Recommended new books on silent film: Pola Negri, Marion Davies, Slapstick Divas and more

Ahead of a longer review, here are a few new books I wish to recommend to fans of Louise Brooks  as well as those interested in the silent film era. Brooks' career was contemporaneous with Negri, Davies,  Keeler and the actresses written about in Slapstick Divas. There are other points of intersection, as well. Each book can be found on amazon.com and elsewhere.

Pola Negri—The Hollywood Years (CreateSpace)
by Tony Villecco

"Her films were silent. She wasn’t. Meet POLA NEGRI, the glamorous “vamp” who took Hollywood by storm in the Roaring Twenties. Already renowned in Europe for her acting talent, beauty, and passion, Negri quickly made her mark in dramatic black and white, both onscreen and off.

Vivid. Wild. Threatening. Gorgeous. Temperamental. Exotic. Pola Negri was called all that, and more. Love affairs with Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, and a self-styled prince—and equally tempestuous relationships with colleagues, critics, the press, and the fans—kept Negri in the front page news. She wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Tony Villecco, author of the critically acclaimed Silent Stars Speak, shares his lifelong fascination with Negri. This new book features:

    - 100+ photographs (several never before available to the public)
    - Reminiscences from Negri’s colleagues and acquaintances, including film historian Kevin Brownlow
    - Filmography of Negri’s work in American cinema, 1922–1964
    - Accounts from fan magazines, newspapers, other publications, and correspondence

POLA NEGRI: THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS is not intended to be a complete historical retrospective or analysis of Pola Negri’s films. Rather, it offers today’s readers and film fans an intriguing glimpse into the life, times, and persona of a “silent” star who lived at full volume during the Golden Era of film."

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Slapstick Divas: The Women of Silent Comedy (BearManor Media)
by Steve Massa 

"Funny girls, those comediennes from the silent movies, knew shtick from slapstick. Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler, Bebe Daniels, Dorothy Gish, Constance Talmadge, Marion Davies, and Colleen Moore brought riotous laughter to millions around the world, yet their hilarity may seem hidden to those only familiar with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and Harold Lloyd. Discover the women of wit, from the supporting players to the stars. Author Steve Massa covers their contributions to comedy with in-depth analyses of the most hilarious heroines of humor, followed by 459 biographies of other droll divas from the famous to the forgotten. Illustrated with 440 rare movie scene shots, formal portraits, candid behind the scenes photos, film frame enlargements, trade magazine advertisements, lobby cards, stage photographs, artist’s renderings and caricatures, and casting guide entries."

About the author: Steve Massa is the author of Lame Brains and Lunatics: The Good, The Bad, and The Forgotten of Silent Comedy and Marcel Perez: The International Mirth-Maker. He has organized and curated comedy film programs for the Museum of Modern Art, The Library of Congress, The Museum of the Moving Image, The Smithsonian Institution, and The Pordenone Silent Film Festival.

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The Silent Films of Marion Davies (CreateSpace)
by Edward Lorusso

"She was always a star... at least in the movies. Between 1917 and 1929 Marion Davies appeared in 30 silent films. This book profiles them all, the mega-hits and the not so successful, the costume epics, the romantic dramas, and the madcap comedies that made her one of the biggest stars of the silent era."

Edward Lorusso is a writer, film historian, and avid classic film collector. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with B.A. and M.A. degrees in English. He earned his Ph.D. in Modern American and British Literature from the University of New Mexico. He has taught at the University of Maine, University of New Mexico, and Trinidad State Junior College in Colorado. Along with collecting and writing about class films, he has produced several silent-film restorations, including "The Restless Sex" (1920) and "Enchantment" (1921); the latter film was broadcast on Turner Classic Movies in November 2014. He retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where he worked as a science writer and editor and also managed an education outreach program for climate research stations in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Nauru. He resides in Maine.

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Too Marvelous for Words: The Life and Career of Ruby Keeler (BearManor Media)
by Ed Harbur

"Come and meet those dancing feet! The lyrics from "42nd Street" still evoke fantastic memories of Busby Berkeley and actress, dancer, and singer Ruby Keeler, who is best-known for starring with Dick Powell in musicals produced at Warner Bros., notably 42nd Street (1933), Golddiggers of 1933 (1933), Footlight Parade (1933), Flirtation Walk (1934), and Go Into Your Dance (1935).

Ruby's life and career was no tap dance. Underage at fourteen, she first danced where the underworld meet the elite in New York speakeasies during the Prohibition Era. Plucked from obscurity and thrust onto Broadway in musicals, she captured the attention of Florenz Ziegfeld, and she soon appeared in his Whoopee! with Eddie Cantor and Show Girl (1929) with Jimmy Durante.

