[Announcer] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by: the L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation, Montgomery County, the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, the Sutphin Family Foundation, the Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation.

Additional funding provided by.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

In this edition of "The Art Show," the memoirs of a silent film star, (bright music) a museum celebrates a beloved amusement park, distinctive watercolor portraits, (bright music continues) and the art of lowrider bicycles.

It's all ahead on this edition of "The Art Show."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Hi, I'm Rodney Veal and welcome to "The Art Show," where each week, we provide access to local, regional, and national artists and arts organizations.

Our first story takes us back a hundred years to the heyday of silent cinema when audiences flocked to movie houses to see their favorite film stars, like the girl next door Mary Pickford, the dashing Sheik Rudolph Valentino, and the vamp Theda Bara.

Before she lit up the silver screen, Theda Bara was known as the Theodosia Burr Goodman, born and raised in Cincinnati.

While Theda Bara was a household name in her day, starring in motion pictures like "A Fool There Was," a majority of her films were lost in a 1937 vault fire in New Jersey.

Although much of her life's work had vanished, in 2008, the University of Cincinnati's Archives and Rare Books Library acquired a manuscript of her unpublished memoirs.

Now let's visit the archives to learn more about this one-of-a-kind artifacts restoration and its potential future.

-(bright music) -(projector whirring) Theda Bara was a silent film star of the early years of the 20th century.

She's someone that a lot of people don't know about nowadays.

However, at the time, roughly from 1914 to 1920 or so, she was pretty much one of the top stars in film of the time.

She was considered the original, as they called it, vamp, which doesn't mean quite the same thing that it does now, but meant that you were a seductive woman who was dangerous to men.

Even though the studio, Fox Studios, made a biography for her that made her sound very exotic and told everyone that she was born literally in the shadows of the Sphinx in Egypt, she was actually just a nice Jewish girl from Cincinnati, as she sometimes said.

(bright music) She grew up as a middle-class Jewish girl in the Avondale section of Cincinnati, which was at the time a predominantly middle-class Jewish area, and she went to Walnut Hills High School.

[Christoper] That's the Theodosia Goodman who became Theda Bara later on.

[Jennifer] She attended the synagogue, the Plum Street Temple Synagogue.

Theodosia did attend UC after she graduated from Walnut Hills High School.

She attended for two years.

We do see Theodosia Goodman in the 1904 and the 1905 yearbooks.

She does not seem to have graduated.

She left for New York in the midst of her studies.

She had this very condensed career from roughly 1914 to 1919 or 1920.

During that time, she made over 40 films, which is hard for us to think of given how films work today.

But some of her most significant films were "A Fool There Was," which was an early film that really created that vamp image for her.

It's where she broke out as a star, and in that film, she played the seductress, who was bringing a man who had a wife to his doom.

So she was an early vamp and one of our early sex symbols in film, and so she's had a huge effect, I think, on future starlets and representations of women in film, and yet we know so little about her because her films didn't survive into the contemporary period.

One of the painful things that she went through was the loss of her legacy.

So in 1937, which was during her lifetime, there was a fire in the vaults of Fox Studios.

And so something like 90% of Theda Bara's output was destroyed at that time, and she was alive and she was very aware of this happening.

The Archives and Rare Books Library is one of 13 library units at the University of Cincinnati.

So we have a collection here that the official name is the T. Everett Harre Manuscript on Theda Bara.

The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Archives and Rare Books Library acquired this manuscript in 2008 and was through the efforts of a man named Kevin Grace, who was then the head of the Archives and Rare Books Library, who spotted this manuscript listed in a book and manuscript dealer's catalog.

It is about 450 typewritten pages of a manuscript on the life of film actress Theda Bara.

It was a completed but never published memoir that was supposed to be published under Theda Bara's name, and so it was ghostwritten in collaboration with Theda Bara by T. Everett Harre, who was a newspaper man and author and editor from Philadelphia.

Apart from the manuscript, there's also about 60 letters between Theda Bara and Harre talking about that collaboration.

The importance of this manuscript is it really gets to kind of the heart of Theda Bara's life, this transformation from Theodosia Goodman, who described herself as a good Jewish girl from Cincinnati, into this femme fatale figure.

-(bright music) -(projector whirring) We've been very fortunate to work with our Preservation Lab colleagues, who were able to stabilize the document.

The lab is responsible for the preservation of the treasures of the library.

We are a book and paper lab, so we primarily work with bound objects and paper.

The manuscript is an unbound manuscript.

It's a typed manuscript.

It was in good condition.

