[MUSIC] In this edition of WLIW Arts Beat, the memoirs of a silent film star.

- The importance of this manuscript is it really gets to kind of the heart of Theda Bara's life.

[MUSIC] A modern reimagining of saints.

- It's a way of keeping it alive and moving the art form forward as opposed to just the same traditional image that you don't question and you don't understand.

Exploring memory through art.

- I began to realize that there has to be a way for me to communicate as an artist and for me to process what's happening with him or what's happening with me as a caregiver, what it's like to have dementia.

It's all ahead in this edition of WLIW Arts Beat.

Welcome to WLIW Arts Beat.

I'm Diane Masciale.

Starring in films like Cleopatra, A Fool There Was, and Salome, Theda Bara was one of the most famous silent film actresses of her time, and her impressive life and career are chronicled in her unpublished memoirs.

In Ohio, we visit the University of Cincinnati's Archives and Rare Books Library, where the memoirs are housed to learn more.

Theda Bara was a silent film star of the early years of the 20th century.

She's someone that a lot of people don't know about nowadays.

However, at the time, roughly from 1914 to 1920 or so, she was pretty much one of the top stars in film of the times.

She was considered the original, as they called it, vamp, which doesn't mean quite the same thing that it does now, but meant that you were a seductive woman who was dangerous to men.

Even though the studio, Fox Studios, made a biography that made her sound very exotic and told everyone that she was born literally in the shadows of the Sphinx in Egypt.

She was actually just a nice Jewish girl from Cincinnati, as she sometimes said.

She grew up as a middle-class Jewish girl in the Avondale section of Cincinnati, which was at the time a predominantly middle-class Jewish area.

And she went to Walnut Hills High School.

- That's the Theodosia Goodman who became Theda Bara later on.

- She attended the synagogue, the Plum Street Temple Synagogue.

- Theodosia did attend UC after she graduated from Walnut Hills High School.

She attended for two years.

We do see Theodosia Goodman in 1904 and the 1905 yearbooks.

She does not seem to have graduated.

She left for New York in the midst of her studies.

- She had this very condensed career from roughly 1914 to 1919 or 1920.

During that time she made over 40 films, which is hard for us to think of given how films work today.

But some of her most significant films were A Fool There Was, which was an early film that really created that vamp image for her.

It's where she broke out as a star.

And in that film, she played the seductress who was bringing a man who had a wife to his room.

So she was an early vamp and one of our early sex symbols in film.

And so she's had a huge effect, I think, on future starlets and representations of women in film.

And yet we know so little about her because her films didn't survive into the contemporary period.

One of the painful things that she went through was the loss of her legacy.

So in 1937, which was during her lifetime, there was a fire in the vaults of Fox Studios.

And so something like 90% of Theda Bara's output was destroyed at that time.

And she was alive and she was very aware of this happening.

- The Archives and Rare Books Library is one of 13 library units at the University of Cincinnati.

So we have a collection here that the official name is the T. Everett Herré Manuscript on Theda Bara.

Manuscript on Theda Bara.

The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Archives and The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Archives and Rare Books Library acquired this manuscript in 2008 and was through the efforts of a man named Kevin Grace, who was then the head of the Archives and Rare Books Library, who spotted this manuscript listed in a book and manuscript dealer's catalog.

It is about 450 typewritten pages of a manuscript on the life of film actress Theda Bara.

It was a completed but never published memoir that was supposed to be published under Theda Bara's name.

And so it was ghostwritten in collaboration with Theda Bara by T. Everett Herré, who was a newspaper man and author and editor from Philadelphia.

Apart from the manuscript, there's also about 60 letters between Theda Bara and Herré talking about that collaboration.

The importance of this manuscript is it really gets to kind of the heart of Theda Bara's life.

This transformation from Theodosia Goodman, who described herself as a good Jewish girl from Cincinnati, into this femme fatale figure.

We've been very fortunate to work with our preservation lab colleagues who were able to stabilize the document.

>> The lab is responsible for the preservation of the treasures of the library.

We are a book and paper lab, so we primarily work with bound objects and paper.

The manuscript is an unbound manuscript.

It's a typed manuscript.

It was in good condition.

There wasn't a lot of tearing.

