Showing posts with label Los Angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Los Angeles. Show all posts

Friday, March 15, 2024

Louise Brooks and Los Angeles: Getting the facts straight

I want to address, yet again, a factual error that's making the rounds....

The other day, I was listening to a podcast. On March 11, the podcasters known as 5282 dropped their "Louise Brooks Special" episode. This podcast, which focuses on popular and fringe culture, originates in the UK. The Brooks' episode is a talk through her career with the three 5282 hosts, highlighting films such as Beggars of Life and Pandora's Box. At the end of the podcast, one of the hosts gave a shout-out to the Louise Brooks Society as a source for information.

However, in the course of the 5282 podcast, one of the three hosts repeated something about Louise Brooks and Los Angeles that they didn't get from the Louise Brooks Society website. That something is this ... that Brooks left home at age 15 to join the Denishawn Dance Company in Los Angeles. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

If I were a betting man, I would guess that the 5282 podcaster who repeated this "fact" likely got it from Wikipedia. The Wiki page on the actress states, "Brooks began her entertainment career as a dancer, joining the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts modern dance company in Los Angeles at the age of 15 in 1922." In support, this sentence is twice footnoted, once to a 1926 Picture-Play article, "Just a Prairie Flower," and once to Brooks' own 1982 book, Lulu in Hollywood. In the first cited source, Brooks' joining Denishawn is not explicitly mentioned (it is only stated that Brooks danced with Ruth St. Denis), and in the second cited source, Brooks herself says she went to join Denishawn in New York City.


And anyways, anyone who has read or seen The Chaperone, the PBS film which depicts Brooks leaving home to join Denishawn -- will know that Brooks did so in New York City -- not Los Angeles. (I know The Chaperone is fiction, but it is based on fact.) Besides Brooks' own account, as found in Lulu in Hollywood, the facts around Brooks first venture to LA can be found in the definitive biography of the actress by Barry Paris. In it, Paris notes that Brooks went to Los Angeles for the very first time in 1927, when her studio, Paramount, had her move from their East Coast production facility to their West Coast studio in Hollywood. 

Part of the confusion regarding Brooks, Denishawn and Los Angeles likely stems from the fact that the dance company had two "headquarters," one in NYC and one in LA. (They also had a summer retreat in Mariarden in Peterborough, New Hampshire.) But still, that doesn't change the fact that Brooks joined Denishawn in New York. Let me also add that I have done considerable research on Brooks' two seasons with the dance company. I have tracked the Denishawn tours city by city, and can state that the furthest west the company ever got while Brooks was a member of Denishawn was Colorado.

I mention all this because not only did an incorrect, but not insignificant, fact make its way from Wikipedia to an UK podcast, but it can also be found on a key, authoritative site like Janus Films, the company behind the theatrical release of the latest restoration of Pandora's Box. Back on January 27 of this year, I posted a blog about the Pandora's Box restoration, and pointed to the handful of factual errors and sloppy writing found on the Janus press release. At the time I stated, "The Louise Brooks Biography included in the Press Notes, for example, is riddled with factual errors. I count five or six. Here is one: Louise Brooks did NOT join the Denishawn Dance Company in Los Angeles, as the biography states. She went to New York City, as stated in the Barry Paris biography and as depicted in The Chaperone. Likewise, the Production History essay makes a few questionable (read inaccurate) conclusions...." I sent an email to Janus, but never heard back.

Let me end with an image. It is scanned from the Barry Paris biography and depicts Brooks' arrival in Los Angeles for the first time in 1927. The caption reads "Louise Brooks greeted by Eddie Sutherland's friend Monte Brice upon her arrival in Hollywood, January 6, 1927."

The note on the reverse of the original of this Paramount publicity image, in Brooks' own hand, states, "First arrival in Hollywood, Jan 1927."

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

As seen on TV - Louise Brooks the Persistent Star gets screen time during LA news story.

My book, Louise Brooks the Persistent Star, received some screen time the other day during a news story on Los Angeles TV.  The 2018 book can be seen over Jeff Mantor's right shoulder throughout the short news segment on Larry Edmunds bookshop. The online text version of this news story can be viewed HERE, while the video can be viewed HERE.


