31 January 2022

La Collectionneuse: Salome

In 2021, small fragments of Theda Bara’s Salome (1918) were made available to the public in a digitalised form. Those brief clips had been found in Madrid’s Filmoteca Espanola. It was tremendous news to silent film lovers, as most of Bara’s films are considered lost.

Theda Bara
British postcard by Lilywhite in the Cinema Stars series, no. C.M. 413D. Photo: William Fox. Theda Bara in Salome (J. Gordon Edwards, 1918). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

The Salome character


Salome is a biblical character who is mentioned, although unnamed, in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Mathew. She was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. Her mother, after her divorce, remarried Herod Antipas. This second marriage was heavily criticised by John the Baptist.

The young girl danced before King Herod Antipas at his birthday celebration and he was so enthralled by his stepdaughter’s performance that he told her that she could ask anything in return for it. Prompted by her mother, she asked for John the Baptist’s head.

Despite his reluctance, the King had to keep his promise. The prophet was executed and his head was given to her on a platter. The dancer is called "Salome" for the first time in Flavius Josephus’ 'Antiquities of the Jews', published in AD 93 or 94.

Salome is certainly one of the most famous female biblical characters. She has been painted by renowned artists such as Van der Weyden, Memling, Cranach, Rubens, Botticelli, Titian, Caravaggio, and Gustave Moreau

In 1891, Oscar Wilde wrote his play 'Salome'. It was first published in France in 1893 and then in England, illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, in 1894. Wilde never saw his play produced on stage. It was banned in the U.K. until 1931 and the only performances given in his lifetime took place in France in 1896, when he was in jail for homosexuality.

In 1905, Richard Strauss’ opera 'Salome', which was inspired by Wilde’s play, opened in Dresden. It is said that, at the time, the dance of the seven veils performed by Salome shocked the audiences. The Salome character also appeared several times in movies. Arguably the three more famous screen Salomes were Theda Bara, Alla Nazimova, and Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953)
Argentinian postcard by Cromocart G.W., no. 143. Photo: Columbia. Rita Hayworth in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Here is a non-exhaustive selection of several Salome-related stars.

Maud Allan


Maud Allan
British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4946 D. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Miss Maud Allan as Salomé. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Canadian-born Maud Allan (1873-1956) became a star when she created a dance number called 'Vision of Salomé' in Vienna (Austria) in 1906 and soon became famous internationally. In 1915 she starred in her only movie, The Rug Maker’s Daughter, filmed in California. She played a Turkish girl who falls in love with an American. The film is now considered lost but it was said at the time that the three Oriental dances she performed in it had similarities to her famous Salomé dance. In 1918, after having been accused in an article of being involved in a pro-German conspiracy and of being linked to a circle of sexual deviants, she sued for libel. During the sensational trial that took place in London, it was revealed that her brother had been hanged for murder in 1898. She lost the case and her career never recovered from the scandal. Although she still performed until 1936, her days of glory were gone. She died penniless in the U.S.A. in 1956.

Lyda Borelli


Lyda Borelli
Spanish postcard by Amadeo, Pelayo 62, Barcelona. Lyda Borelli in an outfit for Oscar Wilde's stage play 'Salome'. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Lyda Borelli

Italian postcard, no. 603. Photo: Emilio Sommariva, Milano. Lyda Borelli in an outfit for Oscar Wilde's stage play 'Salome'. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Before she became one of the most famous Italian film divas, Lyda Borelli (1884-1959) was a well-known theater actress. One of her major roles on the stage was Oscar Wilde’s 'Salome'.

Theda Bara


Theda Bara
British postcard by Lilywhite in the Cinema Stars series, no. C.M. 94. Photo: William Fox. Theda Bara in Salome (J. Gordon Edwards, 1918). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Salome (1918) was a big-budgeted epic that starred Fox’s reigning vamp, Theda Bara (1885-1955), who had become a star thanks to A Fool There Was (1915). It was released in August 1918 and, that same month, the actress came tenth in a popularity poll held by Motion Picture Magazine. The movie was a success. Unfortunately, Theda’s Bara career went into decline in 1919, and, at the end of the year, Fox didn’t renew her contract.

