Showing posts with label Dublin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dublin. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Louise Brooks Society

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Louise Brooks Society. The actress wasn't Irish, but her films certainly showed in Ireland. To mark the day, here are a few vintage bits and pieces from my forthcoming two volume work, Around the World with Louise Brooks. To start, here is an early magazine portrait.

Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men, was one of her biggest successes in Ireland. The film's director, Herbert Brenon, was Irish-born, and the film was well received in his country of birth. In fact, it was given the honor of being shown in Dublin’s La Scala theatre (later renamed the Capitol), the largest cinema house in the country. Here is the newspaper listing from the time.

Another popular success in Ireland was Beggars of Life. It showed in Dublin at the Capitol, as part of a double bill with a Pola Negri film, The Woman from Moscow. Both were Paramount films, and both were released as silent films with a musical score and sound effects. (Incidentally, the film showing at the Grand Central starred the English-born actor Percy Marmont, who was the star of The Street of Forgotten Men.)


Adding to the attraction of Beggars of Life was the fact that the author of the book on which it was based, Jim Tully, was Irish-American. Tully was well known not only in the United States, but also in Europe, with the press noting his comings and goings, as shown in the 1928 Irish newspaper clipping depicted below. Memorably, Tully even also crossed paths with two of the great Irish writers of his time, George Bernard Shaw and James Joyce.

And not only did the reputation of Jim Tully attract Irish movie goers to Beggars of Life, so did, perhaps, the films memorable theme song, which was available in Irish shops on a 78 rpm recording. Here is a newspaper advertisement listing the recording by The Troubadours, who helped make the song a hit in the United States.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Pandora's Box played Dublin, Ireland

On Friday, December 27th, the 1929 film Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, played in Dublin, with live accompaniment by 3EPKANO and special guest Michelle O'Rourke. Here is information on the screening from the event website.

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3epkano, formed by Cameron Doyle and Matthew Nolan, are dedicated to producing original soundtracks to silent, avant-garde, and contemporary cinema. Since 2004, the collective have played numerous headline shows in both Ireland and the US to critical acclaim.

Lurid and controversial melodrama, Pandora’s Box, is one of silent cinema’s great works, by master of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with.

Michelle O’Rourke is an Irish singer currently based in Dublin & Berlin. Her natural, direct sound and unaffected expressivity make for a performer of rare dynamism. In recent years Michelle has found most inspiration in the work of living composers. She has been involved in the commission, premiere and touring of works by Linda Buckley, Garrett Sholdice, Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, Judith Ring and Andrew Hamilton, amongst others.

Michelle performs regularly with Ergodos musicians (I call to you released 2013). She has also performed as vocalist with the lauded Crash Ensemble, and as alto soloist with the RTE Concert Orchestra. Recent projects have included a song cycle for voice and chamber ensemble, titled Here I am, commissioned from Linda Buckley with support from the Irish Arts Council and Recueillement, a chamber opera by Garrett Sholdice.

At the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2012, Michelle was one of five selected artists to perform a Huddersfield Short. Her performance of music for voice and tape was singled out as an ‘exquisite moment’ in the UK Independent. Her dynamic vocal performance in Hamilton’s demanding music for people who like art with Crash Ensemble at HCMF was also singled out in the Irish Times.

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BUTTON FACTORY Presents
PANDORA’S BOX with live accompaniment by 3EPKANO and special guest Michelle O'Rourke
Friday 27th December 2013
The Button Factory – Curved Street, Temple Bar – Dublin 2.
Doors – 7:30pm

Tickets €10 (this price includes booking fee) available from Ticketmaster

About the film...Germany / 1929 / 133 minutes / Black and White / 1.33:1
"One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality."

About 3epkano...3epkano are a Dublin based collective, formed by Cameron Doyle and Matthew Nolan, who are dedicated to producing original soundtracks to silent, avant-garde, and contemporary cinema since 2004, the group have played numerous headline shows in both Ireland and the US to critical acclaim. They have also been commissioned to produce new music for a number of prestigious institutions including The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin Fringe Festival, Film Society of Lincoln Centre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York. In 2008 the group took responsibility for curating the new alternative music strand at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, a programme which included Mercury Rev, Spiritualized, and Lisa Hannigan to name but a few. They returned to BAM in 2010 to premier their score for Diary of a Lost Girl and also performed 2011 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC to launch their winter movie calendar. Their most recent work involves a collaboration with the acclaimed singer, Iarla O'Lionaird. 2014 will see them celebrate their 10th year together.

"Full of urgent percussion and sweeping strings, [the performance] owes a great deal to pioneering Montreal post-rockers Godspeed You Black Emperor…..the overall effect was mesmerising."
Davin O’Dwyer - The Irish Times

"It’s very hard to describe, but for such a feather-light sound to mesmerise as it did was one of the most fascinating concert experiences I’ve had."
Hillary White – State

"Conjuring an atmosphere not too far from Mogwai's signature dynamics, only with more emphasis on melody and fewer concerted efforts to terrify the listener."
Tim Smyth - Hot Press

Video link...A tribute to Louise Brooks by 3epkano - http://vimeo.com/35895172


A Tribute to Louise Brooks from 3epkano video on Vimeo.
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