The Larry Edmunds Bookshop has been a Hollywood landmark since 1938. Now, it is the last of its kind. Like many small retailers, including and especially bookstores, the Larry Edmunds bookshop is struggling to make ends meet. Just recently, they launched a GoFundMe campaign to make ends meet. It is a worthwhile cause -  especially if you love books & film, and one I would suggest everyone contribute at least a little to. Already, everyone from director Steven Soderbergh to screenwriter Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) to film historians James Curtis (W. C. Fields) and Donna Hill (Rudolph Valentino) to and the czar of film noir Eddie Muller and have made donations. And seemingly, so have the spirits of Fred Astaire and Rock Hudon. As well as the Louise Brooks Society.

If you would rather order a book, why not do so? Chances are, the Larry Edmunds bookshop has the film book you are looking for. Some of their current selection is how below. Check out their website HERE. Or check out their Facebook page HERE.


At the end of February, I did one of the very last events put on by the store before the Covid-19 pandemic closed things down. It was a book signing in conjunction with the showing of Pandora's Box at the American Cinematheque / Egyptian theatre in Hollywood. I left some autographed books with Jeff which were put on sale. And that's why Louise Brooks the Persistent Star is on display at the bookshop. Jeff should have autographed copies of each of my recent books. See this EARLIER BLOG.



Speaking of my books, I want to thank the CMBA (Classic Movie Blog Association) for featuring my titles on a recent April blog post, "Books, Books, Books, 7th edition." Be sure and check it out.


Thursday, February 27, 2020

Louise Brooks Onscreen in Hollywood!

Louise Brooks Onscreen!

Louise Brooks in PANDORA'S BOX

PANDORA'S BOX (35mm print) Starring Louise Brooks
Saturday, February 29, 2020 - 8:00 PM
Egyptian Theatre Hollywood
Co-presented by the LA Phil, American Cinematheque and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles
With live musical accompaniment by composer and jazz pianist Cathlene Pineda along with trumpeter Stephanie Richards and guitarist Jeff Parker. Join us at 7:00 PM in the lobby, where author Thomas Gladysz will sign his book, Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star. Part of the LA Phil's Weimar Variations program focused on Germany's Weimar Republic (1919 - 1933) culture. Additional free programs at the Egyptian Theatre earlier in the day.

35 mm!
PANDORA'S BOX (DIE BÜCHSE DER PANDORA)
1929, Janus Films, 110 min, Germany, Dir: G.W. Pabst
As Henri Langlois once thundered, "There is no Garbo! There is no Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks!" Here she proves it with one of the wildest performances of the silent era, as the dancer-turned-hooker Lulu who attracts men like moths to a candle. Politicians, titans of industry and the aristocracy are all part of the milieu Lulu inhabits as the story begins; her eventual descent to a criminal underworld underlines the fragility of German society between the wars. The combination of Brooks and director G.W. Pabst ("It was sexual hatred that engrossed his whole being with its flaming reality," she once said) is still astonishing.

Tickets Price: $15 General. No vouchers. | 35mm print courtesy of the George Eastman Museum. Preservation funded by Hugh M. Hefner. | Book sales by Larry Edmunds Bookshop. Visit the ADSLA table in the lobby to find out about upcoming events!

Click above for advance tickets on Fandango or purchase at
the box office.

Parking:
Parking at meters (some are only one hour) and in area lots $15-20. Metro Redline at Hollywood & Highland.
Where:
Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028

Local Historic Dining:
Miceli's Italian Restaurant (1949)
Musso & Frank Grill (1919)
The Roosevelt Hotel (new restaurants inside a vintage hotel)

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in Los Angeles in February

Pandora's Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on February 29, 2020. Live musical accompaniment will be provided by composer and jazz pianist Cathlene Pineda along with trumpeter Stephanie Richards and guitarist Jeff Parker. This special event is being presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the American Cinematheque. More information and tickets made be found HERE. [See the previous post for another screening of Pandora's Box in February, this time in England.]


According to the Philharmonic website: "Weimar cinema classic Pandora's Box stars Louise Brooks as Lulu, a dancer-turned-hooker who attracts men (and the occasional Countess) like moths to a candle. Marlene Dietrich, then on the cusp of stardom, was considered for the role of the amoral young woman until director G.W. Pabst fixed on Brooks after seeing her in A Girl in Every Port. The American actress brought a vivacity and naturalism to the role – as well as a distinctive bob hairstyle – that gives one of the wildest performances of the silent era continuing resonance with audiences.

