In one of her last interviews, Theda [Bara] waxed nostalgic about the silent screen. “To understand those days,” she told Hedda Hopper, “you must consider that people believed what they saw on the screen. Nobody had destroyed the great illusion. Now they know it’s all make-believe.” 
    She also took the casually dressed stars of the 1950’s to task, in an incisive tirade which holds just as true today as it did then. “It’s the stars themselves who have been failing the fans. People have always been hungry for glamour- they still are. But it takes showmanship and a constant sense of responsibility to hold their interest. A star mustn’t allow her public to see her in slacks. She should dress beautifully at all times- I don’t mean in a bizarre way. She must live their dreams for them and remain a figure of mystery. Glamour is the most essential part of Hollywood.” 
    Hollywood’s first sex symbol then offered an appraisal of Hollywood’s current sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe. “I think, like everyone else, that she is sexy. But I don’t believe she likes it much, does she? She probably will have the same trouble I have had,“ Theda concluded prophetically. ”She will never be able to live down her reputation.” 

-Vamp: The Rise and Fall of  Theda Bara  by Eve Golden