Louise Brooks - Looking back at 2025

This past year has been a heck of a year, to say the least. Admittedly, it has been a year of both highs and lows (I won't talk about the latter, for now), as well as accomplishment and even a few disappointments.

The Louise Brooks Society marked a significant milestone in 2025. The LBS was launched in 1995, and this past year the website celebrated its 30th anniversary. To describe the Louise Brooks Society as "pioneering" is not a stretch, as few websites on any subject can claim to have been around as long. The Louise Brooks Society is a  labor of love, and I hope to keep going as long as I can.

The mission of the Louise Brooks Society is to honor the actress by stimulating interest in her life, films and legacy. To that end, the LBS has been involved in a couple of long-term projects which were first announced in late 2025, and which will see release within just a few weeks!

The most exciting of these long-term projects in the forthcoming Blu-ray, Focus on Louise Brooks, due out from Flicker Alley. I first pitched the idea of just such a disc 10 years ago, and thanks to the efforts of the person who made it happen, film preservationist Robert Byrne -- that disc is finally seeing release. Byrne was the person to whom I first pitched my idea of "The Lost Louise Brooks" -- which was to gather all of Brooks' unreleased / surviving / fragmentary / once "considered lost" films. There is more than you might think. I first had the idea around the time the surviving material from Now We're in the Air (1927) was found in Prague and later preserved by Byrne. I had a hand in its preservation (and am acknowledged in the credits). 

Focus on Louise Brooks also includes another film with whose preservation I also provided assistance (and am also acknowledged in the credits). That film is The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), which marked Brooks' screen debut. It is a terrific film from director Herbert Brenon, who directed Peter Pan (1924) the year before and Beau Geste (1926) the year after. The latter has been receiving a good deal of attention lately as it has also been restored and released on Blu-ray. Focus on Louise Brooks also includes surviving material from The American Venus (1926) -- which was Brooks' first credited screen role, and Just Another Blonde (1926), an enjoyable Jazz Age romance shot, in part, on location at Luna Park on Coney Island. Fans of the actress will adore the surviving footage of the actress. I do.

For Focus on Louise Brooks, I wrote the booklet essay, and provided audio commentaries for three of the disc's four films. I also provided images for the bonus material, and even helped with copy editing some of the bonus and promotional materials. I am pleased with the way this disc turned out, and hope Brooks' fans will be as well. If you want to see more Brooks material released in the future, then please help support this project and purchase a copy of Focus on Louise Brooks. It comes in two different editions.  The regular edition is pictured below on the left, while the limited edition is pictured on the right. 

The limited edition features a spot gloss slipcover only available at the Flicker Alley website and select indie retailers. No major retailers will be stocking this item. For more on this disc, including a breakdown of the various must-have bonus materials (which includes the little seen trailer for Just Another Blonde, which itself includes footage not seen in the surviving fragment), check out the Flicker Alley website. Focus on Louise Brooks is scheduled for release on January 13. The regular edition will also be available on amazon.com at a later date.

Another project which the Louise Brooks Society has been involved is the forthcoming re-release of Lulu in Hollywood, Brooks' 1982 volume of autobiographical essays. The book is being re-released in print with a new cover (shown below) on February 3, AND it is being released for the first time ever as an e-book. I have been working behind-the scenes with Penguin Random House and the University of Minnesota Press for at least a year to make this happen -- especially in regards to the e-book release -- and now, at last, it is! The new edition(s) of Lulu in Hollywood will be available on amazon.com

I had hoped to get the book's publisher interested in an expanded edition, which would include Brooks' uncollected writings on film, but I couldn't get that to happen. That was disappointing. So, that side-project will have to wait until later, perhaps when and if I am able to entice a publisher into issuing an annotated Lulu in Hollywood, perhaps in time for the book's 50th anniversary in 2032. I have already started gathering materials scattered in archives far and wide in order to make that happen.

