49.00 USD
We are rather excited about this one! Posted in 1912, in the neighborhood of two years before her first film role, we believe this to be an early unidentified image of Theda Bara, the Queen of all Hollywood Vamps.
Though several years younger in this, than in most of the images we can find of her, and tinted in pink and lavender, when we are so used to seeing her garbed in stark, gothic, black, her features are nevertheless unmistakable, and even in 1912, she had mastered the classic "I will devour you" look that brought her such undying fame.
By 1912, Miss Bara had long since left her home town of Cincinatti, moved to New York, and four years previously had made her Broadway debut in "The Devil." Also in New York, were the well known Broadway showgirl photographers Jacob Schloss and J.B. Falk. In addition to sometimes dressing up their actress models in wreaths of Spring blossoms (a la Professor Stebbing), there were direct connections between Falk, Schloss, and German postcard printers and publishers, as for example Arthur Schwarz of N.P.G., and although an actress would, even on European postcard versions, often be identified, along with the well known "Schloss NY," or J.B. Falk identifying signatures, a common practice at the time was to take the earlier identified images, and hand-tint or otherwise decorate them, at which point attributions were left off, either because the actress was well known enough that identification was unnecessary, or so it might be offered to a broader market of standard "glamor" shot buyers. We are confident that this is what occurred in this case, and are presently doing our best to locate the original image.
Postcard images of Theda Bara are almost impossible to find on the open market these days, and a rare early pre-movie star image is well...almost priceless. But still lacking appropriate proof, we've set a price.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
***We're putting up a few black and white images of Miss Bara that we've pulled off the web, for comparison's sake. Please keep in mind that these photos would have been taken several years after the one in our possession. These are not our images, and of course, are not for sale.***
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!