How Louise Brooks Came to Play Lulu in Pandora's Box

Film International has published my new article, "How Louise Brooks Came to Play Lulu: A New Look at an (old) Legend". It deconstruct the long held belief that Brooks was cast as Lulu in Pandora's Box after G. W. Pabst saw her in the Howard Hawks film, A Girl in Every Port. It's long, and may be the most significant article I have yet written on the actress. 

Check it out at https://filmint.nu/how-louise-brooks-came-to-play-lulu-thomas-gladysz/

This new article of mine is a kind of prequel. The sequel is my earlier Film International article, “Sin Lust Evil” in America: Louise Brooks and the Exhibition History of Pandora’s Box (1929)" which can be found at https://filmint.nu/louise-brooks-and-the-exhibition-history-of-pandoras-box-1929-thomas-gladysz/

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.  

Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, premiered on this day in 1929

Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, premiered on this day at the Gartenbau-Kino in Vienna, Austria in 1929. (The film was officially released in Germany on October 23, 1929.) In this once controversial production, Brooks plays the title role — the “lost girl”. The film is the sensational story of a young woman who is seduced and conceives a child, only to be sent to a home for wayward women before escaping to a brothel. Beneath its melodramatic surface, the film is a pointed social critique aimed at German society. The film was controversial enough to have been withdrawn from circulation and re-released in Germany in January, 1930.

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

Diary of a Lost Girl is the second film Brooks made under the direction of G.W. Pabst. The first, Pandora’s Box, was also released in 1929. Like Pandora’s Box, this second collaboration was also based on a famous work of literature. Diary of a Lost Girl was based on the bestselling book of the same name by Margarete Böhme. At the time of its publication, one critic called it “the poignant story of a great-hearted girl who kept her soul alive amidst all the mire that surrounded her poor body.” That summation applies to the film as well.

Böhme’s book was nothing less than a literary phenomenon. First published in 1905, it was hugely popular, and continued to sell for many years. Though issued a quarter-of-a-century earlier, European movie goers in 1929 would have known its story. In fact, German, French and Polish ads for Pabst’s film emphasized its literary origins, some even noting that Böhme’s book had sold more than 1.2 million copies. Pabst’s 1929 film, in fact, was the third cinematic adaption of Böhme’s work.

Diary of a Lost Girl debuted in Berlin on October 15, 1929. By December 5, the film had been banned by the state censor and was withdrawn from circulation. After cuts were made, the ban was lifted on January 6, 1930, and the film re-released. Diary of a Lost Girl was poorly received, not only because sound was coming in and there was diminishing interest in the silent cinema, but because the film continued to be censored and cut wherever its was shown, leaving its already problematic story in shambles.

At the time of its release, the film received many negative reviews – but for reasons which sometimes had little to do with the movie. As Brooks’ biographer Barry Paris notes, some German film critics devoted their columns to savaging Böhme’s then 25 year old book. Siegfried Kracauer, a critic at the time of the film’s release, was among them. He commented on the film in his famous 1946 book, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, writing about the Pabst film and its literary source — “the popularity of which among the philistines of the past generation rested upon the slightly pornographic frankness with which it recounted the private life of some prostitutes from a morally elevated point of view.”

The Berlin correspondent for Variety wrote something similar, but went further: “G.W. Pabst is among the best German directors still working here but has had atrocious luck with scenarios. This one, taken from a best seller of years ago, is no exception. . . . This time he has been unfortunate in his choice of his heroine. Louise Brooks (American) is monotonous in the tragedy which she has to present.”

Though screened across Europe and in Russia, the film faded from view — and film history. Diary of a Lost Girl was not shown in the United States until the 1950s, and did not receive a theatrical release in America until the 1980s. Recent restorations, however, have brought renewed attention, and in the eyes of some critics, Diary of a Lost Girl is now considered one of the last great silent films — and the near equal of Pandora’s Box.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl was the third film adaption of Böhme’s bestselling book. The first was directed by Fritz Bernhardt in 1912. The second was directed by Richard Oswald in 1918. Both are considered lost films. The second version starred Erna Morena as Thymian, Reinhold Schünzel as Osdorff, Werner Krauss as Meinert, and Conrad Veidt as Dr. Julius. The film was well reviewed, but demands of the wartime censor led to cuts and even a change in its title. Once censorship was lifted after the end of WWI, scenes thought too provocative or critical of society were put back and its title restored.

