A small, but telling archive of Louise Brooks letters

A few months ago, a generous collector shared scans of a small number of handwritten Louise Brooks letters, postcards, and Christmas cards which he recently acquired. He shared them with me on the condition I do not share them, which was ok by me, as I was simply eager to read them. However, I was allowed to gleam information from them, which I have added to one of my three Louise Brooks chronologies located on the Louise Brooks Society website. The newly updated chronology is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1940-1985.

These letters and postcards are addressed to Don Smith (who she once addresses as Donn Smith), a Brooklyn resident with whom Brooks corresponded in the 1960s and 1970s. None of the letters are very extensive, but they do include the occasional interesting detail. There is a good number of mentions of fudge, which Louise Brooks made and liked to share with select friends. All together, these letter and postcards show Brooks had an active mind and was curious about the world, despite her relative isolation in Rochester.

I am very grateful to PM for sharing these precious items with me. What follows are some of the new chronology entries. (I have added additional comments in red text.)

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December 9, 1964
Writes a letter to friend Don Smith complaining about friend Jan Wahl, who she notes she met in Copenhagen in 1957. Brooks also states she sent $10 to Wahl, who was then a struggling writer. Brooks also tells Smith not to send her the Dictionary of Film, which she says Herman Weinberg had already sent her. She also notes that the book says she appeared in two films in which she did not actually appear, Steel Highway and Hollywood Boulevard. Brooks also writes, "Hollis Alpert of Saturday Review was here last Friday to tape me for a series of articles he and Arthur Knight are doing on Sex and Censorship for Playboy." She also asks Smith "Can you find out to whom Jan Wahl sold his print of Prix de Beaute? And how Hollis can see it?" (I wonder which Dictionary of Film Brooks is referring too? Also, Brooks' reference to films she did not appear in is notable in light of this blog's previous post. Also, I wonder if the Hollis Alpert audio tapes still exist?)

July 21, 1965
Writes a note to friend Don Smith asking him to go by a New York City store to ask if they have sent her the two copies of Sight & Sound she had mail ordered.

August 25, 1965
Types a letter to friend Don Smith stating she has just got a letter from Bill Everson, who has a friend who is anxious to see Love Em and Leave Em. She also wondered about possible plans to visit New York City, suggesting that Canadian film archivist Fraser MacDonald may accompany her on a flight to NYC. She also mentions her $250.00 monthly allowance from William Paley and that should she decide to travel she wouldn't be able to afford a hotel room that costs more than $10.00 per night. Brooks goes on to state, "People are so wrong about liking silent pictures better than sound pictures. We can not know a person till we know their voices." Brooks also mentions she called G. W. Pabst's son, Michael. (The cost of living back then !)

October November 9, 1965 (mistakenly dated)
Types a letter to friend Don Smith asking him for details regarding his intention to screen Prix de Beaute in New York City, adding "If I decide to come down, I will give the talk I gave when it was shown in 1960 at the YMHA." She also asks for help paying her expenses, her "awful fear" of planes "although I will travel no other way," and that a friend named Mike Hall will help get publicity. She also writes, "For the last 6 months I have been living in apprehension and depression over my 59th birthday next Sunday. My mother died suddenly at this point. It is silly for me to worry. But I do." Brooks goes on to state that she calmed by reading the English essayist Samuel Johnson, except that the edition she is currently reading has tight margins and opening the book sufficiently causes her hands to ache. Brooks also adds a critique, "The modern editions, both of Johnson and Boswell's Life and Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides have been so 'improved' by modern editors, so cut, rewritten, and clawed at, that they are a sinful mess." 

February 16, 1967
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for copies of Sight & Sound magazine. She also notes she got a Buster Keaton postcard, and asked where one could get them.

December 17, 1967
Writes a letter to Don Smith reporting she had received a letter from Jan Wahl who wrote that he had befriended Asta Nielsen. Brooks also wrote of the forthcoming publication of her piece "On Location with Billy Wellman" in London Magazine. About it she writes, "At last I have found a mold to hold my peculiar blend of autobiography, film history and truth. "Location" tell how I lost my high standing and self-respect in Hollywood by going to bed with my double who the next day asked me before the whole company whether I had syphilis."

December 16, 1975
Writes a Christmas greeting to friend Don Smith, stating "I did 2 TV interviews - one for West Germany Public TV - one for Canadian Broadcasting - on Pabst and Lulu - maybe they will buy them for the States." (I wonder what ever happened to the German and Canadian TV footage?)

December 17, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg. Also writes a letter to friend Don Smith complaining about her disabling arthritis and mentioning she had seen a doctor, who suggested hip replacement surgery, which she declined to have because she still suffered from arthritic knees. Also mentioned that Christopher Isherwood had telephoned her and noted that he was coming to the Eastman House to see Diary of a Lost Girl. Isherwood also told Brooks that he was sending her his new book, Christopher and His Kind. Brooks adds, "From Gore Vidal's review I gather they are beating the drum for Gay Lib - which will set it back years."

December 1979
Writes a Christmas card to friend Don Smith saying she seldom watches TV except for Fred Astaire, and notes that public TV will be running her 1974 conversation with Richard Leacock. "And you must look out, on whatever network, for Thames Television, Hollywood - The Pioneers. On episode 9, I talk about Clara Bow." (Brooks is referring to the Kevin Brownlow documentary.)

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Louise Brooks in 1972