Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood is a biography authored by the actress, writer, and model, Sherri Snyder. Snyder’s scholarly endeavors follow the overlooked and notorious American actress and screenwriter, Barbara La Marr, and encompass La Marr’s life from birth to death with a focus on her film career, from 1920 to 1926. The Film Foundation was established in 1990 by Martin Scorsese in hopes of preserving and restoring lost or damaged film. They assert that “[h]alf of all American films before 1950 and over 90% of films made before 1929 are lost forever” (“The Film Foundation”). Evidence supports this statistic because the majority of La Marr’s filmography remains unpreserved; 73% to be exact. With only 27% of La Marr’s filmography preserved today, Sherri Snyder faced challenges which stemmed from La Marr’s underwhelming presence in film and written history. Snyder prevailed, chronicling the first full-length profile of the Hollywood silent era’s most infamous femme fatales. Snyder participated in this interview with Film Matters via email in spring 2018.
Lily Frame: Tell us about Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood.
Sherri Snyder: I wrote in the opening sentence of the book’s acknowledgments section, “It is said that life’s plans for us are often greater than those we dream ourselves.” I then wrote that this axiom has definitely proved true for me since Barbara La Marr entered my life. I had actually never heard of Barbara before my friend, Hollywood Forever tour guide, film historian, and author Karie Bible, emailed me one day in 2007, alerting me that she had passed my name along to the Pasadena Museum of History. Karie had been contacted by the museum and asked if she knew of an actress who could portray Barbara in a production called Channeling Hollywood, a joint venture between the museum and the Pasadena Playhouse. The producers were looking for an actress who could not only play Barbara, but also research and write her life story in monologue form. (Channeling Hollywood involved the life stories of five Hollywood notables connected to Pasadena; each actor’s self-authored monologue was interwoven to create the play. Since Barbara passed away in Altadena, California [a city slightly north of Pasadena], the producers, unable to resist her compelling story, included her in the show.) The day I received the voicemail message informing me that the director and producers had loved my audition, and that I had been chosen to play Barbara, was one of the happiest of my life. (I still have that message saved on my phone.)
What struck me most about Barbara and drew me into her story–aside from her career achievements and the tragedies and scandals that marked her turbulent life–was her indomitable strength. As I learned more about her, I was similarly moved by her kind, generous heart and free-spiritedness. She is, to me, much more than her demons and the calamities and heartbreak that befell her. As I wrote my Channeling Hollywood performance, I felt honored to be able to give Barbara a voice. By the time Donald Gallery (aka Marvin Carville La Marr), Barbara’s son and only child, attended the play’s final performance and asked me to author Barbara’s biography, I had truly fallen in love with her remarkable story.
Although cognizant of my writing ability from a young age, I never intended to use my skills to write a book; likewise aware of my passion for acting and performing, I always aspired to an acting career. Even so, after Donald Gallery requested that I fulfill his lifelong dream to have his mother’s biography written, I was unable to imagine doing anything else.
For the next ten years, I immersed myself in Barbara’s story, having the time of my life. I submitted a draft of my completed manuscript to the University Press of Kentucky and, in November 2017, my book, Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood, was published.
Sadly, Donald passed away at age ninety-two in 2014, never having read the book in its entirety. He did, however, read several of the chapters pertaining to himself and Barbara. Only three years old when Barbara died, he had no memories of her. His wife told me that, after he read in my manuscript of Barbara’s deep love for him, he experienced a peace about Barbara and his relationship with her that he had never known. That and the absolute faith he placed in me meant the world to me. His wife later said that, right before his passing, he asked her to thank me for him when I finished the book. Yet I feel it is I who owe him a debt of thanks.
LF: Where would you situate this book within the field of film history?
SS: The book highlights Barbara’s writing and acting careers in the silent film industry, documenting the six films she wrote during her tenure as a storywriter with the Fox Film Corporation in 1920, the twenty-six (credited) films she acted in between 1920 and 1926, and the superstardom she achieved as a leading screen siren. Barbara’s typecasting as a rising breed of screen idol known as the vamp (a brazen seductress who exploits men with her sexuality); the vamp as the antithesis of the traditional, virtuous heroine; Barbara’s contribution to the vamp archetype in film; and Barbara’s eventual efforts to defy her typecasting are emphasized. In like manner, silent filmmaking and writing for the silent screen are discussed.
