Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Louise Brooks Society marks 25th anniversary

Earlier, at the beginning of this year, I was looking forward to this summer. I was looking forward to celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Louise Brooks Society. But now, with all that has happened in 2020 — things I could not have imagined in January or February, I am resigned to merely marking the occasion. [The pandemic, and Trump's failure to help the nation get through it, has certainly sucked the air out of the room. Who feels like celebrating when one is only trying to get by....]

In the summer of 1995, I posted my first webpages about Louise Brooks and proclaimed the formation of a society dedicated to the silent film star. That was 25 years ago, at the beginning of the internet. The Louise Brooks Society was a pioneering website. It was the first site devoted to Brooks, one of the very first about silent film, and one of the earliest related to the movies. I am proud that I have kept it going to this day, making the LBS one of the older websites around.

Why did I do it? Since first becoming interested / fascinated / obsessed with Louise Brooks, I have always appreciated meeting others who shared my enthusiasm for this singular silent film star. Early on, I searched for some kind of fan club — but found none. Over time, it occurred to me that I might form my own group. The idea of starting the Louise Brooks Society coincided with my growing interest in computing. That was in the early to mid-1990s. And that’s when I realized there would be no better way of forming a fan club than over the internet. A fan club (in the traditional sense) would be a way to share information and “meet” other like-minded individuals. Thus, enabled by the world wide web, by email, by bulletin boards and listserves, and by all the mechanisms of the internet, the Louise Brooks Society was born.

The Louise Brooks Society website (which was just a few pages at first) was launched in the summer of 1995. Since then, the LBS has become one of the leading websites devoted to any film star — silent or sound. It has also received a fair amount of media attention. Just a year after I launched my website, In May of 1996, USA Today named the LBS a “Hot Site,” noting “Silent-film buffs can get a taste of how a fan club from yesteryear plays on the Web. The Louise Brooks Society site includes interviews, trivia and photos. It also draws an international audience.”


I remember how excited I was when I received an email from a fan telling me they noticed something about my website in the paper! That sent me to my local library library to get a look at a back issue of USA Today, and hopefully photocopy the mention. (The USA Today piece was syndicated to various newspapers, including Florida Today, which is pictured below. Thank you Sam Vincent Meddis, where ever you are.)


More press followed. In the summer of 1996, the LBS was named one of five best sites devoted to actresses in a UK computing magazine, Net Directory. In March of 1997, there was a passing mention of the LBS in another British publication, the Times Literary Supplement (TLS)! And in September of 1997, the society was profiled in the Noe Valley Voice, a neighborhood newspaper located in San Francisco, California, where I then lived. That profile, by Fontaine Roberson, was titled "Flapper Has 'Virtual' Fan Club in Noe Valley."

Something was in the air, and the following year, 1998, was a big year for both Louise Brooks and the Louise Brooks Society. That was the year Hugh Munro Neely directed Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, the Emmy nominated documentary which debuted on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in May. My Louise Brooks Society website helped "inspire" its production. That's according to an article in Wired by Steve Silberman. In his April 10th piece, "Fan Site Sparks Biopic," Silberman wrote, "TCM spokesman Justin Pettigrew says the level of interest in the Louise Brooks Society, the most in-depth Web site devoted to the once nearly forgotten star, convinced the network to go ahead with the documentary and a mini-festival of Brooks' work.... 'The Web presence for Louise Brooks was overwhelming. It was definitely a driving force in convincing the network to produce this documentary," Pettigrew went on to add.

Other pieces followed. In 1998, there were mentions of the Louise Brooks Society in an Italian magazine, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and in the Melbourne Age, a newspaper in Melbourne, Australia. I appeared on cable TV on the Louise Brooks episode of "E! Mysteries and Scandals," along with Roger Ebert, Hugh Hefner, Barry Paris and others. And there was a big write up, "Lovely Lulu Lives Again," in the San Francisco Chronicle which discussed the documentaty and my website. In 1999, when Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu aired in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post wrote "The voiceless Internet has been the perfect medium for reviving the image of one of the greatest icons of the silent movie era. Louise Brooks, with her trademark raven 'helmet' hair style, adorns many a Web site. The renewed interest in her, fueled by the cyberspace Louise Brooks Society, prompted Turner Classic Movies to fund the television profile Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu (World, 10 pm)."

