Jan Wahl - author extraordinaire and friend of Louise Brooks

I just got off the phone with Jan Wahl, the celebrated children's book author and longtime friend of Louise Brooks.

We talked about many things, including books, old theaters, the movies - both classic and contemporary, and of course Brooks herself. This is the first time Jan and I have spoken on the phone, though we have exchanged letters and books. (I also met Jan's niece some years back.)

Jan recounted a number of stories about the Brooks, some of which were included in his books and other writings, and some of which I had never heard before (and wouldn't dare repeat).

Jan has known and befriended many interesting and famous people over the years. He several months working with noted filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer during the filming of Ordet (The Word), and later turned that into a fascinating book from the University Press of Kentucky. He was also for a time the personal secretary to Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), the celebrated novelist and short story writer.

In the course of our 30 minute conversation, Wahl also recounted anecdotes of encounters with the likes of artist Jasper Johns, sculptor Alexander Calder, and photographer Edward Steichen.

His very first book, Pleasant Fieldmouse (1964), was illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Another early book, Cobweb Castle (1968), was illustrated by Edward Gorey, whom he knew.

I want to encourage everyone to seek out Jan Wahl's books. They are recommended, and he is a gifted writer and storyteller. These two books by Wahl, Dear Stinkpot: Letters From Louise Brooks, and Through a Lens Darkly, belong on the bookshelf of every Brooks fan. Go get a copy today!

Cool pics of the Day: Louise Brooks in profile

Here are a three smashing portraits of Louise Brooks, each in profile or semi-profile. Each was taken in the mid-to-late 1920s, and each shows off her delicious bob.

Smoking with Lulu in London anyone?

Had anyone had the chance to see the latest production of Smoking with Lulu in London? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please post in the comments field, or email the Louise Brooks Society. The LBS has written earlier about the play here.

The only notice regarding the play which I saw online was this brief bit from September 30 from TimeOut London, which described Janet Munsil's play thus:

"Theatre critic Kennth Tynan and legendary silent movie star Louise Brooks once met and this play is about that fateful moment."

There was also short write-up on a site called skiddle.com.

New novel features Louise Brooks Society

A just published novel features the Louise Brooks Society. The Vanity, by Robert Murillo, is a lovely, Jack Finney like story about one man's love of Lulu. And what's more, Louise Brooks appears on the cover. Here's more from the publisher.

". . . . It’s three o’clock in the morning in Beverly Hills and fiction writer Mike Lundy is standing at his front window, watching a vintage Duesenberg slowly pass by his house. Sitting in the backseat is popular silent film star Louise Brooks, hoping to recover compromising photos she has left at Mike’s house. Possible? Yes, if it were 1927. But Mike lives in the year 2011! And the photos? They’re in the possession of her cuckold husband, movie director Eddie Sutherland, who has plans to turn the pictures over to the Los Angeles Times—unaware that the exposé will not only lead to his and Louise’s banishment from the movie industry but to her suicide and his murder. Mike, able to see their futures, must decide if he should try to stop Eddie from publishing the revealing photos. But if he does, he realizes he would be altering the past, and in doing so, changing history."

About the author: Robert S Murillo taught English for more than ten years before a career as a financial advisor. Today, he spends most of his time writing fiction—mostly short stories; The Vanity is his first novel. He considers J.D. Salinger, Ray Bradbury, and Jack Finney to be the writers who have influenced him the most, though he remains in awe of such artists as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck. When not writing, he enjoys the beaches of the Sea of Cortez. He lives near Berkeley with his lovely bride, Suzanne, and their two cats, Phoebe and Chaplin.

Donna Tartt reading Barry Paris bio of Louise Brooks

In the New York Times, Donna Tartt, the celebrated author of The Secret History and now The Goldfinch, says she is reading among other books the Barry Paris biography of Louise Brooks.
Fore more, check out this brief interview with the author, part of the newspaper's ongoing "By the Book" series. 

