Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Surrealist Painting artist Man Ray sent to silent film icon Louise Brooks goes to auction

If you've read the outstanding Barry Paris biography of Louise Brooks, then you likely know that the famed surrealist Man Ray once sent Louise Brooks a small painting. That painting has just gone to auction at Sothebys in New York City. (While the paining is on display at Sothebys gallery in NYC, the auction itself is also being held online. The link to the auction can be found HERE.)


According to the Sothebys' auction page, "Andrew Strauss and Timothy Baum of the Man Ray Expertise Committee have confirmed the authenticity of this work under reference 00468-P-2025 and that it will be included in the Catalogue of Paintings of Man Ray, currently in preparation."

Man Ray was something of a fan of Louise Brooks. According to the Paris biography, the artist "was struck by Brooks's face" when he saw it in magazines during the filming of  Prix de Beaute." And, he never forgot her. [To imagine one of the covers Man Ray might have seen, be sure and check out this gallery page of French magazine covers featuring Louise Brooks circa 1929 / 1930 on the Louise Brooks Society website.]

Louise Brooks' image on display in Paris in 1930

The artist and the actress met for the first time in late 1958, when Brooks was in Paris for a retrospective of her films. According to the Paris biography, "On one occasion, she met Man Ray, the surrealist artist-photographer, who had long admired her and soon sent her, upon her return to the States, one of his small abstractions." That painting hung on the wall of Brooks' bedroom apartment in Rochester, New York until the time of her death in 1985, when it was willed to her heirs. The Estate has had the painting in their possession these 40 years, and have now decided to sell it.

I've long wondered... why would a then very famous artist send a then somewhat forgotten silent film star one of his newest paintings? I think the answer is nostalgia, that he once was and may still have been somewhat smitten with Brooks - especially her look, and what she represented to the artist, not to mention her resemblance to his one-time paramour Alice Prin (aka Kiki de Montparnasse), who Man Ray described in his autobiography as "beautiful" and having "the hairdo then in fashion among the smart women, short cut with bangs low on the forehead." (Coincidentally, Man Ray and Kiki had one of their first dates in a movie theater, when they held hands. I wonder what film they saw?) As Robert Benayoun, a surrealist historian and the one-time editor of the French film magazine Positif  told Barry Paris, "The surrealists were always in love with her... Man Ray loved that kind of face and image."

(Left) A 1928 newspaper ad featuring a Man Ray flm and a Louise Brooks film,
and (Right) the lovely Kiki de Montparnasse

Here is a picture of the reverse of the painting, which is inscribed in the artist's hand, "for Louise Brooks a souvenir of Man Ray Paris 1958". To me, it is a somewhat curious inscription. This small but extravagant gift is described not as a souvenir of an occasion, or of a place, or of their meeting -- but as a souvenir of a person - the artist.

For more about "Louise Brooks and the Surrealists", be sure and check out a this page on the subject on the Louise Brooks Society website. 

Also, check out this earlier Louise Brooks Society blog, "The Indestructible Lee Miller and the Destructible Louise Brooks," from December 13th of last year. It details the time that a Man Ray film and a Louise Brooks film shared the same bill at the Ursulines theater (shown above) in Paris in 1928!

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

Monday, February 17, 2025

Gary Conklin, Documentary Filmmaker, Dies at 92

Variety is reporting that Gary Conklin, the noted documentary filmmaker, died on December 26 at the age of 92. For fans and devotees of Louise Brooks, Conklin may be best known for Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture, which featured Louise Brooks in one of her few appearances in any documentary. The Variety obit for Conklin can be found HERE.

Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture, which was released in 1976, tells the cultural story of Berlin during the Weimar Republic through interviews with persons who were involved in the literature, film, art, and music of the period. Besides Brooks, this groundbreaking documentary included interviews with Francis Lederer (Brooks co-star in Pandora's Box), as well as Christopher Isherwood, Lotte Eisner, Elisabeth Bergner, Carl Zuckmayer, Gregor Piatigorsky, Claudio Arrau, Rudolf Kolisch, Mischa Spoliansky, Herbert Bayer, Mrs. Walter Gropius, and Arthur Koestler. 

Notably, Brooks knew Eisner, a well known film critic and historian, and was acquainted with Isherwood, author of The Berlin Stories (the basis for Cabaret), whom she met later in life. And, as well, there is a connection with the Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer, who included an image of Brooks in one of his collages from the period.

Herbert Bayer's "Profil en face" (1929)

For more about this must see film, check out this page on Conklin's website. It includes a link to a clip from the film as well as a clip of Louise Brooks. Kenneth Tynan (the author of the famous Louise Brooks profile "The Girl in the Black Helmet"), described this film as “A magnificent documentary on a fascinating period of history.”


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

Sunday, February 16, 2025

The Canary Murder Case, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929

The Canary Murder Case, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929. The Canary Murder Case is a detective story involving an amateur sleuth, a blackmailing showgirl, and the “swells” that surround her. The film was initially shot as a silent, and shortly thereafter reworked for sound. Louise Brooks, who plays the canary, would not dub her lines for the sound version. Her refusal and perceived “difficulty” harmed her career, effectively ending her stardom in the United States. 