Over the next few years, other mentions and praise would follow in San Francisco Examiner and, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, as well as the Stuttgarter Zeitung and London Sunday Times. In 2002, the New York Times noted, "The Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com) is an excellent homage to the art of the silent film as well as one of its most luminous stars." And in 2005, when the Louise Brooks Society was turning ten years old, Leonard Maltin wrote "Not many sites of any kind can claim to be celebrating a tenth anniversary online, but that’s true of the Louise Brooks Society, devoted to the life and times of the magnetic silent-film star and latter-day memoirist. Thomas Gladysz has assembled a formidable amount of material on the actress and her era; there’s not only a lot to read and enjoy, but there’s a gift shop and even a 'Radio Lulu' function that allows you to listen to music of the 1920s. Wow!"

The Louise Brooks Society has come along way since then — since those early days.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

She was just seventeen: Louise Brooks Society has an anniversary

This month, the Louise Brooks Society celebrates its 17th anniversary. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society was one of the very first websites devoted to silent film. The earliest archived LBS webpages - housed on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine - dates to December 20, 1996 and April 11, 1997. The earliest archived newsgroup posts (remember those?) mentioning the Louise Brooks Society date from October 27, 1995 (announcing the website) and January 29, 1996 (a query from the LBS regarding an European screening). These posts are part of the 20-year Usenet Archive which contain hundreds of millions of messages.

In the early days, the LBS also earned its fair share of web awards (remember those?). Here are a few that the LBS received. I was especially proud to be recognized by the Encyclopedia Britannica website!
  usa today       hollywood site of the week       open directory      Britannica Internet Guide  

The LBS (www.pandorasbox.com) has grown over the years - and so has its recognition as a world-wide resource for fans of Louise Brooks. The LBS has been referenced and cited in a handful of books, as well as in publications of all sorts all over the world. Here is a select bibliography of magazine, newspaper and web articles about the website. (Unfortunately, some of these articles are no longer online, or have disappeared behind a pay wall.)


Meddis, Sam Vincent. "Net: New and notable." USA Today, May 23, 1996.
--- "Silent-film buffs can get a taste of how a fan club from yesteryear plays on the Web. The Louise Brooks Society site includes interview, trivia and photos. It also draws an international audience."

anonymous. Net Directory, issue 7, 1996.
--- named one of five best sites devoted to actresses in UK computing magazine

anonymous. "NetSurf." HotWired, 1997.
--- mention on Wired website

Roberson, Fontaine. "Flapper Has 'Virtual' Fan Club in Noe Valley." Noe Valley Voice, September, 1997.
--- article in San Francisco monthly

Silberman, Steve. "Fan Site Sparks Biopic." Wired, April 10, 1998. 
--- feature article about the LBS (reference a few weeks later by Roger Ebert)

Farrant, Darrin. "Programs - Sunday." Melbourne Age, April 16, 1998.
--- mention in Australian newspaper - "She was far more than just a pretty face .... The Louise Brooks Society has an exhaustive web site about this fascinating siren."

Bentley, Rick. "Ahead of Her Time." Fresno Bee, April 30, 1998.
--- article in Fresno, California newspaper - "Internet users have embraced the actress for years. Web pages and various sites have dealt with this actress, whose fame started in the silent films era and exploded in the information age. Her career and her life off the set have become a source of interest unparalleled by many other film stars. And those bits and bytes of information were a catalyst for this TV special."

Evenson, Laura. "Lovely Lulu Lives Again." San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 1998.
--- mention in newspaper article

anonymous. "NetWatch." Atlanta Journal and Constitution, May 5, 1998.
--- mentioned as exemplary website in Atlanta, Georgia newspaper

anonymous. "Fan Site Profiles." bLink. February, 1999.
--- article in magazine for Earthlink subscribers

Garner, Jack. "Movie buffs can find trivia, reviews online." Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, September 12, 2000.
--- "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."

Roether, Barbara. "Three Make Their Mark: Lulu Lives at Booksmith." Publisher's Weekly, November 20, 2000.
--- mention in trade journal 

Douglas, John. "Online with you." Grand Rapids Press , March 26, 2001.
--- "There has never been a more interesting actress in the history of movies or a more beautiful woman than Louise Brooks, who made a name for herself in American and German films. This Web site at www.pandorasbox.com, created by The Louise Brooks Society, is crammed full of photos of the lady with the page boy bob. It also has biographical material and still shots from her movies plus posters and links to other Brooks sites."