If Louise Brooks stands out as an unusually modern woman in Pandora's Box, the film itself serves as a fascinating window on an earlier era. Politicians, titans of industry, and the aristocracy are all part of the milieu Lulu inhabits as the story begins; her eventual descent to a criminal underworld underlines the fragility of German society between the wars. Less than a year after Pandora's Box premiered in Berlin, the stock market crashed in America, pulling the financial rug out from under the Weimar Republic and setting the stage for Hitler’s rise. The Roaring Twenties were over.

While Lulu’s end is not a happy one, Pandora's Box is much more than a juicy morality tale. With tight pacing and a touch of humor, filmmaker Pabst proves a good match for his leading lady (he would also collaborate with Brooks on Diary of a Lost Girl later that year), and Günther Krampf’s B&W cinematography brings the film’s varied people and places into sharp relief. Talent on both sides of the camera elevate what could have been mere melodrama to a celebration of passions unleashed. Even if you can’t always get what you want, desire is a universal language, and Pandora's Box still speaks it eloquently."

[Of course, I have my doubts about A Girl in Every Port leading Pabst to Brooks, but be that as it may.]



The L. A. Philharmonic / American Cinematheque screening is part of a month's worth or related concerts, performances, screenings and exhibits centering on Germany's Weimar Republic  (1918-1933). The Philharmonic's website states "In the 1920s, Germany saw a remarkable cultural renaissance prior to the rise of Nazism. Intellectualism and modernism took root in the chaotic social and economic climate between world wars. The arts and sciences burst with imagination, queer identities were brought to the forefront, and the lines between high and low art were erased. Join in a wide-ranging look at this fascinating, turbulent time." More information about this series of events can be found HERE.

Max Beckmann, Paris Society, 1931. Oil on canvas, 43 x 69 1/8 inches (109.2 x 175.6 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

Thursday, April 4, 2019

The Chaperone opens in Los Angeles and elsewhere on April 5th

The Louise Brooks inspired film The Chaperone opens in Los Angeles and elsewhere starting tomorrow. The film debuted in New York City on March 29th, and today opens in theaters in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Encino, and Irvine, California. For more information and ticket availability, including which other cities in California, New York and New Jersey where the film will be shown, visit thechaperonefilm.com and click on the "Theaters" tab. Unfortunately, this film is in limited release. So, if you want to see it on the big screen, visit the link above.

LA moviegoers can catch an exclusive Q&A with The Chaperone star Elizabeth McGovern on April 5th. Tickets and further information are available HERE.


A number of early reviews of The Chaperone have appeared in East Coast publications, like the New York Times. The film's best review so far comes from Rex Reed, who called The Chaperone "A film of uncommon rapture, albeit one with little of the noisy, fast-moving action contemporary audiences have come to expect." That is true, and to the point. Reed's Observer piece was headlined "The Chaperone Is a Sublime Account of Flapper Icon Louise Brooks’ Early Life."

In September of last year, The Chaperone played at the Los Angeles Film Festival; the film's producer and star, Elizabeth McGovern, was asked about the film. In the video below, she talks about what drew her to this project, and of course, mentions Louise Brooks along the way.


The Chaperone is the first theatrical release from PBS Masterpiece. They have updated their webpage, and had this to say: "Louise Brooks, the 1920s silver screen sensation who never met a rule she didn’t break, epitomized the restless, reckless spirit of the Jazz Age. But, just a few years earlier, she was a 15 year-old student in Wichita, Kansas for whom fame and fortune were only dreams. When the opportunity arises for her to go to New York to study with a leading dance troupe, her mother (Victoria Hill) insists there be a chaperone. Norma Carlisle (Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey), a local society matron who never broke a rule in her life, impulsively volunteers to accompany Louise (Haley Lu Richardson) to New York for the summer.

Why does this utterly conventional woman do this? What happens to her when she lands in Manhattan with an unusually rebellious teenager as her ward?  And, which of the two women is stronger, the uptight wife-and-mother or the irrepressible free spirit?  It’s a story full of surprises—about who these women really are, and who they eventually become.

Based on Laura Moriarty’s beloved New York Times best-selling novel, MASTERPIECE FILMS’ first theatrical release The Chaperone reunites the writer (Academy Award®-winner Julian Fellowes), director (Michael Engler) and star (Academy Award® nominee Elizabeth McGovern) of Downton Abbey for an immersive and richly emotional period piece. The film also stars Campbell Scott, Géza Röhrig, Miranda Otto, Robert Fairchild, and Blythe Danner."