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

Production of the film took place between September 11 and October 12, 1928 at Paramount’s studio in Hollywood. Sound retakes took place on and around December 19, 1928. Malcolm St. Clair directed The Canary Murder Case, with Frank Tuttle taking over the sound retakes. The film was released as an 80 minute talkie in most markets, and as a shorter silent in theater’s not yet “wired for sound.” A few publications, such as The Film Daily, reviewed both formats.

Based on a bestselling book of the same name, The Canary Murder Case was released to great anticipation. In February, 1929 Motion Picture named the film one of the best for the month, declaring “William Powell is superb. The rest of the players, including Louise Brooks, Jean Arthur, James Hall, Charles Lane, Gustav Von Seyffertitz and many others, win credit.” That opinion, however, was not shared by most. More typical of the reviews the film received was that of the New York World, who declared the film “an example of a good movie plot gone wrong as the result of spoken dialogue.”

Mordaunt Hall, writing in the New York Times, was more generous, “It is on the whole the best talking-mystery production that has been seen, which does not imply that it is without failings. It is quite obvious that Louise Brooks, who impersonates Margaret Odell, alias the Canary, does not speak her lines. Why the producers should have permitted them to be uttered as they are is a mystery far deeper than the story of this picture.” Billboard added “Louise Brooks is mediocre as the Canary, but this does not detract from the production, as she appears in but a few scenes.”

Louella Parsons, writing in the Los Angeles Examiner, stated St. Clair “was handicapped by no less a person than Louise Brooks, who plays the Canary. You are conscious that the words spoken do not actually emanate from the mouth of Miss Brooks and you feel that as much of her part as possible has been cut. She is unbelievably bad in a role that should have been well suited to her. Only long shots are permitted of her and even these are far from convincing when she speaks.” Parson’s comments were echoed by Margaret L. Coyne of the Syracuse Post-Standard, who observed, “The only flaw is the substitution of another voice for that of Louise Brooks — the Canary — making necessary a number of subterfuges to disguise the fact.”

All were not fooled. The Oakland Post-Enquirer and other publications eventually caught on. “It is generally known by this time that Margaret Livingston doubled for Louise Brooks in the dialogue sequences. Hence the not quite perfect synchronization in close-ups and the variety of back views and dimly photographed profiles of the Canary.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer quipped “The role of the murdered girl is played by Louise Brooks, who is much more satisfying optically than auditorily.” Writing in Life magazine, Harry Evans went further, suggesting Brooks’ didn’t speak well. “Louise Brooks, who furnishes the sex-appeal, is evidently a poorer conversationalist than Miss Arthur, because all of her articulation is obviously supplied by a voice double.” It was an assertion that would haunt Brooks for years.

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, Trinidad, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).

Elsewhere, The Canary Murder Case was shown under the title Die Stimme aus dem Jenseits (Austria); O drama de uma noite (Brazil); El Crimen de la Canaria (Cuba); Die Stimme aus dem Jenseits and Kanárkový vražedný prípad (Czechoslovakia) and Hlas Ze Záhrobí (Slovakia); Die Stimme Aus Dem Jensits (Danzig); Hvem dræbte Margaret O’Dell? (Denmark); De Kanarie Moordzaak (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Hääl teisest maailmast and Hääl teisest ilmast (Estonia); Salaperainen Rikos and Ett hemlighetsfullt brott and Det hemlighetsfulla brottet (Finland); Le meurtre du Canari (France); Die Stimme Aus Dem Jensits (Germany); Kandari Gyilkosság and Gyilkossag a szailoban (Hungary); La canarina assassinata and Il caso della canarina assassinata (Italy); カナリヤ殺人事件 (Japan); 카나리아 머더 케이스 (Korea); De Kanarie Moordzaak (The Netherlands); I Kanarifuglens Garn and I fristerinnens garn (Norway); Kryyk z za Swlatow (Poland); Die stimme aus dem Jenseits (Poland, German language publication); O Drama duma Noite (Portugal); Kdo je morilec? (Slovenia); ¿Quién la mató? (Spain, including The Canary Islands); Midnattsmysteriet (Sweden); and Дело об убийстве канарейки (U.S.S.R.).


 

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW: 

 — S. S. van Dine is the pseudonym used by art critic Willard Huntington Wright (1888 – 1939) when he wrote detective novels. Wright was an important figure in avant-garde cultural circles in pre-WWI New York, and under the pseudonym (which he originally used to conceal his identity) he created the once immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance, a sleuth and aesthete who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in movies and on the radio in the following decades.

Wright was one of the best-selling authors in the United States. The Canary Murder Case was the second book in a popular series featuring Vance — though the film made from it was the first in the series to feature the character. William Powell revived his role as Vance in four additional films, including The Greene Murder Case, released later in 1929. Other actors who played Vance include Basil Rathbone and Edmund Lowe.

