New Find 3 - Trade Ads Mentioning Louise Brooks and Her Films

There is still a lot of interesting Louise Brooks & silent film material yet to discover. This post is the third in an ongoing series highlighting some of the newly found material I have just recently come across while stuck at home due to the coronavirus. With time on my hands, I have turned to picking through some of the many online databases and archives - some of which are newly accessible (due to the physical restrictions put on researchers because of the coronavirus), and some of which I am returning to in order to more thoroughly explore their holdings. As I am always finding out, it pays to not only have more than one set of key words to search under, but to look in the most unlikely places. You never know what you will find. Be sure and follow this blog for more discoveries in the coming weeks. 

In the movie biz, trade ads were advertisements taken out by a studio or some other corporate entity which typically promote not just one film or actor, but rather a group of films or stars. These ads might be aimed toward theater managers or the press, but sometimes as well the movie going public. Over the years, I have accumulated a number of examples of these sorts of ads. One chapter in my forthcoming book, Around the World with Louise Brooks, for example, will feature a selection of rare foreign ads, each of which promote Louise Brooks or one of her films.

In the meantime, here are a few American trade ads which I came across just a few days ago. Each were found in a general interest magazine, in particular Ladies Home Journal; each promote a batch of new releases and were aimed at the movie going public. To me, these ads are interesting in that they show which films and which stars Paramount was especially keen to promote. Which as it turns out, wasn't necessarily Louise Brooks. Nevertheless, these ads featured some rather delightful graphics.

This piece below suggests a world of adventure awaits those who go to see a Paramount Picture. It mentions The Show-Off  and its four stars, including Louise Brooks. We're in the Navy Now, which is mentioned in the right hand column, was directed by Brooks' husband at the time, Eddie Sutherland. He named one of the small boats in that nautical comedy "Louise."

This piece, with a humorous illustration, also features a prominent mention of The Show Off, as seen in the left hand column.

The delightful comic strip featured in this piece mentions Evening Clothes, which starred Adolphe Menjou (and which featured Louise Brooks in a supporting role). Apparently, older women and Mothers were keen on Menjou, who almost always played a sophisticate and was a heart-throb to some.

This piece, which merely lists Love Em and Leave Em among the "Best Motion Pictures", features a nifty Ralph Barton-like illustration - though this illustration is initialed "R.I." Among the films highlighted in the right-hand column is the German production, Metropolis, which Paramount distributed in the United States.

This trade ad features W.C. Fields first feature film for Paramount, It's the Old Army Game, which co-starred Brooks. The stylistic illustration at the top is again by "R.I." (Does anyone know the name of "R.I." ?)