Showing posts with label Roger Ebert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roger Ebert. Show all posts

Monday, October 18, 2021

A milestone for the Louise Brooks Society blog

A rare portrait from the 1930s
Recently, I was tidying up the Louise Brooks Society blog (I hope you like what I have done with the place) when I noticed it was coming up on a milestone. Today's post marks the 3400th blog.

I started blogging back in August 2002, first on LiveJournal, and then on Blogger starting around 2009. I managed to transfer the most interesting pieces from LiveJournal to Blogger, and have been writing and blogging and posting all along. Admittedly, those very early pieces were infrequent and sometimes slight. In 2006, however, during the Louise Brooks centennial, I posted 290 times. There was a lot to report. In 2011, I posted only 69 times. The best year was 2014, when I posted 306 times. I can't imagine how I did it. The pandemic has certainly slowed things down, as there are fewer screenings and news items to write about. My goal these days is to focus on more substantive pieces and newly found material, and to post about 100 times a year. I figure it all adds up.

The LBS blog has hundreds of followers. IF YOU ARE NOT ONE, SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE IN THE COLUMN ON THE RIGHT. Since 2009, according to my hit counter, the Louise Brooks Society blog has been viewed more than 1,665,000 times by individuals from all around the world. That is pretty cool. Check the flag counter below or in the right hand column to see if your country is represented. Not surprisingly, English speaking countries lead the roll call of visitors. And of course, France and Germany (where LB made a few films) also show many visitors. It pleases me that Russia and countries in Latin America also show up, as does India. But come on New Zealand, you can do better! And so can you, Poland!

 Free counters!

As many longtime readers of this blog know, my other online writings about Louise Brooks have appeared on examiner.com, Huffington Post, SFGate (website of the San Francisco Chronicle), Open / Salon, Pop Matters, and recently Film International. And what's more, my articles have been tweeted about by the likes of Roger Ebert (twice!), Neil Gaiman, and others. That is really cool. In 2018, I collected a number of my best articles and blogs into an illustrated, 296 page book, Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star. Why not ORDER a copy today! 

Just recently, I noticed one of my past blogs caught the attention of Greil Marcus back in 2015. Writing on BarnesandNobleReview, the famous critic and author singled out a 2012 blog I penned on Louise Brooks and the Kansas-born artist Bruce Conner. Here is a screen capture of Greil Marcus' blog about my blog.

Again, I was pleased by the attention. The Louise Brooks Society blog is a proud member of the CMBA (the Classic Movie Blog Association). I was also heartened back in 2018 when the Classic Movie Blog Association profiled the LBS blog and even interviewed yours truly. That is certainly another highlight in the life of the Louise Brooks Society blog. The recognition is nice, and so is the feedback. 

My sincere thanks to the blogs which link to the LBS blog (some are linked in the right hand column), and to the bloggers (including Immortal Ephemera), online publications (including Shelf-Awareness), and websites (including Columbia University Press) which have written about its various entries. I will end this pat on the back with another little seen portrait of Louise Brooks from the 1930s. Long live Lulu!

Another little seen portrait of Brooks from the early 1930s

Sunday, May 11, 2014

More Louise Brooks on examiner.com

For five years, I've been writing about silent film for examiner.com; and for four of those years, I've also been the national Louise Brooks correspondent. My first piece appeared on May 11, 2010. I've written dozens of pieces, perhaps more than one-hundred (I've lost count). To mark my fourth anniversary as the national Louise Brooks examiner, I've put together this checklist of some of my favorite pieces about the actress. A few have enjoyed some buzz, including tweets by the likes of Roger Ebert and Neil Gaiman (each fans of Louise Brooks).

Diary of a Lost Girl, with Louise Brooks, screens in Brooklyn
May 11, 2010

Pandora's Box, with Louise Brooks, screens in SoCal
May 17, 2010

Six questions with . . . the Dodge Brothers
May 23, 2010

Interview with a bassist with an interest in Louise Brooks
June 4, 2010

Canary Murder Case screens in Rochester, NY
June 9, 2010

Daisy D'Ora, one-time German actress, dies at age 97
June 26, 2010

New short film homage to Louise Brooks
June 29, 2010

Berlin film festival features Louise Brooks
July 6, 2010

Rolled Stockings screenwriter turns 110
July 8, 2010

The Show-Off screens in Los Angeles July 10
July 8, 2010

Celebrating G.W. Pabst at Bard College
July 14, 2010

Discovering a Polish Lulu
August 2, 2010

Beggars of Life to show in Los Angeles
August 13, 2010

Louise Brooks' first review on this day in 1925
August 31, 2010

New restoration of Pandora's Box announced
September 8, 2010

The Curious Case of F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
September 13, 2010