Topsy turvy Hollywood converted to talking pictures that were first popularized by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927). Jolson met Ruby, and their eleven-year turbulent marriage swept the two of them into widely publicized movie successes, yet their acclaim stood on shaky ground.

In this first-ever book by actor and singer Ed Harbur, discover Ruby's childhood, her early career, her idyllic second marriage, and her phenomenal return to Broadway after twenty-seven years to star in No, No, Nanette. Tragedy followed the triumph, when Ruby suffered a life-threatening stroke, yet she emerged to enjoy a long and successful recovery and served as a champion advocate for stroke victims.

The four-part book spans sections devoted to Biography, Film Appearances, Stage Appearances, and TV and Short Subject Appearances. Illustrated with hundreds of never before seen photographs, including stage and screen productions and candid shots of Ruby at work and in private life."

Video from Italy: Louise Brooks and Now We're in the Air

Check out this short (about 3 and 1/2 minute) video from the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy, which contains a bit of footage from the previously lost 1927 Louise Brooks film, Now We're in the Air, which showed at the Festival on October 2. The individual seen in the video is Festival director Jay Weissberg.



Further information about this screening can be found HERE. And, don't fail to read Jay Weissberg's program essay on the film, which can be found HERE.

Louise Brooks Society on Twitter @LB_Society

The Louise Brooks Society is on Twitter @LB_Society. In fact, the LBS is followed by more than 4,640 interested individuals. Are you one of them? Sign up to get the latest news. And, be sure and check out the LBS Twitter profile and the more than 5,220 LBS tweets so far!

Louise Brooks ✪

@LB_Society

Louise Brooks Society - all about the silent film & Jazz Age icon who played
Lulu in Pandora's Box. Visit our website, blog & online radio station!

Talking about Louise Brooks: An Irish podcast

Listen-up!  Any Ladle's Sweet is a podcast (out of Ireland) which I came across on SoundCloud. The show is a monthly film podcast discussing early and golden era Hollywood stories and themes focusing on the women who designed / acted / directed / wrote during this era. To date, there have been episodes devoted to Mary Astor, Carole Lombard, Joan Bennett, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanywck, Joan Blondell and Ginger Rodgers, and others.

The hosts of Any Ladle's Sweet are Megan McGurk and Danielle Smith. Their podcast can also be heard on iTunes. They also have a Facebook page.



The 20th episode of the hour-long, Dublin-based program is titled, "Louise Brooks - Naked on Her Goat." I listened to it and enjoyed it. It is thoughtful and insightful. I recommend it, and recommend you listen to it as well.



By the way,  Megan McGurkis also the author of a book titled Sass Mouth Dames: 30 Essential Women’s Pictures 1929-1939. "When Hollywood made films for women, known by studio executives and the people who made them as ‘woman’s pictures’, viewers could reliably find a female point of view in the cinema. Films made for women covered a wide range of topics from sex, employment, social mobility, female rivalry, and above all, the importance of friendship with other women as a ballast for life in a man’s world. Sass Mouth Dames presents 30 superior films from 1929-1939 as a reminder that women in the movies did not always play second fiddle to the leading man. Women were once the star attraction, billed above the man with brilliantined hair. Women such as Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell and Irene Dunne drew women and men to the cinema see their latest challenge or adventure. Sass Mouth Dames celebrates extraordinary films that maintain their relevance for contemporary audiences. Films discussed include well known classics such as Gold Diggers of 1933, Baby Face, Stage Door, The Women and Love Affair as well as lesser-known gems such as Ladies of Leisure, Merrily We Go to Hell, Private Worlds, Heat Lightning and Havana Widows. Sass Mouth Dames highlights exceptional performances, storytelling, and design.

Haley Lu Richardson on set as Louise Brooks in The Chaperone

As fans of Louise Brooks are likely well aware, Laura Moriarty's splendid 2012 novel, The Chaperone, has been made into a film with an expected release date in 2018. Set in the early 1920's, the film tells the story of Louise Brooks' journey from Kansas to New York City accompanied by a chaperone. The film, produced by PBS Masterpiece, is set to star Elizabeth McGovern as the chaperone and Haley Lu Richardson as Louise Brooks. The Chaperone has been scripted by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) and directed by Michael Engler. It will air on PBS stations nationwide after its initial theatrical run.

More information about the production can be found HERE. A full listing of the cast can be found on IMDb HERE.