The particular demands characterizing the film industry in the 1920s, and the effects of those demands upon Barbara, are underscored in the book as well. Barbara’s entanglements with film censors, for example, were many: her barring at age seventeen by studios from working in films owing to her widely publicized scandalous activities, her concealment of her identity and shocking past in order to work in films years later, and the recurrent cutting of her sexually charged film scenes are but a few. A morality clause in Barbara’s starring film contract, mandating that her so-called immoral activities must never reach the public, was violated continually, most notably when a blackmail attempt against her by Herman Roth (the divorce attorney hired by one of her many husbands) resulted in Roth’s sensationalized trial–and the subsequent complete revelation of Barbara’s infamous past.
As further outlined in the book, a weight clause, prohibiting Barbara from exceeding a set weight limit, was additionally present in her starring contract. Such clauses–an outgrowth of the thin, shapeless flapper figure eclipsing curvaceousness as the screen’s new feminine standard–had become routine in Hollywood by the mid-1920s. Actresses exceeding their set limits had their contracts voided or were denied work until they lost weight. When it was discovered that Barbara was eighteen pounds over her limit, she adopted a hazardous dieting regimen, partly consisting of, according to a confession made by her publicist after her death, ingestion of a tapeworm pill.
LF: You explore Barbara La Marr’s notoriety when she was “abducted” by her sister and her sister’s lover. Where do you situate yourself in this argument? Do you believe La Marr consented to leaving with her sister or do you believe she was restrained against her will?
SS: Barbara’s ostensible kidnapping at age sixteen by her thirty-two-year-old half sister, Violet, and Clark Boxley, Violet’s paramour, was touted by the press as one of the most bizarre episodes ever recounted. Privately asked about it years later as a screen star by a journalist friend of hers, Barbara was tightlipped, claiming that she was unable to tell the truth at the time because she was protecting someone. In 1913, as sixteen-year-old Reatha Watson, however, she told vastly different stories to her parents, insatiable reporters, and the attorneys and judge involved with the case’s preliminary hearing. In short, exactly what occurred between the time Reatha vanished without a trace from the Los Angeles apartment she shared with her parents and her sudden reappearance remains a mystery.
Three days after Reatha’s disappearance, the day her parents received a baffling letter signed with her name in their mailbox, her frantic father charged to the police station, declaring the letter to have been written by Violet and accusing Violet and Boxley of kidnapping Reatha. Tensions between Reatha’s parents and Violet had long since reached a boiling point; disapproving of Violet’s relationship with Boxley, a married man, and fearing Violet’s strong influence over Reatha’s impressionable nature, they had thrown Violet out of their home and forbade her to contact Reatha. News of Reatha’s purported kidnapping and police efforts to find her exploded in newspaper headlines in multiple states, ultimately facilitating Reatha’s return and prompting Violet and Boxley to surrender themselves.
After hearing Reatha’s account of her ordeal, the deputy district attorney handling the case vowed to bring Violet and Boxley to justice. Reatha, hounded by reporters for interviews, next spoke publicly of what she described as the most terrible experience of her life, alleging that she had been deceived by Violet and Boxley, was restrained by Violet against her will, and had wanted desperately to return to her parents.
Testimonies given during the preliminary hearing of the case contrasted sharply with Reatha’s version of events. Violet declared that Reatha had been unhappy at home and had begged her to take her away. Eyewitnesses corroborated Violet’s assertions, suggesting that Reatha had indeed been attempting to run away. Additional testimony revealed instances of friction between Reatha and her parents: her father had opposed her film acting aspirations; she had run away from home a few months earlier; and she had posed as a nude model on four occasions. Under cross-examination by the defense and while being questioned by the judge, Reatha contradicted the statements she gave reporters (and would further alter her story to friends over the years). The judge, citing a lack of evidence against Violet and Boxley, dismissed the case.