There wasn't a lot of tearing.

But with paper that is that thin, it becomes delicate.

And because it was typewriter ribbon, it is stable, but you could still rub some things off.

There are marginalia where they've written in on pencil, so that could also be rubbed off.

The question was how to make sure it stays in that condition, both by handling by researchers and in the future if it would be digitized.

And that's why we made the decision to sleeve it instead of encapsulating it, so it could be removed from the sleeves if it was digitized in the future.

(bright music continues) It includes a cover page with the title "Woman or Vampire?"

It includes chapter titles such as "I Procured Poison Caramels with Full Intent to Use Them," or "Saved from an Early Marriage by a Ouija Board," or "'Devil's Handmaiden' - Am I?"

So if you look at the table of contents, it seems like this almost, it's intended to be somewhat this scandalous, spectacular memoir.

When you look at the actual content of it, it's more of a day-to-day life of Theda Bara, everything from her early childhood and education in Cincinnati, the move to New York, entering Broadway and film productions, all the way up to about 1917, 1918, when she was the lead in the film "Cleopatra."

Theda Bara's career kind of goes into a decline.

She has, I think, one stage production which is not received well by critics, and then there's a few years before she has, I think there were two remaining films in her career.

So unfortunately this is being written kind of, I think, as she's sliding out of the public eye in a certainly Hollywood producer's eyes, which may have led to why this was ultimately not successfully published.

[Jennifer] But it's a fascinating document and testament to the fact that we can continue to find artifacts from silent film stars like Theda Bara.

The outlook is very good for it (chuckles).

Nothing lasts forever, but it'll be around before probably I pass or anyone I know passes.

We perceive her as having completely lost her legacy when the films burned in the Fox fire.

But as time has gone on, what we found is that a lot of silent films, which were shown all over the world because they were silent, they were very easily translatable to other audiences, have survived in different forms.

There have been clips of Theda Bara films that have been found in various other countries.

So it's absolutely the case that we can continue to find more of her films over time as we go into the vaults of various old cinemas.

There really is a sense of kind of a treasure hunt to find material like Theda Bara's films.

She wasn't just a studio creation.

She was also her own creation.

She is very much a woman of her age.

She grew up middle class.

She grew up in Avondale.

She grew up as part of the Reform Jewish Movement.

All of these are very central parts of that time period in Cincinnati history, and she's emblematic of what it was like to be a smart young woman who wanted to make it from the Midwest on, you know, the big screen.

And I think that story is one that can absolutely still capture people's imagination if they're told it.

-(bright music) -(projector whirring) (projector clicks) If you'd like to learn more about this or any other story on today's show, visit us online at cetconnect.org or thinktv.org.

On the southern shore of Lake Erie, Cedar Point Amusement Park has been a vacation destination for more than 150 years.

Much of that history is now on display in the new Cedar Point Historical Museum in downtown Sandusky.

Thanks to one man's vast collection of memorabilia, fans of Cedar Point can appreciate the park in a whole new way.

(bright music) Good day and thank you for coming to the downtown Sandusky Cedar Point Historical Museum.

My name is David Kaman and I have the pleasure of being the curator and executive director of this museum.

Over the last 50 years, I have been in love with Cedar Point and I have amassed a tremendous amount of different Cedar Point memorabilia.

I loved sharing this memorabilia with my family and friends.

But as the amount of items that I had grew greater and greater, I felt a bigger and bigger need to share it with other Cedar Point lovers.

And as a result, we've created this beautiful Cedar Point Historical Museum within the very friendly confines of the downtown Sandusky Merry-Go-Round Museum.

(bright music continues) How many items do we actually have here in the Cedar Point Museum?

The answer to that question is, I don't know.

There's just so many unique little items that deserve your attention.

(bright music continues) This case goes back to 1890.

Our oldest item that we have is here.

It's a ribbon from 1893.

And in the olden days, when groups of people would come to Cedar Point, the entire group, everyone in the group, would wear the ribbon showing where they were from, what city, and the year.

A lot of people have asked me, "David, how did you get started in all of this?"

And it is really a love story.

When I graduated from high school here in Sandusky, that summer I started working at Cedar Point.

I worked from 11:30 at night till eight in the morning changing light bulbs.

At that point in time, I just fell in love with the park.

My dad had six or eight postcards that he had showed to me.

I started collecting postcards, and then it expanded to all of the things that you see.

(bright music continues) And one of the real treasures that we have here is a picture of Cedar Point's first roller coaster, which was the Switchback Railway.

