Seeking info on "I'm a Real-Life Doll" with Louise Brooks lyric

Some years ago, I came across a posting on the web about a song called "I'm a Real-Life Doll". The lyrics supposedly come from an unsuccessful 1931 musical called Footlight Fancies, with supposed ghostwritten lyrics by Jerome Kern. One of more of these facts may be incorrect. I can't find any information on this song or even the musical. Are they real? If anyone has any information, please contact the Louise Brooks Society.

"I'm a Real-Life Doll"

Though I'm not a Lilian Gish
I can cook a tasty dish.
And even though I'm not Joan Crawford
I've got charms that she ain't offered.

I may not be Clara Bow
But there's a sewing trick I know
And Theda Bara
Can't prepare a
Creme brulee or caramel.

Though I can't say I've the looks
Of mysterious Louise Brooks
You won't be disappointed, not at all!
Alice White may be all right
And Blanche Sweet may be petite
But I'm a real-life doll!

Yes, it's time that I confessed
I am certainly no Mae West
But don't let my lack of glamor cast a pall.
Greta Garbo, she's a star-bo
Mary Pickford, quite a kick-ford
But Anna May Wong, she won't stay long,
And Mabel Normand -- get the doorman!
So stick with me and you'll get over
All of Alla Nazimova
I'm a real-life doll!

Louise Brooks is Loma Brooks

This rare Spanish cigarette card is for sale on eBay at a rather steep price. It measures approximately 2" x 2 3/4" and is card stock, and has Spanish text on the back. And what's more, the actress is identified as "Loma Brooks." I have seen other material from Spain where Brooks is called Luisa. Anyone have an idea as to why Loma?

Podcast with Rick Geary, author of Louise Brooks: Detective

Recently, Rick Geary was a guest on The Comics Alternative podcast. I am listening to it now - and would recommend any Louise Brooks or comic book fan give a listen. Geary is the author of the just published graphic novel, Louise Brooks: Detective (NBM), an 80-page fictional take on the actress' time in Kansas in the early 1940s.

Geary himself grew up in Kansas, and Geary's mother was Brooks' second cousin. Geary brings an insider perspective to telling this tale. He also brings a real appreciation for Brooks, of whom he says "she is one of the great images of the 20th century, one of the great faces."

Louise Brooks: Detective is "A fictional story centered on actress Louise Brooks, this graphic novel by Rick Geary is spun around her actual brief meteoric career as a smoldering film actress who popularized bangs. Geary fantasizes about her coming back to her home town of Wichita where she becomes intrigued by a murder involving a friend, a famous reclusive writer and a shady beau. Not before she gets herself in great danger will she emerge with the solution the police fail to grasp."

Rick Geary is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator. He is the author and illustrator of several books, including the other titles in the Treasury of XXth Century Murder series. He has worked for Marvel Entertainment Group, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Heavy Metal magazine, and has contributed to National Lampoon and the New York Times Book Review. The book industry trade journal Publishers Weekly calls Louise Brooks: Detective "A fun, twisty mystery for both film buffs and crime fiction lovers, and the final revelation is satisfying."

Louise Brooks is on Twitter, follow her now!

The Louise Brooks Society is on Twitter @LB_Society.

 As of today, the LBS is followed by more than 3500 individuals. Are you one of them?
Why not join the conversation? Be sure and visit the official LBS Twitter profile, and check out the more
than 4,100 LBS tweets! For those who like to follow the flow, the LBS twitter stream can also be found
in the right hand column of this blog.

 

Who follows the LBS on Twitter? Fans, film historians, theaters, cine clubs and film institutes, art deco collectors, librarians, classic film buffs as well as Garbo, Keaton, Chaplin, Clara Bow and Douglas Fairbanks. Are you one of them? Don't miss a tweet!

And that's not all. 

RadioLulu ♪♫♬♪

also has a Twitter account at @Radio_Lulu. 

As of now, RadioLulu is followed by more than 425 individuals - including many silent film and vintage music enthuisiasts, and has posted more than 250 tweets! This more recently established account tweets about Louise Brooks and music as well as additions to RadioLulu - the long running online radio station of the
Louise Brooks Society at live365.com/stations/radiolulu
Check em out! 

And for those who want, check out the Twitter account of Thomas Gladysz, founding director of the Louise Brooks Society, at @thomas_gladysz 

New Louise Brooks Society website in the works

To celebrate 20 years online as the leading source for all things Lulu, a new Louise Brooks Society website is in the works! Great progress is being made. But in the meantime, the domain www.pandorasbox.com is under construction. Please check back as a new and improved website is made ready. Contact info is pictured here.

Why Be Good?

I recently has the opportunity to see the stellar 1929 Colleen Moore film, Why Be Good?, on the big screen at the recent San Francisco Silent Film Festival. And let me tell you, it was stellar. Did I already say that? If so, let me tell you it was really terrific. If you like Louise Brooks, you'll like Colleen Moore. She is just as much of a dish!

Happily, Why Be Good? is available on DVD. And what's more, this recent DVD release stars actor Neil Hamilton (who was featured in Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men) as well as the film's original Vitaphone soundtrack.

"'Why be good when it’s so much more thrilling to be bad?' asked the ad campaign for this slightly naughty and oh-so-knowing silent-movie celebration of the flapper era. The star of Flaming Youth - vivacious Colleen Moore - again captures the rebellious flamboyance of the Twenties in Why Be Good? She plays Pert Kelly, a shopgirl who wins the heart of the boss’ son (Neil Hamilton, The Dawn Patrol). The boss, however, doubts that Pert is virtuous. His love-struck son wonders if Dad could be right. So he sets up a little test for his sweetie: He takes Pert to a raucous roadhouse, rents a private room and makes a most ungentlemanly suggestion. Will Pert be good? Or, with Prince Charming in her grasp, will she decide it’s better to be bad? The lively direction is the work of William A. Seiter, whose 45-year career included the Golden Age musicals Roberta, Dimples and You Were Never Lovelier."

For more about Colleen Moore, be sure and check out the Colleen Moore Project website.

First ever Louise Brooks Society blog on this day in 2002

The first ever Louise Brooks Society blog appeared on LiveJournal on this day in 2002. To mark the occasion, here is that first post:

In search of the perfect bob, in the Philippines

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, from Manila, recently ran a story titled "In search of the perfect bob." In it, the reporter discusses her own quest for the haircut, as well as a bit of it's history.

It has been a long debate on who actually started the classic bob. But American Hairdresser magazine, in an article on March 1, 2007, “The Way We Were,” credited dancer Irene Castle for the bob, which used to be called “Castle Bob” in 1915.

There was also the tale of an unpopular girl whose life changed after she got her new bob, as told in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” published in the Saturday Evening Post in May 1920.

Others credit the bob to Coco Chanel or the American dancer and actress Louise Brooks, with her ebony black, blunt bob with bangs.

Anna Wintour has been sporting the page-boy bob since she was 14.

Why is the ’do still popping up to this day?

The popularity of the bob knows no bounds. Neither does its identification with Louise Brooks. Both are a worldwide phenomena!