Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton's just released 3D version of Alice in Wonderland is only the latest in a long line of films inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic 1865 story. Just this past weekend, I watched the 1933 version. It's an enjoyable film.

However, what struck me was the number of actors who appeared in the 1933 version who had also appeared in a film or stage production with Louise Brooks. 

Among them were Richard Arlen (Rolled Stockings, Beggars of Life) as the Cheshire Cat, Leon Errol (Louie the 14th) as Uncle Gilbert, W.C. Fields (It's the Old Army Game) as Humpty-Dumpty, Skeets Gallagher (It Pays the Advertise) as the Rabbit, Cary Grant (When You're in Love) as Mock Turtle, Raymond Hatton (Now We're in the Air) as Mouse, and Ford Sterling (The American Venus, The Show-Off) as White King. And Louise Fazenda, who played the White Queen, was once mistaken for Louise Brooks at the time Just Another Blonde was released in Los Angeles.

Of course, such overlap is not surprising considering the 1933 version of  Alice in Wonderland was an ensemble production. . . . anyways, I think Brooks would have made a great Alice! Anyone interested in watching this version can purchase it online.

Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening in Egypt

I want to call your attention to a blog I just came across about a production of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening being put on in Egypt. The blog can be found at http://springawakeningegypt.blogspot.com/ Certainly, this blog speaks to the universal qualities of Wedekind's writing. I would encourage you to check it out.

The blog's author writers, "Translated into arabic, the text of german writer Frank Wedekind (Spring Awakening, 1891) has been adapted in regard to the prevailing situation of Egyptian youth, their common experiences were taken as a base. It´s a challenge with 25 Million Teenagers living in Egypt."

"Becoming acquainted with their daily life included listening to flowery ringtones as much as (unspoken) doubts or believes. The subject is sensitive: How does it feel, when individual longings and sexual desires are confronted with certain social, political or religious agreements? Or when the criticism of infidel behavior generates both curiosity and guilt? In interviews, workshops and scenic lectures the text of Wedekind has been re-read from different perspectives. Teenagers and grown-up "experts" tracked down the changes and consequences adolscences brings. Sometimes in a very direct way, sometimes by not answering."

"In April you will meet some of the teenagers again. Not personally. But transformed into fictitious characters of the egyptian Spring Awakening. The borders between document and fiction are flowing. Reality bites meet fantasy pecks. Between tradition and western influence young adolscences, actors and dancers will try their part. On how it works. Or how it doesn´t. Being a teenager."

The play will debut in Cairo in April, with subsequent performances in Alexandria and Minya.

Another favorite portrait

Here is another favorite portrait of Louise Brooks. To me, this is an iconic image, and one of the best ever taken of Louise Brooks. Look at it. Look at it.

To me, there is something inherently contradictory about this image. To me, it is intimate in that Brooks' very direct gaze is so intense. And, it is impersonal - Brooks appears as an almost sculptural form, unmoving. To me, this image is perfectly composed.

Frank Wedekind dominates contemporary stage

Frank Wedekind, the once little regarded German playwright, now seems to be everywhere! Wedekind (1864-1916) was an early 20th century writer whose sometimes controversial plays, poems, journalism, and fiction include two dramatic works which simply won't fade from the contemporary stage. 

Those two works are Frühlings Erwachen (or Spring Awakening, 1891) and Die Büchse der Pandora (or Pandora's Box, 1904). The latter, of course, was the basis for the classic 1929 silent film by G.W. Pabst which stars Louise Brooks as Lulu.

Recently, Wedekind's Spring Awakening was the
basis for the very popular musical adaption by Duncan Sheik which dominated Broadway (it won a remarkable 8 Tony Awards) and now can be seen in touring productions around the world. Among them is a forthcoming production in Dallas, Texas and a current production in Sydney, Australia.

Wedekind's original plays are also being staged at two American Universities. As the Daily Collegian newspaper reports, "The University of Massachusetts theater department’s production of Spring Awakening: A Sin of Omission is a pleasing new adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play." I'm not sure that "pleasing" is a word that Wedekind would have found . . . pleasing. But this student production, which runs through March 6, does have appeal and does seem to embody the earthy spirit of the original. Here is a slide show of images from the production.

As this production comes to a close, just opening at Brown University in  nearby Providence, Rhode Island is a new production of Wedekind's Pandora's Box. This staging is being called Lulu, and its being directed by Spencer Golub. Lulu runs March 4-7 and March 11-14 at the local Stuart Theatre.

