Evil Women: Louise Glaum

This month, in addition to film review posts, we'll be focusing on a number of actresses who helped to define the idea of a femme fatale, a stock character of a seductive, mysterious, often exotic woman intent on bringing men to their downfalls that has been consistently employed by films over the past century and a half. Join us for the third installment of June's theme: Evil Women.

For the past few weeks we've been discussing actresses who helped to define the vamp- an early caricature of an exotic, mysterious woman that would later evolve into the femme fatale of 1940s film noirs. This week we will be focusing on a unique actress who helped define the vamp onscreen, but also managed to be wildly successful as an ingenue, western hero, Vaudeville star, and, following her retirement from acting, a drama teacher and club owner. Louise Glaum managed to have several careers all rolled into one from her start in film in 1912 to her retirement only nine years later in 1921. She was known for her wildly exotic costumes, frequently adorned with leopard skin and peacock feathers, and starred in two very bluntly titled films that shine as the epitome of pre-code cinema: Sex and Love, both made in 1920.

Louise Glaum was born on September 4th, 1888 in Baltimore, the daughter of a German immigrant family. Her father, born Johannes Wilhelm Glaum in Germany, immigrated to the United States in the 1860s, changing his name to John. Her mother, Lena Katherine Kuhn, was a first born American born to German parents in New York City. Louise was one of four girls; her sisters, Hattie, Lena, and Margaret remained close to her for their entire lives.

In the 1890s the Glaum family moved to Southern California, living in Pasadena for a few years before settling in Los Angeles. Louise began acting in her teens, appearing in her first professional theatre performance in 1907, at the age of 19. She was soon taking part in her first touring gig, as the ingenue in Why Girls Leave Home, an aptly titled play that allowed Louise to leave her home in LA and move across the country, making $25 a week, an amount equal to roughly $500 in today's money, and designing her own costumes. Her theatre career was temporarily cut short in 1911 when her youngest sister, Margaret, died suddenly, and Louise was forced to end her touring contract and return to California. Soon, however, she began seeking film roles in the newly developing Hollywood.

Louise Glaum's first screen role was the ingenue Mary Gordon in Al Christie's short western When The Heart Calls (1912). For several years she made dozens of films, mostly westerns, in which she played basically the same ingenue role. However, things were to change when, in 1915, she signed with Thomas Ince, revolutionary film producer and studio mogul credited with creating the "assembly line" style of filmmaking. Ince saw in Glaum the ability to channel the exotic, sexy character being popularized by Fox contract players Theda Bara and Valeska Suratt: the vamp.

In 1915's The Toast of Death, Glaum made her first onscreen appearance as a vamp. This role would be only one of many turns as a sexy, mysterious villainess. Like her fellow vamps, Glaum was also known to play ethnic characters, like the half-Native American woman masquerading as an Indian Princess in the 1918 film The Goddess of Lost Lake. That movie audiences were willing to believe a white German woman as ethnic says volumes about the times.

What makes Glaum stand out to me, besides her unique position as an actress who was not typecast only as vamps, is Glaum's unapologetic sexual appeal and concurrent ability to retain her reputation as a respected actress. While studios encouraged audience members to see Theda Bara and Valeska Suratt as exotica, sometimes even as reminders of the dangers of feminism, studios and audiences alike touted Glaum as a respectable woman, untainted by her association with vamp roles. The Ironwood Daily Globe reported in 1921: "Run for your lives, boys; it's Louise Glaum who is approaching. She testifies however, that she has quit 'vamping' as a regular business. What 'vamp' stuff she pulls nowadays is just for the moral affect, as a foil to the retribution which always follows. So- after all- maybe you needn't run."

Glaum, you see, was saved from career ruin by the fact that her vamps always ended up reformed by the end of the film. The studios used her to demonstrate the consequences of a sexually liberated, man-eating woman, and Glaum's vamp always ended up as pure as a lily by the fifth reel of the film. Still, some of Glaum's performances are downright erotic. Take this scene from 1916's The Wolf Woman:

Not even mentioning the fact that her breast is clothed only in a goddamn spider web, her physical motions seem waaaaaay too suggestive for an early film. So, in a way, Glaum got her cake and could eat it too- she was able to portray evil sexpots onscreen with as much vigor as the role demanded, and get off Scott-free when the movie was over. For this reason, I would like to crown Louise Glaum as the master of the Pre-Code cinema.

Glaum had a successful career and, by all accounts, a fulfilling personal life. She was married two times, and ended up being a successful drama teacher and owner of several clubs for over three decades. Although she did have her share of legal fiascos, including two failed lawsuits against J. Parker Read, Jr. and the Ince estate for owed attachment money and breach of contract, Glaum stayed wealthy and comfortable in her Los Angeles home until her death, at the age of 82, in 1970.

Although she is not the most iconic screen Vamp- that title goes to Theda Bara- her contributions to early cinema, both as a vamp, an ingenue, and on occasion a Western star, solidify Louise Glaum as an important and iconic figure of early film. Her theatrics, including her onscreen sex appeal and her flamboyant costumes, make her a personal favorite of mine.