— S.S. van Dine’s novel was loosely based on the real-life murder of showgirl Dot King, which was never solved. King was among those nicknamed “Broadway Butterflies.”

— Glenn Wilson, a Federal investigator attached to the bureau of criminal investigation for Los Angeles county, reportedly served as an adviser on the film.

— In a 1931 article on the cinema in Singapore, the New York Times notes that “Asiatics love the gangster film, but very few are shown, owing to the censorship regulations which bar gun battles and will not tolerate an actual ‘kill’ on the screen. The first cuts made before they decide to ban all films of this type were very clumsy and made a mystery story a bigger mystery than ever. For instance, in the Canary Murder Case.”

Recently, I wrote up the recent new Kino Lorber release -- the "first proper release" of the film, for Film International. Be sure and check out my article, "Two Early Genre Gems: The Bat (1926) and The Canary Murder Case (1929)". 

Purchase a copy of the new three-film Kino Blu-ray disc HERE.

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

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Louise Brooks and Black entertainers of the 1920s

To celebrate Black History Month, I've put together this piece noting some of the African American entertainers Louise Brooks encountered in the 1920s and 1930s, or those whose careers intersected with Brooks' career in some way. These celebrated Black actors, singers, and musicians include such notables as Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Alberta Hunter and others.

Josephine Baker

One of the most famous African American entertainers of the inter-war period was Josephine Baker (1906 - 1975). She was a remarkable singer, recording artist, dancer, and actress. In Lulu in Hollywood, Brooks reminiscences about her time in Berlin and her role as Lulu in Pandora's Box, writing, "Collective lust roared unashamed at the theatre. In the revue Chocolate Kiddies, when Josephine Baker appeared naked except for a girdle of bananas, it was precisely as Lulu’s stage entrance was described by Wedekind: 'They rage there as in a menagerie when the meat appears at the cage'." 

Josephine Baker

Here, seemingly, Brooks implies she saw Baker perform in Chocolate Kiddies. But did she? She doesn't actually say so. Brooks only makes a comparison.  It is known that Baker and the Chocolate Kiddies revue performed in Berlin in 1925, and Baker herself returned there without the revue in 1928 or 1929. (I haven't been able to pin down the exact dates to see if they overlap with the time Brooks was living and working in Berlin.) And of course, Baker performed, most famously, in Paris, another city where Brooks lived for a short time. But still, we don't know for sure whether Brooks actually saw Baker perform and conflated that performance with Baker's best known stage show, or whether Brooks was simply making a comparison based on something she had read about or been told about. 

I think it likely that Brooks saw Baker perform as some time, perhaps even in her banana girdle. In his biography of his step-mother, Jean-Claude Baker writes about Baker's time in Berlin in 1928, and even references Brooks and the quotation above. However, he does not state that Brooks and Baker encountered one another. 

A few years ago,  I was looking through a database of African American newspapers when I came across a unlikely mention of Brooks! The mention occurred in the Inter-State Tattler, an African American newspaper based in Harlem. In the June 14, 1929 issue, columnist Lady Nicotine penned a piece titled "Alberta Hunter Returns" in which she states that the famed African-American jazz and blues singer Alberta Hunter (1895 - 1984) had met a number of celebrities while in Europe, including Alice Terry, Ramon Novarro, Cole Porter, and Louise Brooks. Beyond this fleeting reference, we know nothing else. 

If I were to guess, I would guess that their meeting took place in Paris, where Brooks spent most of the month of May, 1929. Are there any Alberta Hunter experts who could weigh in on this question?

A bobbed Alberta Hunter

Brooks' name has popped up in other African American newspapers in the 1920s, though usually in relation to one of her films showing in a particular city or town. For instance, in Baltimore in February of 1927, the Royal Theater was screening Love Em and Leave Em, and performing at that same theater was the great Clara Smith (c. 1894 – 1935), an African America blues singer billed as the "Queen of the Moaners."

The Royal Theater was one of Baltimore's finest theaters, and one of a circuit of five such theaters which featured Black entertainment. (Its sister theaters were the Apollo in Harlem, the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C., the Regal Theatre in Chicago, and the Earl Theater in Philadelphia.) Over the years, the biggest stars in jazz and blues performed at the Royal. 

Another instance of a Brooks film showing along with a performance by a significant African American singer was when Valaida Snow (1904 - 1956) was on the bill along with A Social Celebrity. (Snow's name is misspelled in the advertisement.) The occasion was a showing at the famed Carlton Theatre in Shanghai, China in September, 1928. In what was billed as an "extraordinary attraction," Snow and "5 Red Hot Masters of Syncopation" performed live on stage, followed by A Social Celebrity on the screen. Snow, a female jazz trumpeter, became so famous that she was nicknamed "Little Louis" after Louis Armstrong, who called her the world's second best jazz trumpet player. Snow, who was performed with Josephine Baker, played concerts throughout the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. From 1926 to 1929, she toured with Jack Carter's Serenaders, performing not only in Shanghai but also in Singapore, Calcutta, and Jakarta.

