Added: Aug 20, 2008
From: 240252
Duration: 3:5
The Vamp (Oriental Fox-Trot) - Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra with Irving & Jack Kaufman, Columbia 1919 ---------------------------------- "The Vamp" of the silent movie was an American actress Theda BARA (Theodosia Burr Goodman, 1885 --1955). Movie executives made promotional claims that her stage name was chosen because it is an anagram for "Arab Death." In reality, "Theda" was a childhood nickname for Theodosia. "Bara" was a shortened form of her maternal grandfather's last name, Baranger. Bara was one of the cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname "The Vamp" (short for vampire). The term "vamp" soon became a popular slang term for a sexually predatory woman. Bara, along with the French film actress Musidora (her vampyre character, Irma Vep in „The Vampyres" of 1915) popularized the vamp persona in the early years of silent film and was soon imitated by rival actresses such as Nita Naldi, Norma Talmadge, Pola Negri or Asta Nielsen in Europe.
Channel: Music
Tags: 1920s american bara film history movie negri norma pola roaring sex silent symbol talmadge theda twenties wamp
Rating: 4.90 (10 ratings) Views: 640' favoriteCount='1 Comments: 6
dzheger Says:
Aug 20, 2008 - What a perky tune with a unique arrangement. And what vamps! The skeleton picture is spooky.
barbcard Says:
Aug 20, 2008 - Mon Dieu! What in the world is she doing with that skeleton? Hope nobody takes that "Arab" anagram as a political statement...
hartnell114 Says:
Aug 21, 2008 - the french woman at 2 minutes inw as just plain scary!
uslines Says:
Aug 21, 2008 - The French woman appeared in one of the first chapter plays (serials) entitled Les Vampires. It is French and was filmed in France during WW1. No vampires involved but a lot of murder, mayhem, and criminality with a French journalist the hero. A superior early silent serial and available in the USA on dvd.
smurfswacker Says:
Aug 21, 2008 - I have a copy of this record and have listened to it many times (I enjoy it immensely) but I cringe every time I hear one of the worst lyrics/rhymes of the twenties: "Everybody do the Vamp / Do it 'til you get a cramp!"
bill3murr Says:
Aug 20, 2008 - i seem to remember alice faye doing a version of this in one of her movies...tyrone power was the leading man...life of fanny brice take-off...love this version....a million thanks.