Cincinnati packs Mariemont to see three rare surviving Theda Bara films

The Mariemont Theatre in Cincinnati will hold a sold-out screening of silent-film star Theda Bara on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Bara was born Theodosia Goodman on July 29, 1885, at 823 Hutchins Ave. in Avondale. Her father was a Jewish tailor and her mother was Swiss. After attending Walnut Hills High School and the University of Cincinnati, she moved to New York City to act. Studio publicists later fabricated a backstory, describing her as an Arab princess and noting her name was an anagram for Arab Death. Bara preferred the simpler description, calling herself a nice Jewish girl from Cincinnati.

She made 40 films between 1914 and 1919, including titles such as The Stain, A Fool There Was, and Cleopatra. Nadya Ellerhorst, producer of The Art Show series, called Bara a truly fascinating Cincinnati figure. Ellerhorst also directed Theda Bara's Memoirs, an eight-minute documentary that will open the evening.

The program will also screen A Fool There Was, followed by a panel discussion. Dr. Jennifer Glaser, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati and Bara historian, will join Brian Powers, a historian with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, and Ellerhorst for the talk. A costume contest will conclude the event.

Only three of Bara's films remain. The rest were destroyed in a 1937 fire at Fox Studios. Her career ended in 1919, before her 35th birthday, though she returned for two movies in 1925 and 1926. Theda Bara's Memoirs has received 50,000 views on YouTube since May 2025 and is available to stream online.

Bara married film director Charles Brabin in 1921. Xavier University acquired her former home on Victory Parkway and Ledgewood Drive in 1979 and demolished the Spanish-style house in 2011. She died of abdominal cancer in Los Angeles in 1955 at age 69.