Showing posts with label Jack Garner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Garner. Show all posts

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Remembering Jack Garner, film critic and friend of Louise Brooks

Word came one week ago of the passing of Jack Garner, the longtime Rochester Democrat and Chronicle film critic and friend to Louise Brooks. (Read that post HERE.) Since then, Jack has been on my mind. I met him only once, but considered him a friend and am grateful for the many kindnesses he showed me and my Louise Brooks Society. There is more I want to say.... but first let me offer my sincere condolences to his wife, Bonnie. I never met her, regrettably, but through Jack's many Facebook posts, I feel I knew her at least a little bit. Jack and Bonnie were married nearly 50 years, which is a beautiful thing.

Jack Garner at the Little Theater in Rochester, NY - via radio station WXXI
There is more I would like to say about Jack..., especially his unique friendship with Louise Brooks. As mentioned, Jack was a longtime writer for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. As a local Rochester journalist, Jack enjoyed a special friendship with Louise, and wrote about the actress on a number of occasions. A search through the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle archive turns up more dozens of hits while searching under the combined terms of "Jack Garner" and "Louise Brooks".

The earliest piece I came across by Jack was dated April 9, 1980. On that date, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ran a syndicated article by Bob Thomas on Kenneth Tynan's recently released book, Show People, which included Tynan's famous New Yorker profile of Louise Brooks, "The Girl in the Black Helmet." Jack added an adjunct article offering the local angle on Tynan's widely reviewed and bestselling book, namely Brooks' thoughts on being profiled by one of the most famous critics in the world. Jack's article, "He writes divinely", quotes Brooks extensively. And it is filled with gems of information from " 'I wrote 92 letters to him,' Miss Brooks said yesterday", to "College students ring my bell and ask me to write their term papers. I get lots of interesting offers like that." 


At the time, Jack's by-line described him as the "D&C Popular Arts Editor." But no matter what he covered, if there was a Louise Brooks' angle, Jack seemed to include it. For an April 1980 article on Erte, Jack spoke with the famous designer, writing He also remembered designing for Louise Brooks, when she was in George White's Scandals, on Broadway. 'She was very, very charming'." Jack's article continued, "Miss Brooks, an acclaimed star of early films, lives in retirement in Rochester. When told of Erte's comment, she remembered: 'When I was in Scandals in 1924, George White went over to Paris and had Erte design the costumes for the chorus girls. They arrived in enormous boxes at great expense backstage. I don't know what Parisian dressmakers thought, but the dresses didn't fit at all. They were all too small."


Other articles and snippets of conversation with Brooks followed over the years. There was the time in 1982, for example, when the George Eastman House hosted its Festival of Film Artists. Receiving awards were Joan Bennett, Maureen O'Sullivan, Luise Rainer and Sylvia Sydney, all of whom attended the special event, and three actress kept away by illness, Myrna Loy, Dolores Del Rio, and Louise Brooks. In his follow-up piece on the event, Jack wrote, "Before Friday night's awards, Rainer asked me to escort her for a visit with another recipient, Louise Brooks, who is ill in bed in her North Goodman Street apartment." Jack noted that the "two great actresses hit it off marvelously...." while mentioning a few topics of their conversation. Garner also reported that Brooks had been visited by Sylvia Sydney, accompanied by John Springer, and Joan Bennett, sister of Brooks old friend, Barbara Bennett.

Louise Brooks passed away in Rochester in August of 1985, and Jack Garner's reportage led the paper's multi-article, mutli-page coverage, which began not surprisingly on page one. "Her Rochester Years, Remembered by Film Critic Jack Garner" was one of a small handful of fascinating articles.


It would be great if the many articles about Brooks by Jack (and others) at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle were gathered up into a book, something under the title Lulu in Rochester. I think I once suggested something to that effect to Jack, but he explained that it was the paper and not himself that owned the copyright on the material. Nevertheless, it would make for a fascinating read. Long live Louise Brooks.