Courtesy of PBS Distribution

I've seen The Chaperone, and I like it. In fact, I've seen it three times and could imagine watching it again in the future when I want a dose of Haley Lu Richardson's perfect charm. Richardson is the young actress who plays a young Louise Brooks, and in a way, she steals the show. I think fans of Louise Brooks will also like this film. Except for a few historical gaffs (all of which are subtle, and only one of which is a bit egregious), it is faithful to what we know about Brooks and her times. And therefore, recommended!

Courtesy of PBS Distribution

Monday, March 4, 2019

Around the World with Louise Brooks : Paramount's KNX Radio Station in Los Angeles

Who might know more about the Paramount radio station, KNX in Los Angeles? Is it the same, or related to, the KNX super-station currently heard in the LA area? Is there a history of the station or of broadcasting in the LA area that might be consulted? Are there records as to what was broadcast in the late 1920s? (I have looked at old newspaper listings, and they don't reveal all that much.)

I am wondering if Louise Brooks was ever heard on the station, or were one of her films featured? The microphone below pictures Clara Bow and two of Brooks' two-time co-stars, Adolphe Menjou and Wallace Berry.

The other day, I came across a few clippings about the station, which according to the second clipping went on the air on Armistice Day in 1928. These clipping seem to be somewhat at odds with the Wikipedia history of the station in that the station went on the air before 1928 and they don't mention the Paramount connection. Might Paramount have leased air time, or only broadcast at certain times? I would like to learn more. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Here is a clipping which notes the stations 1927 debut, and what was heard on that day.

And here is an article from the San Bernadino County Sun newspaper about the station's launch. There is only little mention of Paramount.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Louise Brooks on a ladder in Hollywood

A picture of Louise Brooks (on a ladder) alongside actor Adolph Menjou and Evening Clothes director Luther Reed is included in this months Los Angeles Magazine. The three are pictured outside of "The Barn" in Hollywood, the site of Cecil B. DeMille's production of The Squaw Man, said to be the first feature film shot in the greater Los Angeles area. Production of Evening Clothes took place in January of 1927. The historic snapshot was likely taken around that time. (Thank you to film historian Mary Mallory for tipping us off to this clipping.)


And here is a snapshot of Christy Pascoe and Thomas Gladysz (Director of the Louise Brooks Society) outside The Barn many years later. This historic building is located just across the road from the Hollywood Bowl. Should you ever visit Tinsel Town, be sure and pay a visit.


Friday, August 2, 2013

Cinefamily screens the Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, on August 7

DON'T FORGET: The Silent Treatment and the Cinefamily Theater will screen the classic 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, on August 7 in Los Angeles, California. More information here. Showtime is 7:30 - tickets are $12.00.


Inside the Cinefamily Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Notice the portrait
of Louise Brooks on the wall!
"There’s a reason the name Louise Brooks elicits sighs every time it’s mentioned at the Cinefamily: her ferocious charisma and otherworldly beauty cemented her status as an icon well before she retired from the silver screen, at the age of 32. From her comic role opposite W.C. Fields to multiple turns as troubled, willful heroines in the films of legendary German Expressionist auteur G.W. Pabst, Brooks shines as an actress capable of endless nuance and versatility — as she understood the impact both her inner and outer beauty could bring to the screen. Here, in her second and final collaboration with Pabst, Brooks gives a delicately restrained performance as the naive daughter of a prosperous pharmacist who stuns her clan by becoming pregnant. After being put through the repressive reform school ringer, she escapes to a brothel where she becomes liberated and lives for the moment with radiant physical abandon. Pabst’s escalating nightmares are heightened by Brooks’ sensitive portrayal of a truly lost girl whose hard-earned redemption is as beautiful a vision as the star herself. Dir. G.W. Pabst, 1929, 35mm, 116 min. - See more at: http://www.cinefamily.org/films/the-silent-treatment/#the-silent-treatment-louise-brooks-in-diary-of-a-lost-girl"



See the movie? Read the book. Check out the "Louise Brooks edition" of Margarete Bohme's controversial bestseller, The Diary of a Lost Girl - available through Indiebound and Amazon.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Louise Brooks in the 1940 census

Sharped eyed fan Ray Zantarski found Louise Brooks on the 1940 census. And, he was kind enough to send me a scan. I believe this is our Louise Brooks, as the location, place of birth, age, and prior place of residence all line-up. The page depicted below is the page from the 1940 census which records Brooks as a resident of Los Angeles. See line 13.



