Saturday, January 20, 2007

New Amsterdam

Apparently, in the New Amsterdam theater lobby and elsewhere in the building, the Disney corporation (the current owners of the NYC building) has placed photographs of various performers who appeared at the theater in the Ziegfeld days, including Louise Brooks. Has anyone been to the newly restored building? Has anyone seen Brooks' image ?

Friday, January 19, 2007

Pandora's Box in Chicago

Mike Quintero sent word that Pandora's Box will be shown February 23rd at Northwestern University. The 1929 film, which stars Louise Brooks, will be screened with live musical accompaniment featuring Chicago jazz guitar virtuoso Andreas Kapsalis and his band. Here is what the film series website had to say about the film.
Friday, February 23, 8pm 
Pandora’s Box 
(G. W. Pabst, 1929, Germany, 110 minutes, 35mm)

Lulu (Louise Brooks), a sensual yet innocent showgirl, weaves a spell of sexual delirium that wrecks the lives of the men and women who fall in love with her. Ultimately a tragedy, the film follows her career and romantic exploits until her eventual destruction. Dramatizing the temptations of Berlin between the wars, Pandora’s Box is one of the classics of silent cinema. It also shaped the radiant on-screen persona of the legendary actress Louise Brooks. With her glossy black bobbed hair and glowing skin Brooks practically patented the “what have you done for me lately” look, becoming an icon of the 1920s.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Louise Brooks Society updates (part two)

Of late, I have been continueing by ongoing (read: never ending) research into the life and films of Louise Brooks. Some of the newspapers I looked at in pursuit of film-related material include the Concord Daily Monitor and New Hampshire Patriot (New Hampshire), South Bend Tribune (Indiana), Charlotte News & Evening Chronicle (North Carolina), Tallahassee Daily Democrat(Florida), and the Oregon Daily Journal (from Portland). Of these inter-library loan requests, the South Bend and Portland newspapers proved to be the most profitable for articles, reviews and advertisements.

Recently, I also made an afternoon visit to the library at San Francisco State University, where I gathered a few articles fromPhotoplay magazine. The library has microfilm of the film journal covering the later 1930's. And, while in Sacramento over the holidays, I made a visit to the California State Library. There, I looked at microfilm of a few California newspapers like the Los Angeles Examiner (I was missing a few film reviews from the 1920's), Santa Rosa Press Democrat (found a few reviews), Sausalito News, and Napa Valley Register. These last two small town newspapers turned up some advertisements.

I have put in inter-library loan requests for yet more periodicals. I still want to look at additional issues of the North China Daily News (from Shanghai), as well as newspapers from various towns and cities in Canada. I also have a number of requests cued up for papers from Kansas, New York and Pennslyvannia . . . . The search goes on.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Louise Brooks Society updates (part one)


I have updated a few parts of the Louise Brooks Society. . . . Recently, I added about a dozen new tracks to RadioLulu (the silent film and Louise Brooks-themed online radio station of the LBS). There are now more than 160 songs on the station. And the current playlist runs 8 hours and 40 minutes! Please tune in.

Some of the vintage tracks just added to the station include a couple from the teens - Byron G. Harlan's "Let's Go In To A Picture Show" and Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan's "Those Charlie Chaplin Feet." There are also a few new tracks from the twenties like Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra's version of "Louise(which I think predates Maurice Chevalier's more familiar version)Ernest Hare & Billy Jones' rendition of "Don't Bring Lulu," and Marion Harris' wonderfully wicked jazz age song, "I'm A Jazz Vampire."Also, I couldn't resist "Pandora, Close That Box" by Billy Butterfield and His Orchestra, which dates from the 1940's.

Some of the contemporary tracks added lately include "Pandora's Boxby the Dutch goth band Clan of Xymox (I had added Louise, their other LB related song, late last year). Also new to the playlist is "Clara Bowby Cleaners from Venus, and "Buster Keaton Blues" by the Gomalan Brass Quintet.

There are a handful of other songs I am hoping to add in the near future. One is "Louise, You Tease" by Coon-Sanders Nighthawks, recorded in 1925. Another is "Clara Bow" by the San Francisco rock band The Vaticans, recorded just last year. And, I hope to add a track or two by Blanche Ring, a popular Broadway and vaudeville entertainer who happened to be Eddie Sutherland's aunt. Notably, Blanche Ring appeared along with Louise Brooks in It's the Old Army Game, which was directed by Sutherland (Brooks' first husband).

If you know of any contemporary songs - including rock n roll song or songs by a local band - about Louise Brooks or any silent film star, please let me know. I will consider adding it to the RadioLulu playlist.