To answer the question of whether I believe Reatha was kidnapped by her half sister: my thoughts are that she was trying to break free of her parents’ authority. But along with the notoriety that followed her alleged kidnapping came an additional assault on her freedom. Her parents, heartsick when she had disappeared with Violet and Boxley, had submitted an application of delinquency against her, effectively relinquishing their parental authority to the juvenile court. Reatha would soon hatch a plan to escape both her protective parents and the vigilant juvenile authorities–a plan that would bring far more devastating consequences.
LF: In my research, I discovered you graduated from Arizona State University (ASU), summa cum laude, with a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Acting. How has your education prepared you for writing Barbara La Marr?
SS: Studying acting, theater history, dramatic theory, and theater production at ASU certainly helped provide a good foundation for writing the book. For one, these studies assisted with supplying a historical framework for my analyses of Barbara’s career in stock theater as a child actress, and her vaudeville and silent film careers in adulthood.
Furthermore, my knowledge of the actor’s process, having studied it (at ASU and elsewhere) and performed onstage and on film myself, illuminated my understanding of Barbara’s approach to her acting, her frustration with her sex-symbol typecasting, and the unique requirements of acting for the silent screen.
Intensively studying on-camera acting technique with Tim Phillips (https://www.timphillipsstudio.com/) for three years in Los Angeles after I moved to California was of immense value to my research and writing processes. Tim’s approach, based on the premise that great actors must be great detectives, involves a scrupulous sifting of all facets of a script for the purposes of wholly honoring the writer’s intent and crafting fully dimensional, human characters. Specifically, Tim’s teachings entail discerning clues within language, tone, action, and emotion to discover the truth of characters, their behavior, and their circumstances. Writers, directors, and even lawyers also study Tim’s methods. Applying what I learned from Tim to the work I did on my book helped me glean insights from Barbara’s (and the other characters’) words and actions, the poetry and films Barbara wrote, the films Barbara acted in, and my other source materials. What’s more, Tim’s classes enhanced my eye for detail, better equipping me to relay the crux of these elements with clarity to readers through my writing.
LF: How has your intensive research for this project–watching La Marr’s films, reading books, diaries, essays, and articles surrounding her life–impacted this biography?
Barbara La Marr
SS: Since my goals in writing the book were to accurately and vividly illustrate Barbara’s personhood; her careers as an actress, a dancer, a vaudevillian, and a writer; and the time period she inhabited, my research was of utmost importance to me. I investigated every research lead I could find, turning over every stone. I pursued a publishing contract only after I finished a draft of the manuscript, thus allowing myself the freedom to gather all available facts without the pressure of a looming deadline.
In addition to Barbara’s surviving films and her writings, I examined, among other things, secondhand and thirdhand accounts of relatives of those who knew her, legal documents, correspondences, the writings of her father and her uncle, what her peers said about her, archival materials, the memoirs of those who had befriended or romanced her, and a multitude of period magazine and newspaper articles in which she alternately concealed herself behind a scintillating facade and offered glimpses of her true essence. Delving beyond the legend, rumors, and sensationalism to uncover Barbara’s real story was quite an adventure.
I believe a story is in its details; no detail, therefore, was insignificant to me. Even a single sentence, enabling a fleeting look at Barbara’s childhood, and obtained after weeks of perusing her father’s newspaper writings on microfilm, was cause for gratitude. Moreover, seeing the happiness Barbara’s son expressed whenever my research unveiled new information or photographs of himself and Barbara he had never seen was gratifying.
The acknowledgment I’ve received for my research has been equally rewarding. Readers have stated that the book provides a comprehensive dissection of Barbara’s life; a thorough psychological character study and humanization of Barbara; a more balanced rendering of the oftentimes fragmented early history of the fields of entertainment and motion pictures; a clearing of misconceptions about Barbara; and, perhaps most importantly, an understanding of Barbara.
LF: How did playing La Marr on the stage inform your writing process?
SS: As an actress and a writer, I have a fondness for bringing historical figures and period pieces to life for audiences and readers alike. Whether acting or writing, I take care to represent my subjects honestly and humanly, emphasizing their virtues and beauty, and acknowledging their deficiencies without judgment.