— Along with Oswald’s Diary of a Lost Girl, the year 1918 also saw the release of a film based on the sequel to Böhme’s book, Dida Ibsen’s Geschichte. Also directed by Richard Oswald, the part of Dida Ibsen was played by the infamous German dancer, actress, and “performance artist” Anita Berber, with Krauss and Veidt reprising their roles. The film is extant, and was shown in Bologna in 2011.

— Elisabeth, the departing housekeeper, is played by Sybille Schmitz. She was a prominent German actress of the 30’s, and something of a tragic figure. She drank, had multiple affairs, struggled with addiction, and ended up committing suicide in 1955. The downward spiral her life took after the second World War inspired the Fassbinder film, Veronika Voss.

— The elder Count Osdorff is played by Arnold Korff. He was an Austrian stage and film actor who counted James Joyce among his friends. Korff also knew Frank Wedekind and Karl Krauss; one of Korff’s earliest roles was in the first stage production of Pandora’s Box in 1905.

— The tall blonde sitting with the young Count in the brothel is actress Elisabeth Schlichter, also known as “Speedy”. In life, she sometimes worked as a prostitute and was married to Rudolf Schlichter, an important Dada artist and key member of the New Objectivity movement — to which Pabst’s film-making was allied.

— The sausage vendor, who we first see out on the street and who leads Thymian to the brothel, is played by Hans Casparius. He had a bit part in Pandora’s Box, but is best known as a German photographer of the twenties and thirties who was noted for his street photography.

— Otto Stenzeel (1903-1989) is credited for the music for Diary of a Lost Girl. He composed music for films from 1926 through 1930; among his best known efforts is the music for Menschen am Sonntag / People on Sunday (1930). In the 1930’s under the name Otto Stenzel, he led the orchestra at the Berlin Scala, one of the largest revue theaters in Germany. He also led his own swing-style dance band and made a number of recordings, including a Tango with with the Spanish-born Juan Llossas, who has an uncredited role in Diary of a Lost Girl as the leader of the small combo playing in the corner of the nightclub.

— In 2010,  the Louise Brooks Society published a corrected and annotated edition of the original 1907 English language translation -- notably, this edition, the first in English in 100 years -- brought this important work of feminist literature back into print in English. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations.  (Purchase on amazon.)

More about Diary of a Lost Girl can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Diary of a Lost Girl (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 © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Louise Brooks' early dance teachers

I have been updating my Day by Day Chronology on the Louise Brooks Society website. And, in doing so, I have been looking into Brooks' early life and early dance teachers -- teachers she studied with (and in some instances performed with) before she joined Denishawn in 1922. I have come across a good deal of new information, much of which has been added to the Louise Brooks chronology.

I have also shaped this information into a handful of entries for a longtime work-in-progress, my Louise Brooks Encyclopedia. (It's something I have been working on intermittently for more than a decade.)  Presented below are near final drafts of five entries for Brooks' first teachers, along with two additional related entries, one for the "Dance of Wheat," and one for the Mills-Fisher School of Dance and Dramatic Arts. I have also added images from Kansas newspapers of the time.

Before I conclude this introduction, I want to give a big THANK YOU to Becca Pascoe, my sister-in-law and a master genealogist. She was able to track down information I wasn't able to find -- namely images and the dates of these five individual's births and deaths -- except for one, the elusive Alice Mills. That's a bit ironic, as Mills is the best known of these five women. It was Alice Mills who chaperoned the 15 year old Brooks to the Denishawn school in New York City. What ever happened to Alice Mills ? (Becca found out that she was married in 1907, and died sometime before her husband, Ross Mills, who passed away in 1976.)

Early newspaper clippings about Louise Brooks.

BIXBY, BLANCHE (1895– 1977)

Dance instructor who led the junior department of the Wichita College of Music and Dramatic Art. In 1920, Brooks took part in at least two programs in which Bixby was also involved.