                                 And long live Jack Garner.

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Jack Garner, longtime film critic and friend to Louise Brooks, dies

Jack Garner, longtime Rochester, New York film critic and friend to Louise Brooks and the Louise Brooks Society, has died at the age of age of 75. Garner was the longtime film critic for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Garner began reviewing films for the paper in 1977, beginning with the original Star Wars. A decade later he was chosen the chief film critic for Gannett newspapers, and provided reviews for more than 100 newspapers. He retired in 2007, though continued writing freelance arts columns. The Democrat and Chronicle ran an article earlier today noting his passing and recounting Garner's career, "Jack Garner, legendary film critic and institution in Rochester arts world, dies at 75." The Rochester NPR station, WXXI, also carried a remembrance. Read or listen to it HERE. Another local station, WHAM, also carried the news.

Jack Garner at the Little Theater in Rochester, NY - via WXXI

Garner's longtime residence in Rochester made him a local legend. He was a trustee at the Eastman Museum, and the second recipient of the museum's prestigious George Eastman Medal of Honor. Earlier this year, Garner was elected an Honorary Trustee of the Little Theatre. Garner's residence in Rochester also brought him into contact with the city's famed silent film star, Louise Brooks. Garner spoke with Brooks a number of times before her passing, and visited her at her Rochester apartment. He wrote a number of article for the Democrat and Chronicle about Brooks, and on a number of other occasions, quoted Brooks in articles on other films stars she new. Garner's journalism related to Brooks constitutes a noteworthy body of work on the actress. Garner also wrote the introduction to Peter Cowie's 2006 book, Louise Brooks, Lulu Forever.


I considered Jack a friend, and am grateful for his coverage of the Louise Brooks Society. In fact, he first mentioned the LBS in an article in the year 2000, twenty years ago. His piece, about film websites, described the LBS as "A fine example of a fan page, a thoughtful, artful site devoted to the life and times of a fabled silent movie legend, with rare articles from the '20s and superb photos." It was great exposure for my then 5 year old site: the article also appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Nashville Tennessean, Louisville Courier-Journal, Shreveport Louisiana Times, Asbury Park Press, Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, and and numerous other newspapers around the United States.

Over the years, Jack was also kind enough to have written about and reviewed each of my books in the pages of the Democrat and Chronicle, including most recently, my 2018 book, Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star. He also wrote up my DVD audio commentaries on Diary of a Lost Girl and Beggars of Life, giving each favorable notices.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Garner in 2015 when I visited Rochester and the Eastman House (now Eastman Museum) on a research trip. We met for dinner, and talked all night about Louise Brooks. That's when he so graciously signed my copy of Louise Brooks, Lulu Forever, "Any friend of Louise is a friend of mine...." The following day, Jack and I and documentary filmmaker Charlottle Siller appeared on WXXI to speak about the silent film star at the center of our lives. I am pictured below on the far left, Charlotte Siller is center, and Jack Garner is at the center right. Host Megan Mack is far right. You can listed to out conversation HERE.


I don't know what else to say about Jack. We remained in touch over the years, and were also friends on Facebook. He was a big guy - standing 6'9". He was also a fine fellow, someone greatly interested in the world, and in jazz. (Some of Garner's interests / journalism is contained in his 2013 book, From My Seat on the Aisle: Movies and Memories. There is also a chapter on Louise Brooks.) He also shared a Pulitzer Prize, for his pre-film critic journalism when he covered the Attica prison riot in 1971. I will always remember Jack, and will be grateful for his support and interest in Louise Brooks and my work.


Sunday, September 8, 2013

New Book by Jack Garner - From My Seat on the Aisle: Movies and Memories

Today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has an article about Jack Garner, the syndicated Rochester film critic and friend of Louise Brooks. Garner has a new book out called From My Seat on the Aisle: Movies and Memories (RIT Press).