And it actually was 25 feet high.

So imagine the screams of delight that that caused.

I started collecting so many years ago, but a treasure that I've had my entire life, I have a picture from 1931 of my mother and my uncle sitting on a carousel horse in Cedar Point.

It's just such a wonderful thing to have a part of my family be a part of this museum.

(bright music) One of the delights of putting this museum together has been the people that I've met who've made contributions to it.

When I became of age to have a job during the summer, I chose Cedar Point, or they chose me.

And when I retired in 2005, I was director of park operations, in charge of park admissions and park services.

(bright music continues) I also have a collection of Cedar Point, and I had also tried to find a place to place my items.

It's not quite as large as David, but I have different things than he does.

So when I would see something, where when I would see where there's a gap, such as he had no green glass in the display case or none of the pink or the custard or milk glass.

So I have added some of my pieces from my collection to his collection.

So we have more of a, you know, everything's covered.

(bright music continues) When the Cedar Point Resort initially opened, it opened as this beautiful hotel, the Hotel Breakers, with the beach.

But it was very classy, and they sold very classy items, such as this glassware.

(bright music continues) This is one of my favorite display cases because it has some of the great rides from the '60s and '70s.

It also has some of the unusual souvenirs that you could buy, such as the giant comb, the back scratcher.

Every year for as long as I can remember, I have had numerous visits to the beautiful place known as Cedar Point.

I've been on every roller coaster.

I'm still a roller coaster freak.

Hence we have all these inaugural rider medallions here in the museum.

But Cedar Point is just so much more than the roller coasters.

I just love the atmosphere of seeing families have fun.

Cedar Point takes you away to a wonderful place.

(bright music continues) I hope everyone that comes through the door has memories, fond memories of Cedar Point, and this will help bring them back so that they can relive them again.

(bright music continues) If you crave more art goodness in your life, the podcast "Rodney Veal's Inspired By" is available now.

You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn more and find show notes at thinktv.org or cetconnect.org.

Now let's travel to Reno, Nevada, to meet artist James Gayles, who paints distinctive watercolor portraits.

He uses his work to uplift and inspire the African American community with his vision of peace, harmony, and cultural preservation.

Here's his story.

(bright music) Watercolor lends itself to spontaneity, flow, and expression.

I can do my type of style for the shadowing and the highlights.

(bright music continues) My name is James Gayles.

I do watercolor portraiture.

I work here in my studio on Dickerson Road in Reno, Nevada.

(bright music continues) My subject matter is, a lot of times, it's African American, and I like to show positive images of that segment of the population to give the people pride in themselves.

I was born on the East Coast in Newark, New Jersey, which is right across the bridge from New York City.

As a teenager, I snuck a lot across the bridge out to New York, to jazz night clubs.

New York City is great, you know, 'cause everything's there.

It's the center of everything, fashion, music, art.

So it was great for me.

I loved it.

(bright music) As far back as I could remember, I liked to paint and draw and do art.

My mom was one of my biggest encouragers.

(bright music) I kinda always knew that I was gonna be an artist when I grew up.

I started out in oils when I was a teenager, but I discovered I was allergic to the oil, so that's when I switched to watercolor and acrylic.

I graduated in 1970 from Pratt Institute.

Basically, I'm self taught, long before I went to school.

School just enhanced it more.

(bright music continues) I start out with the eyes.

To me, the eyes are the most important thing that can convey the person's spirit.

I break up the face into shadows and highlights, cheek bones, the nose, the lips.

Watercolor is very good for that.

I go through a lot of paint, a lot of color, because my paintings are saturated with color and paint.

So I go through tubes very quickly.

(bright music continues) Capturing the spirit of a person is the main thing that I'm striving for.

A lot of people find watercolor hard.

I find it easy, because, well, as you're painting, there's bound to be mistakes.

But I like to use those mistakes to work on them.

They create a better end product once you solve those mistakes within the painting.

(bright music) It's kinda hard to explain how I do it because I kinda go by feeling.

It's kind of like a spiritual-type thing, you know?

Relate to the subject, and you kind of try and bring out their spirit, you know?

(bright music continues) I do a lot of musicians, Nina Simone, Miles Davis.

Miles Davis is another favorite 'cause he has very intense eyes.

John Coltrane, and, you know, a lot of icons that they look up to, like Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King.

(bright music continues) It's a good feeling, you know, that I've accomplished something.

Reno's kinda growing on me.

It's a lot different than New York or Oakland, 'cause New York and Oakland are very diverse, very multicultural, you know?

