Three Films Left After 1937 Fox Fire

A 1937 blaze at Fox Studios destroyed 37 of the 40 films Theda Bara made during her silent era career, leaving only three surviving prints. The loss has created a scarcity that defines her legacy in Cincinnati, where a sold-out screening at the Mariemont Theatre will occur on Saturday, Oct. 24.

The event highlights the fragility of early film history. Bara, born Theodosia Goodman on July 29, 1885, at 823 Hutchins Ave., worked in Hollywood between 1914 and 1919. She appeared in titles such as Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, and A Fool There Was. Studio publicists crafted a fictional identity for her, billing her as an Arab princess and suggesting her name was an anagram for "Arab Death." Bara corrected the record, describing herself as a Jewish girl from Cincinnati.

Her professional run effectively ended in 1919. She returned to the screen later for two pictures, The Unchastened Woman in 1925 and Madame Mystery in 1926, but the major silent output vanished in the 1937 fire. Nadya Ellerhorst, a producer for The Art Show series, called Bara a fascinating local figure. Ellerhorst directed an eight-minute documentary titled Theda Bara's Memoirs, which will be shown at the Mariemont event alongside A Fool There Was.

The program includes a panel discussion featuring Dr. Jennifer Glaser, a University of Cincinnati associate professor; Brian Powers, a historian with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library; and Ellerhorst. A costume contest will conclude the evening, timed to coincide with Halloween, which arrives one week later.

Access to Bara's work remains limited. The Mariemont screening offers the primary public viewing of the surviving materials. For those unable to attend, Theda Bara's Memoirs is available online. The documentary has accumulated 50,000 views on YouTube since May 2025. It incorporates footage from A Fool There Was, East Lynne, The Unchastened Woman, and Cleopatra. The film also examines a 450-page unpublished biography housed in the University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Book Library.

Bara's physical footprint in Cincinnati has also shifted. She married director Charles Brabin in 1921. Xavier University acquired her former home on Victory Parkway and Ledgewood Drive in 1979. The institution used the Spanish-style house for its Honors College before demolishing it in 2011. Bara died of abdominal cancer in Los Angeles in 1955 at age 69.