Book Review: Theda Bara, My Mentor

Joan Craig had a unique perspective regarding actress Theda Bara. As a little girl, she was treated like family by Theda and her husband. Subtitled “Under The Wing of Hollywood’s First Femme Fatale,” Joan tells her story to author Beverly F. Stout, offering the sort of insight not found in other biographies.

This book allows the reader to have a deeper and more personal understanding of the actress whose screen work had once been a sensation. Sadly, little of Theda Bara’s work survives, so our knowledge of her impact on moviegoers during cinema’s infancy has little current evidence. A fire at Fox studios in 1937 destroyed many silent films, including most of hers. And while she had her own personal prints, when she wanted to show some to Joan Craig in the 1940s, she discovered the poorly stored films had decomposed.

Theda Bara was most famous as the screen’s first Cleopatra in a 1917 film. Sadly, only brief footage still exists. Apparently the last screening of a complete print that is known is by Cecil B. DeMille when he prepared his 1934 remake. Her film debut, “The Stain” (1914) still exists, as do “A Fool There Was” (1915), “East Lynne” (1916), “The Unchastened Woman” (1925) and two Hal Roach-produced shorts, both of which involved Laurel and Hardy (including “Madame Mystery” in which Hardy appears before teaming with Laurel, but the film was directed and co-written by Laurel). But that is it, from over 40 movies.

Theda liked to tell a few tall tales about her personal life during the early days of movies, where moviegoers had trouble distinguishing the actor from the role. Since she played vamps and wicked women, the studio publicists offered similar exotic, mysterious details about her personal life, when in fact the actress was born in Ohio and grew up in the Midwest (Milwaukee cited as a favorite city). Theda enjoyed telling of how she’d be refused service in places because of proprietors believing she was like the characters she played.

The book offers delightful anecdotal memories regarding visits from the likes of Clark Gable, Victor Fleming, Rosalind Russell, Ingrid Bergman and other significant names of the past. Bara and her husband’s involvement in a few details of authenticity for Bergman’s performance in Fleming’s “Joan of Arc” (1948) include some of the more interesting details in the book. It also presents the relationship between Joan Craig and Theda Bara in very warm and honest terms, allowing us to appreciate the positive impact the actress had on the girl’s coming-of-age. Theda comes off as a creative, inspiring person who remained down to earth despite her massive stardom and her ease and control in her classic performances.

Informative, interesting, and entertaining, Joan Craig’s memories bring us back to a long gone era and offer details about a past star who never made a sound movie. Beverly Stout does an excellent job of structuring these memories into a book that is both concise and thorough. “Theda Bara, My Mentor” is recommended to all those interested in early cinema and its stars.

The book is available here.