Thursday, November 4, 2010

Profile: Theda Bara


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=925

Bara was one of the first silent movie stars, the original femme fatale. A Jew from Cleveland, the studio made her out to be an exotic Arabic actress, before coming clean.

She was suggested by Tracey from NYC, Sandy from Key West, and multiple-time returning suggester Mila from Alexandria.

15 comments:

  1. The Russian wikipedia (yes, I know...) says her mom was of German-French extraction. And I must say (yes, I know, Russians...) that Pauline Louise de Coppett does sound more European than Semitic.

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  2. The English Wikipedia (yes, I know...) says: "Her mother, Pauline Louise de Coppett (1861–1957), was born in Switzerland and was also Jewish."

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  3. No citation, though... Merits an deeper look?

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  4. The originator of the Vamp character, an "implacable seductress," Theda Bara was born Theodesia Goodman and after she retired in 1926, she described herself in a newspaper interview as "just a nice Jewish girl."

    So Jewish mother or not Jewish mother, Jew for Theda it is.

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  5. She was a blonde haired girl born of a Jewish tailor and a Swiss mother.

    (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Bara.html)

    Pauline Louise Françoise de Coppet, who was Swiss of French descent

    (http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bara-theda)

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  6. She did consider herself a Jew and (for all we know) her mom could've converted. So I don't dispute the verdict. But the I score should probably be 3.

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  7. Still, there are more sources out there suggesting that her mom was born gentile. I don't dispute the verdict, but the I score should probably be lower.

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  8. Right, but none of those say that her mother was NOT Jewish. She could have been a Swiss/French Jew. That being said, the worst case here is Jewish father, non-Jewish mother, but considered herself Jewish -> Jew Verdict (but a lower I score). We will keep it as is until better evidence arises.

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  9. Her father was an immigrant from Eastern Europe and her mother a wigmaker of French/German descent.

    (http://www.answers.com/topic/theda-bara)

    It looks like every single source that says her mom was Jewish uses the same exact phrase: "born in Switzerland and was also Jewish", which suggests it was copied from one source.
    Overall, it looks like her mom was probably ethnically not Jewish.

    I agree with keeping the verdict and lowering the I score.

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  10. Ah! She was a 5 I. Thought she was a 4. Done.

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  11. As has been noted much earlier, Theda Bara is an anagram for - "Arab death".

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  12. have you seen this (partial) list:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_actors

    what's the point of arguing... או"ם שמום

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  13. What do you mean what's the point of arguing??? We are Jews! Says so right on top of the darn page!

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  14. Being 1 of the people who suggested this profile (Tracey from NYC) I wondered why the score was lowered from a 12 on the day it posted & an 11 on the next. I don't see how the fact that her mother was "Born in Switzerland and was also Jewish" makes her not an ethnic Jew. My father was born in Basra, Iraq in 1939. He is 100% Jewish. When he was 12 all of the Jews were given 3 days to leave Iraq w/ whatever they could carry on pain of death. His family fled as refugees to Israel. An uncle who was a wealthy merchant thought his $ would protect him. He was dragged through the streets & stoned to death. My mother (and myself & my brother) was born in Montreal. So were my Bubby & Zaide. We are 100% Jewish. Not French Canadians either. We moved to the States in 1978 when I was 2 and my brother 6 months old. Ethnicity & Religion are 2 different things. I am 50% Iraqi (some might say Arab) from my father's side, as far back as they can trace. I am 50% Canadian from my mother's side, though her parents were 1st generation Canadian. My bubby's family was Romanian & my Zaide's were Lithuanian (those ARE European. But we are ALL 100% Jewish. I went 2 an inner-city HS for it's performing arts magnet program & encountered the same thing. As soon as I said I was Jewish people would say, "Oh, I thought you was white." To which I had 2 reply, "Well, are you Christian or Black?". Since Desert Storm was going on @ the time I didn't want 2 even go near my Iraqi blood.
    However Ethnicity, Nationality & Religon are mutually exclusive. When u fill out a form that asks for ethnicity there is not one box for European or Middle-Eastern or American or Canadian. There is Caucasian, if u r not African-American, Hispanic, Asian, etc.
    Okay I'm done ranting now. But I think that Theda's I score should get that extra point, if it was lost because of her mother's ethnicity.
    Thanks for reading. And Happy Hannukah in advance.

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  15. The 4 and the 5 on the I Score are very close to each other. We pretty much don't give a 5 unless we feel that the score needs an extra boost for whatever reason. There are many, many ethnically 100% Jews with an I Score of 4.

    In Bara's case, it's possible that she's ethnically 100% Jewish. It's possible that her mother converted. It's possible that her mother is not Jewish. But since we don't know for sure (those "mother was also Jewish" claims are not sourced), we really can't give her a 5.

    Boy, when did we start to take this so seriously... :)

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