Arts & Entertainment

From the Archives: Theda Bara Rock, Fox Studio Back Lot, Main Street and Linwood Avenue, Circa 1915

A weekly look at historical images and their significance from the archives of the Fort Lee Film Commission

In light of the Bergen County Special Projects History Grant from the County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs the Fort Lee Film Commission received this month, Tom Meyers of the film commission has pulled this archival still from the archives that will be used in the Fort Lee film history walking tour map for which the $2,000 Bergen County special projects history grant will be used to create, print and distribute.  

Meyers said the maps will be ready for distribution and free to the public at the June 5 Fort Lee Arts & Music Festival, when thousands of people are expected to be out on Main St.

The project continues local efforts to “reclaim,” as Meyers puts it, and highlight a unique aspect of the borough’s history for residents, as well as for film scholars around the world.

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“Now people will be able to grab a copy of this map if they’d like to do a walking tour of their own and learn about Fort Lee’s great film history,” he said. “We think this will be helpful in many ways to reconnect people to that past.”

Meyers said this still is of Fox Star and what he called “the first sex symbol of the silver screen,” Theda Bara.  

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Bara is pictured on a rock on the Fox Studio back lot on Main St. and Linwood Ave. It is a production still from the 1915 Fox film Carmen.

According to Meyers, the rock is still visible from Main St. in the courtyard of the Fort Linwood Garden Apartments and is part of the film commission’s bi-annual Fort Lee history jitney tours.  

Nearby is the commemorative street marker “Theda Bara Way” the Film Commission and the borough placed near the studio site.  

Also pictured is the unveiling of the Theda Bara Way sign with members of the Fort Lee Film Commission and Los Angeles-based filmmakers who produced the documentary Theda Bara: The Woman with the Hungry Eyes in 2006.

Editor's Note: This article was compiled from information provided by Fort Lee Film Commission Executive Director Tom Meyers.


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