When the availability of the census was first announced earlier this year, I tried looking through Kansas records (knowing Brooks had returned home around that time), but couldn't really find my way through the records and gave up. I figured I would wait until the census became keyword searchable.

However, as is indicated on the above form, the census was conducted in early 1940, while Brooks was still living in Los Angeles. And that is why she is recorded in the California records - with her residence being given as 1317 N Fairfax Ave in Beverly Hills. As the census page indicates, Brooks lived in an apartment building. She lived in unit #3, and paid $55.00 per month in rent. (That was an average amount for the street, where renters also listed on the census page paid between $40.00 and $60.00 per month.) Here is a Google street view of the address. I don't know if this is the same building or not, though it looks possible.



View Larger Map

Her neighbors in her apartment building included a couple in unit #1, Denison and Lillian Clift. His occupation was listed as an "independent moving picture" writer. San Francisco-born Denison Clift was a prolific writer and less prolific director of films who got his start in the silent era. He directed a handful of films in England starring Fay Compton, perhaps the best known being A Bill of Divorcement (1922). Other of his British silents were Demos (1921) and Sonia (1921), both of which included Evelyn Brent. (Brooks and Brent appeared in two films together.) Today, Clift's best known film may be The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (1935), starring Bela Lugosi, Gibson Gowland, and Clifford McLaglen, the brother of Victor McLaglen. [In the United States, The Mystery of the Marie Celeste is known as Phantom Ship.]

Denison Clift during the filming of The Mystery of the Marie Celeste


Another of Brook's neighbors in her apartment building was a 30 year old Russian-born freelance musician named Arcady Konchester, who lived in unit #4. He is credited with performing on Dick Haymes and Bing Crosby records. I believe he was a violinist, and in 1935 performed in Singapore under the name Arkady Konchester. Mason and Alice Cline, a couple in their mid-fifties who came from Stockton and who lived in unit #2, managed the apartments.

What's especially interesting about this census record is that Brooks occupation is listed as "copy writer" in the magazine field. Her income for 1939, however, was given as none - and Brooks was listed as unemployed. 

Except for "Hints for Dancers" - the series of text-heavy advertisements which ran in local newspapers which Brooks likely helped write, the former film star is not known to have written or published anything at this period in her life. Her listing as a "copy writer" may have been aspirational. (Once she returned to Kansas, Brooks did write and self-published a booklet titled The Fundamentals of Ballroom Dancing.)

These bits of information beg the question. How did Brooks get by? Did someone else support her? Or did she have a part-time job for which she did not declare any income?

Monday, July 30, 2012

Beggars of Life screens August 1st in L.A.

If you live in or around Los Angeles, don't miss a special, August 1st screening of Beggars of Life at the Cinefamily theater, 611 N Fairfax Avenue, in Los Angeles. At this special event, Cinefamily has arranged to show the rare 35mm archival print of the film from the George Eastman House. This is the print to see! If you have only seen this superb 1928 William Wellman directed film on YouTube, or on DVD-R, then you were likely disappointed by how dark and fuzzy those versions of Beggars of Life look. The George Eastman House print is bright and clear. A bit of it can be seen in the video embedded below.


BEGGARS OF LIFE (presented by The Silent Treatment) from Cinefamily on Vimeo.

Cliff Retallick, who plays for the Silent Movie Theatre and Cinefamily, will accompany the film. Cliff also plays for I UCLA and the Hammer Museum's Billy Wilder Theatre as well as the American Cinematheque and both the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica and The Egyptian in Hollywood.

If you need another bit of incentive to attend this special event, then know that the Cinefamily Theater has arranged to obtain an autographed hardback copy of Laura Moriarty's new novel, The Chaperone, to give away as a door prize.

To find out more about the August 1st screening of Beggars of Life, starring the one and only Louise Brooks, check out this article on Huffington Post.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Lulu in LA July 1st

Wow, Louise Brooks seems to be more popular than ever.

On July 1st, Pandora's Box will be shown at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. That historic venue seats nearly 2,000 - and this special screening has been sold out for some time.

