A long time ago we did a Complete Filmography for Theda Bara. There were two clips at UCLA which no one knew if they were new footage or not. I viewed the "Stars of Yesterday" clip and found it was nothing new, just A Fool There Was footage (seriously 1931 they couldn't have used some Cleopatra? Jerks.) The other clip was listed as 'unidentified' and was unviewable as it was archive only and decomposing.
Someone contacted me about trying to get the unidentified clip transferred to safety stock and possibly used for a DVD release. I contacted UCLA again and unfortunately this is what they discovered:
Unfortunately, this very old catalog record is incorrect. There was never any Theda Bara footage on the compilation reel. According to preservation staff, the can contained several small snippets of film. In one of them there was a performer who bore a very superficial resemblance to Theda Bara, but it clearly was not her. We think someone simply misidentified the performer. This snippet of film deteriorated long ago.
They promised to update the listing. Its a shame whatever it was its already long gone. Maybe some lost Valeska Suratt (probably not, she was much slimmer than Theda)? Such a shame.
While I'm at it I should comment on the Cleopatra clip which is at The George Eastman House and can be seen in the documentary "The Woman with the Hungry Eyes". A friend helped me view this documentary and I must say it was FANTASTIC. The clip itself is very short, just Theda turning her head, and turning back. No one knows if it was just a costume test or part of the actual film but it is all we have...and that is an even bigger shame.
1 comments:
That is so sad -- I've only seen one of her films (which considering her available filmography is I guess a big chunk of her work!) and I wish so badly more of her work had been preserved. Don't you just wish that someday someone would just discover an attic full of Theda Bara's (and other stars, too) lost films?!
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