But with paper that is that thin, it becomes delicate and because it was typewriter ribbon, it is stable but you could still rub some things off.

There are marginalia where they've written in on pencil, so that could also be rubbed off.

The question was how to make sure it stays in that condition both by handling by researchers and in the future if it would be digitized.

And that's why we made the decision to sleeve it instead of encapsulating it so it could be removed from the sleeves if it was digitized in the future.

- It includes a cover page with the title, Woman or Vampire.

It includes chapter titles such as, "I Procured Poison Caramels with Full Intent to Use Them," or "Saved from an Early Marriage by a Ouija board," or "Devil's Handmaiden, am I?".

So if you look at the table of contents, it seems like this almost, it's intended to be somewhat this scandalous, spectacular memoir.

When you look at the actual content of it, it's more of a day-to-day life of Theda Bara.

Everything from her early childhood and education in Cincinnati, the move to New York, entering Broadway and film productions, all the way up to about 1917, 1918, when she was the lead in the film "Cleopatra."

Theda Bara's career kind of goes into a decline.

She has, I think, one stage production, which is not received well by critics, and then there's a few years before she has, I think there were two remaining films in her career.

So unfortunately this is being written kind of, I think, as she's sliding out of the public eye in a certainly Hollywood producer's eyes, which may have led to why this was ultimately not successfully published.

But it is a fascinating document and testament to the fact that we can continue to find artifacts from silent film stars like Theda Bara.

The outlook is very good for it.

Nothing lasts forever, but it'll be around before probably I pass or anyone I know passes.

We perceive her as having completely lost her legacy when the films burned in the Fox fire.

But as time has gone on, what we found is that a lot of silent films, which were shown all over the world-- because they were silent, they were very easily translatable to other audiences-- have survived in different forms.

There have been clips of Theda Bara films that have been found in various other countries.

So it's absolutely the case that we can continue to find more of her films over time as we go into the vaults of various old cinemas.

There really is a sense of kind of a treasure hunt to find material like Theda Bara's films.

She wasn't just a studio creation, she was also her own creation.

She is very much a woman of her age.

She grew up middle class, she grew up in Avondale, she grew up as part of the Reform Jewish movement.

All of these are very central parts of that time period in Cincinnati history.

And she's emblematic of what it was like to be a smart young woman who wanted to make it from the Midwest on the big screen.

And I think that story is one that can absolutely still capture people's imagination if they're told it.

For more information go to libraries.uc.edu >> And now, the artist quote of the week.

♪♪ >> For over two decades, Vince Campos has been practicing the art of retablo making, and he has reimagined this form of devotional painting in a modern way, by depicting saints as everyday New Mexicans.

Let's head to New Mexico to find out more.

(upbeat music) What drew you to creating retablos?

- Retablos were always kind of present in my life.

You see them in churches, you see them in restaurants, you see them in hotels, and you see these holy images and often if you're not familiar with that saint or practice the faith, then you don't really know what they're about.

So I took an interest in the stories of the saints and I wanted to tell the story in a different way.

- Talking about the stories of your pieces, this piece is titled San Lorenzo.

Can you tell me the story behind the imagery used in this one?

Sure, San Lorenzo is a saint and what I did was he was actually burned up on a grill for his faith.

So what I did was I took traditional imagery and I kind of did a modern twist on it.

So I like to think of saints as if they were here present today, they say the saints are all around us, they're here today, would you recognize a saint because they're not out there in their saint garb.

So I thought, hey, San Lorenzo could be a hibachi chef.

So what I did was I took, you know, the flames as tattoos on his wrists and his martyrs home and kind of put it on the grill and the flame to represent his story and it's told that he said turn me over I'm not done yet as he was being martyred.

- That's why it says turn me over grill.

Are a lot of the pieces like based on real people that you meet?

- Yeah so I like to think of it I'm trying to look out for look out knowing the stories of the Saints and I try to relate them to people that I see anywhere.

This one is titled San Francisco and it says like Santa Fe on his hat.

What's going on in this one?

This is San Francisco de Asisi and he's a Saint Francis, a patron saint of Santa Fe, patron saint of animals, people in poverty.

So there's a story of him.

