Ahead of the May 6 screening of Pandora's Box in Oakland, California - the excellent multi-topic blog Eat Drink Films has a big new piece by yours truly titled "Lulu By The Bay."
My recent Film International article, “'Sin Lust Evil' in America: Louise Brooks and the Exhibition History of Pandora’s Box (1929)", was a macro-look at the exhibition history of Pandora's Box in the United States.
This new piece on Eat Drink Films is a micro-look at the exhibition history of the film in the San Francisco Bay Area. The two articles compliment one another.
A reminder: Pandora's Box starring
Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Paramount theater in Oakland,
California on Saturday, May 6. More about that special screening, which
will feature live musical accompaniment by the Clubfoot Orchestra and
members of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, can be found HERE. If you live in the Bay Area, don't miss this special event.
Also, there was a good article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the history of this particular restoration of Pandora's Box. The article, by Pam Grady, is titled "Diving into the archive: Film preservationists partner to restore an erotic drama from 1929." It is also well worth checking out.
If you attend this special screening, please do post a comment or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.
Pictured
below is yours truly wearing a vintage Clubfoot Orchestra / Pandora's
Box t-shirt obtained from the musical groups nearly 20 years ago. I also
have a massive 3' x 5' poster depicting the same image.
(Curiously, this very image of me was said to violate the intellectual property rights of the internet troll attacking the Louise Brooks Society who is also threatening to take down the LBS website. Despite the fact my wife took this photo, and despite the fact the shirt was manufactured by the Clubfoot Orchestra, and despite the fact this shirt is nearly 20 years old, and despite the fact the shirt doesn't even mention Louise Brooks by name, the troll claimed it violated his trademark on "Louise Brooks." That's a stretch..... )
For the record, here is a listing of all the documented screenings of Pandora's Box in Northern California.If you know of others or if I have missed some, please let me know so I can add them to the record.
Monterey Peninsula
College in Monterey (between Aug. 2-5,
1962 as part of Peninsula Film Seminar);
Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 5, 1972 as part of Women's Works); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct.
21, 1972 special matinee); San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 21, 1972); Cento Cedar
Cinema in San Francisco (February 1-7, 1973 with
Threepenny Opera); Surf in San Francisco with The Last Laugh (Jan.
22-23, 1974 “new print”); Pacific
Film Archive (Wheeler Auditorium) in Berkeley (July 24, 1974); Cento Cedar
Cinema in San Francisco (Sept. 18-20, 1975 with
The Blue Angel); Wheeler Auditorium
in Berkeley (Nov. 9, 1975 with L’Age D’Or); San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 7, 1976); Noe Valley Cinema (James Lick
Auditorium) in San Francisco with Oskar Fischinger’s Composition in
Blue (May 21, 1977); KTEH Channel 54 – San Jose television broadcast (Dec.
18, 1977 and Dec. 24, 1977 and Dec. 25, 1977); KQEC Channel 32 – San Francisco television
broadcast (Dec. 24, 1977 and Dec. 25, 1977); KVIE Channel 6 – Sacramento
television broadcast (Dec. 18 and Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, 1977); Wheeler
Auditorium in Berkeley (Feb. 10, 1978 with
L’Age D’Or); Sonoma Film Institute
in Sonoma State University (Feb. 28, 1979 with
The Blue Angel); Pacific Film
Archive in Berkeley as part of “Tapes from the Everson Video Revue” (Jan.
20, 1980); U.C. in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (March 10, 1980); Roxie
in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 31, 1980); Noe
Valley Ministry in San Francisco (April 11, 1980 with Un Chien Andalou); Castro
in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (May 2-3, 1980); Rialto
in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (May 14-20, 1980); Castro
in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Aug. 28, 1980); Strand
in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (December 15, 1980); Rialto
in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (December 17-23, 1980); Roxie
in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 17-19,
1981); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with
Foolish Wives (Mar. 3, 1981); San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (March 6, 1981); Pacific Film
Archive in Berkeley (Mar. 7, 1981 as part
of the series “Starring Louise Brooks”
with Organ Accompaniment By Robert
Vaughn); Rialto in Berkeley with Salome (June 24-27, 1981); Rialto in
Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 12-16, 1982); Electric in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 10-11, 1982); Avenue in San Francisco with She Goes to War (May 6, 1982); York in San Francisco with Threepenny Opera (June 22, 1982); Roxie in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (Oct. 17-18, 1982); UC in Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Oct. 25, 1982); Darwin / Sonoma Film Institute at
Sonoma State University (Jan. 20, 1983); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with M. (Feb. 1, 1983); Castro in San Francisco with Diary of a Lost Girl
(Oct. 26 – Nov. 3, 1983); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley with Kameradaschaft
(Dec. 7, 1983); Santa Cruz Film Festival in Santa Cruz with A Conversation with
Louise Brooks (Jan. 19, 1984); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Jan.
27-28, 1985 with M.); U.C. in Berkeley (Sept. 18, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in
Berkeley (Oct. 13, 1985 as part of the
series “A Tribute to Louise Brooks (1906-1985),” accompanied on piano by Jon Mirsalis); Castro
in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Nov. 29, 1985); Pacific
Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 29, 1986); San Francisco Public Library (main
branch) in San Francisco (Dec. 18, 1986); Castro in San Francisco (Feb. 26,
1987 as part of “Vamps” series); Castro
in San Francisco (Jan. 7, 1988); U.C. in Berkeley (June 30, 1988); Castro in San Francisco (Nov. 8, 1988); Pacific Film
Archive in Berkeley (Nov. 17, 1988); Red Vic in San Francisco (Feb. 13-14,
1990); Castro in San Francisco (Aug. 7,
1990); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Dec. 4, 1990 as part of the series “Surrealism
and Cinema”); Castro in San
Francisco (Apr. 29, 1991); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Apr. 5, 1992 as part of the series “Silent Film Classics”); Castro in San Francisco (May 11, 1992 with Diary of a Lost Girl); Castro in San Francisco (May 5-8, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot Orchestra, as
part of the San Francisco Film Festival); Castro in San Francisco (Dec.
16-17, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot
Orchestra); Castro in San
Francisco (Apr. 2, 1996 with Wings, accompanied on organ by Robert Vaughn); Towne Theatre in San Jose
(June 28, 1996 accompanied on organ by
Robert Vaughn); Castro in San Francisco (May 18, 1998 as part of Femme Fatale Festival); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley
(May 28, 2000); Stanford in Palo Alto
(Sept. 5, 2001); Jezebel’s Joint in San Francisco (Feb. 10, 2003); Castro in
San Francisco (July 15, 2006 as part of
the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with introductions by Thomas Gladysz
and Bruce Conner); Rafael Film Center in San Rafael (Nov. 11, 2006 introduced by Peter Cowie); California
in San Jose (Mar. 9, 2007 as part of
Cinequest); Castro in San Francisco (July 14, 2112 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival); Niles Essanay
Film Museum in Fremont (Sept. 12, 2015); Stanford in Palo Alto (Sept. 23, 2016);
Niles Essanay Film Museum in Fremont (March 23, 2019); Paramount in Oakland
(May 6, 2023).

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Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com).
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