Another personal encounter between Louise Brooks and a famous Black entertainer was when Brooks met the acclaimed concert artist and stage and film actor Paul Robeson (1898 - 1976).  

Brooks and Robeson encountered one another sometime on or about April 21, 1925, when the two met at a party at the home of Walter White, the longtime head of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). At the time, Brooks was just a Ziegfeld showgirl drawn to the intelligentsia of the Jazz Age (including the various members of the Algonquin Round Table), while Robeson was an emerging star who had famously appeared in a revival of The Emperor Jones, by play-write Eugene O'Neil. Brooks never mentioned meeting Robeson, though the famed African American actor mentioned having met Brooks. Robeson's wife Essie kept a diary, and in it she noted incidents in both her and her husband's life. 

Paul Robeson portrait by Carl van Vechten

According to Martin B. Duberman's 1988 biography of Robeson, "Essie carefully noted in her diary the star-studded lists of guests she and Paul now met regularly on their round of parties. At the Van Vechtens’, Theodore Dreiser told Paul he had seen The Emperor Jones six times, and took him aside for a long talk. At the Whites’, the panoply of glamour included Sherwood Anderson, Ruth Hale and Heywood Broun, Prince Kojo Touvalou Houenou of Dahomey (nephew of the deposed King and a graduate in law and medicine from the Sorbonne, active in publicizing French colonial injustices — Essie found him “a typical African in appearance, but charming and cultured and interesting”), Roland Hayes, the novelist Jessie Fauset, Rene Maran (the French West Indian author of Batouala who had won the Goncourt Prize in 1921), the poet Witter Bynner (“tall and clumsy and very friendly. I never saw anything quite so funny and froglike as he attempts to do the tango with Gladys [White], and his attempts at the ‘Charleston’ “), Louise Brooks she “was very late and I couldn’t wait for her, but . . . Paul said she was very conceited and impossible”), and the red-haired singer Nora Holt (Ray), half Scottish, half Negro, known for her dalliances."

I find it interesting that Brooks was invited to a party at the home of the head of the NAACP. And, I find it fascinating that Essie Robeson mentioned Louise Brooks by name. She really wasn't famous in the Spring of 1925, though she had gotten her name in various New York City newspaper papers more than a few times. And, to be mentioned in the same company as luminaries such as Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Ruth Hale and Heywood Broun, etc.... is noteworthy. 


On occasion, Brooks name showed up in African American newspapers -- usually in reference to the showing of one of her American films at a theater patronized by Black Americans. However, on one occasion, she was mentioned in the nationally syndicated column, "Harlem Night by Night," which ran in African American newspapers.

According to a March, 1932 column, Brooks and Robeson may have encountered one another again. On the 19th of the month, syndicated columnist Maurice Dancer noted Brooks was among the celebrities who visited the Yeah Man club in Harlem. (The Yeah Man was a jazz venue at 2350 Seventh Avenue, between 137th and 137th Street in Harlem.) Besides Brooks, Libby Holman, and Lilyan Tashman, some of other celebrities mentioned by Dancer were famed jazz musicians Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines, as well as Paul Robeson.

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

Sunday, February 9, 2025

The J. Peterman Louise Brooks Flapper Winter Coat

The J. Peterman Company is an American retail company that sells clothing, fashion accessories, and other stuff (including furniture) through catalogs and the internet. It was founded by John Peterman in 1987, and has its headquarters in Ohio. It may be best known for its distinctive merchandise, including reproductions of retro clothing as well as clothing and fashion accessories seen in films. 

In 1997, for example, the company made a deal with 20th Century Fox to sell both original and authorized replica costumes and props from its then upcoming film, Titanic. That proved to be a windfall. Another of their movie related items is the "Louise Brooks" or Flapper winter coat. I am not sure how long they have been making this particular coat, but it has been more than 20 years. Back in 2005, the Louise Brooks Society blog carried a brief post on this distinctive winter coat design. 

Back in 2005, I wrote "I remember seeing these 'Louise Brooks' winter coats (so-named) in the J. Peterman catalogs a number of years ago. Now, one of them has turned up on eBay. I think they were a popular item, as the company carried them for a few years running. "Composed of softest wool and cashmere and accented with sumptuous shearling on a huge collar and decadent cuffs, secured with a single outer and inner button and lined in coppered bronze satin . . . ." Just in time for the cold winter months." 

These coats came to my attention once again when I received a Google key-word alert which directed me to the J. Peterman website, where the Louise Brooks coat is currently on sale, marked down from $798.00 to $398.00.

The production description story reads this way:

"Silent Star.

It’s been 65 years since Louise Brooks made her last movie, but she still has an active fan club.

Men still emerge from theaters stunned after seeing her in Pandora’s Box (1929), muttering things like, “That face…those eyes…that smile.”

Miss Brooks was not unaware of her effect.

She had her trademark haircut, a sleek cropped black helmet that implied she could move rather fast. And in cool weather, she invariably reached for a dramatic coat like this.

