A cinephilac blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age, with occasional posts about related books, music, art, and history written by Thomas Gladysz. Visit the Louise Brooks Society™ at www.pandorasbox.com
A Girl in Every Port, starring Victor McLaglen, Richard Armstrong, Louise Brooks, and a bevy of beauties, will be shown at the Music Box theater in Chicago on Sunday January 5, 2025 at 11:30 am. The screening is a presentation of the Chicago Film Society, and will feature live piano accompaniment by David Drazin. More information about this special screening can be found HERE.
A Girl in Every Port, a 1928 silent, is being shown as part of a series, "The Silver Fox:
Howard Hawks Matinees," which runs December 28, 2024 through February
23, 2025. Other Hawks' film in the series include Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938) with Cary Grant, To Have and Have Not (1944) with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and more.
The Music Box website describes A Girl in Every Port thus: "This cynical sex farce about two globetrotting sailors (McLaglen and
Armstrong) who fight over a woman (Brooks) and then become best friends
was described by Hawks as 'a love story between two men.' The film is
notable for bringing cult screen icon-to-be Louise Brooks to the
attention of director G.W. Pabst for his upcoming Pandora’s Box." (re: Pandora's Box, not so, IMHO)
Notably, the print being shown is a 35mm print courtesy of the George Eastman Museum.
When A Girl in Every Port was first shown in Chicago back in 1928, the local press gave the film glowing reviews, with Brooks singled out time and again. The Chicago Daily Journal stated, “Your correspondent, partial to all the McLaglen performances, had a
grand time watching A Girl in Every Port, in which so much loveliness is
contributed by that dark young venus, Miss Brooks.” The Chicago Tribune likewise added, “Various damsels rage through the action, but to Louise Brooks falls, as
should, the plum feminine characterization. She pulls it off in her
customary deft fashion – and the enchanting bob in which she first
appeared before the movie camera.”
Also of note, A Girl in Every Port will be screened on February 28, 2025 as part of the Kansas Silent Film Festival. More about that event can be found HERE.
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 17th, 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).
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.
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.”
Just out is Louise Brooks: A Life in Pictures, by Bill LeFurgy. This new book was published by
High Kicker Books on November 17th of this year -- just one month ago. More information can be found on amazon HERE.
About the book: the publisher text on amazon.com reads... "Louise Brooks: A Bold and Defiant Icon of the Jazz Age
A
silent film actress known for her bold bob haircut, captivating beauty,
and magnetic presence, Louise Brooks continues to enchant audiences
nearly a century later.
Arriving in New York City from Kansas at
fifteen, she became a Broadway showgirl with the Ziegfeld Follies.
Signed to a movie contract at nineteen, she starred in over a dozen
films during the height of the Jazz Age. Her unforgettable role as Lulu
in Pandora’s Box redefined acting, blending innocence, sophistication, and hedonism with remarkable naturalism.
As the author of the acclaimed memoir Lulu in Hollywood,
Brooks offered rare insights into Hollywood love, career struggles, and
the life of a career woman during Hollywood’s golden age.
This
book showcases a stunning collection of photographs capturing Brooks’
timeless beauty and natural elegance. It is perfect for fans of classic
cinema, books about old Hollywood stars, or anyone intrigued by the
lives of rebellious, 'difficult' women in Hollywood.
Beyond her
dazzling looks, Brooks’ life story reveals a fascinating blend of
intelligence, wit, and resilience. Her journey through Hollywood was
marked by triumphs and challenges, including relationship struggles that
deeply shaped her personal and professional life. Rediscovered by
cinephiles in the 1950s after decades of obscurity, she remains a symbol
of grace and uncompromising individuality."
Front and back of Louise Brooks: A Life in Pictures
About the author: "Bill LeFurgy is a professional historian and archivist who has
studied the gilded glamor and seamy underbelly of urban life. He has put
his years of research experience into writing gritty historical fiction
about Baltimore, where he lived for over a decade. It remains his
favorite city.
While working at the Library of Congress, Bill
headed a national program to preserve digital cultural heritage
materials. In addition, he toured the world to speak to hundreds of
libraries, archives, and museums about digital cultural heritage.
Before
the Library, Bill served as Manager of the Modern Records Program at
the National Archives and Records Administration and as Baltimore City
Archivist. He also worked as Manuscript Archivist at the Maryland
Historical Society.
Bill has a Bachelor of Arts degree from
McGill University and graduate degrees from the University of Maryland.
In addition to his Sarah Kennecott and Jack Harden Historical Mysteries
Series, he has published many nonfiction books and articles about
Baltimore history and other topics."