Anderson, Jeffrey M. "Thirteen great film sites." San Francisco Examiner, November 29, 2001.
--- "This San Francisco-run site pays tribute to one of the greatest and most underappreciated stars of all time, Louise Brooks, who played numerous bit parts and starred in only two films during the silent era. It contains tons of info, pictures and history."

l., tk. "Ins Netz gegangen Pandora Brooks." Stuttgarter Zeitung, July 14, 2002.
--- described as "vorbildlichen website" in this German newspaper

O'Connell, Pamela Licalzi. "Dreaming Celebrities and the Earth's Eye Candy." New York Times, August 29, 2002.
--- "The Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com) is an excellent homage to the art of the silent film as well as one of its most luminous stars."

Pattenden, Mike. "An era of glamour." Sunday Times, April 27, 2003.
--- mentioned in London newspaper - "She bucked the system to make movies in Europe, notably Pandora's Box, which lends its name to www.pandorasbox.com, dedicated to her remarkable life."

Watson, Dave. "Basking in the Glow of On-Line Info Flow." Straight.com, July 15, 2004.
--- "She's not well-known anymore, but Louise Brooks was one of the biggest stars of silent and early-sound cinema. Naturally, there's a home for her fans on the Net (www.pandorasbox.com), but the site also has a lot of incidental information about that era of moviemaking as well."

Dufour, Nicolas. "Louise Brooks, l'adoration perpétuelle." Le Temps, December 23, 2004.
--- referenced in French newspaper

Melton, Wayne. "That '20s Girl: Lulupalooza celebrates the work of a screen goddess." Style Weekly, July 20, 2005.
--- mentioned in article in Richmond, Virgina weekly " . . . a weekend-long festival of the silent-screen goddess presented by Yellow House Productions and the Firehouse Theatre with the assistance of the Louise Brooks Society."

Caloudas, Constantine. "Louise Bobs Her Hair." Washington City Paper, July 22, 2005.
--- article in Washington D.C. weekly

Maltin, Leonard. "Links We Like." Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy, August 2005.
--- "Not many sites of any kind can claim to be celebrating a tenth anniversary online, but that’s true of the Louise Brooks Society, devoted to the life and times of the magnetic silent-film star and latter-day memoirist. Thomas Gladysz has assembled a formidable amount of material on the actress and her era; there’s not only a lot to read and enjoy, but there’s a gift shop and even a 'Radio Lulu' function that allows you to listen to music of the 1920s. Wow!"

anonymous. "Louise Brooks Expert Speaks at Silent Film Fest." Noe Valley Voice, July 2006.
--- referenced in San Francisco monthly

Matheson, Whitney. "Happy birthday, Louise!" USA Today, November 14, 2006.
--- "My favorite Louise Brooks site belongs to the Louise Brooks Society, a devoted group of fans that even keeps a blog. There, you can find just about everything about the actress: articles, filmography, photos, links and more."

"Interview: THOMAS GLADYSZ, founder of the LOUISE BROOKS Society." SiouxWire, April 5, 2007.
--- interview on website

Stinnett, Chuck. "Louise Brooks had beauty that was decades ahead of its time." The Gleaner, September 22, 2009.
--- "Brooks remains a focus of remarkable interest...." - mention in Henderson, Kentucky newspaper

anonymous. "New Diary of a Lost Girl." Noe Valley Voice, July/August 2010.
--- mention in San Francisco monthly

Maltin, Leonard. "Silent Stars Still Mesmerize." Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy, August 10, 2010.
--- mention in review

Couch, Christina. "Quiet riot." Time Out Chicago, August 28, 2010.
--- mention in article

Blackburn, Gavin. "Forgotten book by Margarete Boehme to be revived in US." Deutsche Welle, November 3, 2010.
--- article on English-language German news site

K., A. "Stoletni dnevnik prostitutke, oče avtobiografskih izmišljotin?" RTV Slovenia, November 4, 2010.
--- article on Slovenian news site

Rombeck, Terry. "A cut above: Local author’s novel generates national buzz." Lawrence News-Tribune,  June 10, 2012.
--- mention in article about Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone in Kansas newspaper

LaSalle, Mick. "Me at Book Passage." SFGate, August 4, 2012.
--- referenced in San Francisco Chronicle blog
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