Speaking of anniversaries, did you know that the Louise Brooks Society has been blogging since 2002. And next year, this blog will mark its 25th anniversary! This year, I posted more than 120 times.... which brings the overall total for the LBS blog to more than 3840 posts, many of them substantive. Earlier this year, back on March 23rd to be exact, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in New York mentioned the LBS blog in an article on Louise Brooks, “'Never has a more beautiful, intelligent, quirky, sexy, uniquely commanding character graced the screen,' Anthony Bourdain said in a column by Thomas Gladysz, the founder and longtime champion of the Louise Brooks Society.” Its nice to be noticed.

The Louise Brooks Society website, its blog, and its group of pages focused on Pandora's Box also got noticed by a terrific site which everyone should check out, WeirmarCinema.org. In fact, there are multiple references and citations to the Louise Brooks Society on its Die Büchse der Pandora film dossier. If you haven't already checked it out, do so ... and don't be scared of this superb site's academic leaning. 

On a related note, I am more than 4,100 words into a long article tentatively titled "How Louise Brooks came to play Lulu". It is a topic I have been looking into for some time, years actually. I won't say much about it until it is done and published (certainly in 2026), but I will say it dismantles the notion that it was A Girl in Every Port that inspired G.W. Pabst to give the role of Lulu to Brooks.

BTW: it was little more than a year ago that I launched the Louise Brooks Society SubStack, which can be found at https://substack.com/@louisebrookssociety  I have spent this past year developing it. There, you will find a bunch of free and subscriber only long-form posts... everything from Louise Brooks trivia to groundbreaking pieces on "Louise Brooks and Early Radio" to "Louise Brooks in Japan". Please check it out, and please subscribe. My resolution for 2026 is to post at least once a month. Fingers crossed.

I have given over a lot of time in 2025 to reworking and expanding the Louise Brooks Society website. I have added dozens of new pages to the films section, as well as to the archive and homage sections. As of now, the site stands at nearly 300 pages. 

To the pages on the 24 films in Brooks' filmography, I have added links to press books, thematic cue sheets and available issues of Mensajero Paramount, censorship information and censorship documents, adjunct pages on film source material, coming attraction slides, location shooting, and physical media, etc.... And to the archive section, I have added dozens of pages on all manner of material, from vintage magazine covers from all around the world to vintage postcards from all around the world to photoplay editions and product advertisements and ephemera, such as match boxes and calendar blotters. There are pages on related 78 rpm records and another on piano rolls which feature a video of one of the rolls being played. (Thank the heavens for YouTube and the Internet Archive.)

Please do take a moment or two to explore my 30 year labor-of-love, the Louise Brooks Society. 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society !

Happy New Year from Thomas Gladysz and the Louise Brooks Society. Here are a couple of 'smarvelous pictures of Louise Brooks in a celebratory mood.

More about Louise Brooks can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website at www.pandorasbox.com

And here is where else you can find the LBS:

WEBSITE:  The Louise Brooks Society has been online since 1995. It's website & homepage are located at www.pandorasbox.com  

BLOG:  The Louise Brooks Society has a long-running blog, where you will find news, announcements, and more. It can be found at louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com/

SUBSTACK:  The Louise Brooks Society has a Substack account, where you can find long-form essays. It can be found at substack.com/@louisebrookssociety

YOUTUBE:  The Louise Brooks Society also has a long-standing YouTube account. It can be found at www.youtube.com/@LouiseBrooksSociety (For more related audio and video, be sure and check out the LBS accounts on TIKTOK and SOUNDCLOUD.)

INTERNET ARCHIVE:  The Louise Brooks Society is developing a repository of materials related to the actress and silent film. Stay tuned for further details.

SOCIAL MEDIA:  The Louise Brooks Society has taken part in social media for many years. It has a FACEBOOK groups page, as well as an INSTAGRAM and THREADS account. The LBS can also be found on REDDIT and BLUESKY and elsewhere. A complete list of the various social media accounts which fly the LBS banner can be found on its SOCIAL MEDIA page.

FILMVERSE:  The Louise Brooks Society and its director, Thomas Gladysz, can be found on a few film-related sites such as NITRATEVILLE and IMDb, as well as LETTERBOXD, MUBI, and VIMEO,.

ELSEWHERE:  The Louise Brooks Society can also be found on LINKEDIN, as well as ALL MY LINKS and LINKTREE.

