Maelcum Soul

Patricia Ann Soul (September 22, 1940 – April 5, 1968), known professionally as Maelcum Soul, was an American bartender, artist's model, and actress. In the 1960s, she portrayed leading characters in two of filmmaker John Waters' earliest works, Roman Candles and Eat Your Makeup.

Early life and education Patricia Ann Soul was born September 22, 1940. She studied painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and worked at the Fat Black Pussycat Cafe on Minetta Lane in New York City.

Career Soul later worked as a barmaid at Martick's (later Martick's Restaurant Francais), a bistro run by Morris Martick on Mulberry Street in Baltimore. Here, she also worked as an artist's model. Her role in Baltimore was compared with Paris' Kiki de Montparnasse. with various styles and mediums. Some pieces were made of stained glass and cardboard cutouts. Waters said that she was a "big influence" on him, Divine, and his makeup artist, Van Smith.

Artistry The name Maelcum Soul is said to be of Czech origin. She is described as bohemian "in both the old-baltimore and art-world sense of the word." Soul was reportedly considered the "Alice Prin" of Baltimore. She was known for dyeing her hair an "iron-ore red" and wearing heavy eyeliner and "hip haberdashery" drawing from the style of the Berlin cabarets of Weimar Republic. In 1968, she died from a drug overdose. She is buried in Bohemian National Cemetery in Baltimore.

Legacy Posthumously, The Evening Sun reported that despite a short and "busy" life, Soul achieved "a certain fame." She became "semilegendary among younger admirers of the beat generation. A dozen artists painted her." Soul has been described as a "fabled starlet."

Filmography Roman Candles (1966) as Smoking Nun Eat Your Makeup (1968) as Governess Dorothy, the Kansas City Pothead (1968) as Wicked Witch