Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Dec 1920)

MCiTlON PICTURE CLASSIC My Theda Bara {Continued from page 19) iliaii, vvlio liad betrayed liis trust thru rasli speculations auil investments, comuiittcd suicide, so that my sister and I were left entirely in tlic charge of my imcle, a very brilliant surgeon and a most erratic man. Our e<hication was an unusual one according to his jjeculiar ideas and my early recfillectinns are kaleidoscopic, here, there, every vifherc — a series of strange places, faces, schools and governesses— and America. So much for niyself and the jnire French strain in Theda 1-iara which has been so often dis])uted. Theda Bara's name is not Death and Arab, spelled backwards, as someone has ingeniously concocted nor was she christened by the Fox Film organization. .She was named originally Theodosia Hurr after .Aaron liurr's lovely daughter, the one really fine and splendid influence in a brilliant but dissolute career. ]\[y husband and myself were greatly impressed by Theoilosia Burr's beautiful but tragic life and .so we called one of our daughters after her, with the hope that she might emulate the character of this very fine woman who met such an undeserved and terrible fate. Theodosia is a long, long name and she had many pet names as a child, amongst others Theda which you can see for yourself, is a diminutive of The(o)dfosi)a. The Bara is an old family name and now you have the real e.xplanation of this socalled mystery. In most people there is a dual personality and I think always of an old nursery jingle that you all are familiar with when I think of my daughter Theda — 1 believe it was especially written for her, both as a child and a grown woman. "There was a little girl and she had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead, and when she was good she was very, very good and, when she was bad, she was horrid." At the age of three, .surprising as it may .seem, Theda was a blonde of the fairest type, with blonde ringlets covering a very small head and two large violet eyes. Every night her ])rayer was something like this, "Please, dear God, make ine a tall lady wif black hair and wif black eyes and have a 'nana (banana) under my pillow in the morning." Naturally, 1 was able to fulfil the latter half of this jirayer and the first part of it seems also to have reached its destination. ,\t this time we had a home in a suburb called Walnut Hills — the house .was of brick with a very large veranda and stood rather high upon a hill. One day I placed her upon the veranda in a very big chair with a pretty pair of new booties on — pink in color. "Her little feet stuck straight out in front of her and I left her, the dog on guard beside her. gazing with enrajjtured concentt^tion and vanity at her new acquisitions, in order that 1 might fini.sh dressing her brother and then take both of them for a little ride. T was gone for possibly fif m ™ wm m. m and all within is snug and cozy despite the howling wind and drifting snow without— when sparkling eyes reflect the firelight's glow, and the lilt of melody tingles through of real companionship, when soul meets I music opens the way. 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