Recently, a handful of images of Haley Lu Richardson as Louise Brooks turned up on  HALEYLURICHARDSON.NET, a "fansite made by fans for fans in no way affiliated with Haley Lu, her family, friends or management." These unattributed images, taken on the set on August 8, 2017, are our first glimpse of the actress who plays Brooks. The entire set can be found HERE.

More of Louise Brooks from Pordenone, Italy

Rob Byrne sent me this snapshot of a recent Louise Brooks Society blog posted on the bulletin board (along with other media coverage) at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy. This made my day.

And here are a few more nifty images, gathered from the Pordenone /  Le Giornate del Cinema Muto website and Facebook wall. (photos by Valerio Greco). [And while you are visiting the Pordenone website, don't fail to read Jay Weissberg's program essay on the film, which can be found HERE.]

Speaking of media coverage of the Festival, check out the following blogs and news articles -- all of which make mention of Louise Brooks and Now We're in the Air:

Il Fruili ran a piece titled "Cinema muto: oggi è la giornata di Louise Brooks: A Pordenone, l’anteprima del frammento ritrovato di ‘Now we’re in the air’ del 1927"

The communist newspaper Il Manifesto also ran a piece, this one was titled "Scomode e indisciplinate, le «cattive ragazze» del muto" which stated (in rough translation) "...rediscovered by historian Robert Byrne, president of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, who found them in the Prague archive. Precious because they include the magnificent and charismatic presence of one of the most iconic stars of all movie history: Louise Brooks, with her unmistakable haircut (inspired by Crepax's Valentine) and a breathtaking black tutu. Its image resists time, always modern."

Another Italian newspaper, Il Picolo, ran a piece titled "Louise Brooks, frammenti di divina" 

Luce Cinecitta ran a piece titled "Louise Brooks, prima di Lulù"

Attendee Pamela Hutchinson, author of a forthcoming book on Pandora's Box, posted a piece to the Silent London site which started "Louise Brooks is everywhere this year, not least here at the Giornate, where she adorns tote bags, mugs, programmes, T-shirts and even the festival office."

And the blog I Thank You Arthur also posted on the event.

Now We're in the Air, the story behind the Louise Brooks film and its finding

In celebration of today's showing of Now We're in the Air at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy, here is a reprise of my March 30th Huffington Post article about the film and its finding. Further information about this special screening can be found HERE. Also, don't fail to read Jay Weissberg's program essay on the film, which can be found HERE. (It mentions the LBS.) And for those who can't get enough, HERE are my program notes for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

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Long Missing Louise Brooks Film Found
by Thomas Gladysz (3/30/2017)

Approximately 23 minutes of a long missing 1927 Louise Brooks film, Now We’re in the Air, has been found in an archive in the Czech Republic. The discovery is significant, not only because of Brooks’ widespread popularity, but because it helps fill a gap in the legendary actress’ body of work. Until now, each of the four films Brooks made in 1927—at the peak of her American career—have been considered lost.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival revealed the existence of the film while announcing the lineup of works to be shown at its upcoming event. The newly restored partial film will be shown at the Festival, which is set to take place June 1 through June 4 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.

Now We’re in the Air will be paired with Get Your Man (1927), a Dorothy Arzner directed film starring Clara Bow. The Library of Congress has reconstructed Get Your Man from recovered materials, filling in missing sequences with stills and intertitles. Festival Executive Director Stacey Wisnia noted that the pairing brings together not only two recovered films, but also the era’s two “It” girls, Bow and Brooks.

The discovery of Now We’re in the Air came about, in part, through the efforts of film preservationist Robert Byrne, president of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Byrne has made a name for himself of late, having helped in the recovery and restoration of a handful of important films over the last few years. Prominent among his discoveries were two films identified in the collection of Cinematheque Francaise, Sherlock Holmes (1916), and Silence (1926). The latter, a Cecil B. DeMille production directed by Rupert Julian, will also debut at the June event. Another of Byrne’s efforts, Behind the Door (1919), is due out on DVD / Blu-ray from Flicker Alley.

In a recent interview, Byrne related how he mentioned to English film historian and Academy Award honoree Kevin Brownlow that he would be going to Prague to visit the Czech Národní filmový archiv (the Czech Republic’s National Film Archive). It’s known they have an extensive collection of silent era material, including the only remaining nitrate copies of a number of American silent films. Unsure as to what might be found, Brownlow provided Byrne with a list of about a dozen titles he should ask to see. That list included Now We’re in the Air. Though popular in its time, the 1927 film is little known today except for the fact it includes Brooks in an important supporting role.

When Byrne inspected the elements for Rif a Raf, Piloti (the Czech title for Now We’re in the Air), he found the film had only partially survived in a state which also showed nitrate decomposition. Additionally, the surviving scenes were found to be out of order, and there were Czech-language titles in place of the original American titles. Byrne spent more than eight months reconstructing the surviving material, including restoring the film’s original English-language inter-titles and original tinting.