Garner, who retired as the chief film critic for both the Democrat and Chronicle and the Gannett newspaper chain in 2007, spent 30 years working a film critic. His new book collects some of his interviews, reviews, profiles, obits, and reflections on the movie industry. From My Seat on the Aisle: Movies and Memories compiles the best of Garner's journalism, including interviews with many Hollywood celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Jimmy Stewart, Woody Allen, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Garner perspective is humorous, anecdotal, and insightful.

Now retired, Garner continues to write weekly film reviews as well as jazz and classic film critiques. Garner is a recipient of the prestigious George Eastman Medal of Honor and contributor to the Eastman House academic journal, Image. He is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Eastman House Council, and recipient of the 2013 Impact Award from the Rochester Media Association. Garner also wrote the introduction to Peter Cowie's 2006 book, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever.

As the Democrat and Chronicle article notes, Garner's interest and interaction Hollywood extended to the stars of the silent era:
But while his job involved lots of travel, there were times when Garner could just walk from his home in Rochester to the George Eastman House to interview visiting film dignitaries.

“I can’t get over the fact that I got to interview Lillian Gish, arguably the first movie star,” Garner writes of his Eastman House-connected interviewees. “I did Audrey Hepburn’s last interview. I did Spike Lee at the Eastman House, where we both sat around watching the Knicks in a playoff.”

Louise Brooks, the silent film star, was close by, as well.

Her film career over, but her interest in film history still strong, Brooks moved to Rochester in 1956 so she could be near the Eastman House archive.

Garner first met Brooks in 1979 when he was writing an obituary of John Wayne. (Brooks and Wayne had acted together in Overland Stage Raiders.)

Eventually, Garner and his wife, Bonnie, became friends with the famously reclusive Brooks. They would visit her apartment on North Goodman Street in the city, bringing her food, helping out, listening.

“She loved to talk about sex,” Garner writes. “... She speculated endlessly about the sex appeal and/or sexual preferences of any number of folks.”

I am looking forward to reading From My Seat on the Aisle: Movies and Memories. The book is available directly from the RIT Press at http://ritpress.rit.edu/publications/books/my-seat-aisle-movies-and-memories.html

Saturday, August 4, 2012

New book offers another view of silent film legend Louise Brooks

Be sure and check out Jack Garner's write up of Laura Moriarty's recent novel, The Chaperone, in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Garner, the former film critic for the newspaper, was friends with Louise Brooks during the last years of her life in Rochester. (Garner also wrote the forward to Peter Cowie's Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever.)

The article, "New book offers another view of silent film legend Louise Brooks," can be found at http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120801/LIVING0107/307300079/1032/LIVING

What is special about this piece is that Garner recalls some of his own encounters with Brooks, including the time she told him about her heading to New York City in the summer of 1922 - a key event in The Chaperone. Garner begins "Louise Brooks, the silent screen legend of Pandora’s Box, spent the last third of her life in Rochester. Before her death in 1985, she became a memorable and engaging friend to my wife and I. . . . I also remember Brooks’ stories about her first venture to New York from her home in Wichita, Kan. She was only 15 (15 going on 20!), so Brooks’ parents sent along a friend, an older woman, to be Louise’s chaperone."

If you haven't read The Chaperone - do so. It is a great read!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Democrat & Chronicle article on Louise Brooks

Jack Garner, film critic for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, New York - and an old friend of Louise Brooks, has published an article about the actress and Turner Classic Movies' upcoming showing of Pandora's Box. The article, "TCM celebrates Louise Brooks, Oscars," can be found at http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110128/LIVING0107/101280305/-1/rochesterarts/TCM-celebrates-Louise-Brooks--Oscars

The Democrat and Chronicle doesn't archive their articles online for very long, so be sure and check it out soon.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Jack Garner discusses working with Louise Brooks

Jack Garner discusses working with Louise Brooks in a new article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle at http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20101008/LIVING0107/10080301/1052/ENT (see end of article).

