I am pleased to announce a coffee blend specifically created to pay tribute to the legendary Barbara La Marr. As one of the silent screen’s leading vamps, Barbara seduced audiences worldwide with her laudable talent, exotic beauty, and enigmatic allure. Offscreen, her sweetness, tender heart, and giving nature endeared her to others. The Siren Blend, a cinnamon vanilla flavored medium roast, salutes Barbara’s fiery screen persona and her kind soul.    

It was a pleasure to work with Dominique Benedict of Breakfast at Dominique’s on this blend in an advisory capacity, providing biographical information and photos for the bag design, naming the blend, and choosing a proceeds recipient.  

Breakfast at Dominique’s fair trade, organic, and sugar-free coffees honor classic Hollywood luminaries and other celebrated icons, including Mary Pickford, Ava Gardner, Bette Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Joan Crawford, and many more. A variety of the blends support charities and other deserving organizations.

Proceeds from Barbara’s Siren Blend benefit the National Film Preservation Foundation. 

(Coffee bags may be purchased here.)

Though not all silent films have survived, some of Barbara’s most noteworthy film acting work has!  Why not celebrate the day by watching one of Barbara’s wonderful films free online?

The Nut (1921)

The Three Musketeers (1921)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1922)

Souls for Sale (1923)

The Whilte Moth (1924)

The White Moth, directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Barbara La Marr as Mona Reid (aka the White Moth), a famous dancer caught in a love tangle with Ben Lyon, Charles De Roche, and Conway Tearle, may now be viewed for free online here.  The photo below, from one of the film’s scenes, features Barbara in what was considered in 1924 to be a very provocative scenario in a film: a woman in a bathtub.  Though she was completely covered, censors in some states cut the scene before allowing the film in theaters.  Still, one critic raved that “Barbara is scintillating as she has never scintillated before” in the film.    

“I’ve always had a fascination with Old Hollywood,” admits veteran singer, musician, and songwriter Ronnie Joyner, “and…I have a soft spot for those vulnerable and troubled young starlets who simply couldn’t handle their fame.”  Deeply affected by two classic songs, “Candle in the Wind,” Elton John’s Marilyn Monroe homage, and “Celluloid Heroes,” The Kinks’ depiction of fame’s lure, luster, and perils, the Maryland-based recording artist—whose musical prowess encompasses rockabilly, country, blues, folk, and bluegrass—sought to produce his own rendition of such themes.

But Joyner’s song was a long time coming.  “I never hit on the right Golden Age actress to use as the inspiration,” he said.

Then he stumbled upon Barbara La Marr.  Her story—involving being ordered home to her parents by juvenile authorities at age seventeen for being “too beautiful” to be alone in Los Angeles; skyrocketing to superstardom as a silent screen actress; and dying from tuberculosis and nephritis at age twenty-nine in 1926 following a frenzied period of overwork, strenuous dieting, and hard living—called to him.  “I knew she was the one!” he enthused.  “The girl I’ve been looking for…the girl who embodies those themes I’ve been wanting to write about.”

Using her star at 1621 Vine Street on Hollywood’s iconic Walk of Fame as the centerpiece, Joyner composed his hauntingly lovely song “Girl Too Beautiful” in honor of Barbara, a woman whom, despite her demons and frailties, he describes as “beautiful, talented, and charismatic.” 

Listen to “Girl Too Beautiful” here.  While you’re at it, check out some of Ronnie Joyner’s other wonderful songs.