Saturday, January 22, 2022

Dorothy Day, the Catholic "Saint" who once reviewed a Louise Brooks' film

Yesterday's New York Times ran a story headlined "Was Dorothy Day Too Left-Wing to Be a Catholic Saint?" The article, subtitled "The Archdiocese of New York has asked the Vatican to consider the social activist for sainthood. But church leaders are not entirely comfortable with her politics," examines the real possibility that the well-known Catholic activist might be canonized. 

For those not familiar with Dorothy Day (1897-1980), she was according to Wikipedia a "journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known political radical among American Catholics." Day's conversion to Catholicism took place in 1927; in 1933, she founded the Catholic Worker. But before then, she was a journalist and writer. 

Should Dorothy Day be canonized, she would become the first and likely only Saint to have ever reviewed a Louise Brooks' film. On July 20, 1925, the New York Morning Telegraph published Day's review of The Street of Forgotten Men, which was headlined “Herbert Brenon Contributes Absorbing Film at Rivoli.” (The review was run again on July 26th.) Day gave the film a good review, describing it as "An absorbing story, done by a cast of people who really know how to act and directed in a skillful manner by Herbert Brenon." She also singled out various actors, particularly Juliet Brenon (the director's niece) and John Harrington, who plays Bridgeport White-Eye, the shudder inducing character to whom moll Louise Brooks was attached. Day did not mention Brooks - no reviewer did, as Brooks' part was just an uncredited bit. Nevertheless....


Interestingly, Louise Brooks developed a serious interest in Catholicism later in life. However, her interest was more mystical than practical or social, like Day's. Back in 2016, the Catholic Saints Guy blog ran a piece on Brooks and Catholicism titled "The Divine Miss Brooks."

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