. The film also details a 450-page unpublished biography held in the University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Book Library.

Bara married director Charles Brabin in 1921. Xavier University acquired her former home at Victory Parkway and Ledgewood Drive in 1979. The university used the Spanish-style house for its Honors College and demolished it in 2011. Bara died of abdominal cancer in Los Angeles in 1955 at age 69.