A short write-up: This 8.5" x 11" book is a 119 page pictorial, with many, but not all, of its more than 100 black and white and color / tinted images reproduced as full page or near full page illustrations. (Notably, the color images are authentic - as none seem to have been colorized.) Each photo is captioned; there is a three page introduction, a list of Brooks' films, and suggestions for further reading. Otherwise, there is little here that any devoted Louise Brooks fan will not have already seen. According to the introduction, most all of the images included in this indie press book were sourced from Wikipedia Commons, an open access digital media repository.
There is a sentence in the introduction which stands
out, and left me thinking: "While Brooks was undeniably beautiful, there
is something else at play in her photographs (as well as in her best
films)." I couldn't agree more.... Louise Brooks: A Life in Pictures should serve as a pictorial introduction to any film buff unfamiliar with the actress.
Lee Miller and Louise Brooks, Louise Brooks and Lee Miller -- the artist and the actress, the actress and the artist. Should you know their lives, the two women at least a few things in common -- including a vulnerability. Though it is unlikely they ever met, it is likely Lee Miller was aware of Louise Brooks.
Carolyn Burke, in her stellar 2006 biography of the artist, writes, "Breaking free of conventional roles for women, whether in traditional or avant-garde circles, Lee Miller stirred up trouble for herself and for those who loved her. Like screenwriter Anita Loos and actress Louise Brooks (whose careers she followed), she helped reshape women's aspirations through her embrace of popular culture . . . ."
Lee Miller and Louise Brooks
We know, for example, that Miller saw
Brooks dance when both were still teenagers. The occasion was a performance by the Denishawn Dance Company -- of which Brooks was a member, in Poughkeepsie, New York in January, 1923. Miller grew up in Poughkeepsie, and when the famed dance troupe came to town, Miller -- herself then an aspiring dancer, insisted she attend.
Before she left for Europe, Miller modeled and did a bit of dancing in New York City. (As did Brooks.) Once in Paris, Miller came into contact with Man Ray, a key member of the Surrealist group. The aspiring photographer and the established photographer drew close, and collaborated as artists. Miller was drawn into the surrealist circle, and soon befriended with many of its leading members, such as Picasso and Jean Cocteau.
One of the Surrealist hang-outs in Paris was the Ursulines theater, "one of the oldest cinemas in Paris to have kept its facade and
founder's vision" as a venue for art and experimental cinema. The
Ursulines opened in 1926 with films by André Breton, Man Ray, Fernand
Léger, René Clair and Robert Desnos. In 1928, it premiered
the first film by Germaine Dulac, The Seashell and the Clergyman, from a story by Antonin Artaud. Another film that debuted at the Ursulines was A Girl in Every Port, which the noted writer Blaise Cendrars called "the first appearance of contemporary cinema". It was a big hit, and was seen by many French intellectuals, including Jean Paul Sartre.
Louise Brooks was especially popular in Paris, and in 1929 and 1930, she
must have seemed to have been everywhere. The actress was widely
written about in the French capital's many newspapers and
magazines. Her image, as well, was
also everywhere. Shown below is a picture of Brooks' portrait on display in the window of a photographer's
studio in Paris in 1930, around the time her one and only French film, Prix de beauté, was in production.
Prix de beauté was in production between August 29 through
September 27, 1929, and debuted at the famous Max-Linder Pathe on May 9,
1930. With a popular American film star in an important French production (one of the first French sound films), Prix de beauté was
BIG NEWS.
Prix de beauté was also a huge success, and it went on to enjoy a three
month run in various theaters. After two months at the Max-Linder (and
for part of that time also at the historic Lutetia-Pathe to accommodate
the crowds), the film moved to the Folies Dramatiques, where it was
advertised as an "immense success" and would play for nearly a month. This
extended run was at a time when most films played only a few days or a
week.
Remarkably, the successful run of Prix de beauté took place at a time when another of Brooks' films, the German production Diary of a Lost Girl (Trois Pages D'un Journal),
was also playing in the French capital, at the Au Colisee. (It was
also shown at the Rialto and Splendide theatres in 1930.) As was the 1928 film, Beggars of Life (Les mendiants de la vie),
at the Clichy-Palace in March of the same year. Like today, films were advertised in the newspaper, and on one occasion, the two
film's respective advertisements sat side-by-side.
Diary of a Lost Girl would be revived in Paris throughout
1930. It was even shown at the Ursulines theater in November of that year as
part of a trippple bill. As shown below, the evening's program begins
with G.W. Pabst's Joyless Street, followed by Howard Hawk's A Girl in Every Port, starring Brooks, followed by G.W. Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, also starring Brooks!
