Showing posts with label Singin' in the Rain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singin' in the Rain. Show all posts

Friday, May 17, 2019

Facts matter: Louise Brooks and some mistaken eBay listings

As there are with other movie stars and other cultural icons, there is a fair amount of misinformation floating around the internet regarding Louise Brooks. This misinformation ranges from simple inaccuracies regarding how many films the actress appeared in (was it 24, or 25?) -- or the date of a particular film's release (Pandora's Box is sometimes listed as a 1928 film, though released in 1929), to the mistaken identification of the actress (just because the subject of a portrait or film still is wearing bobbed hair doesn't mean it is Brooks). And then there are the various fake nudes.... which I've written about in the past HERE.

With all the attention Brooks has been getting of late with the release of The Chaperone, it is important to keep the facts straight. A few articles about The Chaperone, as well as a few related Facebook postings about the PBS film, have included a bit of inaccurate information. The film itself even contains a few historical anomalies. Read more about those HERE.

The Louise Brooks Society is intent on providing accurate information -- as well as pointing out inaccurate and mistaken material. Fact matter, after all - despite all the fake news coming out of Washington.

Recently, I've come across a handful of examples of inaccurate and mistaken material regarding the actress on eBay. It is hard to say whether these sellers are simply mistaken, suffering from wishful thinking, or are intent on deception. (As Lee Israel was when she faked letters from Louise Brooks and others as depicted in the recently released film, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) You be the judge.





To me, and to most Louise Brooks fans, the above photo does NOT depict Louise Brooks, despite the fact she was a Ziegfeld girl in the 1920s and was photographed in a similar fashion by Alfred Cheney Johnston. It is not even close.

In all fairness, the seller of this photo is uncertain (hence the question mark), but still willing to mention Brooks by name in the item descriptor. [Does anyone know which film this still is from? I wasn't able to track down the identification numbers in the lower left hand corner.]





Again, just because a woman is wearing bobbed hair doesn't mean it is Brooks.To my eyes, this women looks nothing like Louise.



This one is a hoot. No, that is NOT Louise Brooks and Fred Astaire. That is Cyd Charisse (meant to look like Louise Brooks) and Gene Kelly in a scene from Singin' in the Rain. Here is a better image from the celebrated 1952 film, and in color (not colorized, but that is a whole different debate).

Friday, December 6, 2013

Singin' in the Rain at San Francisco Symphony

It's one thing for an orchestra to accompany a silent film. It is something else all together for an orchestra to accompany a sound film, let alone a musical.The level of expectation, as well as the technical and performance challenges faced by musicians accompanying a movie whose original score has been stripped from its soundtrack, are considerable to say the least.




That's the challenge the San Francisco Symphony will face on December 6 and 7, when the world renown orchestra accompanies the classic musical, Singin' in the Rain.

The 1952 film, one of most beloved movies of all time, is widely considered the greatest musical ever made. In fact, the film has appeared in numerous top ten lists of the greatest films in history -- all genres aside. In 1989, Singin' in the Rain was among the first 25 films chosen for the then newly established National Film Registry, honoring motion pictures deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress.

The San Francisco Symphony faced a similar challenge last month when it accompanied the Alfred Hitchcock masterworks Psycho (1960) and Vertigo (1958). The Bernard Herrmann score for the latter film is considered by some the greatest Hollywood score of all time, and the Symphony accompanied it to near perfection.

Singin' in the Rain was originally conceived by legendary MGM producer Arthur Freed, the head of a unit responsible for many of MGM's lavish musicals. Freed envisioned the film as a vehicle for his catalog of songs written with Nacio Herb Brown, many of them for MGM film musicals dating from 1929-1939.

Most all of the songs in Singin' in the Rain -- such as "You Were Meant for Me" (from The Broadway Melody, 1929), "Should I?" (from Lord Byron of Broadway, 1930), "Would You?" (from San Francisco, 1936), "Good Morning" (from Babes In Arms, 1939), and notably "Singin' in the Rain" (from Hollywood Revue of 1929), had been featured in earlier films.

Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who contributed lyrics to one new song ("Moses Supposes"), were given the task of stringing these musical numbers together into a story. And they did so brilliantly.


Like the popular Academy Award winning film The Artist (2011), Singin' in the Rain tells a story which takes place during the period when silent film was being replaced by "talkies." The film follows the struggles of the studios and various actors as they attempt to transition to the new medium.

Co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, Singin' in the Rain stars Kelly, Donald O'Connor and then newcomer Debbie Reynolds. Also in the cast are Jean Hagen (who received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her role as a character based on silent star Norma Talmadge), Cyd Charisse (as a Louise Brooks-like vixen), and Rita Moreno (playing a character not unlike "It Girl" Clara Bow). Watch for visual nods to Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Louella Parsons. In uncredited roles were familiar character actor Kathleen Freeman (as a diction coach), Mae Clarke (the grapefruit girl from The Public Enemy), and Judy Landon (as a silent screen vamp inspired by Pola Negri).

Kelly was also responsible for much of the film's choreography, while the hair styles designer was Sydney Guilaroff, the famed hair dresser credited with giving Louise Brooks her distinct bob in the mid-1920's. The director of photography was Harold Rosson, who as Hal Rosson, worked on The Street of Forgotten Men and Evening Clothes.


The San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Sarah Hicks, accompanies the film live in what promises to be a not-to-be-missed holiday event. Visit the San Francisco Symphony website for additional details.
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