“As is often the case, the most challenging aspect was not the technical work of cleaning up the image,” Byrne stated, “but rather the research that ensured we were making a faithful restoration, especially when it came to replacing the Czech language inter-titles with the original English versions.”

Byrne was especially appreciative of the help given by the Národní filmový archive. “They were incredibly gracious and generous with their time and resources; in addition to granting access to their nitrate print, they are responsible for the color-dye tinting of our new 35mm print. This is the first San Francisco Silent Film Festival restoration where we have used the traditional dye-tinting process to restore a film’s original color. In prior projects, we have used a modern method that utilizes color film stock.” Byrne added, “This is what an American audience would have seen when the film was released in 1927.”

Byrne said he was “thrilled” to find a missing Brooks film. “The shame is that so many of her American films are lost. Seeing Now We’re in the Air projected for the first time was pretty amazing. I have seen stills of her in the black tutu a million times, but actually seeing the sequence where she is wearing it was like watching a still photograph magically come to life.” Byrne’s excitement for the newly found Brooks’ film was matched by Judy Wyler Sheldon, a longtime Brooks’ fan and the daughter of legendary director William Wyler. Festival Artistic Director Anita Monga was likewise excited, and thought the fragment was “revelatory.”

Directed by Frank Strayer, Now We’re in the Air is a World War One comedy starring future Oscar winner Wallace Beery and the once popular character actor Raymond Hatton. The film, released by Paramount, also features Brooks in two supporting roles. The actress plays twins, one raised French, one raised German, who are the love interest of two goofy fliers. The surviving footage of Brooks only includes her in the role of the French twin, a carnival worker dressed in a short, dark tutu.

Raymond Hatton, Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery

In the 1920s, Beery and Hatton were teamed in a number of popular Dumb and Dumber-like comedies. With its aviation-theme, Now We’re in the Air was one of the pair’s “service comedies,” following similar themed movies like Behind the Front (1926) and We’re in the Navy Now (1926).

Notably, the film’s cinematographer is Harry Perry, who worked on two other significant aviation pictures, Wings (1927), and Hell’s Angels (1930). Perry was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the latter. Interestingly, a notation in the script for Now We’re in the Air uncovered during its restoration calls for the use of left-over footage from the William Wellman-directed Wings, another WWI movie, and the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. That footage can be seen during the Armistice scene in Now We’re in the Air, near the end of the surviving footage.

Though some winced at its crude humor (not evident in the surviving material), the Beery-Hatton film proved to be one of the more popular comedies of 1927. Generally liked by the critics, the film did big box office where ever it showed. In New York City, it enjoyed an extended run, as it did in San Francisco, where it proved to be one of the year’s biggest hits. At a time when most new releases played only one week, Now We’re in the Air ran for a month in San Francisco, according to local newspaper listings. In Boston, the film also did well, opening simultaneously in five theaters. At the time, the Boston Evening Transcript noted the audience at one screening “was so moved by mirth that they were close to tears.”

The recovery of Now We’re in the Air comes 90 years after its first release, and 100 years after the United States formally entered what became known as the First World War, on April 6, 1917. Though a comedy, Now We’re in the Air was one of a number of silent films from the time—including Behind the Door (1919), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Big Parade (1925), What Price Glory? (1926), and Wings (1927), which depict the international conflict.

Byrne and others involved in the restoration of Now We’re in the Air believe the surviving footage lives up to the promise of its original reviews. In June, Festival goers and Louise Brooks fans will have the chance to see for themselves. More about the lineup of films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival can be found at www.silentfilm.org.

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My wife and I had a small hand in helping bring this film back to the screen, and we and the Louise Brooks Society are thanked in the credits which follow the restored fragment. It was an honor and a pleasure to be asked to help work on the project. It was also exciting! I got to see raw footage of the surviving material (still with Czech intertitles), and helped put the fragmented pieces back into proper order and with correct English-language intertitles. The story of this film will be told in a new book, which is forthcoming later this year.

After the above article was published and before the film debuted in San Francisco, I was given a Louise Brooks / Now We're in the Air giphoscope to honor my contribution to bringing this once lost film back into circulation -- 90 years after it was first shown.


What's a giphoscope? Simply put, it's an analog GIF player. And this model displays a 24 frame animated GIF excerpted from Now We're in the Air. Only a few copies of these handmade, Italian objects were produced.  Here is one in action, followed by a snapshot of Robert Byrne and myself (right) holding my player.