Portraying Barbara–taking on her behaviors, her mind-set, and the different societal and psychological dictates that ruled her era–afforded me great insight into her thought processes, sorrows, and deepest yearnings. At the height of her fame, after her final marriage foundered, and Herman Roth’s blackmailing tactics, the exposure of her notorious past during Roth’s ensuing trial, and a maelstrom of damning publicity threatened to destroy her acting career, Barbara remarked that “to be understood” is “the greatest thing any person can give you.” Playing Barbara absolutely increased my understanding of her.
Incidentally, I adapted the Channeling Hollywood script I originally wrote about Barbara’s life into a one-woman piece. I perform this piece (and have for many years) beside Barbara’s crypt at Hollywood Forever Cemetery each October as part of the Los Angeles Art Deco Society’s tour of the final resting places of those who made early Hollywood and history. I also regularly perform this piece in other venues (including at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre) and at festivals spotlighting the silent era.
As I wrote the book, I was grateful for the give-and-take between writing about Barbara from a scholarly standpoint and portraying her, since both mediums allowed me to study her from different angles.
LF: Does being a woman working in the typically male-dominated field of history affect/motivate how you approached your project about La Marr?
SS: What drove me throughout this undertaking was my fascination with Barbara’s story, my burning desire to tell her story, and the inspiration I derived each day from working on this project. I was essentially oblivious to anything else. The idea that I’m a woman working in a typically male-dominated realm didn’t enter my mind.
LF: On your website under your resume, you self-identify as an “actress, writer, model, and Barbara La Marr biographer.” After researching and writing Barbara La Marr’s lost life back into the conversation, would you now also consider yourself a film historian? Why or why not?
SS: Given one dictionary’s definition of “historian”–a chronicler, scholar, or writer of history–and the work I’ve done on Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood and my other related writings, I suppose “film historian” is an accurate label.
In some regards, I consider myself to be a bit of a historian in general. I’ve always loved history–reading about it, writing about it, viewing historical programs, and playing historical characters as an actress. To me, there is something enlightening and even magical about stepping into another world through the portal of time, exploring humanity within the context of the specific conditioning forces that governed that world. For this reason, I enjoy researching as much as performing and writing. Unearthing clues, like lost pieces to a puzzle, and forming them into factual, intriguing depictions of characters I play or writings I do is thrilling for me.
LF: How is Barbara La Marr, the notorious yet lovable film siren, relatable or inspirational to you?
SS: Journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns admonished Barbara’s detractors after Barbara’s death: “Judge her as you will, admit her faults and weaknesses, as I do, none of you could have known her and not loved her.”
Though Barbara’s frailties and missteps factored into the adversity and infamy that plagued her, her talent, strength and determination aided the achievement of her career goals, and her tenderheartedness endeared her to others. She gave of everything she had and everything she was, and never stopped giving. She routinely donated substantial sums to hospitals, orphanages, and the less fortunate; showered her family, friends, and colleagues with extravagant gifts and financial assistance; and offered help to anyone in need. Insisting that “the heart and soul” must “have love to live,” Barbara never closed her heart to love, in spite of her frequent disillusionment with it. She gave herself completely to life, experiencing it in its entirety–“from the bubbles to the dregs,” she said; she drew upon her inherent love for living to rise above her suffering, channel her pain through her writing and acting, and give the world the best of her soul.
As mentioned earlier, I admire Barbara’s strength above all. She surmounted her life’s tragedies with greater resolve to succeed. That she could lose everything at any time due to scandal and, ultimately, death never stopped her. She spurned the stringent social dictates of her day, forging her own path through life. By attaining estimable career success in three different professions, she was a role model for the increasing numbers of American women who wanted control of their destinies and freedom from futures of domesticity. Even when her starring contract with Associated Pictures resulted in two box office disasters, and her once-promising film acting career teetered on the brink of collapse, Barbara pressed forward. She waged a comeback with her final film, The Girl from Montmartre (1926)–despite suffering from incipient pulmonary tuberculosis, and her doctor’s admonition that she retreat indefinitely to the mountains to rest. After completing most of the film (a double was later called in for certain scenes), Barbara collapsed on set in a coma. She passed away around four months later at age twenty-nine on January 30, 1926, forever unaware of the praise her performance garnered; The Girl from Montmartre was released the day after her death.
