Showing posts with label vamp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vamp. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Interesting reading, and another fascinating non-Louise Brooks find

Here is some more interesting reading, and another fascinating non-Louise Brooks find. It is an article published in an English film magazine by Basil Wright titled "Who Killed the Vamp?" By this time, the mid-1930s, Brooks had pretty much disappeared from the screen, and was mostly forgotten. Thus, it is not surprising that this article doesn't mention some of her contemporaries and compatriots, like Clara Bow.


And for good measure, here is a picture of Brooks at her most vampish....



Thursday, April 29, 2010

A real work of art


Louise Brooks' beauty and physical grace lured various artists & writers of the time into a kind-of rhapsodic appreciation of the actress. Brooks was, as well, written about in arts magazines. Here is a full page pictorial on the changing nature of the vamp as played by Brigitte Helm, Lya di Putti, Colleen Moore, Great Garbo, Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks (seen in a scene with Victor McLaglen). Elsewhere, I've seen references to Brooks as a "junior vamp."

This page comes from the March 15, 1929 issue of L'Art Viviant, a Parisian publication. Along with articles and artwork by Raoul Dufy, Braque, Matisse and others, this issue also includes an article on the "Anatomie de la Star: La Metamorphose de Vampire" about the evolution of film glamour away from the vamp typified by Theda Bara towards more modern-looking temptresses. This issue is currently for sale on eBay.

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Vamp, by Eve Golden

Just finished reading Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara, by Eve Golden. I liked this book quite a bit, and would recommend it to anyone interested in silent film. The book's photographic section is also quite worthwhile.
Bara was an early 20th century sex symbol. She was the original cinematic "vamp," and played Carmen, Salome, and other "bad girl" roles. Photographs of the actress as Clepoatra wearing a coiled-snake bra have become something of an iconic image. (I knew that image long before I became interested in silent film).
[Eve Golden has written a few other books which I own and hope to read someday soon. I have also read many of her biographical portraits of silent film stars - obscure and little known - in the pages of Classic Images.]
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