Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Screen Snapshots

Here, for fun, are a few examples of "Screen Snapshots" by Hortense Schorr. Each tie in with a particular motion picture, and each date from the very early 1930s. They are something a little unusual which I came across. The films they tie into are Rain or Shine (1930), Sweethearts on Parade (1930), The Squealer (1930), and For the Love o' Lil (1930). Each are from Colombia.





Monday, January 11, 2016

Are you a fan of Louise Brooks? Take the test.

Are you a fan of Louise Brooks? Are you a BIG fan of Louise Brooks? Take this quiz and find out. Give yourself a point in answer to "yes" for each part of each question. Record your number for each, and tally a total.

1) How many of the following films have you seen in a theater or at a festival?

The Street of Forgotten Men (1925)
It’s the Old Army Game (1926)
The Show-Off (1926)
Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (1926)
A Girl in Every Port (1928)
Beggars of Life (1928)
Pandora’s Box (1929)
Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
Prix de Beauté (1930)

2) How many of the following films have you seen on VHS / DVD / Blu-ray or even LaserDisc?


It’s the Old Army Game (1926)
The Show-Off (1926)
Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (1926)
A Girl in Every Port (1928)
Beggars of Life (1928)
The Canary Murder Case (1929)
Pandora’s Box (1929)
Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
Prix de Beauté (1930)
Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1931)
God’s Gift to Women (1931)
Empty Saddles (1936)
Overland Stage Raiders (1938)

3) How many of the following documentary films have you seen?

Film Firsts: Louise Brooks (1960) – USA television short
Memories of Berlin: Twilight of Weimar Culture (1976)
Lulu in Berlin (1985)
Arena: Louise Brooks (1986) - UK television
Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu (1998)
E! Mysteries & Scandals: Louise Brooks (1999) – television

4) How many of the following books have you read? (Give yourself one bonus point if you own different editions of any book.)


Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star, by Roland Jaccard
Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks
Louise Brooks, by Barry Paris
Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, by Peter Cowie
Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks, by Jan Wahl

5) How many of the following books or plays have you read?


The Show-Off, by George Kelly
Beggars of Life, by Jim Tully
The Canary Murder Case, by S.S. van Dine
Pandora's Box, by Frank Wedekind
Diary of a Lost Girl, by Margarete Bohme

6) How many of the following have you done?


Bought a piece of vintage memorabilia
Attended an exhibit or event
Bought a postcard, photograph, or poster
Dressed-up or cut your hair like Louise Brooks
Collected articles on the actress

Visited a Louise Brooks website (within the last 3 months) not including Facebook

If you scored 26+ points, consider yourself devoted.

If you scored 25 points, consider yourself a BIG fan.

If you scored 15+ points, consider yourself a fan.

If your scored 14 or few points, time to get serious.

Bonus question: name the photographer
of this magazine portrait of Louise Brooks.

7) A few more bonus questions. Give yourself a point if. . . .

You have read The Parades Gone By by Kevin Brownlow.
You have read some other book about the history of silent film.
You have watched Kevin Brownlow's Hollywood documentary series more than once.
You have read a book about either Clara Bow or Colleen Moore.
You have watched a Clara Bow or Colleen Moore film.
 

Friday, January 8, 2016

Guinness World Record Piano Improvisation for Film

On Sunday, January 17th, acclaimed musical accompanist Michael Mortilla will perform improvised live scores for five silent films, including Pandora's Box (1929) starring Louise Brooks, in the galleries of New Objectivity: Modern German Art In The Weimar Republic, 1919–1933 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The special event will last for the duration of the museum’s opening hours on Sunday, January 17.

Very recently, LACMA invited Mortilla to play for nine hours as "an exhibit  in and of itself, accompanying four silent films, with one being repeated. It's thought that such a feat has never been documented for a world's record.

The Guinness World's Record will review and register the performance. More info about the event can be found here: http://www.lacma.org/event/michael-mortilla 

If the Guinness folks don't approve the application, Mortilla will be taking short breaks of 5-7 minutes each. If they do approve the application, he will play through the breaks to set a new world's record for improvisation and for accompanying 9 hours of silent films in a single sitting. Lulu will be a small part of this historic event.



Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Art, sensuality, and the everyday: A silent film era Denishawn dance film

From the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library, a short 7:00 minute film showing life at the Denishawn house in Los Angeles in the early 1920's. Unfortunately, it does not include Louise Brooks, who was a member of Denishawn from the Fall of 1922 through the Spring of 1924. As there is little footage of Denishawn from this time, this provides a valuable glimpse of the kind of dance Brooks studied and performed, along with vintage glimpses of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn.


NYPL description: "Brief scenes of Denishawn house, Los Angeles, Ruth St. Denis teaching class, leading students in a dance, and in Oriental costume with a peacock; Ted Shawn auditioning small girl wearing pointe shoes; informal shots of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn; Denishawn students at play. The compilation concludes with a 1913 Thomas Alva Edison Company special effects film, The Dance of the Ages, in which Norma Gould, Ted Shawn and dancers perform miniaturized on a banquet table top; Shawn's scenario of brief dances evokes historical eras from the Stone Age to the early twentieth century."

Recognize the kneeling bobbed young woman to the right of a seated Ruth St. Denis. This photo, taken in the summer of 1923 in  Petersburgh, New Hampshire, depicts St. Denis and her students in Mariarden, at the Summer Theatre and School of Mr. and Mrs. Guy Currier of Boston.


Monday, January 4, 2016

Second hand copies of Lulu in Holywood by Louise Brooks selling for $2600.00

Wowza! Second hand copies of Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks are selling for $2600.00 on Amazon. The books do not stand out in any way - they are not signed by Brooks, are not first editions or even in pristine condition. Undoubtedly, these have been priced by computer algorithms.  Heck, if any of these sellers would want a second copy for half as much, let's say $1300.00, I would be happy to sell them one.



Saturday, January 2, 2016

PSA: Baby Peggy moving movie weekend

The last silent film star is moving to Hollywood....




Friday, January 1, 2016

Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays, including New Years Day

There is a swell new book out from Schiffer, Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970, by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory. Fans of silent film, of early Hollywood, and the studio era will all want to get a copy. At nearly 200 pages, this pictorial is chock-full of images you'll delight in looking at again and again. That's not a cliche, it's just the plain and simple truth.

The book description: "Marvelously illustrated with more than 200 rare images from the silent era through the 1970s, this joyous treasure trove features film and television’s most famous actors and actresses celebrating the holidays, big and small, in lavishly produced photographs. Join the stars for festive fun in celebrating a variety of holidays, from New Year’s to Saint Patrick’s Day to Christmas and everything in between. Legends such as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Audrey Hepburn spread holiday cheer throughout the calendar year in iconic, ironic, and illustrious style. These images, taken by legendary stills photographers, hearken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when motion picture studios devised elaborate publicity campaigns to promote their stars and to keep their names and faces in front of the movie-going public all year round."

Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970 includes Louise Brooks in a Christmas themed pic. The book also includes many of Brooks' contemporaries and co-stars on various pages, including these Christmas themed pics. The LBS recommends this new book.



About the Authors: Film historian and photo archivist Mary Mallory is the author of Hollywoodland and the eBook Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found. She writes on Los Angeles and film history for the blog The Daily Mirror and serves on the board of Hollywood Heritage. Karie Bible is the official tour guide at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and co-author of Location Filming in Los Angeles. She has lectured at numerous venues, including the RMS Queen Mary and the Homestead Museum, and has appeared on Turner Classic Movies.
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