There was this wolf that was attacking the town of a small village next to where he was at and what he did was he let the people know, "Hey, I'm going to go talk to this vicious animal."

And he was able to reason with the animal through his relationship with animals.

So he came back to the village with the wolf by his side and the people really saw the miracles that he worked.

So in this image, what I did was I took the traditional image of him with the wolf behind him, but I wanted to add some modernization to the saint.

So how would you know this was Saint Francis, right, if you saw him in today's world?

So what I did is I kind of made him like someone I know, like a buddy of mine with his tattoo sleeves.

And if you look closely, you'll see that he has the Santa Fe Cathedral on his shoulder and the birds that he's often depicted with.

So again, just telling the story in a different way.

I have a friend of mine, he's just like, he's obsessed with his dog and it's like, I think it's like an Alaskan Husky or something like that.

So I was like, "Oh, dude, he looks just like this guy."

Oh, that's awesome.

I can understand being obsessed with your dog.

Yes.

This is San Rafael.

Yes.

So he's often depicted with his, you know, holding his fish.

He's a patron saint of travelers.

So again, a Bilbaoian mind that loves fishing, that's what he does.

Summer, winter, he's out there fishing.

So I thought, how can I depict him in a modern world?

So I kept to his same colors that you traditionally see.

And on his tattoos, you can see a Jesus fish, you can see the mountains of New Mexico, and he's holding a rainbow trout from northern New Mexico often seen.

So I found a connection to it.

- That personal connection.

(upbeat music) So retablos are really steeped in like tradition and history.

How do you honor those traditions and the history while also taking like a very personal and modern approach?

- So what I like to do is, of course I do a lot of research on the saints.

And I take those images and I find how they told the story to that particular piece and I try to retell it in a modern world.

So I look out for things that I relate to.

So northern New Mexico.

What does your average northern New Mexico person look like?

Does he look like you and I?

He looks like your friends?

So I take those images and find things that relate to them.

And I retell the story to provoke the person viewing the retablo to ask them, "Hey, who is this guy?

Why does he have tattoos like that?"

I'm like, "Oh, well let me tell you the story."

And now they've learned.

And often enough, it catches a new kind of viewer.

It's a younger person that may not have known who these people were or have seen the images but didn't know what they meant.

So now they do, they have an idea of the story and they have an appreciation of the saint and appreciation of the art form because, you know, this art form is indigenous to New Mexico so it's a way of keeping it alive and moving the art form forward as opposed to just the same traditional image that you don't question and you don't understand.

This type of take on traditional retablos is not to take away anything from traditional images that live on in New Mexico.

I think there will always be a place for traditional imagery, traditional retablos.

This is just simply helping the art form evolve and I hope that people are a lot more open to it as these retablos keep progressing.

You can see more on Facebook.

Now, here's a look at this month's fun fact.

[MUSIC] In response to caring for her father with dementia, multidisciplinary artist Kristen M. Beck created a body of work focused on memory and identity.

In this segment, we take a trip to the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Florida to experience her exhibition, Before I Forget.

The process of making these pieces has really helped me process, rationalize, internalize, externalize all of the eyes of what it's like for him to have this condition and also what it's like for me as a caregiver to experience him now.

My name is Kristen M. Beck.

I'm an artist and a writer.

The exhibit is called "Before I Forget," and the jumping-off point is that my father has dementia, and I started to take on his care and be his person.

And there are a lot of things that happen when you take on that role.

I began to realize that there has to be a way for me to communicate as an artist and for me to process what's happening with him and what's happening with me as a caregiver, what it's like to have dementia.

How can I represent it visually?

How can I represent it with sound?

How can I represent it with tactile things?

But also appreciate the time I had with him.

The time I have with him now is different by the time I had with him then, what that and the difference between the two, the memories that are resurfaced, if you will, because I've touched these ties or this shirt or the pockets and the handkerchiefs and all the things that belong to someone, they belong to him and the intrinsic energy that's exchanged in that process is what I'm trying to communicate, I think, with some of these pieces.

Emotion and love and laughter, those human things are, if I've captured it all and am able to share it in any way.

The humanity in all these pieces and all the different ways and all the different mediums, it just makes it a human show, a human exhibition.

