Sold-Out Mariemont Screening Salutes Cincinnati’s Silent-Era Icon

Cincinnati audiences filled the Mariemont Theatre for a sold-out tribute to Theda Bara, a local native who became one of the silent screen’s most recognizable figures in the 1910s. The event, scheduled for Saturday, October 24, centers on the limited number of Bara’s works that have survived to the present day.

Bara, born Theodosia Goodman on July 29, 1885, at 823 Hutchins Ave. in Avondale, was the daughter of a Jewish tailor and a Swiss mother. After attending Walnut Hills High School and spending two years at the University of Cincinnati, she moved to New York to pursue acting. Studio publicists crafted a fictional persona for her, billing her as an Arab princess whose name was an anagram for 'Arab Death.' Bara later described herself more simply as 'a nice Jewish girl from Cincinnati.'

Between 1914 and 1919, Bara appeared in 40 films, including titles such as 'The Stain,' 'A Fool There Was,' and 'Cleopatra.' Nadya Ellerhorst, producer of 'The Art Show' series on WCET-TV and WPTD-TV, called Bara a 'truly fascinating Cincinnati figure.' Ellerhorst also directed 'Theda Bara’s Memoirs,' an eight-minute documentary that will screen alongside 'A Fool There Was' at the Mariemont event.

The rarity of Bara’s surviving work stems from a 1937 fire at Fox Studios, which destroyed most of her output. Only three of her films remain. Her career effectively ended in 1919, before her 35th birthday, though she returned to the screen for two productions in the mid-1920s: 'The Unchastened Woman' in 1925 and 'Madame Mystery' in 1926.

The Saturday program includes a panel discussion with Dr. Jennifer Glaser, an associate professor and Bara historian at the University of Cincinnati; Brian Powers, a historian with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library; and Ellerhorst. The evening also features a costume contest, timed for the week preceding Halloween. Those unable to attend can view 'Theda Bara’s Memoirs' online; the documentary, which aired on Channels 48 and 16, has accumulated 50,000 views on YouTube since May 2025.

Bara’s legacy extends beyond her filmography. She married director Charles Brabin in 1921. Xavier University acquired her former Spanish-style home at Victory Parkway and Ledgewood Drive in 1979 and used it for its Honors College before demolishing it in 2011. Bara died of abdominal cancer in Los Angeles in 1955 at the age of 69.