Research round-up

Of late, as my research winds-down, my trips to the library are taking place only once every other week. . . . This past week's trip produced some good material. Among the items I found was a 6 page sequence in the July 1926 Pittsburgh Gazette Times (Pennsylvania) in which Louise Brooks' picture appeared on every page! The occasion was the screening of It's the Old Army Game, which was showing in two local theaters. Nevertheless, the local film critic or layout man must have had something of a crush on the silent film star to have included her on six consecutive pages

I also went through some issues of the Jewish Daily Forward. This newspaper was one of a number of ethnic, non-English language papers in New York City. I have had a chance to examine many of them, and have found articles, reviews and some unusual and interesting advertisements - including this advertisement for Love Em and Leave Em.

My recent research efforts have been concentrated on finding remaining reviews of Brooks' Denishawn performances and what ever additional film reviews I can acquire. Among the papers I managed to get Denishawn material from - including reviews, articles, miscellaneous clippings and advertisements - were the Hamilton Herald (from Hamilton, Ontario), Buffalo Courier (New York), and theLouisville Times (Kentucky). The Louisville material proved to be quite interesting as there was something of a controversy surrounding the performance. Apparently, local officials found posters placed around town promoting the performance too risque.

I also found some more film reviews and articles in papers such as Hartford Times (Connecticut), Evening Bulletin (Providence, Rhode Island),  Albany Evening News and Ithaca Journal News (New York). I also scrolled through two other newspapers further afield - the New Orleans States (Louisiana) and Eugene Guard (Oregon).

I also looked though microfilm of the Cherryvale Republican, the actress's Kansas hometown newspaper. Cherryvale is a pretty small town, and the Cherryvale Republican a pretty small newspaper. Nevertheless, I was pleased to find a few small front page advertorials (a kind of hybrid advertisement with a bit of editorial content) which proudly boasted that the current film featured "Cherryvale's own Louise Brooks."

I expect to make fewer trips to the library next year. Along with Canada, I need only finish off some requests from three states - Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York.