KEY ABOUT PAGES: More about the Louise Brooks Society, including its mission statement and history, can be found on its ABOUT page. Some of its other key pages include its MEDIA "IN THE NEWS" page, as well as a PUBLICATIONS page and a GIFT SHOP. Otherwise, be sure and check out the WHAT'S NEW page to see what's been added or revised.

KEY CONTENT PAGES: Some of the websites key content pages include the FILMS and ARCHIVE pages, as well as the LIFE & TIMES and HOMAGE pages. Menus at the top of every page direct individuals to relevant content. 

 Be part of the smart set: 
DON'T FORGET TO LIKE, FOLLOW, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE! 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

The American Venus, with Louise Brooks, was first shown 100 years ago today

New Year's Eve is a significant date in the career of Louise Brooks, especially in regards to her largely lost 1926 film, The American Venus. (The few surviving minutes of footage are included on Focus on Louise Brooks, a Blu-ray disc scheduled for release by Flicker Alley on January 13, 2026.)

The American Venus is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The 1925 contest was won by Fay Lanphier, the first Miss California to claim the crown. After winning Miss America, Lanphier was selected to appear in The American Venus, part of which were shot at the Atlantic City event. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, and the first for which she received screen credit.

(Left) Fay Lanphier adorns one if the film's original posters. (Right) As does Louise Brooks, though she is not named.

The film was officially released on January 25, 1926. However, as far as I have been able to determine, The American Venus was publicly shown for the very FIRST time almost a month earlier -- 100 years ago today -- on December 31, 1925 at the American theater in Oakland, California as the centerpiece of a special New Year’s Eve benefit screening. *

The secondary headline in the hard-to-read, December 27, 1925 article below notes "American Bills First Eastbay Showing of Picture for New Year's Eve." It is stated that one of the stars of the film, local celebrity Fay Lanphier, would make a special appearance at the benefit event. However, four days later, the local press announced that Lanphier would not be present, as she had been selected Rose Bowl Queen **, and would instead be taking part in the annual Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year's Day. Nevertheless, the screening still took place. (Despite the fact that Oakland was Fay Lanphier's hometown, the headline writer misspelled her first name!)

The American Venus proved popular upon release, and continued to be shown around the United States for an unusually long two plus years. Though largely eye-candy, many fans and at least a few critics responded positively to the numerous scantily clad bathing beauties, elaborate tableaux and fashion show, as well as the film’s pioneering use of Technicolor. The critic for the Boston Herald wrote, “The scenes made at Atlantic City and during the prologue are artistically done in Technicolor. Comedy relief in abundance is furnished by a wild automobile chase replete with giggles and thrills. The picture on the whole is entertaining.”

As far as I have been able to determine, one of the very LAST public screenings of The American Venus also took place on New Year's Eve when the Ramona theater in Phoenix, Arizona showed the film on December 31, 1927 at a midnight matinee. This pair of advertisements comes from the Arizona Republic newspaper and is dated Friday, December 30, 1927. Notably, The American Venus wasn't the only Brooks' film showing in town. On New Year's Eve, the Rialto was opening the recently released Now We're in the Air. 

Louise Brooks, seated and turning to speak, is second from the right

More about The American Venus can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The American Venus (filmography page). 

*  The film was privately screened at the Atlantic City Ambassador Hotel as a benefit under the auspices of the Atlantic City Shrine Club on December 26, 1925.

** To date, Fay Lanphier is the only person to hold both titles -- Miss America and Rose Bowl Queen -- at the same time. 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.    

 

Happy Holidays from the Louise Brooks Society !

 Happy Holidays from Thomas Gladysz and the Louise Brooks Society.

If Wishes Come True: "When these stars get up Christmas morning, their trees will be a strange sight if their desires are answered.... Louise Brooks, right, hass a weakness for slippers -- and her friends know it. Enough said." -- Picture Play magazine, January 1929

More about the one-and-only Louise Brooks can be found on the newly
revamped Louise Brooks Society website at www.pandorasbox.com

And here is where else you can find the LBS:

WEBSITE:  The Louise Brooks Society has been online since 1995. It's website & homepage are located at www.pandorasbox.com  

BLOG:  The Louise Brooks Society has a long-running blog, where you will find news, announcements, and more. It can be found at louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com/

SUBSTACK:  The Louise Brooks Society has a Substack account, where you can find long-form essays. It can be found at substack.com/@louisebrookssociety

YOUTUBE:  The Louise Brooks Society also has a long-standing YouTube account. It can be found at www.youtube.com/@LouiseBrooksSociety (For more related audio and video, be sure and check out the LBS accounts on TIKTOK and SOUNDCLOUD.)