She wore the large, furry collar up so it framed her face memorably; sometimes she showed her profile. Sometimes she would let the collar graze her cheek, or nestle her chin in it a bit and look up slightly… that gave the audience something extra to think about.

She didn’t have to say a word.

Neither will you."


Though the J. Peterman "Louise Brooks" winter coat is attractive, it doesn't quite resemble any coats worn by Louise Brooks which I've seen modeled by the actress. Nevertheless, perhaps, someday, I will get one for my wife.


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

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Edgar Blue Washington, an African American in a Louise Brooks film

To mark Black History Month, the Louise Brooks Society blog offers this post about actor Edgar "Blue" Washington, a supporting player in the 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life. Unusually so for an African American actor at the time, Washington received sixth billing, and his name appeared on the screen alongside stars and supporting players Wallace Beery, Louise Brooks, Richard Arlen, Robert Perry and Roscoe Karns. 

In an article about the film, the Afro-American newspaper wrote, “In Beggars of Life, Edgar Blue Washington, race star, was signed by Paramount for what is regarded as the most important Negro screen role of the year, that of Big Mose. The part is that of a sympathetic character, hardly less important to the epic of tramp life than those of Wallace Beery, Louise Brooks and Richard Arlen, who head the cast.” 

Edgar Washington, Louise Brooks, Richard Arlen

The following biographical sketch is derived from my 2017 book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film.  

Washington was an actor (sometimes credited as Edgar Washington and sometimes Blue Washington) as well as a one-time Los Angeles prizefighter and Negro League baseball player. He appeared in 74 films between 1919 and 1961. In between acting jobs, he was an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. Like Beggars of Life actor Robert Perry, Washington appeared mostly in bit parts throughout his career. And like Perry, Beggars of Life marked a high point in his career. The nickname "Blue" came from famed director Frank Capra, a friend.

The actor was discovered while pitching for the Los Angeles White Sox of the Negro League. "Rube" Foster (the father of Black baseball) spotted Washington during the Chicago American Giants’ 1916 West Coast tour. Washington was invited to travel along and pitch for the legendary team, which would eventually produce three National Baseball Hall of Fame players. During Washington’s brief tenure with the American Giants, he pitched in seven games, recording three victories against one loss versus white aggregations of the Pacific Coast and Northwestern Leagues. “Ed Washington,” as sports writers initially referred to him, made a name for himself as he ruled the mound with an unorthodox pitching style. In 1920, Washington joined the newly formed Kansas City Monarchs, where he started at first base and batted .275 in 24 games. After a few months of barnstorming, however, Washington left the Monarchs and returned to Los Angeles. That same year, after his first try at acting, Washington rejoined the Los Angeles White Sox for yet a few more games. Between acting gigs, Washington continued to play ball, and is believed to have occasionally played for Alexander’s Giants in the integrated California Winter League.**

Harold Lloyd helped Washington break into acting -- this pioneering African-American actor appeared in the legendary comedian’s Haunted Spooks (1920) and Welcome Danger (1929). Sporadic roles followed, and Washington appeared in other films alongside early stars like Ricardo Cortez, William Haines, Richard Barthelmess, Ken Maynard, and Tim McCoy.

Richard Arlen, William Wellman, and Edgar Washington

Beggars of Life director William Wellman worked with Washington again in The Light That Failed (1939). The actor also appeared in a few films directed by John Ford, including The Whole Town's Talking (1935) and The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936). Other notable movies in which Washington had a small part include King Vidor's all-black production, Hallelujah (1929), Mary Pickford's Kiki (1931), King Kong (1933), Roman Scandals (1933), Annie Oakley (1935), The Plainsman (1936), and Gone with the Wind (1939). 

Washington was in three installments of the Charlie Chan series, and appears as a comic sidekick in the John Wayne B-Western Haunted Gold (1933). Washington also had small roles in The Cohens and the Kellys in Africa (1930), Drums of the Congo (1942), Bomba, the Jungle Boy (1949) and other lesser fair. Unfortunately, though unlike his role in Beggars of Life, many of these parts traded on racial stereotypes. His last role, as a limping pool hall attendant, was in The Hustler (1961), starring Paul Newman.

Richard Arlen and Edgar Washington

** Washington's son, Kenny Washington, was also a notable athlete. In fact, he was a two-sport great—the first African-American to play baseball at UCLA, the first Bruin to be named an All-American, and the first African-American to sign a contract with a National Football League team in the post-World War II era. His  baseball  teammate, Jackie Robinson, described him as the greatest football player he had have ever seen.

This blog is indebted to Mark V. Perkins excellent biography on the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) website. Give it a read. To learn more, check out Edgar Washington's Wikipedia page or his IMDb page. 

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

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in Germany in 1929. Based on two plays by the acclaimed German dramatist Frank Wedekind, Die Büchse der Pandora (or Pandora’s Box), tells the story of Lulu, a lovely, amoral, and somewhat petulant showgirl whose behavior leads to tragic consequences. Louise Brooks plays Lulu, the singular femme fatale. As Brooks’ biographer Barry Paris put it, her “sinless sexuality hypnotizes and destroys the weak, lustful men around her.” And not just men. . . Lulu’s sexual magnetism had few bounds, and this once controversial film features what is thought to be the screen’s first lesbian character.