Bixby studied dance in St. Louis, and in 1922 married Vernon Hendry, who was also on staff of the drama department of the Wichita College. In March 1920, Brooks was part of a group of young dancers – 21 pupils of Bixby and Alice Campbell – who performed in the two-part fantasy, “The Fairies Child,” at the Philharmony Hall in Wichita. In October of that same year, Brooks along with seven other dancers (including Bixby and Alice Mills) performed “The Dance of Wheat” during the annual International Wheat Show in Wichita.

Newspaper clippings about Blanche Bixby.

BUCKPITT, MAY ARGUE (1882-1972)

Athletic instructor, and director of gymnasium classes at the Y.W.C.A. in Independence, Kansas. Buckpitt is mentioned in Brooks' essay "Kansas to New York," which is included in Lulu in Hollywood.

According to newspaper accounts from the time, Buckpitt had been in charge of athletic training of young women at Teachers College, Columbia University, and had overseen a women’s athletic club in Lima, Ohio before relocating to Independence in late 1916. She seems to have been friendly with the Brooks family, as a Wichita newspaper reported she came to Wichita to visit with Brooks’ Mother and spend the weekend in November 1921.

Louise Brooks met Buckpitt as early as May 1917, when the then 11-year-old spent the day with Buckpitt’s gymnasium class at the city park in Independence (prior to the Brooks’ family having relocated from Cherryvale). In May 1919, Brooks danced in “The Gloating Dance of Destruction” at the Beldorf theater in Independence. (see ad below) Her dance was part of “The Progress of Peace,” an allegorical pantomime of fifty characters written and produced by Buckpitt. In October 1919, Brooks took lessons in aesthetic dancing at the Y.W.C.A. under the supervision of Buckpitt, and later that same month, took part in "Fi-Fi of the Toy Shop," a musical fantasy staged at the Beldorf. (Does anyone have a portrait of  Buckpitt from circa 1920.) 

An early portrait, and likely the first advertisement to contain Louise Brooks' name.

CAMPBELL, ALICE (1892-1956)

Instructor at the Wichita College of Music and Dramatic Art, and a leading figure in Wichita cultural affairs who had a hand in teaching dance to the teenage Brooks. Campbell is mentioned in Brooks' essay "Kansas to New York," which is included in Lulu in Hollywood.

Campbell started at the Wichita College of Music and Dramatic Art in the Spring of 1916, and was advertised as a "post graduate of one of the best known schools of expression in America, expert in fancy dancing, with five years' college teaching experience." The school referred to was the Morse School of Oratory and Expression, an early 20th-century institution dedicated to elocution, dramatic art, and physical culture based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Campbell supervised or choreographed Brooks' public performances on at least four occasions. In March 1920, Brooks was part of a group of young dancers – pupils from the Wichita College – who performed in a two-part fantasy, The Fairies Child, at the local Philharmony Hall. In June 1920, Brooks performed two solo dances and as part of an ensemble made up of members of the adult dancing class from the Wichita College, again at Philharmony Hall. And in January 1921, Brooks and others performed aesthetic dances at the Wichita College following the staging of a play, Betty’s Degree. The most significant pre-Denishawn production involving Brooks was the "Dance of Wheat," which was staged under the direction of Campbell in 1920. The “Dance of Wheat” was performed 26 times, twice daily between October 4th and the 16th, on a stage dressed to resemble an ancient Greek temple. Brooks was one of eight, mostly adult dancers who accompanied renown soloist Domina Marini. Notably, in 1921, Campbell dismissed Brooks from her dancing class at the Wichita College.

For more about Alice Campbell and Louise Brooks, see the prior post on the Louise Brooks Society blog. 

Newspaper clippings about Alice Campbell.

 
“DANCE OF WHEAT”

The “Dance of Wheat” is an interpretive dance staged at the International Wheat Show in Wichita, Kansas in October 1920. Brooks, then 13 years old, was one of nine dancers who appeared in the piece.

The “Dance of Wheat” featured Domina Marini, a ballet dancer and choreographer active in the early 20th century. Born in Italy, she trained with the Imperial Russian Ballet alongside Anna Pavlova, with whom she reportedly later performed.