According to the University's Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, "Lulu follows the rise and fall of one dangerous and doomed creature: the sexually educated but passive woman who will go by any name her lovers wish to call her. From presiding over high society Parisian balls to selling herself in London basement rooms, Lulu ruins those around her, and is ruined, for love. Donald Lyons called Lulu a 'symphony – or rather a cacophony – of deotic sexual rhetorics….among the supreme masterpieces of nineteenth-century theatre.' Director Spencer Golub calls Lulu 'very nasty.'"

"An Eyes Wide Shut for an earlier century’s turn, Lulu is a sex tragedy - or comedy - about how basic need and desire are made base by social convention, bourgeois morality and the fantasy life of the mind. Smart, dark, beautiful, twisted, tragic, haunting – you will not forget Lulu, or Lulu." Amen.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who attends this roduction of Lulu. And I would be interested to know more about the actress who plays Lulu. She has some small shoes to fill.

[Not surprisingly, Frank Wedekind is an interest of mine.  I have a small archive of information on various productions of Wedekind's famous play, and the various films and musical works, including Alban Berg's opera, which were based on it. Also, this article on examiner.com has some curious information about the little known American origins of Frank Wedekind. Check it out.]

Diary of a Lost Girl soundtrack for sale

Often times, Louise Brooks ephemera or memorabilia is listed for sale on eBay as "rare." One might wonder if its true - and then you notice too many other baubles also listed as rare. And then you check the asking price and see that the seller has started the bidding at $2.99. And then you ask yourself, how can something be rare if its only selling for $2.99?

Of course, the selling price of an item has not necessarily anything to do with its scarcity. That rule of thumb applies to both vintage and contemporary material. The point I am trying to make is that too often the word "rare" is thrown around all too casually. Just today, for example, I came across an item on eBay that is truly RARE, or at least really rather uncommon. The asking price is 100 euros, or approximately $136.90.

Its a contemporary soundtrack recording to the 1929 Louise Brooks film The Diary of a Lost Girl (translated by the seller as Diary of a fallen maid.), which was released in Germany as Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen. In France, the film proved popular as Journal d'une fille perdue. And that's the title on the album cover. This particular recording, release in France on the PSI Label,  features the music of Robert Viger (string quartet) and Alain Bernaud (piano).

These albums seldom shows up on eBay. Though that was my source when I bought one a few years back. Thank my lucky stars I still have an old turntable to play it on. Now that's . . . .

Back in the USSR

This Soviet era Louise Brooks postcard is currently for sale on eBay. The seller, who lives in Poland, states the postkarte is from 1928. (The portrait, incidentally, is by M.I. Boris, a NYC-based photographer who once was the, or a, court photographer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire prior to WWI. Or at least that's what his son once told me. Boris took this image in 1925.)

Beggars of Life to screen in UK with live music

Mark Kermode is a BBC film critic who loves the movies. Kermode is also the resident film critic on Radio Five Live's Mayo Show and on the News Channel, and a presenter on The Culture Show who often appears on Newsnight Review.

Today, on his twice-weekly video blog, Kermode mentioned that his musical group, The Dodge Brothers, will accompany the 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life. I am not sure where or when, as Kermode doesn't mention the details. Maybe they will emerge sometime soon . . . .

One of my favorite portraits

Though this is a poor reproduction, this image of Louise Brooks remains one of my favorite portraits of the actress. It is also one of the first I remember feeling smitten over.

There is something about it. The perfection of her bob. The imperfection of her bangs. The tilt of her head. The reluctant smile. The direction of her chin.

And, I like the sailor's suit-like dress she is wearing. It suggests, if only subconsciously, something slightly androgynous about the actress.

Is this all about me? Or do you feel it too?

Andy's Theatre holiday fare 1927

Had I been a Louise Brooks' fan living along the north coast of California, I would have paid at least a couple of visits to Andy's Theatre in the town of Albion (near Mendocino). As can be seen from these two newspaper advertisements, this small town theatre showed two Brooks' films during the 1927 holiday season.

Now We're in the Air was shown on November 20th, along with the shorts One Sunday Morning and M.G.M. No. 20. And The City Gone Wild was shown on December 22th (as A City Gone Wild), along with an unnamed comedy and Paramount News, 33. Interestingly, One Sunday Morning (1926), was directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and stars Oakland-born comedian Lloyd Hamilton.

These advertisements are typical of the kind found in small town newspapers. I found them this past weekend while researching film exhibition in Northern California. What I wasn't able to find was any information about Andy's Theatre. The always informative Cinema Treasures website didn't have an entry on this local venue with the idiosyncratic name.