Friday, September 10, 2010

Diary of a Lost Girl in Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

My new edition of The Diary of a Lost Girl got a nice write up in today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The article is by Jack Garner, the newspaper's longtime film critic (he also knew Louise Brooks, and wrote the foreword to the Peter Cowie book, Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu). Garner wrote:
A RARE BOOK tie-in. The idea of book tie-ins to movies is well known. But it's not every day that a 1929 film generates the reissue of a book. Yet that's the case with Margarete Bohme's The Diary of a Lost Girl, which was originally published in 1905.

The surprising reissue in 2010 is the brainchild of Thomas Gladysz, a San Francisco journalist and director of the Louise Brooks Society. Fans of Brooks, the beautiful silent film star who finished out her years in Rochester, may recognize the title. The Diary of a Lost Girl was the second of two masterpieces she filmed with Germany's G. W. Pabst in the late '20s. It followed the legendary Pandora's Box into theaters. (Both films are available on DVD — and highly recommended.)

Bohme's book caused a sensation at the early part of the last century, telling in diary fashion the story of an abused young woman who ends up a prostitute. It sold 1.2 million copies, making it one of the best-selling books of its time.

Read today, it's a fascinating time-trip back to another age, and yet remains compelling. As a bonus, Gladysz richly illustrates the text with stills of Brooks from the famous film, and also includes an introduction. The book's available at amazon.com, pandorasbox.com/diary.html, or at the Eastman House gift shop.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Two announcements: Jack Garner & Kevin Brownlow

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has announced that long-time film critic Jack Garner will retire. The nationally syndicated journalist was a friend to all those interested in Louise Brooks. Not only had Garner known the actress in Rochester (where he had worked since the early 1970's), he had also interviewed her and her fellow silent film star, Lillian Gish. Garner had also introduced a recent centennial celebration screening of Pandora's Box, and contributed the forward to the recent book by Peter Cowie, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever. And, way back in 2000, Garner praised the Louise Brooks Society website in the pages of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. According to the article announcing his retirement, Garner will continue to contribute occassional articles and columns. Good luck Jack !

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I am very excited to learn that Kevin Brownlow - film historian extraordinaire and friend of Louise Brooks - will be coming to San Francisco at the end of the month. Brownlow will be given the Mel Novikoff Award from the San Francisco Film Society. Brownlow will also be participating in two programs as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. I am excitied because Kevin Brownlow - the author of The Parade's Gone By - is a legend among those who love silent film. (I had the pleasure of seeing Brownlow once before - at Cinecon in Los Angeles - and even got him to sign a few books for me then.)