Recently, I also revised and expanded the Louise Brooks Society gift shop at CafePress.com. The url is www.cafepress.com/louisebrooks There are a whole bunch of rather nifty new items for sale including a set of tiles, and a set of tile boxes which I call "Pandora's Boxes." There are a few new t-shirts, a new blank journal, some new postcards and more. Here are the new magnet designs.

LB Magnet
LB Magnet
$3.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99
LBS Magnet
LBS Magnet
$3.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99
Lulu Magnet
Lulu Magnet
$2.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99
 Rectangle Magnet
Rectangle Magnet
$3.99







p.s. The small mark-up I put on each item helps pay for the expanded CafePress shop (which costs $7.00 per month), as well as RadioLulu (which costs $10.00 per month to broadcast). Hopefully, I will sell a few items a month.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Buffalo screening in February

Pandora's Box will be shown at 7 pm on February 6th at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center(639 Main St.), in Buffalo, New York. Open to the public and screened as part of a university class series, the film will be preceeded by an introduction by a class instructor. Philip Carli will provide accompaniment on the electronic piano. This short wrote-up appeared in the University of Buffalo's UB Reporter:
Feb 6: "Pandora's Box/Die Büchse der Pandora," 1929, directed by Georg Wilhem Pabst. Few films come close to "Pandora's Box" for psychological and erotic depth. Louise Brooks is fabulous as Lulu in this film based on two plays by Franz Wedekind. Her look led to a comic strip—"Dixie Dugan"—and a social craze—flappers.

Friday, January 12, 2007

A watch for an eternity dreamed of by Louise Brooks

Boucheron Paris has an interesting advertisement featuring the English fashion model and author Sophie Dahl*, advertising a watch with the slogan, “A Watch for an eternity dreamed of by Louise Brooks.” (The ad appeared in the January 2007 edition of British Vogue.) The ad is part of Boucheron's 2006-2007 advertising campaign, which can be found at www.boucheron.com The website contains a bit more text about Brooks.




* Sophie Dahl is the daughter of Tessa Dahl (daughter of the children's author Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal), and her father is actor Julian Holloway (son of actor Stanley Holloway).

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Diary of a Lost Girl screens in Seattle

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) will be shown in Seattle, Washington with live musical accompaniment by Dennis James. The film will be shown on Monday, January 15th at 7 pm. Here is what the local alternative papers in Seattle had to say:

From The Stranger:

Diary of a Lost Girl: The Paramount's outstanding Silent Movie Mondays series returns with an abbreviated program on German expressionism. Up first is Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks as an unlucky pharmacist's daughter with awesome bangs. Preceded by a lecture and accompanied on the organ by Dennis James, shortlisted for the 2006 Stranger Genius film award. Paramount,Mon Jan 15 at 7 pm.

From the Seattle Weekly:

Diary of a Lost Girl This 1929 film, starring Louise Brooks, is featured tonight in STG's series of German Expressionist Silents. Dennis James plays the Wurlitzer Organ during the screening. The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., 682-1414. $12. 7 p.m. Mon. Jan. 15.

Sunday, January 7, 2007

More RadioLulu updates

I've added about a dozen new tracks to RadioLulu, the silent film inspired, Louise-Brooks themed online radio station of the Louise Brooks Society. All of the newly added songs date from the 1920's and 1930's.

I 've added a couple of early songs about the movies, Billy Murray's Take Your Girlie to the Movies and the Peerless Quartet'sSince Mother Goes to Movie Shows. Each of these recordings date from the teens. I've also added a track which possibly references the Lon Chaney film, Laugh, Clown, Laugh! by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians. Also new is a Jazz Age-themed number by Nat Shilkret & The Victor Orchestra, Flapperette. There are a couple of tracks by Buddy Rogers & His Orchestra,While a Cigarette Was Burning and Lovelight in the Starlight. Interestingly, not only was Buddy Rogers an actor and bandleader, but he was also married to Mary Pickford. And lastly, I added some vintage recordings with "Louise" in the title, such as Coon-Sanders Nighthawks delightfulLouise, You Tease, Bob Crosby & His Orchestra's nifty Louise, Louise, and Django Reinhardt's version of the Maurice Chevalier hit, Louise.

If you haven't already checked out RadioLulu, please give it a listen. The station is growing in popularity. Here's a recap of my station's stats for January:

Total Listening Hours: 890
Total Station Launches: 1231
Station Presets: 1193
Favorite Station Designations: 27

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Lulu in Philly

Pandora's Box will be shown in Philadelphia this coming Monday. Here are the details.

PHILADELPHIA CITY INSTITUTE LIBRARY 1905 Locust St., 215-685-6621. Pandora's Box (1929, Germany, 100 min.) Louise Brooks stars as Lulu, a hedonistic dancer, prostitute and heartbreaker, in G.W. Pabst's silent masterpiece. Mon., Jan. 8, 2 p.m., free.
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