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

When the film premiered at the Gloria–Palast in Berlin at the beginning of 1929, critics and the movie-going public were largely dismissive of the much anticipated work. The very idea of the film had been rejected by some who claimed “Lulu is inconceivable without the words that Wedekind made her speak.” Hoping to deflect such criticism, director G.W. Pabst conducted a well-publicized search for an actress who was just the right type: according to one film journal of the time, the search was a topic of considerable interest, and “Everywhere one went one heard ‘What about Lulu?’ and ‘Is Lulu found yet?’” Once the part was cast, however, Germans objected to the little known Brooks in the role, doubting an American actress could play what was thought to be an essentially German character.

As a psychological study, some also found Pandora’s Box a disappointment; such critics regretted Pabst’s seeming retreat from the social and political engagement of his earlier works. Critics and censors were likewise taken aback by what was then considered a rather frank portrayal of sexuality. Even from afar, the poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), writing in the English/Swiss film journal Close Up, noted the controversy when she stated the film had “passed by the German censors after a stormy discussion of several hours duration.”

Pabst’s choice of Brooks was said to be a mistake, and her acting came under fire. Many German critics stated she looked attractive but appeared unconvincing. Siegfried Kracauer, writing in Frankfurter Zeitung, thought Brooks not enough of a whore. While one German critic called Brooks “an inanimate dummy.” Variety’s correspondent in Germany chimed in with a critique hardly more sympathetic, “Louise Brooks, especially imported for the title role, did not pan out, due to no fault of hers. She is quite unsuited to the vamp type which was called for by the play from which the picture was made.”

Pandora’s Box played across Europe, where it was similarly received and cut according to local standards. In France, for example, censors thought it indecent for a father and son to vie sexually for the same woman. Their solution was to tinker with the titles and convert Alwa (Franz Lederer) from Dr. Schön’s son to his male secretary. Other changes were made in other countries. The film was shown in north Africa, South America, and Asia.

By the time Pandora’s Box debuted in the United States in late 1929, nearly a third of the film was reportedly missing. The 55th Street Playhouse in New York City, the small art house that debuted the film, projected a statement lamenting that the film had been censored. The theater also apologized for the “added saccharine ending” in which Lulu joins the Salvation Army.

Quinn Martin, critic at the New York World, wrote “It was the privilege of a few reviewers to see Pandora’s Box shortly after it was received by its American exhibitors and before the New York censors got at it. In the beginning it appeared to this one to be a rather harmlessly lewd little exhibition with misery and murder and a touch of abnormalcy along other lines, but at that time, at least, it told a sort of story. Now, it is recommended principally, if at all, for its striking photographs of Miss Louise Brooks, the American actress. At least, the persons who have charge of our film morals have seen fit to leave Miss Brooks’s back, legs, and haircut as they pictured at the outset. Miss Brooks, therefore, retains all of her original charms. . . . It does occur to me that Miss Brooks, while one of the handsomest of all the screen girls I have seen, is still one of the most eloquently terrible actresses who ever looked a camera in the eye.”

Billboard magazine had a similar take, “This feature spent several weeks in the censor’s board’s cutting room: and the result of its stay is a badly contorted drama that from beginning to end reeks with sex and vice that have been so crudely handled as not even to be spicily entertaining. Louise Brooks and Fritz Kortner are starred, with Miss Brooks supposed to be a vampire who causes the ruin of everyone she meets. How anyone could fall for la belle Brooks with the clothes she wears in this vehicle is beyond imagination. . . . This is a silent production that has no business playing anything but guild theaters.”

Photoplay, one of the leading fan magazines of the time, noted “When the censors got through with this German-made picture featuring Louise Brooks, there was little left but a faint, musty odor. It is the story, both spicy and sordid, of a little dancing girl who spread evil everywhere without being too naughty herself. Interesting to American fans because it shows Louise, formerly an American ingénue in silent films, doing grand work as the evil-spreader.” Mordaunt Hall, critic for the New York Times, famously countered when he wrote, “Miss Brooks is attractive and she moves her head and eyes at the proper moment, but whether she is endeavoring to express joy, woe, anger or satisfaction it is often difficult to decide.” Variety put the nail in the coffin when its critic opined “Better for Louise Brooks had she contented exhibiting that supple form in two-reel comedies or Paramount features. Pandora’s Box, a rambling thing that doesn’t help her, nevertheless proves that Miss Brooks is not a dramatic lead.”

Regina Crewe, writing in the New York American, said “But not even the censors may be blamed for all the film’s deficiencies – the acting, for instance, and the rather absurd melodramatic story. . . . Unlike Anna May Wong, and other Hollywood actresses who have blossomed into skilled players under European influence, Miss Brooks doesn’t seem to have improved since her departure. She is comely as ever, but her pantomimic abilities are sadly limited. . . . The picture is one of the less deserving efforts and was received with apathy by the audience.”