INTERNET ARCHIVE:  The Louise Brooks Society is developing a repository of materials related to the actress and silent film. Stay tuned for further details.

SOCIAL MEDIA:  The Louise Brooks Society has taken part in social media for many years. It has a FACEBOOK groups page, as well as an INSTAGRAM and THREADS account. The LBS can also be found on REDDIT and BLUESKY and elsewhere. A complete list of the various social media accounts which fly the LBS banner can be found on its SOCIAL MEDIA page.

FILMVERSE:  The Louise Brooks Society and its director, Thomas Gladysz, can be found on a few film-related sites such as NITRATEVILLE and IMDb, as well as LETTERBOXD, MUBI, and VIMEO,.

ELSEWHERE:  The Louise Brooks Society can also be found on LINKEDIN, as well as ALL MY LINKS and LINKTREE.

KEY ABOUT PAGES: More about the Louise Brooks Society, including its mission statement and history, can be found on its ABOUT page. Some of its other key pages include its MEDIA "IN THE NEWS" page, as well as a PUBLICATIONS page and a GIFT SHOP. Otherwise, be sure and check out the WHAT'S NEW page to see what's been added or revised.

KEY CONTENT PAGES: Some of the websites key content pages include the FILMS and ARCHIVE pages, as well as the LIFE & TIMES and HOMAGE pages. Menus at the top of every page direct individuals to relevant content. 

 Be part of the smart set: 
DON'T FORGET TO LIKE, FOLLOW, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE! 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

The Street of Forgotten Men and the Little Church Around the Corner: A look at an historic location shoot

Wanted to encourage everyone to check out the latest Louise Brooks Society Substack, "The Street of Forgotten Men and the Little Church Around the Corner: A look at an historic location shoot." It is a free-to-read stocking stuffer to Louise Brooks fans interested in learning a little more about the actress' first film.

The piece looks at the historic New York City church and the role it played in Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men. Much of the material is taken from my 2023 book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond, a deep dive into the history of a single film - its literary source, its making, exhibition history, critical reception, and, most surprising of all, its little-known legacy. 

Here are a couple of additional images I hoped to include in the article, but I didn't have room. 

A view of the Little Church Around the Corner, 
from around the time the film was to have taken place, c. the early 1900s.

 

The Street of Forgotten Men lobby card showing detail from the church's lich-gate

More about The Street of Forgotten Men can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The Street of Forgotten Men (filmography page). 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Empty Saddles, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1936

Empty Saddles, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1936. The film is a B-Western starring one of the biggest cowboy stars of the time, Buck Jones. The somewhat confused plot revolves around Buck, who attempts to convert the seemingly haunted “Empty Saddles” ranch into a resort, but soon discovers a group of crooked sheep ranchers have other plans. Louise Brooks plays Boots Boone, Bucks’ love interest, who helps out on the ranch.

More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page. 

In 1930, Brooks turned down an offer to appear in a Buck Jones Western. In 1936, however, she could not afford to be so picky. Brooks had been out of films for five years and was attempting a second comeback. Universal issued a press release quoting a supposed interview with the actress:  “I am delighted with my role in Empty Saddles. It gives me an opportunity to do something, not just stand around and look pretty. I wouldn’t trade it for all the other roles I ever had because I am really acting now, not just being an ornament, and I feel that, at last, I am on the road toward getting some place in pictures.” Brooks received $300 for a week’s work.