The Ursulines was not only the Surrealist's favored movie theater, it was also an important venue which debuted important films which found favor with the cognoscenti. In December of 1930, Diary of a Lost Girl and Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel shared what must have been a memorable bill.
We know now that Man Ray was something of a fan of Louise Brooks. When the artist and the actress first met, in late 1958, Man Ray recounted how he had seen her image in Paris
years before. Perhaps he had first seen Louise Brooks in 1928, when A Girl in Every Port shared the bill with a short Man Ray film, L'Etoile de Mer, at the Ursulines during the months of October, November, and December. L'Etoile de Mer (The Starfish)
was scripted by the surrealist poet Robert Desnos and features Desnos
and Alice Prin. Better known as Kiki de Montparnasse, Prin (Man Ray's
one-time paramour) famously sported Louise Brooks-like bobbed hair and
bangs. Perhaps Man Ray had a "type". Anyways....
Man Ray was fond enough of Brooks that after their 1958 meeting he sent her a small
abstract painting in memory of their meeting and in memory of his memory of her. Here is a picture of the reverse of the painting, which goes to auction in 2025.
I mention Brooks' popularity in Paris and the various documented screenings of her films around 1930 because I wonder if Lee Miller might have seen one or two of Brooks films -- most notably Diary of a Lost Girl. The picture of Brooks shown at the beginning of this blog is a still from G.W. Pabst's second 1929 masterpiece with Brooks, Diary of a Lost Girl. It is remarkably similar to the portrait of Lee Miller. (Admittedly, I am not certain if the image of Lee Miller is by Miller or Man Ray -- or both.)
In case you are not aware, a film about Lee Miller, titled Lee, has recently been release. It stars Kate Winslet. I am looking forward to seeing it. For more on Lee Miller, be sure and check out either Carolyn Burke's Lee Miller: A Life or Antony Penrose's The Lives of Lee Miller. The latter was written by Lee Miller's son.
If you are interested in the many lives of Lee Miller, I would also recommend this YouTube video recording of a lecture Antony Penrose gave 9 years ago. It is informative and visually rich. (I was fortunate to have seen Penrose speak some years ago at the San Francisco Silent Museum of Modern Art. As a fan of Man Ray, Lee Miller, the surrealists, and Antony Penrose's Father, Roland Penrose -- that was a thrill.)
Attention W.C. Fields fans, save the dates May 22-25, 2025! That's when the Columbus Moving Picture Show in Columbus, Ohio will screen 16mm prints of four of the legendary comedian's classic films, including It's the Old Army Game, with Louise Brooks. More information about this annual event can be found HERE.
The schedule of events for next year's Columbus Moving Picture Show includes:
* IT’S THE OLD ARMY GAME (1926, with live piano accompaniment, preceded by 5 minutes of rare footage from the premiere and trailer of the lost silent THAT ROYLE GIRL, from 1925)
* MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1932)
* THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER (1933)
* THE OLD FASHIONED WAY (1934)
Plus, a seminar and signing by author Richard S. Greene on his just released book, Bantering Ballyhoo! Selling W. C. Fields to 20th Century America
(BearManor Media, 2024).
"Bantering Ballyhoo! Selling W. C. Fields To 20th Century America
presents the many ways in which The Great Man was sold to American
audiences in newspaper advertising, movie posters, lobby cards,
publicity stills, magazine covers and retail merchandise. Bantering
Ballyhoo! takes a colorful visual journey through all of W. C. Fields'
sound features and shorts through more than 775 rare and compelling
promotional images, many in full color and never in print before!" This softcover book, with a foreword by Ronald J, Fields, is available on https://amzn.to/49nIMoo.
When It's the Old Army Game first played in Columbus, in July 1926, the film received good reviews in the city's three major newspapers, the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Citizen, and Ohio State Journal. The Dispatch wrote, “Louise Brooks, a dainty little brunette, with cute girlish ways, a way
of flirting, a way of kissing and with a figure that formerly earned
Ziegfeld or Carroll honors, looks like a good screen personality. If
properly handled, she will be a real comer.”
The line-up of films for this year's Kansas Silent Film Festival has been announced, and this year the venerable event will screen the Howard Hawks' film, A Girl in Every Port (1928), starring Victor McLaglen, Louise Brooks and Robert Armstrong. Brooks will light-up the screen on February 28. More about the Kansas Silent Film Festival can be found HERE.
Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, featuring Louise Brooks and Evelyn Brent, was released on this day in 1926. Based on a popular stage play, the filmis a topical drama about two flapper sisters — one “good” and one “bad”
— who work as shop girls in a department store. A popular and critical
success, the film marked a turning point in Brooks’ career. Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em was the last movie Brooks made on the East Coast. And soon, she would leave for Hollywood and Paramount’s studio on the West Coast.