So I kinda made it my mission to bring African American art to Reno.

My advice to young struggling artists who struggle with their work, I say don't be discouraged if things don't work out the first time.

You know, stick with it.

They must love it, because there's long hours and a lot of work they gotta put into it in order to be successful.

So you have to love it, and you have to kind of like be a sponge to absorb all the artwork.

You know, look at art whenever you can in the museums, the galleries, magazines, see what the other artists are doing, and so you can kinda gauge yourself where you fit in to the whole art scene.

(bright music continues) If you miss an episode of "The Art Show," we've got you covered.

It's available to stream at cetconnect.org and thinktv.org.

You'll find all the previous episodes as well as current episodes and links to the artists we feature.

For Aaron Gonzalez, a bicycle is a work of art.

With skill and vision, he builds custom lowrider bikes that have received recognition for their style and character.

Let's take a trip to New Mexico to hear more about his creative process as well as his role in the community as co-founder of Albuquerque's Oddfellas Bike Club.

Check it out.

[Aaron] I think it's the shiny wheels and the candy paint and the flaked-out patterns.

And I mean, I think it's beautiful.

(CD player clicking) (upbeat music) (machinery whirring) When it comes to the bikes, I have a certain style.

Anybody that comes to me wanting a bike, they already know that it's going to be low to the ground.

If you want something high, then I'm probably not the person to come to.

♪ And I can't make a move ♪ [Aaron] The first lowrider I ever seen was a '50s Chevy truck.

It was all black, had chrome rims on it, and then I picked up my first "Lowrider Magazine" when I was younger and I saw the bikes and I saw the art and everything about it, I just fell in love with it.

♪ To the sea ♪ ♪ Baby if you run away ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ (machinery whirring) When it comes to flow, when it comes to design, I always look at body lines on old cars, and that's where a lot of the designs come from.

(bright music) The Fleetline is something that I designed and that's kind of where that design came from, a '48 Fleetline.

(bright music continues) I was once told, when you're designing something, especially a bicycle, you should be able to look at the bike from the beginning and not stop all the way to the very end, and that's when you've got the perfect flow.

And that's something that's always stuck with me.

When I'm in the zone, there's no distraction, there's nothing that can break my concentration.

If I'm having a bad day, I just build bikes.

I have no fabrication background, I have no welding background.

I didn't think I can do it, but I started doing it and I fell in love with it.

(bright music continues) It's my art, it's my passion.

I love everything about it.

Just being able to create rideable art and create something that not only I can enjoy, but other people can enjoy.

And I think that New Mexico has a big culture when it comes to the lowrider scene.

What's going on, brother?

♪ It's gonna be alright, yeah, yeah ♪ And we're all different.

You know, nobody is the same and that's just kind of how the bikes are.

Every one of these bikes are different.

Just like shoes or anything else, you know, it just kind of fits the individual person that's actually riding the bike.

(upbeat music) When it comes to the Oddfellas, it's all about riding together.

♪ It's gonna be alright ♪ ♪ It's gonna be alright ♪ ♪ It's gonna be okay ♪ ♪ It's gonna be alright ♪ ♪ I feel it in my heart ♪ [Aaron] While we're all riding, people kind of gravitate towards these bikes.

♪ Find your way ♪ ♪ It's gonna, yeah, yeah ♪ [Aaron] They come out their house, they're all smiling, they're happy, waving.

You know, it's just a really good feeling.

♪ Try to carry on ♪ [Aaron] It always puts a smile on someone's face.

♪ You won't know ♪ ♪ When next year's gonna come ♪ ♪ You've got to just ♪ [Aaron] I have this saying, it's the bikes that bring us together, but it's the people that make us stay.

It's about family.

It's about finding your gift.

It's about doing something that could take you away from the everyday distractions.

Whatever you're going through during the week, when you're on these bikes, you don't have a choice but to just slow down and take everything in around you.

It just brings everyone together, and everyone's on the same page when we're riding.

We're just in the moment.

♪ Carry on ♪ ♪ Let it go, let it go ♪ ♪ Carry on ♪ ♪ Carry on, let it go ♪ ♪ Carry on ♪ ♪ Let it go, let it go ♪ ♪ Carry on ♪ And that wraps it up for this edition of "The Art Show."

Until next time, I'm Rodney Veal.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) [Announcer] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by: the L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation, Montgomery County, the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, the Sutphin Family Foundation, the Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation.

Additional funding provided by.

And viewers like you.

Closed captioning in part has made possible through a grant from the Bahmann Foundation.

Thank you.