My Barbara La Marr Portrayal and Book

In addition to authoring a biography on silent screen vamp Barbara La Marr (Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood, available on Amazon and the University Press of Kentucky's website) and hosting a tribute website (www.barbaralamarr.net), I regularly present a program consisting of my self-authored, one-woman portrayal of Barbara and my slideshow lecture about her incredible life. I originally portrayed Barbara in a piece I wrote for the Pasadena Playhouse/Pasadena Museum of History production Channeling Hollywood, and I have since presented my program in various venues throughout Southern California and beyond, including Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre, the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, Hollywood Forever, libraries, and museums. (See Performance Dates below.)

***To schedule my Barbara La Marr program (my performance as Barbara and my slideshow lecture about her life), contact me directly via the contact tab at the top of the page.

One of early Hollywood's first major stars and s ex sirens, Barbara La Marr was a celebrated dancer, an acclaimed vaudevillian, a highly talented screenwriter, and an accomplished actress. She lived passionately and with abandon before dying of tuberculosis and nephritis at age twenty-nine in 1926. A few of the many highlights of her life include:

* Dancing underage in cabarets.

* Being sent out of Los Angeles and back to her parents at age seventeen because juvenile authorities deemed her "too beautiful" to be on her own in the city.

* Disassociating from her scandalous past by reinventing herself under an assumed identity.

* Achieving renown as a dancer in some of the nation's foremost cabarets and on Broadway during the height of the pre-WWI dance craze.

* Touring the vaudeville circuits in headlining comedy skits.

* Writing six screenplays for the Fox Film Corporation.

* Acting roles in twenty-six (credited) films, including The Three Musketeers (1921), The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), The Eternal City (1923), and The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924).

* Taking lovers---according to her---"like roses, by the dozen."

* Giving birth to a son while separated from one of her husbands and masquerading as the boy's adoptive mother to avoid losing her career to scandal.

PERFORMANCE DATES:

(Photo: Barbara La Marr [on left] and me as Barbara)

March 2025 (Date TBD) at the Hollywood Heritage Museum - Silent screen actress Barbara La Marr was a legend in her time, leading an astounding life described by newspapers of the day as "a wilder story than she ever helped to film." I'm honored to partner with the Hollywood Heritage Museum during Women's History Month to portray Barbara in a self-authored performance piece, then present a slideshow lecture about her, detailing her oftentimes scandalous life from her humble beginnings to her tragic death at age twenty-nine in 1926. Barbara's banishment from Los Angeles at age seventeen for being "too beautiful"; her notable careers as a dancer, a vaudevillian, a screenwriter, and an actress; her impact upon cinematic history; and her fierce determination to forge her own destiny amid the constant threat of losing it all to scandal and, ultimately, death will be spotlighted. The Hollywood Heritage Museum is located in the restored Lasky-Demille Barn, Hollywood's oldest surviving motion picture studio. Additional details are coming soon.

October 2025 (Date TBD) at Hollywood Forever - My performance is part of the Los Angeles Art Deco Society's 42nd annual Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour. Also featured on the tour are the stories---told by performers and historians---of silent film god Rudolph Valentino, action hero Douglas Fairbanks Sr., actress and William Randolph Hearst mistress Marion Davies, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, slain director William Desmond Taylor, and around twenty other early Hollywood luminaries and Los Angeles pioneers interred at Hollywood Forever. This event typically sells out. Stay tuned for additional details.

COMMENTARY ON THE SHOW -

*" In regards to the Barbara La Marr show as performed by Sherri Snyder, I have had the privilege of seeing it on several different occasions. I was amazed and thrilled to see this very beautiful and talented young woman step back in time to recapture the tempestuous life of my mother during the silent days of Hollywood." ---Donald Gallery (aka Marvin Carville La Marr)

*"I wanted to thank you again for your fabulous portrayal of Barbara La Marr today at Hollywood Forever. You captivated the attendees. The performance was truly riveting as you unveiled the drama behind the woman. Wow! It was fantastic." ---Frank Cooper, Art Deco Society of Los Angeles