Hugh Munro Neely, director of the 1998 Emmy-nominated documentary Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, will host the evening. Acclaimed organist Robert Israel will accompany Pandora’s Box on the Mighty Wurlitzer. And Hugh Hefner, Playboy founder, film buff, and a longtime fan of the actress, is sponsor.

My just published article on the event can be found on examiner.com. Please take a look.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Louise Brooks stars in Los Angeles series

My illustrated article on Louise Brooks and the upcoming film series devoted to her is now online. 

Los Angeles has long had a love affair with Louise Brooks. That relationship continues with a series of Wednesday night screenings at the Silent Movie Theatre on North Fairfax Avenue. Throughout May, the quirky cinema showcase will screen four films featuring the legendary silent film star.
 
Check it my article at http://www.examiner.com/x-7605-SF-Silent-Film-Examiner~y2009m5d3-Louise-Brooks-stars-in-Los-Angeles-series

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Louise Brooks screenings in LA

Four Louise Brooks films will be shown in May at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles, California. If I lived in Southern California, I would not miss these screening. For more information, see http://silentmovietheatre.com/calendar/wednesday.html#may

5/6 @ 8pm / SERIES: Louise Brooks
Pandora's Box
Description coming soon...
Tickets - $10
5/13 @ 8pm / SERIES: Louise Brooks
Diary Of A Lost Girl
Tickets - $10
5/20 @ 8pm / SERIES: Louise Brooks
It's The Old Army Game
Tickets - $10
5/27 @ 8pm / SERIES: Louise Brooks 
Beggars Of Life 
Tickets - $10

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Los Angeles trip


Besides the USC and UCLA libraries, my wife and I visited some film-related sites during our recent trip to Los Angeles.
We took the Sony Pictures studio tour, which led us around the old MGM lot in Culver City. There were a number of historic buildings still standing on the lot, and the tour guide knowledgeably filled us in on what building related to Irving Thalberg, Buster Keaton, etc.... The tour was worthwhile, and comparable to the Paramount Studio tour - which we had taken a few years earlier. We also visited the site of the old Hal Roach studio (now a movie production facility), where my wife's sister was working on Team America, a forthcoming film. We got to see the film's sets, as well as a scene being shot. Nifty. Later, we stopped in front of the old Chaplin Studios - now home to Jim Henson Productions.
We spent a few hours walking around downtown Hollywood, where we once again visited the Roosevelt Hotel (home to the first ever Academy Awards), Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theater (new home to the Academy Awards), and some of the memorabilia shops and bookstores which line Hollywood boulevard. Unfortunately, Larry Edmunds bookshop was closed.
A highlight of our time spent in Hollywood was our first ever trip to the Hollywood Heritage Museum (located across the road from the Hollywood Bowl). Over the years, we have tried to visit this little museum on at least three occassions, but could never make it when the building was open. (The building is currently open on weekends from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.)                                                                                                                                   
"The Hollywood Heritage Museum is housed in the beautifully restored Lasky-DeMille Barn (c. 1895). The Museum features archival photographs from the silent movie days of motion picture production, movie props, historic documents and other movie related memorabilia. Also featured are historic photos and postcards of the streets, buildings and residences of Hollywood during its heyday." Louise Brooks' name and image can be found on at least four or five pieces of memorabilia inside the museum, including a rare image of Brooks and Adolph Menjou standing outside of the building, circa January, 1927. In this photo, a bearded Menjou is seen observing Brooks, who has climbed up a ladder leaning against the "old barn". Supposedly, these two Paramount stars are helping paint the building. If you are a silent film buff, the Hollywood Heritage Museum is well worth a visit. There is a lot of really cool stuff inside - as well as a gift shop!
Another memorable visit was to the Hollywood Forever cemetery. We have been there a few times, but this visit coincided with the annual Rudolph Valentino memorial service - which is held every year on August 23. About a hundred people gathered for the service this year, which was set up inside the mausoleum where the Valentino is laid to rest. The speakers included the "lady in black," musician Ian Whitcomb - who performed a couple of vintage songs about Valentino, film historian Annette D'Agostino Lloyd (author of the just published Harold Lloyd Encyclopedia), and Tracy Ryan Terhune - author of a new book called Valentino Forever - The History of the Valentino Memorial Service. This was the first time we have attended the memorial service. Perhaps we shall go again some year.
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