The “Dance of Wheat” was performed 26 times, twice daily between October 4th and the 16th, on a stage dressed to resemble an ancient Greek temple. The dance was led by soloist Marini (as Ceres, the Goddess of Grains) and accompanied by eight dancers (nymphs and dryads) under the direction of Alice Campbell of the Wichita College of Music and Dramatic Art. The eight accompanying dancers were Brooks, Blanche Bixby, Alice Mills, Louise McCormick, Marian Orr Dickson, Marie Hull, Jacqueline Stice and Martha Hatfield.

Louise Brooks is among the figures standing before the Greek Temple.

MILLS, ALICE E. (1886?-19XX)

Wichita-based dance teacher and one-half of the Mills-Fisher School of Dance and Dramatic Arts, which Brooks would attend for more than half-a-year. Mills is mentioned in Brooks' essay "Kansas to New York," which is included in Lulu in Hollywood. Notably, it was Mills who chaperoned Brooks to the Denishawn school in New York City in 1922.

Mills had been a student of the Denishawn School of Dancing in Los Angeles, taking lessons from Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. In 1921, Mills and Miriam A. Fischer founded the Mills-Fisher School of Dance and Dramatic Arts in Wichita, with Mills offering lessons in Denishawn technique. (According to press reports, Mills was the only teacher in the state of Kansas with a certificate accredited by Denishawn.) In September 1922, Mills opened the first Midwestern branch of Denishawn, also in Wichita.

As a thirteen-year-old, Brooks danced alongside Mills in the “Dance of Wheat” during the International Wheat Show in Wichita in October 1920. Brooks became a pupil of Mills at the Mills-Fisher School following her dismissal from Alice Campbell’s dancing class and subsequent involvement with the Edna L. Shaw School of Dancing. As a student at the Mills-Fisher School, Brooks performed three times in public. In December 1921, Brooks performed a solo dance at a Christmas pageant, and a few days later, performed another solo dance at another Christmas themed program, with both programs under the direction of Mills. In June 1922, Brooks took part in a program at the Arcadia Theater in Wichita in which she performed two character studies, a Denishawn number (as an Egyptian slave), and as a soloist in a flower ballet. Earlier, in January 1922, Brooks and other students from the Mills-Fischer School attend a performance by Anna Pavlova and her Ballet Russe in Hutchinson, Kansas.

A newspaper ad for Alice Mills' Denishawn school.

MILLS-FISHER SCHOOL OF DANCE AND DRAMATIC ARTS

Private school in Wichita (located in the A.O.U.W. Hall) opened in 1921 and operated by Miriam A. Fischer and Alice E. Mills. Brooks took dancing lessons at the school under the direction of Mills.

According to newspaper accounts from the time, Fischer had been a student of the Vestoff-Serova School of Russian dancing in New York City, while Mills was a student of the Denishawn School of Dancing in Los Angeles. Reportedly, Mills was the only teacher in the state of Kansas with a certificate accredited by Denishawn.

A newspaper clipping about the Mills-Fischer School, which Brooks attended.

SHAW, EDNA L. (1882-1935)

Wichita, Kansas newspaper woman, dance instructor and founder of the Edna L. Shaw Academy. Brooks attended the Academy in the first half of 1921.

For some ten years beginning in 1911, Shaw was a contributor to the Wichita Beacon; her columns concerned women's health and exercise, dance, fashion and other topics. In 1912, she established a school for social and classic dancing, and in 1920 opened the Edna L. Shaw Academy (also referred to in newspaper accounts as the Edna L. Shaw School of Dancing). It claimed to be the largest and best equipped school offering private instruction in the Southwest.. (In 1920, notably, Shaw was barred from membership in the First Methodist Episcopal church in Wichita due to her activities as a dance teacher, with her exclusion from the church making news around the state.) Eventually, Shaw left Kansas for California, and in the late 1920s and early 1930s was a writer for the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News and its later incarnation, the Hollywood Citizen News, once mentioning Brooks in her society column. 

Newspaper accounts record Brooks participating in public recitals at the school on three occasions, once performing a toe dance in June 1921. Sometime before the end of the year, Brooks had moved to the Mills-Fischer School of Dance and Dramatic Arts.

Newspaper clippings about Edna Shaw.

 

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.