*"It was a pleasure to work with you. You were perfect, enthusiastic, and really nailed her. And thank you so much for caring as much as you did." ---Richard Hilton, Director (Pasadena Playhouse/Pasadena Museum of History)

*"Don said you have brought Barbara back to life for him. He really feels the essence of his mother in your words, movements, and smile." ---Patricia Gallery, wife of Donald Gallery (aka Marvin Carville La Marr)

*"Barbara's spirit absolutely comes through you! Her grace, presence, and humor are perfectly recreated and shared! I had chills through the laughter and tears." ---Danna Jones, performance attendee

*"She does for Barbara La Marr what Val Kilmer did for Jim Morrison." ---Sara Lerma, performance attendee

*"Thank you for the entertaining and captivating program you put on for us at Brookdale Chatsworth. I have never experienced the residents unanimously giving raving positive reviews after an entertainment we have at the community. So many residents expressed how much they loved your show and how fabulous, informative, and impressionable you were...You are one of a kind and the residents' spirits were visibly lifted after experiencing your performance." ---Lilia Gahard, Engagement Director

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REVIEWS OF MY BIOGRAPHY, BARBARA LA MARR: THE GIRL WHO WAS TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR HOLLYWOOD -

*“The ‘Girl Who Was Too Beautiful' moniker is both a blessing and a curse for Barbara La Marr's legacy. It ensures her place in the pantheon of Hollywood's most intriguing figures, but at the same time discourages modern audiences from viewing her as anything more than Roaring Twenties eye candy. Therefore, the task that Sherri Snyder has undertaken is invaluable; Snyder manages to humanize an actress who is all too often defined merely by her physical appearance and freewheeling lifestyle. Expertly researched and captivatingly written, Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood manages to paint the most complete picture of La Marr's life to date. A scholarly work on Barbara La Marr was long overdue; the silent film community as a whole should be thankful that Snyder was not only up to the task, but has created a work that will serve to define La Marr's life and career for decades to come.” ―Charles Epting, editor, Silent Film Quarterly

*One of the "Best Film Books of 2017." ---Huffington Post (now HuffPost)

*“Snyder's work is fresh and enthralling. Her dedication and compassion for her subject shines through. And we are richly rewarded with a truly well-written biography of a long-forgotten star.” ― Stephen Michael Shearer, author of Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life, Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr, and Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star

*One of the "Best Celebrity Bios of 2017." ---The Entertainment Report

*"This gripping biography by Sherri Snyder details every twist and turn of La Marr's breathless existence from teenage rebel to Hollywood star." ---Sight & Sound

*“Sherri Snyder peels away the gossip to reveal the truth of the life of Barbara La Marr. Snyder illuminates La Marr's artistic struggles and personal demons with depth and sensitivity. Scandal seekers take note! The truth is far more compelling than any fictional account on record.” —Karie Bible, co-author of Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970, film historian, and Hollywood Forever tour guide

*“Sherri Snyder digs deep into the life of Barbara La Marr, giving an in-depth look at the intelligence and talents of the ‘Girl Who Was Too Beautiful.' We see the real three-dimensional La Marr for the very first time, a thoughtful, generous, and creative woman who died much too young.” —-Mary Mallory, film historian and author (Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970, Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found, and Hollywood at Play: Celebrating Celebrity and Simpler Times)

*“Snyder beautifully steps up to the task of providing film scholars a thoughtful and well-researched depiction of La Marr's life, career, and legacy. Snyder's work offers an honest and incredibly personal perspective of La Marr's life. Snyder's prose justly portrays both the rewarding and challenging moments throughout La Marr's life and career.” —- Annette Bochenek, Hometowns to Hollywood

*“Snyder's completed manuscript is impressive in both its scope and detail . . . . A fluid and captivating narrative.” —- Christina Rice, author of Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel and Mean...Moody...Magnificent! Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend

*“Packed with extensive research and never-before-released documents, Snyder's biography of La Marr transports the reader to a bygone era of glamour mixed with decadence, a life of hope and despair. Ultimately, we witness the birth of a great actress and the many challenges she faced in her struggle to the top.”---Roz Templin, El Segundo Scene