Rufus Wainwright talks about Louise Brooks
August 8, 2010

Valeska Gert rediscovered
September 17, 2010

A Beggars of Life revival
September 21, 2010

The Diary of a Lost Girl: A brief history of a banned book
September 25, 2010

Kevin Brownlow talks about archives and Louise Brooks
September 29, 2010

Who was Margarete Bohme?
September 30, 2010

Louise Brooks’ private journals to be revealed
October 2, 2010







Louise Brooks letters revealed in Dear Stinkpot
October 16, 2010

Rare documentary part of Louise Brooks celebration
October 27, 2010

Louise Brooks films celebrated in Paris
December 23, 2010

Beggars of Life, by Jim Tully, back in print
December 29, 2010

Louise Brooks & Bruz Fletcher: Camped, Tramped, Riotous Vamps
December 16, 2010

A Girl in Every Port set to screen at BFI in January
November 30, 2010

Remembering Richard Leacock
March 29, 2011

Louise Brooks film featured at Toronto Silent Film Festival
April 3, 2011

Remembering Theodore Roszak
July 9, 2011

New Lou Reed - Metallica album inspired by Lulu plays
September 22, 2011

Pandora's Box to screen in Dubai
November 20, 2011

Rolled Stockings screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas dies at age 111
January 7, 2012

Louise Brooks in Beggars of Life in New York
February 17, 2012

Louise Brooks' film debut screens in Syracuse
March 12, 2012

Pandora's Box in America - A Brief History
March 25, 2012

Louise Brooks stars in Montreal Film Series
May 21, 2012

Laura Moriarty talks about Louise Brooks and her new novel, The Chaperone
June 6, 2012

Rare screening of Louise Brooks film, Prix de Beauté
June 23, 2012

Sid Kay's Fellows - Music in Pandora's Box
July 5, 2012

Pandora's Box shows twice on July 14, in Chicago and San Francisco
July 11, 2012

Louise Brooks and The New Woman in Film
September 29, 2012

Louise Brooks film screens at Andy Warhol Museum
October 30, 2012

Louise Brooks and Downton Abbey
January 27, 2013

Louise Brooks stars in new music videos
May 19, 2013

Interview with British musician Stephen Horne
July 12, 2013

Beggars of Life with Louise Brooks in England and Italy
October 6, 2013

Louise Brooks, a magnet of meaning, more popular than ever
November 14, 2013

Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks shows in Seattle and Toronto
January 22, 2014

Nominate a Louise Brooks film for the National Film Registry
February 17, 2014

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Remembering Roger Ebert (a fan of Louise Brooks)

I'll never forget the first time I met Roger Ebert, which was some years ago, as this snapshot testifies. 

At the time, I introduced myself as the director of Louise Brooks Society. Roger and I had the chance to chat for a bit, and he told me how much he liked visiting my Louise Brooks Society website, and how, on a few occasions, he had used the site while looking things up about the actress and her best known film, Pandora's Box. I was pleased. Roger was encouraging, and he also told me of his own affection for and interest in Louise Brooks. 

I encountered Ebert a few more times over the years, and continued to read his articles and columns. Ebert wrote about Louise Brooks a few times, while praising both Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl as great films. If you haven't already read his glowing reviews on those two films, then search them out. They have, in the past, been found on his website (which is unavailable as I write this - though here are links to Pandora's Box to Diary of a Lost Girl), as well as in his series of books, Great Movies and Great Movies II.

Ebert has also tweeted about Louise Brooks and her two famous films.

And a little more than a year ago, Ebert tweeted three times about the actress and Diary of a Lost Girl.
@ebertchicago:My Streamer of the Day. "Diary of a Lost Girl," a silent masterpiece with the immortal Louise Brooks. on.fb.me/GH64U0
@ebertchicago: New in my Great Movies Collection: Louise Brooks in Pabst's "Diary of a Lost Girl." Remorseless. On Netflix Instant. bit.ly/GHbzQK
@ebertchicago: The latest review in my Great Movies Collection: Louise Brooks in the unforgettable "Diary of a Lost Girl." bit.ly/GHbzQK
Ebert has also written about another Brooks' film, The Show-Off, in his "Ebert Club Newsletter." In 2010, Ebert wrote "Notice that whenever Louise Brooks is on screen, you simply can't focus on anyone else..."

