Theda Bara, right, sinks her teeth into her role of vampire in this 20-minute silent, which was directed by Frank Powell and based on a Rudyard Kipling poem. One of the creature's victims is Reginal Parmalee (Victor Benoit). It is from Bara's role in this film that we have the word "vamp" -- a woman who saps the last sexual energies from respectable middle-aged men, making them no more than slaves crawling at her feet.

Believing himself to be of noble blood, fisherman Captain Parmalee (Alfred Allen) tries to foist daughter Sydney (Carmel Myers) off on high society. Amused by Parmalee's pretensions, a wealthy dowager tells her friends that Sydney is a duchess. The ruse works so well that socialite Dick Bradley (Rudolph Valentino -- in his first important role -- at left with Myers) falls in love with Sydney. When Dick's mother learns the truth, she forbids the lovers to marry, but the dowager comes to the rescue once more. Also in the cast: Zasu Pitts.

The story of a dress and the effects it has on the women who wear it begs the question of "Where is O.Henry when he is needed?" A daring new Paris style creation, "Nude at Midnight,": is donned by Marion Parmelee (Marilyn Maxwell, at left being shown the dress by Paulette Goddard) who tries to charm her husband's retiring boss into letting her husband, Jack Parmelee (Robert Bice), take over the company, but the boss's wife, who really runs the business, has other ideas. Also in the cast: Eva Gabor, before she settled on "Green Acres."

Italian screen goddess Sophia Loren's second American film is this glossy romantic adventure set -- and partially filmed -- on the Greek island of Hydra. Phaedra (Loren) is a sponge diver who discovers the wreck of a sunken ship with a number of fascinating artifacts, including a statue of a boy astride a dolphin. Her boyfriend, Rhif (Jorge Mistral), is convinced that the statue is valuable, and begins making plans to bring it to dry land for sale. They approach James Calder (Alan Ladd), an American archeologist working on a project for a Greek museum. Calder wants the statue but can't pay for it; he asks them to donate it to his museum -- hardly what Rhif has in mind. So Rhif turns to Victor Parmalee (Clifton Webb, at right, with Loren), an American art collector, and the two make plans to salvage the ship's contents for which Rhif will be paid handsomely. But Phaedra finds herself attracted to Calder -- especially after being disgusted by Parmalee's blunt offer to make her his mistress -- and begins a romance with the archeologist. Then it's a race to see who can recover the ship's valuables. (NOTE: Three-time Academy Award nominee Clifton Webb's middle name was Parmelee. We've found a scrapbook that belonged to his mother, Mabel "Mabelle" Parmelee.)

The murder of her father sends teenage tomboy Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) on a mission of "justice" to avenge his death. She recruits a tough old marshal, one-eyed Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne, right), because he has grit and a reputation of getting the job done. The duo set off for Indian Territory to find killer Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) and the band of outlaws he's connected with, led by the notorious bandit Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall). Minor characters in the film are Harold and Farrell Parmalee (Jay Ripley and Kenneth Becker, respectively), but they supply Pepper one of the best lines of the film: "All the Parmalees is touched, but Harold's the worst -- no, their ma's the worst, then comes Harold's brother, Farrell -- but they're all good shots."

The author was the son of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

With the copyright long expired, Google has put the New York Public Library's copy online to read.

In her 20th mystery in the Capital Crimes series, the late author uses Washington's refurbished railroad station as the locale of a sensational shooting whose consequences ricochet from seedy bars to the halls of Congress. President Adam Parmele makes an appearance.

Two lovers -- Lije Stuart, a part-Cherokee Indian with a Harvard law degree, and Diane Parmalee, his childhood sweetheart and the daughter of an Army officer -- must fight to stay together as their respective families take opposite sides during the Civil War.

Harold Parmlee appears as an actor of "society dramas" who is a well-known idol of Hollywood flappers in this show-biz novel.

Scrawny, young Melvin Parmlee lit out of Texas riding a swayback horse. His crime: killing a man with an ax handle for shooting his dog, Farty. Ahead lay a land of prairie, mountains, boomtowns, whores, gold and outlaws; behind him was a long trail growing more crowded with enemies every day.

Kid Parmlee's tail continues. The West's scrawniest gunslinger has been recruited into a bounty hunt for a gang of criminals. For the Kid, it's the beginning of an explosive adventure on both sides of the law, in the company of bank
robbers, friends, traitors, a woman named Doc--and a pot of gold at the end of the trail.