More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.
The Chicago Tribune named the film one of the six best movies of the month. Its critic, Mae Tinee, proclaimed, “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em
is one of the snappiest little comedy dramas of the season. Full of
human interest. Splendidly directed. Acted beautifully.” Dorothy Herzog,
film critic for the New York Daily Mirror (and Evelyn Brent’s
later romantic partner) penned similarly, “A featherweight comedy drama
that should register with the public because of the fine work done by
the principals and its amusing gags. . . . Louise Brooks gives the best
performance of her flicker career as the selfish, snappily dressed,
alive number — Janie. Miss Brooks sizzles through this celluloider, a
flapper lurer with a Ziegfeld figure and come-on eyes.”
Critics across the country thought Brooks stole the show. The Los Angeles Record wrote, “Evelyn Brent is nominally starred in Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em,
but the work of Louise Brooks, suave enticing newcomer to the Lasky
fold, stands out most. The flippant, self-centered little shop girl is
given sly and knowing interpretation by Miss Brooks, who is, if memory
serves aright, a graduate of that great American institute of learning,
the Follies.” The Kansas City Times went further,
“Louise Brooks does another of her flapper parts and is a good deal more
realistic than the widely heralded Clara Bow. Miss Brooks uses the dumb
bell rather than the spit-fire method. But she always gets what she
wants.”
And once again, New York critics singled out the actress, lavishing praise on Brooks with the film almost an after-thought. The New York Herald Tribune critic opined, “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em
. . . did manage to accomplish one thing. It has silenced, for the time
being at least, the charge that Louise Brooks cannot act. Her portrayal
of the predatory shop girl of the Abbott-Weaver tale was one of the
bright spots of recent film histrionism.”
John S. Cohen Jr. of the New York Sun added, “The
real surprise of the film is Louise Brooks. With practically all
connoisseurs of beauty in the throes of adulation over her generally
effectiveness, Miss Brooks has not heretofore impressed anyone as a
roomful (as Lorelei says) of Duses. But in Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em,
unless I too have simply fallen under her spell, she gives an uncannily
effective impersonation of a bad little notion counter vampire. Even
her excellent acting, however, cannot approach in effectiveness the
scenes where, in ‘Scandals’ attire, she does what we may call a mean
Charleston.”
Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took
place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia
(Singapore), Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica,
Japan, New Zealand, Panama, Papua New Guinea, 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 Amalos y Dejalos and Amalas y Abandonalas (Spanish-language press) and Ama-o e Deixa-o (Portuguese-language press).
Elsewhere, Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em was shown under the title Amalos y déjalos and Se corrió una fija (Argentina); Zwei Mädel und ein Mann and Zwei Mädchen und ein Mann (Austria); Een Galant uitstaller (Belgium); Amal-as e deixal-as (Brazil); Amalos y déjalos (Cuba); Láska ’em a odejít ’em (Czechoslovakia); Het Meisje van ‘t Warenhaus (Dutch East Indies – present day Indonesia); Le galant etalagiste (Egypt); Oekesed võisfejad and Schwestern als Rivalinnen (Estonia); Rakasta heitä ja jätä heidät (Finland); Le galant etalagiste (France); 浮氣はその日の出来心 or Uwaki wa sonohi no dekigokoro (Japan); Le galant Etalagiste! (Luxembourg); Het Meisje Van ‘T Warenhuis and Meisjes die je Vergeet (The Netherlands); Hvad en kvinne tilgir (Norway); Kobieto nie grzesz (Poland); Amá-las e Deixá-las (Portugal); and ¡Amalos y déjalos! (Spain).
SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:
— John Van Alstyne Weaver, Jr.
(1893-1938) was a poet, novelist and screenwriter whose slangy,
vernacular poems (written in what was once described as “Americanese”)
attracted the approval of the famed critic H. L. Mencken. Weaver’s stage
play, Love ’em and leave ’em; a comedy in three acts (with George Abbott) was adapted from his earlier verse novel.
— The character Lem Woodruff was played
by Osgood Perkins, an accomplished stage actor and the father of famed
actor Tony Perkins.
— Ed Garvey, who plays Mr. Whinfer, was a star football player at Notre Dame.
— In 1929, Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em was remade as The Saturday Night Kid,
a talkie starring Clara Bow, Jean Arthur, and James Hall with Jean
Harlow in a bit part. The remake was directed by Brooks’ ex-husband
Eddie Sutherland.