I was also honored when Ebert tweeted about some of my own writings about Louise Brooks, mentioning and linking to stories I had written for the Huffington Post on Beggars of Life and on the Brooks' journals for examiner.com. Today, the world lost a great champion of the movies. And a big fan of Louise Brooks.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Roger Ebert tweets about Louise Brooks

Yesterday and today, film critic and movie lover Roger Ebert tweeted three times about Louise Brooks and her 1929 film, The Diary of a Lost Girl. Here is what the Pulitzer Prize winner and self-admitted Brooks' fan had to say. Yesterday, Ebert tweeted:
@ebertchicago:My Streamer of the Day. "Diary of a Lost Girl," a silent masterpiece with the immortal Louise Brooks. on.fb.me/GH64U0
And this morning, Ebert tweeted:
@ebertchicago: New in my Great Movies Collection: Louise Brooks in Pabst's "Diary of a Lost Girl." Remorseless. On Netflix Instant. bit.ly/GHbzQK
And then a few hours later, Ebert Tweeted again:
@ebertchicago: The latest review in my Great Movies Collection: Louise Brooks in the unforgettable "Diary of a Lost Girl." bit.ly/GHbzQK
Be sure and follow the links at the end of each tweet. The first leads to Ebert's Facebook page and a conversation stream about The Diary of a Lost Girl. The second and third links lead to Ebert's just published article about the film on the Chicago Sun Times website.



Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Ebert Club Newsletter

Roger Ebert likes Louise Brooks. He's told me so, and he's also written about the actress and her films on more than a few occasions. Apparently, he also just wrote about the actress in the most recent issue of the "Ebert Club Newsletter."

Ebert wrote, "The Sounds of Silents: Science finds that silent movies trigger mental soundtracks in our minds. Oddly enough, this may explain why they create a reverie state in me. I usually listen to them with a musical sound track, but after reading this I tried a little of "The Show Off" on Netflix streaming, and I see what they mean. . . . So try a little of "The Show Off" yourself. Turn off the sound. Here's the complete movie via Google; though Netflix quality is better. Notice that whenever Louise Brooks is on screen, you simply can't focus on anyone else..."


The newsletter includes a link to a Google video of the 1926 Brooks film (as above), and then a paragraph on Louise Brooks "Looking for Lulu" (1998), the outstanding documentary on the actress by Hugh Munro Neely. Ebert goes on the mention The Cat and the Canary (1927) and highlight some of the other kinds of silent and other early films available over the internet. It's an interesting post. And well worth reading. I always enjoy Ebert's writing - he is one of our best critics.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Roger Ebert articles on-line


The Chicago Sun-Times has put thousands of Roger Ebert's film reviews and articles on-line. They can all be found in a searchable database at the Sun Timeswebsite. Ebert really loves "the movies," and he is an advocate for the greats of the silent film era, i.e., Charlie Chaplin, Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, Lillian Gish, and Louise Brooks, among others. (See "Star Ranking Really Rankles.")
Included among the Ebert archive is a long article from 1998 on Louise Brooks and Pandora's Box (which quietly alludes to the LBS - "she is the most popular dead actress on the Web.") Another interesting item is a question and answer exchange from "Movie Answer Man."
"Q. I've been attending a series of silent films by the German director G.W. Pabst. While watching Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), I recognized a camera shot that is most often attributed to Conrad Hall (that of a face next to a window during rain, making it appear as if the raindrops are tears). Hall's use of that shot in In Cold Blood is certainly amazing, but it seems that the origin of that shot should be credited to the cinematographers Sepp Allgeier and Fritz Arno Wagner. I was amazed to find such a shot in a German film from the '20s.  --- Charles Modica Jr., Los Angeles
A. There are more amazing shots in German films from the 1920s than in most new releases. That film and Pandora's Box made Louise Brooks a movie immortal. Thanks for the insight; Bertolucci's new The Dreamers quotes the shot, and I credited Hall."
Powered By Blogger