Louise Brooks Society

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Louise Brooks and the koala bear

We've all seen the picture of Louise Brooks with a koala bear, but did we ever know it's name? Meet Archie.

This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com

Monday, August 24, 2015

There's A Tear For Every Smile In Hollywood

"There's A Tear For Every Smile In Hollywood," by the Blue Steele Orchestra, recorded May 1930. Mabel Bateson on the vocal.

There's A Tear For Every Smile In Hollywood... by bigband78

Louise Brooks Society

Sunday, August 23, 2015

The other Louise Brooks: Louise Voray

Speaking of other Louise Brooks.... the actress we know had a Hollywood double named Louise Voray. I haven't been able to find out much about her besides this one 1930 clipping. (I also own an original photograph of the image on the right depicted in the newspaper clipping. She is a look-alike.) Since Brooks worked so seldom in Hollywood around 1929 - 1930, I can't imagined there was much need for her doubling. Does anyone know anything else about Louise Voray?

Louise Brooks Society

Friday, August 21, 2015

The other Louise Brooks and the Lindbergh baby kidnappers

In the 1920s and 1930s, there were two Louise Brooks whose name popped up in the press.

The other Louise Brooks, the pretty blonde showgirl whose career shadowed that of the actress Louise Brooks, was thought at one time to have been mixed up in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. The Associated Press send out her picture with the following caption in 1932.

"Louise Brooks, former showgirl, was being sought by Boston, Mass., authorities after police learned that the girl's mother, Mrs. Martin Brooks, of Boston, had received a letter from Louise purporting to tell that she knew the kidnappers of the Lindbergh baby, March 31, 1932. It is one of the hundreds of clues that police throughout the country are patiently tracking down."

Was this just a publicity stunt, or some sort of mix-up? I haven't been able to find anything else on this stray bit of information. Are there any Lindbergh baby kidnapping experts who know where this "clue" went - aside from the fact this Louise Brooks wasn't involved.

Louise Brooks Society

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The LBS recommends these film / film history links

I've been working on rebuilding the Louise Brooks Society website, in particular one of its oldest pages, "Lulu in Cyberspace". It is a page of links to other Louise Brooks sites and pages as well as recommended links to other silent film, movie history and Jazz Age material.

Here are some recommended film / film history links. Happy exploring:

American Film Institute (silent film section)

British Film Institute

CineGraph (Germany)

Cinema Context (The Netherlands)

Cinema Treasures (theaters)

Cinémathèque française

Classic Images (magazine)

Deutsche Kinemathek

Domitor (intl society for the study of early cinema)

Filmarchiv Austria

George Eastman House

History of Film: The 1920’s

Hollywood Heritage

League of Historic American Theatres

Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation

Media History Digital Library (vintage magazines)

MPPDA Digital Archive

National Film Preservation Foundation

NitrateVille (message boards)

Photoplay Productions (Kevin Brownlow)

Pre-Code Hollywood (Facebook)

Pre-Code Hollywood 1929-34: Sin on Celluloid (Facebook)

Screen Deco (Facebook)

“Sin in Transition” Hollywood’s Pre-Code Movies (Facebook)

Theatre Historical Society of America

Vitaphone Project

Women and Film History International

Women Film Pioneers Project

Louise Brooks Society

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Mary & Louise - a new short film about Mary Pickford and Louise Brooks

Mary and Louise is a 20-minute film about about finding your voice that features characters based on Mary Pickford and Louise Brooks.

The premise is simple, and poetic. After each fail miserably on the set of their first "talkie", the two silent film stars vow never to speak again. Out of work and past their prime, they become roommates in Brooklyn. Mary and Louise is a fantasy and a comedy with dark undertones which explores the ups and down of friendship and the importance of finding one's voice amid the din of great personal and technological change.

Directed by Abigail Zealey Bess and written by Amy Staats (the actress who plays Pickford), the film is now on the festival circuit. It was screened at the Cayman International and Maine International Film Festivals this summer. Last year, it won the Britt Penrod Award for best trailer.

As can be seen in the video clip below, characters based on Marlene Dietrich, Rudolph Valentino, W.C. Fields, Gloria Swanson, Jean Harlow, Nosferatu, and Charlie Chaplin also figure in the film. I for one am looking forward to seeing the entire film.