A gathering of silent film articles, part one

I've been writing for examiner.com for 5 years. In that time, I've written hundreds of pieces about film and film culture culture in the silent and early sound era. To mark my fifth anniversary as the San Francisco Bay Area silent film correspondent, I've put together this checklist of some of my favorite pieces. Hopefully, you'll like them too. Here is a selection published from 2011 through 2014.

Ramona at San Francisco Silent Film Festival
May 24, 2014

Best Silent Film Books of 2013
December 30, 2013

Mary Pickford Scholar Speaks about New Book
January 29, 2013

Best Film Books of 2012
December 28, 2012

Jim Tully takes Hollywood, again
October 10, 2012

Ty Burr on Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame
September 27, 2012

An interview with Baby Peggy: The once and future darling of New York
September 5, 2012

Baby Peggy makes a comeback
September 2, 2012

Frank Thompson's The Commentary Track reveals film history 
August 19, 2012

Silent era screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas dies at age 111
January 8, 2012

Scrapbook novel depicts 1920s story
December 26, 2011

Best silent film books of 2011
December 11, 2011

Theaters of the San Francisco Peninsula highlighted in new book
November 19, 2011

Walt in Wonderland
August 11, 2011

David Thomson’s New Biographical Dictionary of Film
March 10, 2011

Sometimes I'm Happy - Red Nichols & His Five Pennies (and Louise Brooks too)

Here is "Sometimes I'm Happy" with Red Nichols & His Five Pennies. This video makes me happy all the time because it features Louise Brooks. The song was recorded in New York City on January 24, 1930 and features Red Nichols, c / Ruby Weinstein, t / Glenn Miller, tb, arr / Tommy Dorsey, tb / Fud Livingston, cl, as / Babe Russin, ts / Adrian Rollini, bsx / Jack Russin, p / Treg Brown, g / Gene Krupa, d.

Louise Brooks teenage dancer and choreographer

It is known that prior to joining the Denishawn Dance Company, a young Louise Brooks danced at local events in Kansas. These events were held at clubs, churches, and meeting halls. What has not been known until now is that Louise Brooks, still a teen, also choreographed a dance. The dance was titled "The Little Tin Soldier and the Little Rag Doll." This article appeared in the Wichita newspaper in March, 1922.

Louise Brooks & Anna Pavlova

As is known, Louise Brooks was a member of the Denishawn Dance Company (then the leading modern dance troupe in America). She joined the company at age 15, and danced with them as a junior member for two seasons while they toured the United States and Canada. Notably, Brooks' time with Denishawn brought her into close contact with a handful of the key figures in modern American dance, namely company founders Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, and dancers Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weideman.

Brooks had other encounters with other noted dancers. While touring with Denishawn, for instance, the company took the opportunity to see a performance by Isadora Duncan, an occasion Brooks later wrote about (commenting on Duncan's wardrobe malfunction at the time).

What hasn't been known till know is that Brooks saw a performance by Anna Pavlova, another great dancer. Pavlova (sometimes spelled Pavolwa) was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet as well as the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognized for the creation of the role "The Dying Swan" and, with her own company, became the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world. One of Pavlova's tours brought her to Kansas.

Abd that's when Brooks saw her dance. Prior to joining Denishawn, in January of 1922, Brooks and groups of Wichita dance students ventured to nearby Hutchinson, Kansas to see the famous touring prima ballerina. Here is a small article from the Wichita news paper noting the occassion, followed by an advertisement for the event.

Denishawn: Ruth St. Denis documentary & interview

Denishawn founder Ruth St. Denis speaks in five part video documentary, embedded below. Originally compiled for a presentation at the National Museum of Dance in 2006.

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

Denishawn dance, what did it look like?

For two seasons, a teenage Louise Brooks was a junior member of the Denishawn Dance Company - then the leading modern dance troupe in America. During the 1922-1923 and 1923-1924 seasons, Brooks regularly performed alongside Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Martha Graham, Charles Weideman and others.

There is no film of Louise Brooks during her two seasons with Denishawn. And, as far as I know, there was little or no footage of the Denishawn Dance Company shot during the 1920s. All of which leads one to wonder what Denishawn dances looked like. Here is a video which give us something of an idea. Bonus points to those who spot Louise brooks in the still images in the second video.

On this day in 1928: Two Louise Brooks films show in Oil City, Pennsylvania

Break out the time machine. . . . on this day in 1928, not just one but TWO films featuring Louise Brooks were showing in Oil City, Pennsylvania. The local newspaper, the Oil City Derrick, advertised both A Girl in Every Port (1928) and Rolled Stockings (1927), each of which were enjoying short runs in the small town in Venango County which came to prominence after the first oil wells were drilled nearby in the 1850s. This page dates from July of 1928. Rolled Stockings had been out more than a year, A Girl in Every Port less than half a year.