Here is San Francisco Film Society press release:
Kevin Brownlow To Receive Mel Novikoff Award At 50th San Francisco International Film Festival
Archivist, Historian, Author, Documentarian and Director Honored for His Extensive and Peerless Body of Work
April 3, 2007
San Francisco, CA – Kevin Brownlow will receive the Mel Novikoff Award at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26–May 10). Named for the pioneering San Francisco art and repertory film exhibitor Mel Novikoff (1922–1987), the Award acknowledges an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema. The Novikoff Award will be presented at An Afternoon with Kevin Brownlow on Saturday, April 28 at 2:00 pm at the Castro Theatre, preceding an onstage interview with film scholar Russell Merritt. Afterwards Brownlow will introduce the screening of his selection, The Iron Mask (1929). The gallant Douglas Fairbanks must save the French crown from black-hearted schemers in Alan Dwan’s lavish version of The Three Musketeers, filled with chivalry, derring-do and impressive pre–special effects stuntwork. Mask was made at the end of the silent era and is considered the summation of the swashbuckling genre.
As it is impossible to do justice to Brownlow’s body of work in just one afternoon or even one day, Cecil B. De Mille – An American Epic (2004), directed by Brownlow and produced by his colleague Patrick Stanbury, will play at 9:15 pm on Saturday, April 28 at the Sundance Cinemas Kabuki. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh and featuring music by Elmer Bernstein, Cecil B. De Mille follows the career of one of Hollywood’s original pioneers. Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Charlton Heston and Angela Lansbury are some of the many well-known names that appear, while De Mille’s surviving kin also lend insight into his personal and family life. His (and by extension, Hollywood’s) greatest hits are covered in detail, including later historical and Biblical epics like Cleopatra (1934), Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Ten Commandments (1956). The documentary includes never-before-seen footage of the parting of the Red Sea, which Spielberg declares “the best special-effects sequence of all time.”
Finally Brownlow will present the lecture Kevin Brownlow: Introduction to Silents on the pre-talkie era and screen excerpts from silent gems including Bronco Billy’s Adventure (1911),Scaramouche (1924), The Chess Player (1926) and Fire Brigade (1926) at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley on Sunday, April 29, at 5:30 pm. PFA pianist Judith F. Rosenberg will provide accompaniment. This program is presented in association with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Born in Sussex, England in 1938, Kevin Brownlow is the godfather of modern film archiving practices. He is the preeminent film historian and documentarian of the silent era. He is also one of the most accomplished British directors of his era, having made the masterpieces It Happened Here (1966) and Winstanley (1975).
How It Happened Here, a warts-and-all account of the making of his first feature, is an important book on the difficulties and triumphs of making an indie film. Brownlow’s collection of interviews with silent-film stars, The Parade’s Gone By (1968), and his ensuing 12-part television documentary Hollywood (made with David Gill) have inspired numerous film archivists, critics and professors.
Brownlow’s magnificent restoration of Abel Gance’s 1927 classic Napoleon wasn’t just the film preservation event of the decade when it was rereleased in a gloriously restored version in 1981, but a cultural phenomenon. For nearly 40 years, he assembled every scrap of celluloid he could find, searching flea markets and the world’s archives. He championed the film and Gance at every opportunity. And he is still restoring the film. Like the Flying Dutchman, the film is his curse—and the world’s blessing.
Most of all, there are the films he has salvaged and dusted off for Photoplay Productions, the company he founded to focus on important restorations like The EagleThe Phantom of the OperaThe Thief of Bagdad and The Gold Rush to name just a few. To see a film bearing the Brownlow touch is to go back to a magical time when the silent movies glowed on the silver screen and cinema was a physical experience.
Brownlow’s intense passion is something to emulate. His utter tenacity to present the best restorations and orchestral scores has always been about the value of the film itself. And his writings make the reader want to see every movie he mentions because he loves them so much. 
Previous recipients of the Mel Novikoff Award are Anita Monga (2005), Paolo Cherchi Usai (2004), Manny Farber (2003), David Francis (2002), Cahiers du Cinéma (2001), San Francisco Cinematheque (2001), Donald Krim (2000), David Shepard (2000), Enno Patalas (1999), Adrienne Mancia (1998), Judy Stone (1997), Film Arts Foundation (1997), David Robinson (1996), Institut Lumière (1995), Naum Kleiman (1994), Andrew Sarris (1993), Jonas Mekas (1992), Pauline Kael (1991), Donald Richie (1990), USSR Filmmakers Association (1989) and Dan Talbot (1988). The Mel Novikoff Award Committee members are Francis J. Rigney (chairman), Linda Blackaby (ex officio), Helena R. Foster, George Gund III, Maurice Kanbar, Philip Kaufman, Edith Kramer, Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer, Anita Monga, Janis Plotkin and Peter Scarlet.
Here is a link to the Iron Mask screening, which I believe Brownlow will be attending. And here is a link to the screening of the new Brownlow documentary on Cecil B. DeMille at the Kabuki. And here is a link to the Kevin Brownlow: Introduction to Silents program at the PFA.
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