One syndicated newspaper article, no doubt echoing the language of the studio press sheets, reported “Of outstanding interest is the fact that the picture marks the return to the screen of lovely Louise Brooks, the Ziegfeld Follies girl who won film fame and then quit pictures at the height of her career. Her brunette beauty and her fine acting making her a splendid leading lady.” Another stated “Do You remember Louise Brooks? She is the lovely brunette whose beauty carried her from the Ziegfeld Follies to screen stardom. Well, she has returned to the screen. She Is back in pictures again as Buck Jones’ leading lady in Empty Saddles, the Universal outdoor adventure film at the Grand Theatre. The actress is the same shapely Louise Brooks. The only change in her is that she is wearing her hair with a new style of dress.”

Prior to its release, Empty Saddles was previewed at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, a neighborhood house considered similar to the small town theaters where the film was likely to show. According to reports, “The audience was satisfied with what it saw on the screen.”

Most of the trade journals were similarly satisfied. Daily Variety reported, “The yarn has plenty of suspense, numerous spooky situations, a good love theme and enough of a western touch to top a western dualer or fill out the action requirements of a mixed bill and leave the cash customers well satisfied.” Selected Motion Pictures stated the film was “A somewhat unusual western story, packed with excitement, fast-paced dramatic action, mystery and superb riding. . . . The natural scenic effects are of exceptionally high quality.” Box Office added, “Several new angles and Buck Jones’ usual capable performance as a hard-riding, square shooting son of the saddle makes this an above par offering in the Western class.”

Until Empty Saddles, Jones’ westerns were generally well regarded — each crisply edited and action-packed, and each with lots of the aforementioned hard riding and straight-shooting. Despite satisfactory reviews, this and Jones’ following films marked a decline in the actor’s productions. The Hollywood Reporter offered the lone critical review, “This Buck Jones Western must be set below par because of a rambling and cluttery story that is almost menaceless until the last reel or two and then, in the final chase and battle, is confusing and inconclusive.”

The film showed in the west and in small towns and neighborhood theaters elsewhere around the United States. J.E. Stocker, manager of the neighborhood Myrtle Theater in Detroit, reported in Motion Picture Herald, “I tried out a Buck Jones picture for a Sunday play date once before, on January 17^th, which drew better than average so I tried again with Empty Saddles, March 14-15, and again it drew better than average so we can assume that Buck Jones is still popular.”

Film Daily liked Brooks in Empty Saddles, stating “Louise Brooks has quite a dramatic role as the heroine, which she handles very well.” Variety wrote, “Louise Brooks, cast as a poor trader’s child, is not flattered by the camera, but does a good bit of acting. She is the outstanding femme player in the slight romance.” Despite these few favorable notices, Empty Saddles failed to reignite Brooks’ career. Only one more featured role, another Western, awaited.

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao), Palestine (Israel), South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland).

Elsewhere, Empty Saddles was shown under the title O Rancho das Feitiçarias (Brazil); Prázd né sedlo and Vyprázdnit sedla (Czechoslovakia); Cowboyens Hvilehjem (Denmark); Elátkozott farm (Hungary); Puste siodła (Poland); and De tomma sadlarnas hus (Sweden).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Buck Jones (1891–1942) was a major star in the 1920s and 1930s. He had his own fanclub, endorsed products, and developed a huge following, especially among youngsters attending Saturday matinees. Some of his silent films were directed by the likes of John Ford, William Wellman, and ‘Woody’ Van Dyke. Though much of his work was in genre films, especially Westerns (and some of those were B-pictures known as “oaters”), he was still among the higher paid actors of the day. In 1936, the year that Empty Saddles was released, Jones’ reported income was $143,333. By comparison, fellow cowboy star Ken Maynard earned only $37,100. The highest salaried movie star in 1936 was Gary Cooper, who earned $370,214. With the vogue for singing cowboys, Jones career went into eclipse in the late 1930s.

— Buck Jones was one of the 492 victims of the historic 1942 Coconut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts. He died two days after the November 28th blaze. For years, legend held that Jones’ fatal injuries were the result of his going back into the burning building to save victims.

— Jones’ daughter Maxine was born in 1918. She also had an uncredited bit part in Empty Saddles. She later married actor Noah Beery Jr., the son of the actor who co-starred in the Brooks’ film Evening Clothes (1927).

