During this pandemic era, I continue to stay home and conduct what research I can over the internet. And recently, I came across a few items which I had never seen before. I thought I would share them with readers of this blog. Here is the second installment in a short series of new finds.
This new find has to do with Louise Brooks' return to Hollywood, following her time in Europe during which she made three films. Brooks had spent some time in New York City, but to mark her return to Hollywood proper, her old friend George Olsen threw her a party - a party to which the public was seemingly invited as this event was advertised.
Earlier in the month, newspaper across the country ran the headline that Brooks would go to work for Columbia pictures and would star in a Buck Jones' western, hence the tagline "Brilliant Columbia Star." That didn't work out right away, and it would be six years before Brooks appeared in a Buck Jones film (Empty Saddles, from Universal) or seven years in a Columbia picture (When You're in Love, starring Grace Moore). Nevertheless, this was a chance for fans to welcome Brooksie back to Hollywood, provided they made reservations at Olsen's.
Besides the mention of Columbia studios, the clipping shown below is also notable in that it was one of the few mentions of Pandora's Box in any Los Angeles newspaper at the time. It also incorrectly notes that Brooks had worked for UFA. She did not.
George Olsen, after whom Olsen's Culver City nightclub was named, was a popular bandleader and a prolific recording artist. He signed with the Victor label in 1924, and remained one of Victor's most popular bands until 1933. (I have a couple of CD's of his music.) Notably, one of the musicians who was a member of his band in 1930 was the singer-saxophonist Fred MacMurray, who passed on his way to eventual movie and television stardom. I don't know if Olsen's band, let alone the future Double Indemnity / My Three Sons star was present at Brooks' party, but it is possible.
Olsen and Brooks likely knew each other through their time together in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1925. Sometime during Olsen's appearances with the Follies (in 1924 and 1925), he met and in 1926 married singer Ethel Shutta, a friend of Brooks who also appeared in the 1925 Follies as well as Louie the 14th. And here is where it gets interesting....
The group of dancers seen in the 1931 Brooks' film Windy Riley Goes Hollywood were recruited from the chorus of George Olsen’s Culver City nightclub. And what's more, that film starred Ethel's brother Jack Shutta, a stage performer making his screen debut in the title role of Windy Riley. Jack Shutta, by the way, was also the manager of Olsen's nightclub!
To end this blog, here is Double Indemnity / My Three Sons star Fred MacMurray singing "I'm in the market for you" with George Olsen's jazz / dance band.
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