The Loves of Lulu - the First American Lulu (not Louise Brooks) part 2

A follow-up to yesterday's post about Margot Kelly, the first American actress to play Lulu. Kelly played Wedekind's famed character in The Loves of Lulu in New York in May, 1925. Despite its groundbreaking, provocative nature, the play received poor reviews. Burns Mantle, one of the most famous drama critics of the time, called it ugly... "an ugly story of ugly people, with a nasty suggestiveness common to one type of German drama." Mantle suggests he doesn't understand the play, but from his description, I think he does - even alluding to Countess Gerschwitz, a "mannish woman."

 

Despite the play receiving poor reviews, actress Margot Kelly was evidently enthusiastic about the Frank Wedekind's drama, so much so she bought the rights to it.

The lovely Margot Kelly, pictured in the 1920s

A month after The Loves of Lulu opened, Kelly sailed for England, and before departing, announced that Pandora's Box would be staged in the Fall. I don't believe it ever was. Perhaps the critical drubbing was too much.

And lastly, another bad review of The Loves of Lulu. This one appeared in Percy Hammond's column, though was not written by the famed critic. Instead, it was penned by Charles Belmont Davis.

As I mentioned in the last blog, all this is interesting to me as background on the way Louise Brooks role as Lulu was received in the United States just four years later.

This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further use prohibited.