The Lady is a Vamp Trivia Quiz

Answer: Theda Bara

Clara Bow's nickname was the "It Girl" and was considered the quintessential flapper girl of the Roaring Twenties.

Mary Pickford, despite being Canadian-born, was dubbed as "America's Sweetheart" and could hardly be described as "vampish". Along with her husband Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, she founded United Artists.

Pola Negri, who had affairs with Charlie Chaplin and Rudy Valentino, was definitely a "vamp" in the 1920s, but not the first. In fact, she was probably the last one to achieve stardom in silent movies before the advent of sound.

According to legend, Theda Bara's role in the silent film "A Fool There Was" (1915) gave rise to the origin of the word "vamp". While this is not quite correct, it is certainly true that the new word applied to the type of character her name became synonymous with. Two quotes from the "vamp" herself:

"The reason good women like me and flock to my pictures is that there is a little bit of vampire instinct in every woman."
"I have the face of a vampire, but the heart of a feminist."

Answer: Yvonne de Carlo

Carolyn Jones played Morticia Addams in the TV series. Anjelica Huston reprised that role for the 1991 and 1993 movies. Lee Meriwether played Lily on "The Munsters Today", an updated television remake that ran from 1988 to 1991.

Yvonne de Carlo was, in fact, a fairly big movie star in the 40s and 50s. Once billed as "the most beautiful woman in the world", she dated the likes of Howard Hughes, Aly Khan, Robert Taylor and Billy Wilder. Trained in voice, ballet and dance, she also had success on Broadway and made guest appearances in numerous television shows. She is one of the few people who have TWO stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - one for movies and one for contributions to television.

Answer: Mata Hari

Greta Garbo (real name Greta Lovisa Gustafsson), one of a very small number of actresses who successfully managed the transition between silent film and "talkies", played Mata Hari in the 1931 movie of the same name. Famously reclusive, she passed away at age 84.

Marilyn Monroe (baptised Norma Jean Baker) certainly appeared to live a life of fantasy during her heyday, but in reality was plagued by depression, insecurity and substance abuse. She was found dead shortly after her 36th birthday.

Sarah Harris was only 13 years old when she gave birth to Billie Holiday (whose real first name was either Eleonora or Elinore). Her life was about as far from "fairy-tale" as you can get. She died from liver/heart disease at age 44, in a hospital bed, while under arrest for drug possession.

I am sure most of you have read somewhere that the femme fatale known as "Mata Hari" was convicted of espionage and executed by a French firing squad during World War I. Modern research suggests she may have been a political and/or social (due to her promiscuity and excessively lavish lifestyle) "scapegoat". Recent examination of documents (not allowed as evidence in her hasty trial) casts some doubt on whether she was much of a spy (or much of anything else for that matter since her publicised origins and "artistic" fame were complete fabrications created by both herself and her agents/promoters). By some accounts, she was blissfully naive about the ramifications of global war and was probably self-absorbed enough to think that having the word "spy" attached to her name would only add to her exotic and mysterious allure. Whatever the real facts are, it was a very UNglamourous end to an extraordinary life.

Answer: Mae West

The clues in quotes referred to the nickname the RAF had for their inflatable life vests, which they called "Mae Wests" in reference to her buxom figure. U.S. Army soldiers also called their twin-turreted combat tanks by the same name.

In 1912, a theatre mag called "Variety" published a review of a burlesque show starring Mae West that named her "the Baby Vamp" (notably, more than two full years before Theda Bara starred in the movie that resulted in Bara being named "the vamp of all vamps"). Mae was a Vaudeville and Broadway star for many years before she came to Hollywood to make her first "sex symbol" appearance on film at the unlikely age of 38. She managed to pull it off anyway, with great success.

While many people are familiar with her oft-quoted double entendres, what you might not know about her is that she created/wrote nearly all of her vaudeville acts and Broadway plays, wrote several of her movie screenplays and was even allowed to rewrite some of her lines in her very first movie (all these things were previously completely unheard of in her day). An early advocate of women's lib and gay rights, she fought a never-ending battle against censorship laws. When an African-American boxer friend was not allowed to visit her in her apartment due to discrimination, she solved the "problem" by buying the entire building outright. Truly, a woman before her time.

Answer: Carmilla

In 1872, Joseph Thomas Sheridan le Fanu (an unlikely sounding name for an Irishman) wrote the short story he called "Carmilla". This vampiress pursued female victims exclusively and (considering the time it was written) rather explicitly explored certain aspects of eroticism.

There is little doubt that Bram Stoker was heavily influenced by both Irish myth as well as the novella "Carmilla" when he penned his classic "Dracula" five years later (in 1897) - especially since Le Fanu was Stoker's editor in Dublin when the latter was employed as a theatre critic.

It is thought by some that Stoker deliberately chose to make his protaganist a COUNT who preyed on females partially to avoid controversy (and possible arrest) due to the strict Victorian morality laws at that time concerning homosexuality.

Answer: Madonna

Amy's pale skin makes her look like a vampire; Lady Gaga's costumes are most definitely "vampy"; Britney has acted rather trashy in the past; but the true ground-breaking queen of the music video is, of course, the inimitable Madonna. Need I say more?

Answer: Edvard Munch

Like most art, meaning is often in the eye of the beholder. However darkly passionate this painting appears, it is unlikely that Munch intended this piece to be an actual depiction of a vampire sucking blood - but the nickname given by an art critic "stuck". Munch originally planned for it to be part of a series called "Frieze of Life". In 1903 it ended up in private collection(s) and remained so until the fall of 2008 when it became available for auction and Southeby's sold it for $38.16 million USD.

Answer: Elvira

Elvira's outlandish get-up (gothic makeup, lowcut dress, black beehive wig and valley-girl accent) guaranteed complete anonymity for Cassandra (a natural redhead from Kansas) when not in costume. Although she is most known for her campy "Mistress of the Dark" self-deprecating persona, she is also a decent singer/dancer and writer/producer in real life.

Answer: Betty Boop

The original Betty Boop was drawn by Grim Natwick as the canine girlfriend of a male cartoon dog named Bimbo (my how times change lol). She made her first movie appearance in Max Fleischer's 1930 animated short "Dizzy Dishes". Within a year or so, she evolved into a human character that was by no means a "dog".

Her figure emulated Mae West and her voice (performed by Mae Questel) was similar to that of Helen Kane who recorded "I Wanna Be Loved By You" in 1928. Due to newly imposed morality laws in the U.S., Betty Boop's "naughty yet innocent" persona disappeared from movies by 1939 - but not from people's memories.

Answer: Cher

Goldie Hawn was the "Sock It To Me" girl (not a vamp, just a cute ditz in a flowered bikini and body paint) on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in". Who knew she would go on to be nominated for so many Golden Globes and Oscars? Carol Burnett and her friend/mentor Lucille Ball never played any TV roles that one would call "risque".

In a recurring skit on "The Sonny and Cher Show", Sonny Bono would play the piano while Cher languished on the piano top, singing about various "notorious" females throughout history. While the skits themselves were far from memorable, you might recall the chorus that went like this: "She was a scamp, a camp and a bit a tramp. She was a V-A-M-P...Vamp!"