Author Donna Tartt and the cover of her new book, The Goldfinch.
(courtesy of Beowulf Sheehan; Little, Brown and Company)

Louise Brooks & Pandora's Box plays in Huntington, Kentucky

Pandora's Box will be shown in Huntington, Kentucky on Tuesday, October 29th at 7:30 pm with live musical accompaniment by Ben Model. Here are the details from the host venue, the Cinema Arts Center. (Follow the link to purchase tickets or for more information.)

Louise Brooks stars in G.W. Pabst’s stunning film of Frank Wedekind’s classic about the fiery showgirl Lulu, whose explosive sexuality has a devastating effect on everyone. (Germany, 1929, 131 min., B&W, Director:  G. W. Pabst Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner,  Francis Lederer)

Live Organ Accompaniment by Ben Model
Members $9 • Public $14

One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst (The Threepenny Opera) had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box.

Based on the Lulu Plays by Frank Wedekind, whose Spring Awakening has just been adapted into a hit Broadway musical, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality.

Ben Model is one of the USA’s leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silents at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the past 27 years. Ben co-curated MoMA’s “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” series and  Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle retrospective, and also curated Shout!Factory’s new “Ernie Kovacs Collection” DVD box set. A five-time recipient of the Meet The Composer grant, Ben is a regular accompanist at classic film festivals around the U.S.A. and in Norway, and performs at universities, museums, and historic theaters. Ben is the producer and co-founder of The Silent Clowns Film Series, now in its 14th season in NYC. Ben’s recorded scores can be heard on numerous DVD releases from Kino Video and others. Ben’s composed ensemble scores for films by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd are performed around the U.S. every year by orchestras and by concert bands.

William Kentridge Lulu inspired by Louise Brooks Lulu

An article in today's New York Times confirmed what the Louise Brooks Society had suspected or at least secretly hoped for, that South African-born artist William Kentridge's upcoming production of Alban Berg's opera Lulu is inspired in part by Louise Brooks' performance as Lulu in G.W.  Pabst's 1929 film, Pandora's Box. (See this earlier LBS blog about Kentridge's involvement in the Metropolitan production, which is set to open in 2015.)

The New York Times stated:

“Lulu,” Berg’s final opera, is in part about art: It features an artist who falls in love with a femme fatale after painting her portrait. And in the second act it calls for a silent film — which might be tailor-made for Mr. Kentridge, who is as well known for his videos as he is for his drawings, sculptures and tapestries....

“Those were things that kind of easily drew me to it,” said Mr. Kentridge, who explained that his “Lulu” was being inspired by German Expressionism, Weimar cinema (including, of course, “Pandora’s Box,” the G. W. Pabst version of the Lulu story starring Louise Brooks), Max Beckmann drypoints depicting brothels and the like, and other art projects he is working on. “But boy, there’s a lot of other stuff as well.”

How much Brooks' role in Pandora's Box leaves its mark on Kentridge's opera remains to be seen. The New York Times went on to add, "A funny but nightmarish section of a silent film shot in Johannesburg featured a black-and-white montage of, among other things, a man smoking a comically large cigar as gunshot wounds appear on his chest; a Louise Brooks-like Lulu figure holding a pistol spewing a stream of smoke; a dancing policeman; a judge with the overdone eye makeup of the silent-film era; a very creepy doctor; and a syringe oozing smoke."

As Louise Brooks / Lulu devotees know, Berg's opera, Lulu, was based on the Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, which also served as basis for the G.W. Pabst film, Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. In later years, Berg's widow has stated that the composer had seen the Pabst film; interestingly, he included a filmic element in his opera. How Kentridge stages his version of Berg's early 20th century opera should prove fascinating.

More on this exciting story will be posted as things develop!

UPDATE:

The Louise Brooks Society just came across a newspaper article from last month which reported that William Kentridge had visited the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The Eastman House and Rochester were, of course, the film archive and city were Louise Brooks spent the last decades of her life. The article, "William Kentridge, South Africa's best known artist, to visit Rochester," appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on September 17th. The plot thickens.