More about Empty Saddles can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Empty Saddles (filmography page). 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

Just Another Blonde, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926

Just Another Blonde, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926. The film is a romantic drama about two small-time gamblers and the two Coney Island girls they romance. For the film, Louise Brooks was loaned out by Paramount to First National. Of the four principals, Brooks has the smallest role, playing a supporting role as the brunette to blonde Dorothy Mackaill, the star of the film.

More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page. And what's more, this is one of the four films featured on the forthcoming Flicker Alley Blu-ray, Focus on Louise Brooks. Pre-order your copy today.

The film was shot in and around Luna Park, an amusement park on Coney Island in Brooklyn. During production, stories came out on the excitement generated by the making of the film. The New York Evening Post reported that the stars mingling among the crowds generated too much attention, so much so visitors threatened to demolish the dance hall were one scene was set. Director Alfred Santell was forced to wait until the park closed, and then recruited 200 extras and “kept them busy dancing for the rest of the night.”

Despite its promotion as a “dainty, dazzling, golden glorification” of a “thrill packed tale of love and romance,” Just Another Blonde fared poorly among critics. To capture local interest, the film was shown in-and-around New York City as The Girl from Coney Island. But even the local angle couldn’t spare the film from the barbs of local critics. The New York Telegram was the most blunt, “The Girl from Coney Island, the so called feature picture, is interminable and stupid.” Dorothy Herzog of the New York Daily Mirror was less cutting, “Dorothy Mackaill, as Blondie, and Louise Brooks, as Blackie, enter in celluloid during the second reel. Apparently most of them was left on the cutting-room floor to permit the sub-titler a chance to resurrect jokes so old that even Cleopatra would have been prompted to justifiable murder.”

Some criticized what they saw as a rather slight story. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote, “The new film at the Strand Theater in Manhattan, The Girl From Coney Island, appears to be an excellent example of the common practice in Hollywood to stretch two-reel screen materials in to so-called feature productions. This mildly amusing picturizatlon of Gerald Beaumont’s story, ‘Even Stephen,’ would, I daresay, have made a fairly interesting short-reel movie. In its padded state of six or seven reels the drama falls considerably short of maintaining its pace beyond the very earliest sequences…. And so The Girl From Coney Island wallows along, a mawkishly sentimental narrative heavily burdened with lengthy subtitles.” Eileen Creelman of the New York American was a bit more forgiving, “Santell has taken a fifth rate plot, surrounded it with first rate atmosphere and a couple of amusing characterizations, and turned out a picture.”

What critics did appreciate was the acting, and Brooks. The Atlanta Constitution wrote “Although Miss Mackaill and Mr. Mulhall’s parts are listed as the leading roles, the acting of Louise Brooks and William Collier, Jr., as second roles, has a vital part in the picture and must be given due credit. Their acting was unusually good throughout.”

The Cincinnati Post went a little further, “Jack Mulhall is assisted in this bit by William Collier Jr., and two really good-looking girls, Dorothy Mackaill and Louise Brooks. Somebody told us Brooks was ‘Miss America’ a year or two ago. At any rate, she will knock your eye out and Mackaill will attend to the other one.” The Cedar Rapids Republican gushed, “Louise Brooks, who is said to be Clara Bow’s only rival as cinema’s most ravishing flapper, is a convincing argument in favor of modernism."

Under its American title, Just Another Blonde, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia, Canada, China, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa and the British Isles (England, Isle of Man, and Northern Ireland). When shown in and around New York City, Just Another Blonde was promoted under the title The Girl from Coney Island. In the United States, the film was advertised under the title Just Another Blond (Portuguese-language press). The film was also shown under the title The Charleston Kid in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cuba, and Czechoslovakia.

