A bit about Queen Elizabeth II and Louise Brooks

One might not think so, but there is a connection, albeit a small one, between the silent film star Louise Brooks and the late Queen Elizabeth II of England.

Brooks lived and worked in London, England in late 1924. (Brooks worked as a dancer at the Cafe de Paris in London, and lived nearby at 49 Pall Mall.) At the time, the reigning English monarch was King George V, the grandfather of the future Elizabeth II, who was born not long after in April 1926.

Flash forward 33 years. In 1957, the young Queen Elizabeth visited the United States. Her visit, which took place in October, was televised nationally and received a good deal of coverage. It was an event in which Louise Brooks, who was then living in Rochester, New York, took an interest. Enough so, she recorded the fact in her notebooks that she watched Elizabeth's arrival and visit on television. When Elizabeth visited the United States again in June 1959,  Brooks again took note of the occasion, and again recorded the fact that she watched coverage of the visit on TV.

Why was Louise Brooks interested in Queen Elizabeth? I can't say for sure, but I would suggest Brooks' interest was not political or royalist, but rather feminist in nature. The role of women in Western society has changing in the late 1950's, and Brooks likely wanted to see how Elizabeth carried herself, how she was treated by others, and how others spoke about her.

Having read many of Brooks' letters, notebooks, and her published and unpublished writings, I think Brooks' interest stemmed from her interest in the way prominent women - especially celebrities - existed in the world. Queen Elizabeth, then still in her twenties, was certainly prominent, and powerful. She was somebody people talked about, and had opinions about. She was like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, two other celebrities of the time, whom Brooks was also (and surprisingly?) interested in. How did they carry themselves? How were they treated?

Here is a bit of video, from a British source, of the late Queen's visit to the United States in 1957. It is, perhaps, similar to the coverage she would have seen on television, likely on local channel 10 (see newspaper advertisement below, where coverage of the Royal Ball preempted late night programming).

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