But was it? Despite poor reviews, the film was widely written about (for a limited release) and did well in its New York debut. The New York Sun reported Pandora’s Box “ . . . has smashed the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse’s box office records. It will therefore be held for another week.” At a time when most new or first-run films played only one week, a two-week run was considered noteworthy, and a little above average.

In 1929, however, sound had come in and poorly reviewed silent films from abroad were little in demand. Although exhibition records of the time are far from complete, the film was rarely shown in America in the years following its New York debut. Following New York, Pandora’s Box was shown at the Little Theater in Baltimore (January 1930), Acme Theater in New York City (May 1930), Little theater in Newark, New Jersey (May 1931), and 5th Ave. Theater in New York City (December 1933). The film’s last known public showing in the United States prior to its later revival was at the Sunday playhouse at Taliesin, the Wisconsin estate of Frank Lloyd Wright, in May, 1934.

After that, Pandora’s Box fell into obscurity, and was only recalled in reference works as a failed film by a noted German director. It took decades for film historians and audiences to rediscover the work. In his 1989 biography of Brooks, Barry Paris put it this way: “A case can be made that Pandora’s Box was the last of the silent films—not literally, but aesthetically. On the threshold of its premature death, the medium in Pandora achieved near perfection in form and content.”


Under its German title, Die Büchse der Pandora, documented screenings of the film took place in Austria, Danzig (a free city-state), Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia), Latvia (then part of the U.S.S.R), Luxembourg, Ukraine (then part of the U.S.S.R), and the United States.

Outside Germany, Die Büchse der Pandora was exhibited or written about under the title Loulou (Algeria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Argentina); Le boîte de Pandore and Loulou (Belgium); A caixa de Pandora (Brazil); Кутията на Пандора (Bulgaria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Chile); Lulu La Pecadora (Cuba); Pandořina skříňka or Pandořina skříňka (Lulu) and Umrít Büchse der Pandoru (Czechoslovakia) and Pandorina skrínka (Slovakia); Pandoras æske (Denmark); De doos van Pandora (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Pandora’s Box (England); Pandora laegas (Estonia); Pandoran lipas (Finland); Loulou and Le boîte de Pandore (France); Λούλου and Lulu- το κουτί της Πανδώρας (Greece); Pandóra szelencéje (Hungary); Lulu and Il vaso di Pandora and Jack lo Sventratore (Italy); パンドラの箱 or Pandoranohako and The Box of Pandora (Japan); Korea (Box of Pandora);  Pandoras lade and Pandoras Kaste (Latvia); Pandoros skrynia (Lithuania); Lou lou La Boite de Pandore (Luxembourg); La caja de Pandora (Mexico); De doos van Pandora (The Netherlands*); Pandoras eske (Norway); Lulu and Puszka Pandory (Poland); A Bocéta de Pandora and A caixa de Pandora (Portugal); Cutia Pandorei and Lulu and Pandora szelenceje (Romania); Lulu and Pandorina skrinjica (Slovenia); La caja de Pandora (Spain); Pandoras ask (Sweden); Meş’um Fahişe and Meş’um Fahişe (Lulu) (Turkey); Dzieje Kokoty Lulu (Ukraine); Box of Pandora and Pandora’s Box (English-language press) and Pandora szelencéje (Hungarian-language press) and Ящик Пандоры (Russian-language press) (United States); La caja de Pandora and Lulu and El alma de la herrera (Uruguay, sound version); Lulu and Лулу and Ящик Пандорьі (U.S.S.R.); La caja de Pandora (Venezula).

Since the late 1950s, numerous screenings of the film have been taken place around the world, including first ever showings under the title Pandora’s Box in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Northern Ireland, and elsewhere. Within the last decade, a first ever showing of the film took place in Turkey under the titles Pandora’nın Kutusu and Pandora’nýn Kutusuö. The film has also been shown on television in a few countries in Europe as well as in Australia, Canada, the United States.

* According to European censorship records, the film was banned in Finland (1929), Norway (1929), and Sweden (dates unknown). Despite the film also being banned in The Netherlands in 1930, it was shown on October 18, 1935 in Amsterdam at De Uitkijk theater. With the rise of Nazi party, the film was banned in Germany from 1933-45. It was also banned in Portugal from 1936-1945.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— The jazz combo seen playing in the wedding scene is Sid Kay’s Fellows. They were an actual musical group of the time. Founded in 1926 and led by Sigmund Petruschka (“Sid”) and Kurt Kaiser (“Kay”), Sid Kay’s Fellows were a popular ten member dance band based in Berlin. They performed at the Haus Vaterland (a leading Berlin night-spot) between 1930 and 1932. And in 1933, they accompanied the great Sidney Bechet during his recitals in the German capitol. Sid Kay’s Fellows also accompanied various theatrical performances and played in Munich, Dresden, Frankfurt, Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona and elsewhere. The group’s depiction in Pandora’s Box predates their career as recording artists. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, Sid Kay’s Fellows were forbidden to perform publicly. They disbanded, and transformed themselves into a studio orchestra and made recordings for the Jewish label Lukraphon.