Pearl White


Pearl White
British postcard by Lilywhite Ltd, no. C.M. 429 D. Pearl White as Salome. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Serial queen Pearl White (1889-1938) never played Salome on screen but a photographer had the idea to make her pose as the biblical character. This shot was inspired by a 1870 painting by Henri Regnault, which is currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Alla Nazimova


Alla Nazimova in Salome (1923)
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, no. 16. Photo: United Artists. Alla Nazimova in Salome (Charles Bryant, 1923). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Salome (1922) was produced by Alla Nazimova (1879-1945) and was adapted from Oscar Wilde’s play. Inspired by Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations, Natacha Rambova, who became Rudolph Valentino’s second wife in 1923, designed the costumes and the sets. Although she was over forty, Nazimova decided to play herself the teenage heroine. The movie divided the critics and was a commercial flop. It was certainly too theatrical and sophisticated for standard audiences. Nazimova suffered important financial losses and it was the beginning of a difficult period for her. She had to wait until her performance on Broadway in 'The Cherry Orchard' in 1928 to fully regain her prestige. Over the years, Nazimova’s Salome has acquired cult status.

Gloria Swanson


Gloria Swanson in Stage Struck (1925)
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, no. 743. Photo: S.A.I. Films Paramount, Roma. Gloria Swanson in Stage Struck (Allan Dwan, 1925). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

In Allan Dwan’s Stage Struck (1925), Gloria Swanson (1897? 1899?-1983) plays a diner waitress who dreams of becoming an actress. She is seen as Salome in a 2-color Technicolor fantasy sequence, in which she imagines herself playing the biblical dancer. The movie, which displayed Swanson’s gift for comedy, is usually considered as one of her best silent films.

Yvonne De Carlo


Yvonne De Carlo in Salome Where She Danced (1945)
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, Barcelona, no. 3299. Photo: Universal. Yvonne De Carlo in Salome Where She Danced (Charles Lamont, 1945). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Salome Where She Danced (1944) made Yvonne De Carlo (1922-2007) a star. She plays a Viennese dancer who has to flee to the U.S.A. during the Austro-Prussian War. In a small Arizona town, she is a big hit on stage by portraying Salome in a "daring" dance number.

Rita Hayworth


Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953)
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2863. Photo: Columbia. Rita Hayworth in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) starred in Salome (1953) in which the heroine is portrayed as an innocent, outwitted by her mother’s machinations. In the plot, Salome is convinced that she dances to save John the Baptist and is understandably shocked when she realises that she had been cheated. It was directed by veteran William Dieterle and Rita was supported by top-notch British performers: Stewart Granger as her love interest, Charles Laughton as Herod, Cedric Hardwicke as Tiberius Caesar, and Basil Sydney as Pontius Pilatus. Australian-born Judith Anderson rounded the cast by playing Herodias. The film was a hit with the audiences and came second in the list of Columbia’s 1953 top box-office attractions.

Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953)
Vintage postcard. Photo: Columbia. Rita Hayworth in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Bonus: Ivo Blom’s Salomes


Ivo Blom wished to include an Oscar Wilde’s German-born Salome and a 1941 Italian comedy in which a young lady is asked to pass herself for the famous dancer who has grown older. A funny story far from the tragic biblical story.

Hedwig Reicher


Hedwig Reicher as Salome
German postcard, no. PH 4522/2. Mailed in France.

German-born stage and screen actress Hedwig(a) Reicher (1884-1971) made her theatrical debut in 1902 in Adolf von Wilbrandt's 'Der Meister von Palmyra' in Hamburg. She remained in Germany for five more years before accepting an engagement to the Deutsches Theater (the Irving Place Theatre) in New York City in 1907. Reicher remained in the United States and appeared on Broadway. In 1916 she performed Oscar Wilde's Salome at the Punch & Judy's Theatre, a role she had already performed in Germany. In the 1920s, Richer played a number of supporting roles in Hollywood, as an immigrant or in maternal roles. She played the prison matron in Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl (1928) and Janet Gaynor's mother in Lucky Star (1929) by Frank Borzage. In 1939, she appeared in the first decidedly anti-Nazi film, Confessions of a Nazi Spy.

La nascita di Salomè (1940)


Armando Falconi and Conchita Montenegro in La nascita di Salomè
Italian postcard. Armando Falconi and Conchita Montenegro in the Italo-Spanish coproduction La nascita di Salomè (1940), directed by Jean Choux, and shot in the Cinecittà studios in Rome.

In the comedy, La nascita di Salomè (Jean Choux, 1940), based on a stage play by Cesare Meano, the mighty King of the Parthians (Nerio Bernardi) offers Aristobulus (Armando Falconi), monarch of a small kingdom, four provinces in exchange for his wife Salome, (once) a beautiful dancer (Maria Gomez). Aristobulus instead sends him a pretty, skilled young dancer named Dalila (Conchita Montenegro), and thus a new Salome is born, able to captivate all men. The envoys of the Parthian King discover the fraud, but, fascinated, they pretend that there has been no deception and lead the girl at their sovereign, who remains very impressed and gives Aristobulus the promised provinces. The exotic costumes for the film were designed by Gino Carlo Sensani and Maria de Matteis.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete and Ivo Blom.

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