Showing posts with label Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Show all posts

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, 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.
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