— When Pandora’s Box debuted in Berlin in 1929, an orchestra playing a musical score accompanied the film. The score was reviewed in at least one of the Berlin newspapers. The score, however, does not apparently survive. What is also not known is if the music of Sid Kay’s Fellows, or any sort of jazz, played a part in the music of Pandora’s Box. [Director G.W. Pabst also included a jazz combo in his next film, The Diary of a Lost Girl.]


More about Pandora's Box can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Pandora's Box (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 contents copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Saturday, January 25, 2025

The American Venus, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926

The American Venus, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926. The film is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, but the first for which she received screen credit.

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

Ford Sterling and Louise Brooks

The American Venus proved popular upon release, and continued to be shown around the United States for an unusually long two years. Though largely eye-candy, many fans and at least a few critics responded to the numerous scantily clad bathing beauties, an elaborate tableaux and fashion show, and 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.”

However, not all were pleased with this otherwise frothy comedy. Harrison’s Reports, an industry trade journal, echoed the comments found in other publications: “The only striking feature about it is the technicolor scenes; they are extremely beautiful. But some of them will, no doubt, prove offensive to church going people, particularly in the small communities, because of the fact that women’s legs, backs, sides and abdomens as low as below the navel, are shown aplenty. Women in tights have been shown in his pictures by Mack Sennett, but he has never been so ‘raw’; at least he had the girls wear brassieres, whereas Jesse Lasky has his girls wear nothing under the bathing suits, with the result that the women’s outlines of their breasts are clearly seen. In places there isn’t even the thin cloth of the bathing suit to cover the flesh.”

The Washington Herald added, “Many of the tinted scenes of the fashion review were very daring in their exposure of the Atlantic City bathing girls. Once scene especially drew forth gasps from the audience; whether from shock or admiration, we cannot say.”

The stars of the film, which was called a “shape show” by some publications, were Esther Ralston, a renown beauty, and Fay Lanphier, the reigning Miss America. Though she had only a small role, Brooks was featured on a lobby card and film poster, as well as in advertisements. She was also singled out by a handful of critics. The female critic for the New York Evening Journal noted Brooks’ “distinct screen personality”, while the male critic for the New York World stated Brooks was “better looking than any of the other brunettes now acting in films”.


Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada*, China, Dutch Guiana (Surinam), India **, Ireland, Jamaica, Korea, New Zealand, Panama, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In the United States, the film was presented under the title La Venus Americana (Spanish-language press) and A Venus Americana (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, The American Venus was shown under the title Vénus moderne (Algeria); Die Amerikanische Venus (Austria); A Venus Americana and La Venus Americana (Brazil); La Venus Americana (Chile); La Venus Americana (Cuba); Americká Venuše (Czechoslovakia) and Die amerikanische Venus (Czechoslovakia, German language); Den amerikanske venus (Denmark); La Venus Americana (Dominican Republic); De Moderne Venus (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Vénus moderne (Egypt); The Modern Venus (England); Miehen ihanne (Finland); Vénus moderne and Vénus américaine (France); Die Schönste Frau der Staaten (Germany); Az amerikai Vénusz (Hungary); Il trionfo di Venere and Trionfo di Venere (Italy); 美女競艶 or Bijo dai Kei tsuya  (Japan); Venus Moderne–Die Modern Venus (Luxembourg); La Venus americana (Mexico); De Moderne Venus (Netherlands);  Amerykan’ska Wenus and Venus Pokutujaca (Poland); A Vénus American (Portugal); Miss Amerika (Slovenia); Американская Венера (Soviet Union); La Venus americana and La Venus Moderna (Spain); Mannens ideal and Mannens ideal–Venus på amerikanska (Sweden ***); and La Venus moderne (Switzerland).

* The film was banned in the province of Quebec due to “nudities.”

** Bengali censorship records from 1927 called for the elimination of close-ups of women in the film’s tableaux, noting “The figures are too naked for public exhibition.”

*** restricted to those over 15 years old

 SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

The American Venus was among the earlier films to feature Technicolor. There are three scenes which utilize the process. One is of the boardwalk parade of beauty contestants at the Atlantic City beauty pageant, the second is of series of artistic tableaux, and the last is of a fashion revue.

– 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. A benefit screening of the film also took place at midnight on December 31, 1925 in Oakland, California — the hometown of star Fay Lanphier.

– Miss Bayport, the role played by Louise Brooks, was originally assigned to Olive Ann Alcorn, a stage and film actress who had bit parts in Sunnyside (1919) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925).

– Townsend Martin, whose story served as the basis for the film, was a college friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald. According to the New Yorker and other publications, famed humorist Robert Benchley wrote the film’s titles.

– According to the 1999 book, Russian Writings on Hollywood, author Ayn Rand reported seeing The American Venus in Chicago, Illinois not long after she left the Soviet Union.

Louise Brooks and Josephine Dunn ?

More about The American Venus can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The American Venus (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 contents copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Powered By Blogger