The way I went about the whole exhibit is it's truly like a set of mini-installations.

As an artist, I like to experience all mediums and all processes.

I find so much joy in that.

Pulling a paintbrush through paint or a threaded needle through fabric, I find that joyful.

And I thought, how could I, knowing how to make all these things, tell this story, help tell this story?

All of these pieces, while at first blush, are decorative.

Like a quilt is a quilt, but if it's a quilt of your dad's shirts that you quilted together, takes on a different meaning.

I really want to be able to share all these stories and all these ideas with as many, you know, mediums as I have at my fingertips.

Now you're part of it.

You are part of that piece because you touched it.

You went through the Viewmaster, you took a button, you wrote yourself a card, whatever it is, you're part of it now.

And I think it's almost like that same investment as the memory, whether it's a big or small investment, you're invested now in the piece.

I wanted to be able to pay attention to old school methods of making things, combine it with new school methods of describing them, and where it met in the middle.

Besides, I like to make stuff.

They're all really personal things that they've shared, and what an honor to have received them all.

I had an opportunity at three different museums to gather memories.

Quilts are functional pieces of art.

They mean comfort.

They mean so many things.

Everybody can recognize a quilt when they see it.

There's something very accessible about them too.

So to me, what a great way to include that as a storytelling device is the quilt.

Some of them, there's a few that will bring me to tears if I read them again.

Then there's this one that's visceral and you know exactly what this person means.

It's amazing that all of those people share that and that they talked with me a little bit about it.

And just to be able to share those things again and again is amazing.

Working with communities for me has enriched the pieces like tenfold because my working practice, you know, I'm in my individual space working on an individual thing.

When I took it even further, went out to a community, so I'm out of my personal space making things and invite them to help me create a piece.

That just, it just broadened the whole thing.

It just creates this lovely space to be in and to, to just the sharing and the social sharing and the fact that I could say, look, thank you for helping me make this piece and come see it.

They now have invested meaning in the piece.

They've invested themselves and they invested their story and I had in turn invested my time and love for their stories into something that will last.

There's a video with pieces that mimic or replicate neon because I really wanted to include that sound, the sound of neon flickering and the idea of a thought flickering away that you can't quite capture or you just, now you forgot it.

And I wanted to be able to convey that, what that would be like.

And I wanted to bring the humor in too with those pieces.

So one of the neon signs in the video says, put on pants.

Those are just glorious little moments that I have captured along the way.

Some of the thoughts that people, either my father shared or people in memory care facilities or other people that have, that know people that have dementia or Alzheimer's that shared these with me.

There's one called "Now What?"

because that's literally my dad and also literally what he would say.

He'd go, "Now what?"

You know?

(laughs) And we were to supply the answer as to what was to happen next.

But it was just really funny the way he said it.

And to me, that's a moment now.

And he doesn't really do that anymore.

And so I feel like I've captured that time.

The idea of like, "Turn off the lights."

That that's a neon sign.

I just like the idea of this tongue in cheek way of doing that, presenting some humorous thoughts, capturing the idea of neon and the flickering thought and the flickering moment.

And then some of them also captured those really tender truths that happened along the way, like specifically with my dad saying, "I used to have purpose."

And that moment that he told me that, and it's in one of the memory nests, and that I wanted to keep it safe.

I would love for more talks around the idea of neuro arts and brain health and all of those things.

Let's think now how we can build a better brain as we get older.

- I think it is really important to have it be a topic of conversation and to activate the space.

Sometimes gallery spaces and museums are very quiet and that's a wonderful experience too but if you can also activate them with language and sound and laughter or tears or any of those things I think it's like lightning in a bottle.

I wanted to share the experience and you know at the beginning as an artist I'm just like oh somebody gets it and not only did they get it but they responded in such a human level.

They shared stories and it's kind of a simple thing but it's those simple things that can lead to bigger things and bigger stories and bigger ideas and I think things and textures and color and people have human responses to those things.

Discover more at armoryart.org.

And here's a look at this week's art history.

(upbeat music) That wraps it up for this edition of WLIW Arts Beat.

Visit our webpage to watch more episodes of the show.

We hope to see you next time.

I'm Diane Masciale.

Thank you for watching.

(upbeat jazz music)