"In the 1920s and 1930s, however, this mansion was also well-known to any devoted movie fan in America. For several years following World War I, four movie celebrities lived in the house, one after another. The first of these was the mysterious Theda Bara, the product of one of Hollywood's first high-pressure public relations campaigns."
"With the help of her studio, the dark-haired, pale-skinned Theda became the classic vamp and maintained that image in silent films like "A Fool There Was" in which she ensnares and destroys men with her primitive, almost mystical allure. Audiences gasped when they read the silent-film title card with her most passionate line: "Kiss me my fool.""
"Theda Bara filled the mansion's elegant rooms with tiger-skin rugs, crystal balls, skulls, mummy cases and anything else that looked mysterious and sensual. After Theda Bara's hold over the public declined around 1918, she retired from the screen, married her director, and became a respectable Beverly Hills housewife."
A well-maintained Tudor-style mansion built in 1905 at 649 W. Adams Boulevard stands as a testament to West Adams Boulevard's prominence as Los Angeles' most desirable address from the early 1900s through the 1930s. During the 1920s and 1930s, the mansion became home to four consecutive movie celebrities, beginning with Theda Bara, a silent film star created through early Hollywood publicity campaigns. Bara, known for her vamp roles in films like "A Fool There Was," decorated the mansion with exotic items including tiger-skin rugs, crystal balls, and mummy cases to maintain her mysterious image. After Bara's career declined around 1918, she retired and married her director. Subsequently, comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle moved into the mansion, shocking the neighborhood's wealthy residents who viewed movie people with contempt.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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