1937 Fox Fire Destroyed 37 of 40 Theda Bara Films

A 1937 fire at Fox Studios destroyed 37 of the 40 films produced by silent-era actress Theda Bara, leaving only three surviving works. Cincinnati residents will view those remaining titles at a sold-out screening at the Mariemont Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Bara, born Theodosia Goodman on July 29, 1885, at 823 Hutchins Ave., rose to fame between 1914 and 1919. Studio publicists marketed her as the original screen vamp, a dangerous seductress. They fabricated a backstory describing her as an Arab princess raised in the shadow of the Sphinx. In reality, she was the daughter of a Jewish tailor and a Swiss mother. She described herself as a nice Jewish girl from Cincinnati.

The event is produced by Nadya Ellerhorst, who also directed Theda Bara's Memoirs, an eight-minute film about the actress. Ellerhorst will join Dr. Jennifer Glaser, a University of Cincinnati associate professor and Bara historian, and Brian Powers, a historian with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, for a panel discussion following the screenings. The program includes a costume contest, timed to coincide with Halloween.

The three surviving films include A Fool There Was, which will be shown alongside the new documentary. The film Theda Bara's Memoirs has received 50,000 views on YouTube since May 2025. It also aired on Channels 48 and 16. The documentary features excerpts from A Fool There Was, East Lynne, The Unchastened Woman, and Cleopatra. It examines a 450-page typed biography held in the University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Book Library.

Bara's film career ended in 1919. She returned to the screen in 1925 for The Unchastened Woman and in 1926 for Madame Mystery. She married film 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 before demolishing it in 2011.

Bara died of abdominal cancer in Los Angeles in 1955 at age 69.