Elsewhere, this motion picture was known to have been shown under other-language titles including The Charleston Kid and Una de Tantas (Argentina); Die Braut am Scheidewege (Austria); The Charleston Kid (Australia); The Charleston Kid and Entre a Loura e a Morena and O Garoto do Charleston and Laços de amor (Brazil); The Charleston Kid (Cuba); The Charleston Kid and Pouze jiný svetlovlasý (Czechoslovakia); Den blonde fares (Denmark); Le Danseur de Charleston and Marchands de Beaute (France); Die Braut am Scheidewege (Germany); Girl from Coney Island (Hungary); Blonde Piker and Sommerflirt (Norway); Caixeiro Viajante (Portugal); Una de Tantas (Spain); and Den blonda faran (Sweden).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Just Another Blonde was based on Gerald Beaumont’s short story, “Even Stephen,” which appeared in Red Book magazine in October, 1925. Beaumont (1880 – 1926) died shortly before the film was made, and a few advertisements noted his passing. During the silent and early sound era, dozens of his stories would be turned into films.

— Just Another Blonde began production under the working title The Charleston Kid. Though released under Just Another Blonde, the film was shown in and around New York City under the title The Girl from Coney Island.

— Just Another Blonde was also an early effort by cinematographer Arthur Edeson. By the time he shot Just Another Blonde, Edeson had already shot The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), The Lost World (1924), Stella Dallas (1925), and Subway Sadie (1926). His later credits include All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Sergeant York (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942).

— According to rare surviving records of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, the film came under the glare of local censors in St. Louis, Missouri who thought advertising copy which accompanied the film, i.e. “Neckier than Subway Sadie,” was in poor taste, and an example of “bad advertising.”

More about Just Another Blonde can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Just Another Blonde (filmography page). 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks set for first ever e-book edition!

The first ever e-book edition of Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks is set to be released on February 3, 2026 by the University of Minnesota press. The print edition has just recently been re-released with a bold new front and back cover, shown below. (I have seen the back cover, but it hasn't yet been made public.)

I am pleased to report that both the e-book edition of Lulu in Hollywood and its re-release as a print edition has come about through behind-the-scenes efforts of Thomas Gladysz and the Louise Brooks Society.

The book description on amazon.com, as of now, reads:

"Essential writings by this icon of the silent era―rereleased in print and now available as an e-book 100 years after Louise Brooks arrived in Hollywood. 

Lulu in Hollywood is an intimate collection of eight autobiographical essays by Louise Brooks, silent film darling and icon of the flapper era. Ranging from her childhood in Kansas and her early days as a Denishawn and Ziegfeld Follies dancer to her friendships with Martha Graham, Charles Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Humphrey Bogart, William Paley, G. W. Pabst, and others, Brooks’s writing offers a rare glimpse into her extraordinary life. Including her revelatory “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs,” Lulu in Hollywood also features Kenneth Tynan’s 1979 essay “The Girl in the Black Helmet,” which revived interest in Brooks’s work and was the best discussion of her film work to appear in her lifetime."

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The publication of Lulu in Hollywood was very important to Louise Brooks. It was her testament to the world. Notably, Brooks’ own copy of the book was on her night table next to her bed at the time of her death in 1985.  

the 1982 edition

The book sold steadily, but sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s, Lulu in Hollywood fell out-of-print. In the year 2000, aided in part by a grass-roots campaign led by the Louise Brooks Society, Lulu in Hollywood was republished in an expanded edition by the University of Minnesota Press. The copyright page of this new edition reads, “The University of Minnesota press gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society, in the publication of this book.” Happily, for fans everywhere, it has remained in print since, and has now been rereleased and will be issued as an e-book.

The University of Minnesota edition was given a new look, with a redesigned front and back cover. It was also revised. The now eight essays included in this most recent edition are “Kansas to New York,” “On Location with Billy Wellman,” “Marion Davies’ Niece,” “Humphrey and Bogey,” “The Other Face of W. C. Fields,” “Gish and Garbo,” “Pabst and Lulu” and, additionally, “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs.” The original William Shawn introduction was replaced by Kenneth Tynan’s acclaimed New Yorker profile, “The Girl in the Black Helmet”. Retained in the new edition was the original afterword by Lotte H. Eisner, “A Witness Speaks”, as well as the condensed filmography and the various illustrations.

the 2000 edition

Someday, I hope to get an annotated edition released, but that might have to wait seven years. 

Read and learn more about Lulu in Hollywood on the Louise Brooks Society website. A page about the book can be found HERE. The LBS also hosts a BIBLIOGRAPHY of reviews and articles, as well as a GALLERY page of international editions. 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.