LF: If you were to meet her right now, what would you tell her?
Sherri Snyder portraying Barbara La Marr (Sherri Snyder, Barbara La Marr, http://barbaralamarr.net/)
SS: I would say that I hope I did her proud with the book, and that I continue doing her proud with my portrayals of her. I would tell her that I hope I succeeded in understanding her–and, in so doing, helping others understand her–in the way that she longed to be understood. I would mention what an honor and inspiration it has been to tell her story. I would salute her strength of heart and spirit, and her courage to follow her inner callings–regardless of the unconventionality of those callings. I would commend her considerable career accomplishments. I would thank her for the incredible journey she has given me, and the numerous gifts that journey has brought me–the opportunities I’ve been blessed with, the friends I’ve made (among them, Donald Gallery and his wonderful wife, Patricia), and the joy I’ve known.
LF: What’s next for you?
SS: I will continue honoring Barbara and the silent era by sharing her story. I created and maintain a tribute website, www.barbaralamarr.net. I have a tribute page on Facebook as well: BarbaraLaMarr:TheGirlWhoWasTooBeautifulForHollywood.
Since the book’s publication, I’ve had additional opportunities to portray Barbara in the aforesaid performance piece I wrote about her life. I have performances scheduled around Southern California in the coming months, including my usual performance at Hollywood Forever as the finale to the Los Angeles Art Deco Society’s annual tour in October. I’ve also been lecturing (usually in conjunction with one of my performances) on Barbara’s life, her career, and her impact upon cinematic history. (I announce upcoming performances and lectures in the blog section of my Barbara La Marr tribute site and on my Barbara La Marr Facebook page.) I think it would be great fun to make a film about Barbara’s life.
I appreciate the privilege of serving as a resource for others. Not long ago, a British design team contacted me, asking me to provide photos of Barbara for one of six postage stamps that have been created for the Isle of Man Post Office to commemorate celebrated British novelist Hall Caine. Besides Barbara, the stamp set includes Richard Dix, Pola Negri, Conrad Nagel, Anny Ondra, and Norman Kerry–stars who appeared in silent film adaptations of Caine’s novels. Barbara’s stamp memorializes her starring role in The Eternal City (1923), a film based on Caine’s bestselling 1901 novel of the same name; (a portrait, rather than an image from the film, was selected for Barbara’s stamp). The stamps may be purchased at the Isle of Man Post Office and on the post office’s website (https://www.iompost.com/stamps-coins/product/the-film-adaptations-of-hall-caine-first-day-cover-/) through January 2019.
Other than that, I took over producing the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour hosted by the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles each October. Along with my performance of Barbara’s story, the three-hour-long guided tour features the fascinating–and frequently scandalous–tales (told by historians and through living history interludes) of early Hollywood stars, movie moguls, and pioneers interred at the cemetery, including swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks Sr., heartthrob Rudolph Valentino, actress and William Randolph Hearst mistress Marion Davies, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, and slain director William Desmond Taylor.
I look forward to doing even more acting now that the book has been completed.
One never knows just where life may lead; I’m open to wherever it takes me.
*****
I want to recognize Sherri Snyder, the author of Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood, with a special thank you for her generous soul and unyielding hospitality. Thank you, Sherri Snyder, for your steadfastness, tenacity, and inquisitiveness, which steered you into authoring this biography. Snyder truly embodies the soul of Barbara La Marr. It is heartening to behold how she fearlessly casts her influence into the realm of cinematic history. May we all be as undaunted and open-hearted in the pursuits of our own curiosities as Barbara La Marr and Sherri Snyder.
For additional information relating to Sherri Snyder’s Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood, please visit: https://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=5161#.WwGSZUgvxPY.
Works Cited
“The Film Foundation.” The Film Foundation, www.film-foundation.org/.
Snyder, Sherri. Barbara La Marr, http://barbaralamarr.net/.
Snyder, Sherri. Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood. The University Press of Kentucky, 2017.
Author Biography
Lily C. Frame is a student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She adores experimental cinema, but aspires to teach the critical studies side of film. Frame’s goal is to extend the same ravenous passion toward film to her students, just as her professors continue to instill within her.
