Sherri Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174259
- eISBN:
- 9780813174839
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174259.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
In 1914 at age seventeen, strong-willed, infamous Reatha Watson was declared by juvenile authorities to be “too beautiful for the city” and banished from Los Angeles. She soon returned, became ...
More
In 1914 at age seventeen, strong-willed, infamous Reatha Watson was declared by juvenile authorities to be “too beautiful for the city” and banished from Los Angeles. She soon returned, became further mired in scandal, and was subsequently barred by the film studios from working as an actress. Reborn as Barbara La Marr, she achieved renown as a dancer in the foremost cabarets throughout the country and on Broadway, acted in headlining vaudeville skits, and became a highly paid screenwriter for the Fox Film Corporation in the same town that cast her out. Her exotic beauty, curvaceous form, and potent presence enticed film producers; she temporarily averted association with her increasingly turbulent past long enough to reign as a preeminent vamp of the silent screen in the 1920s. Through it all, her stormy private life striped the pages of newspapers and film magazines. “There was no reason to lie about Barbara La Marr,” her publicist confessed after her death at age twenty-nine in 1926. “Everything she said, everything she did was colored with news-value. A personality dangerous, vivid, attractive; a desire to live life at its maddest and fullest; a mixture of sentiment and hardness, a creature of weakness and strength—-that was Barbara La Marr.” Her life story is one of tempestuous passions and unbending perseverance in the face of inconceivable odds. It is of a woman’s fierce determination to forge her own destiny amid the constant threat of losing it all to scandal and, ultimately, death.Less
In 1914 at age seventeen, strong-willed, infamous Reatha Watson was declared by juvenile authorities to be “too beautiful for the city” and banished from Los Angeles. She soon returned, became further mired in scandal, and was subsequently barred by the film studios from working as an actress. Reborn as Barbara La Marr, she achieved renown as a dancer in the foremost cabarets throughout the country and on Broadway, acted in headlining vaudeville skits, and became a highly paid screenwriter for the Fox Film Corporation in the same town that cast her out. Her exotic beauty, curvaceous form, and potent presence enticed film producers; she temporarily averted association with her increasingly turbulent past long enough to reign as a preeminent vamp of the silent screen in the 1920s. Through it all, her stormy private life striped the pages of newspapers and film magazines. “There was no reason to lie about Barbara La Marr,” her publicist confessed after her death at age twenty-nine in 1926. “Everything she said, everything she did was colored with news-value. A personality dangerous, vivid, attractive; a desire to live life at its maddest and fullest; a mixture of sentiment and hardness, a creature of weakness and strength—-that was Barbara La Marr.” Her life story is one of tempestuous passions and unbending perseverance in the face of inconceivable odds. It is of a woman’s fierce determination to forge her own destiny amid the constant threat of losing it all to scandal and, ultimately, death.
Sherri Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174259
- eISBN:
- 9780813174839
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174259.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Providing an overview of the tumultuous life and stellar accomplishments of silent screen star Barbara La Marr, the Prologue begins with her emergence into newspaper headlines as notorious, teenaged ...
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Providing an overview of the tumultuous life and stellar accomplishments of silent screen star Barbara La Marr, the Prologue begins with her emergence into newspaper headlines as notorious, teenaged Reatha Watson—-reported kidnapped at sixteen, banished from Los Angeles by juvenile authorities for being “too beautiful” at seventeen, and soon barred by film studios from working as an actress for her scandalous activities—-and ends with her death at twenty-nine. Barbara’s impressive careers as a dancer, in vaudeville, and as a screenwriter are touched upon. Her tremendous impact as a reigning silent screen actress is then spotlighted: how her volatile sex appeal, glamour, talent, meteoric film career, and predilection to live life on her own terms bewitched her peers and the world whilst her explosive private life continued playing out in gossip columns and newspaper headlines.Less
Providing an overview of the tumultuous life and stellar accomplishments of silent screen star Barbara La Marr, the Prologue begins with her emergence into newspaper headlines as notorious, teenaged Reatha Watson—-reported kidnapped at sixteen, banished from Los Angeles by juvenile authorities for being “too beautiful” at seventeen, and soon barred by film studios from working as an actress for her scandalous activities—-and ends with her death at twenty-nine. Barbara’s impressive careers as a dancer, in vaudeville, and as a screenwriter are touched upon. Her tremendous impact as a reigning silent screen actress is then spotlighted: how her volatile sex appeal, glamour, talent, meteoric film career, and predilection to live life on her own terms bewitched her peers and the world whilst her explosive private life continued playing out in gossip columns and newspaper headlines.
Sherri Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174259
- eISBN:
- 9780813174839
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174259.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
After receiving a series of ominous threats in the wake of her alleged kidnapping, Reatha has been compelled to leave Los Angeles with her parents; this chapter begins with her arrival in the remote ...
More
After receiving a series of ominous threats in the wake of her alleged kidnapping, Reatha has been compelled to leave Los Angeles with her parents; this chapter begins with her arrival in the remote town of El Centro, California. Longing for Los Angeles, Reatha returns alone and startles her friends and newspapers with an announcement that she was married to an Arizona rancher named Jack Lytelle and widowed soon after. The rest of the chapter focuses upon Reatha’s emerging dancing talent, her escapades in the city’s cabarets, and her father’s appeal to juvenile authorities to rescue her from what he believes to be her imminent ruin. Pronouncing seventeen-year-old Reatha “too beautiful” to remain alone in Los Angeles and threatening her with imprisonment, the chief juvenile officer forces her to return to her parents in El Centro.Less
After receiving a series of ominous threats in the wake of her alleged kidnapping, Reatha has been compelled to leave Los Angeles with her parents; this chapter begins with her arrival in the remote town of El Centro, California. Longing for Los Angeles, Reatha returns alone and startles her friends and newspapers with an announcement that she was married to an Arizona rancher named Jack Lytelle and widowed soon after. The rest of the chapter focuses upon Reatha’s emerging dancing talent, her escapades in the city’s cabarets, and her father’s appeal to juvenile authorities to rescue her from what he believes to be her imminent ruin. Pronouncing seventeen-year-old Reatha “too beautiful” to remain alone in Los Angeles and threatening her with imprisonment, the chief juvenile officer forces her to return to her parents in El Centro.
